Law Firm SEO & Google Maps
An immigration, family and real estate law firm in Scarborough. Another developer designed and built its website, and I did not. I moved the site to new hosting, fixed what kept Google from reading it, and now run its SEO and its Google profile.
What I found, and what it is now
The site looked fine to a person. Most of what stood in the way was in the part only Google reads.
Every page told Google its real address was the home page of a different domain, one that no longer worked.
Each page gives its own address.
The sitemap and the robots file pointed at that same dead domain.
Both point at the real site, and the sitemap is in Search Console.
The site ran on a developer's free account.
It has hosting of its own. Its email records were left as they were during the move.
On a tablet, the whole page slid sideways.
It fits every width I tested.
New pages every month, in the style the site already had
The site had four pages. It now also has a blog and pages for individual services, added at the volume of the SEO Starter plan.
Written inside the rules for lawyers
The Law Society of Ontario limits what a lawyer may say in advertising. Each new article and page is checked for these before it goes up.
- No "specialist" without certification
- No "the best" or other claims of being better
- No promised outcome
- No invented client stories
The Google profile covers every area of practice
The profile was listed for family law. It now also shows the firm's other areas, each service has its own description, and the photos are of the real office and building. New reviews get an answer and appear on the site by themselves. This is the work of Google Maps management.
- Family law attorney (main category)
- Immigration attorney
- Real estate attorney
- Divorce lawyer
- Criminal justice attorney
- Notary public
Why this is not a website build
The design and the first text on this site came from the developer before me, and a page like this one should say so. My part is the hosting, what Google is told about each page, what gets published, and the Google profile. If you like your site and only want it found, that is SEO. If you need it moved first, that is website migration. What a law firm site should say is on the page about web design for law firms.
Questions from law firms
Can you take over a site another developer built?+
Yes. On this one I compared the text of every page before and after the move, and it matched word for word.
Can you add a new area of practice later?+
Yes. The site, the article plan and the Google profile change together. Google reviews changes to a profile first, so those can take some days to show.
Will my email stop working if the site moves?+
It should not. Email runs on its own records, and I change only the records for the website.
What does SEO for a law firm cost?+
SEO plans start at $300 a month, month to month, with no contract. They are all on the pricing page.
Your site looks fine, but Google barely shows it?
Send me the address and I will check what Google is being told. See SEO plans from $300 a month.
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