Google Business Profile for law firms
For most high-street firms, a tightened Google Business Profile will bring more new instructions next year than any other single piece of marketing you could commission this quarter.
01 / Why GBP matters so much in legal search
The map pack is where 'solicitor [town]' is won
When a prospective client searches 'solicitor [town]', 'conveyancer near me' or 'divorce solicitor [town]', the first thing Google shows on a phone is the map pack: three firms, each with a star rating, a distance and a click-to-call button. That sits above the organic results and above any directory listing. For most high-street matter types, it is where the decision is made.
Ranking inside the map pack comes down to three factors: relevance (how well your category and services match the search), proximity (how close your office is to the searcher) and prominence (review volume, photo activity, post activity and the strength of the signals coming from your website). Proximity you cannot move. Relevance and prominence you absolutely can.
The frustrating reality is that the work is not complicated, it is just unglamorous. Pick the right primary category. Fill every secondary that applies. Publish real services. Ask for reviews cleanly. Reply within two days. Refresh photos. Most firms do half. The ones that do all of it sit consistently in the top three slots for the searches that bring instructions.
02 / What a tight firm profile looks like
Six areas where most firms leave ranking on the table
The fixes are small. The compound effect on the map pack is not.
Primary category: 'Solicitor', 'Law firm' or the specialism?
The primary category is the single strongest ranking signal on a profile. For a full-service firm, 'Solicitor' or 'Law firm' is usually right. For a specialist, the specialism category ('Divorce lawyer', 'Immigration attorney', 'Estate planning attorney', 'Conveyancer') often beats the generic one because it matches the search intent more precisely. Use up to ten secondary categories to cover the rest of your practice areas.
Real office address, verified, never hidden
Unlike trades, solicitors generally serve clients from a physical office and Google expects an address, not a service-area listing. The address on the profile must match the address on the SRA register, the Law Society Find a Solicitor listing and the firm's legal notices page. Any mismatch between those four is the single most common reason for a suspended profile.
Opening hours, plus emergency or out-of-hours where real
Regular office hours kept accurate, special hours marked for bank holidays and firm closures, and a separate 'by appointment' line if you offer evening or Saturday consultations. If you offer a criminal defence out-of-hours service or a genuine 24-hour emergency family line, make that visible. If you do not, do not pretend you do.
Services listed matter by matter, with a clear starting fee where possible
The services section is under-used by 90% of firm profiles. List each instruction type you handle: will drafting, lasting power of attorney, probate, residential conveyancing, remortgage, no-fault divorce, financial remedy, employment tribunal representation, settlement agreement review, commercial lease review. Each one is a search someone in your town typed this month. Publish 'from' fees where the SRA Transparency Rules apply.
Reviews, requested within SRA rules
Email every closed-matter client with a review link. Do not cherry-pick the happy ones, do not offer incentives, do not edit the wording of a client's draft. Reply to every review within 48 hours, professionally and without revealing matter detail. Thirty genuine reviews inside six months is a realistic target for most high-street firms and it moves the map pack in most towns.
Photos of the office, the team, the reception
Upload fifteen or more photographs in the first month: exterior with signage, reception, meeting rooms, each partner, the team in the office. Two or three fresh photos a month after that. Active profiles with recent photography outrank dormant ones even when the underlying website is identical. Firms that leave a 2019 exterior photo as the only image are leaving ranking on the table.
03 / Getting your firm into the three-pack
From claim to compounding review flow
Claim, verify, align
Claim the profile if you have not, complete Google's verification (video verification is now common for law firms) and check the firm name, address, phone and website match the SRA register exactly. Mismatches are the most common cause of suspension.
Categories, services, hours
Primary category matched to the bulk of your work, up to ten secondaries for practice areas. Every service you handle added to the services section with a short description and a 'from' fee where the SRA Transparency Rules apply. Office hours checked, special hours set for the next twelve months of bank holidays.
Photos, description, accreditations
Office and team photography uploaded. Business description written in full with practice areas, accreditations (Lexcel, CQS, Resolution, STEP) and the named managing partner. The SRA digital badge linked from the site footer, so the profile's 'website' link lands on a page where regulatory information is visible.
Review request rhythm, reply rhythm
Matter-close automation that emails the client a review link the day the final invoice is sent. A weekly 15-minute slot to reply to new reviews. A monthly photo. A quarterly audit that the SRA register, Find a Solicitor and GBP details still match. None of this needs a marketing manager. It needs a diary note.
FAQ
Common questions
Can a solicitor ask clients for reviews under SRA rules?
Yes. The SRA Standards and Regulations do not prohibit review requests, provided the request is made to all closed-matter clients (not only the ones you expect to leave a positive review), no incentive is offered, and the client is not coached on what to write. The Principles require honesty and integrity in marketing, which is satisfied by a straightforward, uniform ask.
What if a review contains confidential matter detail?
Reply thanking the client and, if the detail is genuinely confidential or identifies third parties, use the 'report' function to ask Google to review it. Do not respond to the specifics, even to correct them. Duty of confidentiality under the SRA Code of Conduct overrides the urge to set the record straight. A calm generic reply is the correct move.
Can we list each solicitor as a separate business on Google?
No. Google's guidelines allow one profile per physical office, not one per practitioner. Individual solicitors can (and should) appear in the team section of the firm's website and in their Law Society Find a Solicitor profile, but the GBP itself is firm-level. Creating duplicate profiles risks suspension of all of them.
Can a virtual office be used as the address?
Only if you genuinely meet clients there by appointment. Google's guidelines require the address to be a real place of business where you serve clients. The SRA also requires a real address for the register. A rented mailing address that nobody ever visits fails both tests and is a common cause of firm suspension.
What kills a law firm's GBP ranking fastest?
Address mismatch with the SRA register, duplicate listings for the same firm across multiple branches, using a managing partner's home as the registered office when meetings happen elsewhere, no reviews or fewer than five, and stale photography. Fixing any single one of those usually moves a firm back up the map pack within a few weeks.
Do you manage GBP as part of the website plan?
Yes. Standard at £79/mo includes GBP tightening at the start, alignment between the site, the SRA register and the Law Society listing, schema markup on every practice-area page and a monthly post cadence. Review replies stay with the firm because partner voice matters; we handle everything structural around it.
Want your firm's GBP tightened alongside the website?
Standard at £79/mo includes GBP optimisation, SRA alignment and the schema that makes the map pack work.