Local SEO for personal injury lawyers, office by office
For "near me" searches and most city searches, Google shows three firms on a map before anything else. Getting your office into those three takes a correct Google Business Profile, consistent legal directory citations and real reviews, built inside the bar's rules.
Case resultA Texas injury firm on the Golden package: +500% qualified case inquiries, top 3 in the map pack, 5 months.Read it
How the map pack picks three firms
Relevance, distance, prominence
Google says local results depend on these three things. For an injury firm, each one translates into specific work.
- Relevance
How well your profile and site match the search. For "truck accident lawyer", that means the right categories and services on your profile and a strong truck accident page on your site.
- Distance
How far your office is from the searcher or the place they named. You can't move the office, so the plan works on the other two factors and on pages for the places you serve.
- Prominence
How well known the firm is: reviews, consistent citations across legal directories, links and mentions from local sites, and the strength of your website.
- Google's own guidelines for profiles are public, and they are worth reading before you change anything: Google Business Profile guidelines.
The work, in order
Six miles to the map pack
The Texas firm in our case results ran this sequence on the Golden package and moved into the top 3 of the map pack over five months. A Florida roofing contractor on the same plan took the #1 spot in its city with the same sequence. Your office starts from its own position, and the free review shows where that is.
Profile audit
Primary and secondary categories, services, hours, photos, the business name exactly as it appears on your signage and letterhead, and every listing that belongs to your firm, including duplicates and old addresses.
Profile rebuild
The right primary category (often "Personal injury attorney"), services that match your case types, real photos of your real office, and a link to the matching location page on your site.
Citation cleanup
Your name, address and details made consistent across the directories Google trusts for lawyers: Avvo, Justia, FindLaw, Martindale-Hubbell, Lawyers.com, your state bar's listing, plus general ones like Yelp and the BBB.
Location pages
One page per office with real local substance, linked from the profile. Where you take cases from nearby counties without an office there, county pages with something true to say about cases there.
Review process
A way to ask satisfied clients for a review at the right time, written to Google's policy and your state's testimonial rules. No incentives, no filtering who gets asked.
Local links and reporting
Links from local and legal sites built each month at your tier's pace, and a monthly report with every link plus your map pack positions for your case types.
Reviews: the part where the bar rules and Google's rules meet
Reviews feed prominence, and they are the first thing an injured person reads about you. Two rulebooks apply at once. Google's policy bars incentives for reviews and selectively asking only happy clients. Your bar's rules govern testimonials: ABA Model Rule 7.2 generally bars giving anything of value for a recommendation, and many states have specific rules on how testimonials and past results may be presented.
In practice that means one consistent ask, sent to every client at a sensible moment, usually after the case resolves, with no gift and no pressure. We write the request, set up the timing, and leave the sending to your team or your case management system.
Responding to a bad review
Never confirm that the reviewer was a client, discuss the case, or correct the facts with details. ABA Formal Opinion 496 (2021) says lawyers responding to online criticism must not reveal confidential client information. A short, polite reply that invites the person to contact the firm directly is usually the safe shape. Your state may have more specific guidance.
Multi-office firms and the second-office question
Every real office where clients can meet you during posted hours can have its own profile and its own location page. That is the honest way to cover a second city. Renting a virtual office or a mail drop to appear in another map pack violates Google's guidelines and leads to suspensions, often taking the firm's other listings under review too.
For counties without an office, the work moves to your website: pages that cover the county's courthouse and venue, the roads and intersections where crashes happen, and the case types you take there. Those can rank in the organic results below the map pack, which still put you in front of the searcher. The bigger picture of how we handle case types and places is on the personal injury lawyer SEO page, and the rest of the plan (content, website, reviews, referrals) is on marketing for personal injury lawyers.
Citations that matter for law firms
Legal directories carry weight with Google and with readers: Avvo, Justia, FindLaw, Martindale-Hubbell, Lawyers.com, Super Lawyers if you are listed, and your state bar's directory. Consistency matters more than volume. An old address on one directory and a former partner's name on another confuse both.
Rules summarized from the ABA Model Rules and Google's published policies. Your state's rules govern your firm.
Personal injury law firm / Texas, major metro
Case result / Golden package / January to May 2025
Top 3 in the map pack, in five months
- qualified case inquiries
- +500%
- qualified case inquiries
- in the local map pack
- Top 3
- in the local map pack
- organic traffic from relevant local searches
- +350%
- organic traffic from relevant local searches
The firm already had 45 to 50 inquiries a week and still lost the map pack to bigger multi-practice firms. The work: a local audit, geo-targeted case-type pages with local schema, citation cleanup across legal directories, authority links and a review process.
Pricing / month to month
Local SEO packages for injury firms
Every tier includes profile and citation work for your offices. Platinum and Titanium cover two and four domains for firms with separate sites per office.
Not sure which tier fits your market? Ask in the free review
- Exit 1 Silver
$125/mo
or $140 for a one-time campaign
A solo or two-lawyer firm in a smaller county, a few case types.
In every package
- Google Business Profile optimizationCategories, services, photos and posts set up for injury searches.
- Citation building and cleanupYour firm's details made consistent across legal and local directories.
- Review-generation workA review request process that fits Google's policy and your bar's rules.
Links each month
- 10 guest posts (DA 20+)Articles placed through real outreach on other websites, each linking to your site.
