Key takeaways
- Law firm local SEO is about the map results: a Business Profile for each real office, the right categories, reviews and an office page on the website that backs the listing up.
- Google says “The categories you select affect your local ranking on Google”, and asks for a specific primary category rather than one for every service.
- A virtual office, a remote mailbox or an unstaffed co-working desk is not eligible for a Business Profile. A satellite office needs to be a real, staffed location.
- Reviews sit under three sets of rules: Google’s policy (no incentives at all), the FTC’s rule on fake reviews, and your state’s version of ABA Model Rule 7.1.
- Track map rankings from the areas around each office, not from one central point.
Search for “lawyer near me” and the first thing many people see is a map with a few firms listed under it. Law firm local SEO is the work of earning a place in that map pack: a Business Profile that follows Google’s rules, reviews collected fairly, and an office page on the firm’s website that confirms everything the profile says.
I have worked in SEO and digital marketing for more than 16 years, and I work with clients remotely from Bucharest. I am not a lawyer, and this article is not legal advice. Rules on testimonials and client communications vary by state, so your firm should check anything it publishes with its own counsel or its state bar’s ethics guidance.
This article goes deeper on the map pack. For the whole-firm plan, including practice area pages and attorney bios, read our guide to law firm SEO. If your firm is in New York, the state changed its advertising rules in 2026, and our article on law firm SEO in NYC covers that.
How the map pack works in law firm local SEO
The map pack is a short list of Business Profiles shown with a map, usually for searches with local intent: a practice area plus a city, or “near me”. What appears depends on what the person searched for, where they are, and how well-known each firm is. A firm can’t buy its way in, but it can make sure Google understands exactly what it does and where.
Three things are within the firm’s control: the profile itself (name, categories, address, hours, services), the reviews it receives, and the website page the profile links to. In audits of local listings, the problems I see most often are not dramatic. They are profiles with a general category, a second profile created at an address the firm barely uses, and a website link that points to the homepage instead of the office page.
Choosing Business Profile categories for a law firm
Google’s help page on choosing a category is direct: “The categories you select affect your local ranking on Google.” It asks you to “select a specific category from the list that shows up”, giving the example “instead of “Salon,” choose “Nail salon.”” And it warns: “Do not select a category for every product or service.”
For a law firm, that suggests a simple approach:
| Firm type | Primary category | Additional categories |
|---|---|---|
| Firm focused on one area of law | The most specific category in Google’s list that matches that area | Only for other areas the office really handles |
| General practice with several areas | The category that best describes the office’s main work | A few for significant departments, not every service |
| Individual lawyer’s profile | The category that matches that lawyer’s practice | Usually none, or very few |
Categories are not keywords. Adding ten of them, or picking one because it sounds popular, makes the profile less clear. The services section and the website’s practice pages are where you describe the full range of work.
Office addresses: what Google accepts
Address rules are where I see legal listings get into the most trouble. Google’s guidelines for representing your business say “P.O. boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations aren’t acceptable”, and that if a business “rents a physical mailing address but doesn’t operate out of that location, also known as a virtual office”, the location is not eligible.
Co-working spaces are a common question. The guidelines say a business can’t list an office there “unless that office maintains clear signage, receives customers at the location during business hours”. And they are clear about duplicates: “Do not create more than one page for each location of your business, either in a single account or multiple accounts.”
Before you add a profile for a second office
- Lawyers or staff are there and can meet clients during the hours you list.
- The office has signage, inside or outside, as the guidelines require for shared spaces.
- The address, phone number and firm name match the website’s office page exactly.
- It is not a mailing address or a meeting room booked once a month.
- Your counsel is comfortable that listing it doesn’t imply something misleading about where the firm practises.
Practitioner listings for individual lawyers
Google treats lawyers as individual practitioners, so in some cases a lawyer can have a profile of their own. The guidelines set two conditions: “They operate in a public-facing role” and “They can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours.” They also say “A practitioner shouldn’t have multiple Business Profiles to cover all of their specializations.”
