Family law SEO case study: both offices in the top 3 in six months
A San Francisco family law firm with two offices got most of its clients from referrals. Its name, address and phone number appeared differently across its listings, divorce, custody and support had no pages of their own, and the site was slow and partly unindexed. Within six months both offices were in the map pack top three for their main searches, and organic enquiries were up between 50% and 100%.
The engagement in brief
| Client | Family law firm, San Francisco, four to ten lawyers (anonymised; published with the client’s approval) |
|---|---|
| Market | Two offices |
| Engagement | Six months to the results below |
| Starting point | Most clients from referrals, little advertising; inconsistent listings; no pages for divorce, custody or support; a slow site with pages missing from Google |
| Work | Listing cleanup, pages for each matter, a review process and technical fixes. All in-house |
| Result | Both offices in the map pack top three for their main searches; organic enquiries up 50–100%; Google reviews roughly doubled |
| Data | Google Analytics 4 and the firm’s own intake records |
A good firm Google could not be sure about
The listings disagreed with each other. Across the firm’s listings, its name appeared in different versions, some still showed an old address or suite, and some carried old or call-tracking phone numbers. Google builds its picture of a business from these sources, and when they disagree, it has less reason to show the business near the top.
Clients could not find their matter on the site. Divorce, custody and support, the firm’s main matters, had no pages of their own, so the site had little to rank for those searches and little to show a client who arrived.
The site itself held things back. It was slow, especially on mobile, some pages were not indexed by Google, and others were thin or duplicated.
The firm had relied on referrals and spent little on advertising. Search was a source of clients it had not really tapped.
Four workstreams, listings first
The listings were the biggest problem, so they came first, with the technical fixes alongside. Everything was delivered in-house.
- Listings
Make every listing agree
One version of the firm’s name, the right address for each office and the right phone numbers, corrected on every listing we found.
- Technical SEO
Fix the site
Faster pages on mobile, the missing pages indexed, and the thin and duplicate pages merged or removed.
- Content
A page for each matter
New pages for divorce, child custody, and child and spousal support, each answering the questions clients ask before they call.
- Reviews
A review process for both offices
A simple, private way to ask satisfied clients for a review, and replies that never confirm anyone was a client. Reviews roughly doubled from under 20.
Both offices in the top three
Within six months, both offices were in the map pack top three for their main searches, and organic enquiries were up between 50% and 100%. The firm reduced its advertising over the same period.
- Map pack: both offices in the top three for their main searches.
- Organic enquiries: up 50–100%, from GA4 and the firm’s intake records.
- Google reviews: roughly doubled, from under 20.
“The team at Crown were very professional and deeply knowledgeable about legal marketing and the specifics of our family law niche. We were able to achieve our goals together.”
Family law firm, San Francisco
How we read it:
- Consistent listings come before everything else. When a firm’s name, address and phone number differ from listing to listing, the rest of the work has a weaker base.
- Each matter needs its own page. A client with a custody question should land on a page about custody.
- Reviews take a process, not a campaign. In a sensitive practice, a private, well-timed ask works better than a push.
Three lessons for family law firms
- Search your firm’s phone numbers and old addresses. If you find different versions of your details, fix them at the source. Our guide to local citations explains how.
- Give each matter its own page. Divorce, custody and support are different searches from different clients. Our family law SEO page covers how we build them, including fee rules that differ from other practice areas.
- Measure enquiries, not rankings. Tie search to your intake records, as this firm did. See our lawyer SEO services.
San Francisco family law SEO case study: questions
How long did this family law SEO engagement take?
Six months to these results. In that time both of the firm’s offices reached the map pack top three for their main searches, and organic enquiries rose between 50% and 100%.
What was holding the firm back?
Its name, address and phone number appeared differently across its listings, divorce, custody and support had no pages of their own, and the site was slow, with some pages unindexed and others thin or duplicated.
Was the firm running ads at the same time?
The firm got most of its clients from referrals and spent little on advertising. It reduced its advertising further during the engagement.
Can Crown guarantee the same result for my firm?
No. Nobody can guarantee rankings or map pack positions. What we commit to is finding what holds your firm back, fixing it in the right order, and reporting what it produces in enquiries and new clients.