- 10 Web 2.0 links (DA 50+)Link assets we publish on high-authority publishing platforms, pointing to your site.
- 3,000 amplification linksSecond-tier links that point at your guest posts and Web 2.0 pages (not at your site) to strengthen and index them.
Also
- 10 target keywords, standard research
- 1 domain
- First links live in 10-12 days
- Exit 2 Golden
$235/mo
or $260 for a one-time campaign
One office in a metro, competing for the map pack. The Texas firm in our case results ran this tier.
In every package
- Google Business Profile optimizationCategories, services, photos and posts set up for injury searches.
- Citation building and cleanupYour firm's details made consistent across legal and local directories.
- Review-generation workA review request process that fits Google's policy and your bar's rules.
Links each month
- 20 guest posts (DA 20+)Articles placed through real outreach on other websites, each linking to your site.
- 20 Web 2.0 links (DA 50+)Link assets we publish on high-authority publishing platforms, pointing to your site.
- 5,000 amplification linksSecond-tier links that point at your guest posts and Web 2.0 pages (not at your site) to strengthen and index them.
Also
- 20 target keywords, in-depth research
- 1 domain
- On-page audit and content gap report
- Premium indexing
- First links live in 12-14 days
- Exit 3 PlatinumBest value
$325/mo
or $380 for a one-time campaign
Several case types across a few counties, or a second office or site, and you want to see what the leading firm is doing.
In every package
- Google Business Profile optimizationCategories, services, photos and posts set up for injury searches.
- Citation building and cleanupYour firm's details made consistent across legal and local directories.
- Review-generation workA review request process that fits Google's policy and your bar's rules.
Links each month
- 30 guest posts (DA 20+)Articles placed through real outreach on other websites, each linking to your site.
- 30 Web 2.0 links (DA 50+)Link assets we publish on high-authority publishing platforms, pointing to your site.
- 10,000 amplification linksSecond-tier links that point at your guest posts and Web 2.0 pages (not at your site) to strengthen and index them.
Also
- 40 target keywords, in-depth research
- 2 domains
- On-page audit and content gap report
- Premium indexing
- Competitor spy: what the leading firm does
- First links live in 14-16 days
- Exit 4 Titanium
$575/mo
or $620 for a one-time campaign
Multi-office firms, the largest metros, or an older domain whose link profile needs a toxic link check.
In every package
- Google Business Profile optimizationCategories, services, photos and posts set up for injury searches.
- Citation building and cleanupYour firm's details made consistent across legal and local directories.
- Review-generation workA review request process that fits Google's policy and your bar's rules.
Links each month
- 50 guest posts (DA 20+)Articles placed through real outreach on other websites, each linking to your site.
- 50 Web 2.0 links (DA 50+)Link assets we publish on high-authority publishing platforms, pointing to your site.
- 20,000 amplification linksSecond-tier links that point at your guest posts and Web 2.0 pages (not at your site) to strengthen and index them.
Also
- 100 target keywords, in-depth research
- 4 domains
- On-page audit and content gap report
- Premium indexing
- Competitor spy: what the leading firm does
- Toxic link check
- First links live in 16-18 days
Month to month, cancel anytime
Monthly report with every live URL, target URL and anchor text
Content written to ABA Model Rules 7.1 to 7.3 (your state on request)
You keep the domain, the Google Business Profile and every page we write
"They did not oversell, they gave me realistic expectations and the results came right when they said they would."
Prices in US dollars. Need more pages, cities or offices than a tier covers? Ask for a custom quote. Content plans, websites and package details: pricing. Prefer to talk first? Request a consult.
FAQ
Local SEO and Google Business Profile questions
Is local SEO worth it for personal injury attorneys?
Usually, yes. Searches like "car accident lawyer near me" put the map pack above the organic results, and those searchers are close to making a call. It is worth it most when you have a real, staffed office in the area and intake that answers quickly. If you don't have an office where you want cases, local pages can still help, but the map pack mostly won't.
Is a Google Business Profile free?
Yes. Creating and managing a Google Business Profile costs nothing. What takes work is getting it right: the correct categories, a name that follows Google's rules, verification at a real address, photos, and a steady flow of genuine reviews. A paid "verified" badge or a service that promises map pack placement is not something Google sells.
Can our firm have more than one Google Business Profile?
One per real office where you meet clients during stated hours. Google also allows individual practitioner profiles for lawyers in some situations, which have their own rules. Virtual offices, mail drops and empty "satellite" suites are not eligible and are a common cause of suspensions. If you open a new staffed office, it can have its own profile.
How many Google reviews does a personal injury firm need?
There is no fixed number. What matters is how you compare with the firms already in the map pack for your searches, and that reviews keep coming over time instead of arriving in one burst. Ask every satisfied client at a sensible moment, follow your state's testimonial rules, and never buy, write or filter reviews.
Can we put keywords like "car accident lawyer" in our business name on Google?
Only if that is your firm's real name as used on your signage and documents. Google's guidelines prohibit adding keywords to the name field, competitors report it, and profiles get suspended for it. Put case types in your categories, services and website instead. Under Rule 7.1, your trade name also must not mislead, so check that side too.
Where does your office rank on the map?
Tell us your office address, your case types and the counties you serve. We'll send a written review of your Google Business Profile, your citations and the three firms in the map pack today.