Our law firm SEO guide covers the naming rules in detail. For local SEO, the main decision is strategic: practitioner profiles can help a client find a specific lawyer, but they also compete with the firm’s own office profile for the same searches. For most small firms, one strong office profile is better than several thin ones. Larger firms with well-known partners may benefit from both, provided each practitioner profile meets the conditions above.
Reviews: Google, the FTC and your state bar
Reviews matter for the map pack, and for lawyers they come with three layers of rules. They don’t all say the same thing, so the strictest one wins.
Google’s policy. Google’s policy on prohibited and restricted content says merchants may not “Offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services” for reviews, nor “Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.” It adds that “A conflict of interest may include current or former employment”, so staff shouldn’t review the firm.
The FTC rule. The Federal Trade Commission’s rule on consumer reviews and testimonials “went into effect on October 21, 2024”, according to its questions and answers page. It targets fake reviews, reviews a business “purchased” that it knew or should have known were false, incentives that require a particular sentiment, and threats used to remove reviews. It “authorizes courts to impose civil penalties for knowing violations.” The FTC allows some incentives that don’t depend on the review being positive; Google does not allow any, so follow Google.
Your state bar. ABA Model Rule 7.1 says “A lawyer shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer’s services.” A review on Google is written by a client, but once the firm quotes it on its website or in an ad, it becomes the firm’s communication. Some states have specific rules on testimonials and past results, so check your state’s version before showing reviews on the site.
For a law firm, a fair review process is one you could show to your state bar without having to explain anything.
In practice: send the same short request to every client at the same stage, with a link to the profile and no mention of stars. And when replying to a review, never confirm or discuss anything about the matter. Agree the wording of requests and replies with counsel first.
Office pages that support each profile
Every Business Profile should link to a page on the firm’s website for that office, not the homepage. That page confirms to Google and to the client what the profile says, and it is where the firm can say more than a profile allows.
A good office page has:
- the firm name, address and phone number exactly as on the profile;
- opening hours, parking or transit directions, and accessibility details;
- the lawyers who work from that office, linked to their bio pages;
- the practice areas handled there, linked to the practice pages;
- something specific to the area, such as which local courts the office’s lawyers regularly appear in, if that is true.
What I would avoid: pages for towns where the firm has no office, written to look as if it does. They are hard to defend under Rule 7.1, and they rarely rank in the map pack anyway, because the profile, not the page, carries the location.
Measuring map pack rankings for each office
Map results change from street to street, so a ranking checked from the city centre may not reflect what a client five miles away sees. Check each office’s main practice terms from the areas you want clients to come from. Our guide to city rank tracking explains how.
Alongside rankings, look at the profile’s own figures (calls, website clicks and direction requests) and the enquiries from the office page. If rankings rise but calls don’t, the profile or the page is not convincing people, and that is usually a better place to work than chasing more positions. If you are still choosing who should do this work, our article on what law firms should ask a legal SEO expert has the questions.
FAQ
What is local SEO for law firms?
It is the work of ranking a firm’s offices in Google’s map results and local searches: a Business Profile per real office, accurate categories, fair reviews and an office page for each location. It sits alongside, not instead of, the practice area pages that rank in the normal results.
Can a law firm list a virtual office on Google Business Profile?
No. Google’s guidelines say a rented mailing address where the business doesn’t operate, known as a virtual office, is not eligible. A co-working office qualifies only if it has clear signage, receives clients during business hours and is staffed then.
Can a law firm offer clients something in return for a Google review?
Not for Google reviews. Google’s policy bans incentives of any kind, even though the FTC allows some incentives that don’t depend on sentiment. Your state bar’s rules may add limits too, so check with counsel.
How many categories should a law firm choose on its Business Profile?
One specific primary category that describes the office’s main work, and a few additional ones only for significant areas it really handles. Google says not to select a category for every product or service.
If you'd like your firm's profiles, categories and office pages checked against Google's guidelines before counsel signs off, tell me how many offices you have and I'll suggest where to start.
Eugen Platon · SEO consultant with 16+ years in SEO and digital marketing · free 10-minute first call
Eugen Platon
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