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People looking for a lawyer rarely type “lawyer” on its own. They type their problem: a divorce, a dismissal, a sale of shares, a summons. On these searches, lead-generation platforms and legal directories rank very well, and competition between firms is fierce. A local firm gets through with one page per practice area, signed by the lawyer who handles those cases. I build these pages with you, without ever writing the law in your place.
15 years in SEO
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Darty
Eurofins
Cegid
EBP
CNP Assurances
Ingram MicroA title that doesn't say the practice area
A woman in Angoulême is looking for a lawyer for her divorce. Your firm appears third, below a platform and a directory. Its title reads “Law firm | Home”. She doesn't know whether you handle this type of case. Fix those two lines.
Fig. 1. Three results for a divorce. Only one is a firm in Angoulême. (You handle these cases every week. Your title said “Home”.)
What this means for you. I rewrite the title and description of each page with the practice area, the town and the lawyer's name, in the terms you have approved.
SEO for a lawyer is the work that makes a firm visible on Google when a person or a business is looking for help in a specific area of law, near them. It is organised by practice area: family, employment, business, criminal. Each area gets its own pages, linked to the lawyer who practises it. This work follows the profession's rules, and it is measured by the meetings obtained in the areas the firm wants to develop.
The problem
On “divorce lawyer” or “dismissal lawyer” followed by a town, lead-generation sites and directories often hold the top of the page. The client leaves their details there, then is passed to another lawyer, sometimes at a different bar.
Twelve areas on one page, three lines each. Google doesn't know which one to show you for, and visitors don't know which you actually practise every day.
A vague site attracts all kinds of enquiries. The secretary sorts, redirects, and the areas you want to develop don't move forward.
An audit, for real
The site below doesn't exist, but its flaws do: they're the five I spot most often. Hover over a number.
Defending your rights, with rigour and humanity
The firm advises and assists you in all matters, before all courts.
Get in touchFig. 2. Fictional site, reconstructed. Any resemblance to yours would be a good reason to call me.
What your customers type
Six plausible searches, spread over four practice areas. They are given as examples. The audit establishes which ones actually exist in your jurisdiction.
What works
Family law has its page. Divorce, custody and inheritance each have their own, linked to the first. This structure follows the way people search, and it shows Google that the firm covers the area in depth.
Each lawyer at the firm is introduced: their bar, the year they were sworn in, their practice areas, the languages they speak. The practice area pages link to them. Visitors know who will see them, and search engines know who signs the texts.
It carries searches made from a phone, especially in criminal and employment law. I check the category, address, opening hours and number. For reviews, I apply what your professional body allows, and nothing else.
“How does a first meeting work”, “which documents should I bring”, “how long does the procedure take”: these are practical questions, much searched for. You set the content. I take care of the form, the title and the structure.
Some words are reserved or regulated in your profession. Before writing, we agree together how to describe your practice areas and your titles. I then stick to it on every page and on the profile.
What costs dearly
A page full of references and procedural terms reassures the lawyer who wrote it. The client, on the other hand, types “my employer wants to dismiss me”. You have to start from their words to lead them to yours.
A firm displaying fifteen areas with no hierarchy ranks for none. Better three areas covered well, then one page mentioning the others.
A profile on a lead-generation site isn't yours. If that site changes its terms, your visibility goes with it. Your site and your Google Business Profile stay under your control.
Old articles, on laws that have changed, give a poor image of the firm. I sort through them with you: what we update, what we remove.
The method
Four steps, in a set order. The first is a discussion about your professional ethics, before a single line of text.
One-minute test
Five frank questions to find out whether support makes sense in your situation. Sometimes the answer is no, and I'll tell you.
What it brings in
A ranking doesn't pay a salary. What counts is what it brings: enquiries, customers, revenue. Move your page up and see what it could bring in.
Example assumptions, open to challenge: 500 searches a month for a lawyer in your town, for a specific practice area, 3% of visitors make an enquiry, one enquiry in three is signed (this varies a lot from one trade to another), €1,500 per client. Click-through rates by position are rough orders of magnitude, and they have been shifting since Google started showing AI answers above the results. Run the numbers with your own figures
Possible revenue€0
Close to home
In Charente, the courthouse is in Angoulême, and that is the town people readily type with the word “lawyer”. Someone from Cognac or a small town is more likely to add their own town and wonder whether they will have to travel. So your pages must say, for each practice area, where you see clients and how a first conversation works. My agency, Newp, is based in the département, and we can meet there.
Clients looking for a lawyer readily type the name Angoulême. Your address, your bar and your walking distance from the courthouse are useful information for the client. They should be in the text, not just in the footer.
Around Cognac, trading and wine-growing businesses need contracts, leases and succession planning. A firm handling these cases gains from saying so on a dedicated page, in the vocabulary of these trades.
Someone in Confolens or Chalais won't easily come to Angoulême for a first conversation. If you offer a meeting by phone or video call, write it down. That is often what decides the call.
Beyond Google
Before calling a firm, people now describe their situation to an AI such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Mistral. For example: “I've just been called to a pre-dismissal meeting, I work in Angoulême, which lawyer can see me this week?”. The AI explains in general terms, advises consulting a professional, and sometimes names firms.
Those names come from what it finds online: the firm's site, the bar directory, the Google Business Profile, the local press. A firm whose every practice area is described on a page, with the lawyer's name and the town, gives it a ready-made answer. I also make sure this information is identical from one source to another, because an AI discards what contradicts itself.
Question asked to an AII've just been called to a pre-dismissal meeting and I work in Angoulême. Which lawyer should I see?
Three options for a first meeting:
Fig. 3. Reconstruction, names hidden. This is the spot we aim for: on the list, with the most precise description.
Three typical cases
The three examples below are fictitious. They show where I start depending on the case. None describes an existing firm.
She gets enquiries through a platform and would like direct contacts.
The site lists twelve practice areas and ranks for none.
People find him through referrals, never online at night.
In practice
Pricing
The fee depends on four things. I give you a precise amount after a free first thirty-minute conversation.
Fancy a game?
The big chain has sat up there for years, hogging every click. Grab the piece and slide it into the slot.
INSERT COINSLIDE THE COIN INTO THE SLOT
Fig. 4. Sixteen seconds to topple a giant.
Together, let's devour your competitors.
One by one, and in order. Every spot gained makes the next one easier to take: that's why it keeps growing. See the method
Who you're talking to
My name is Kévin Papot. More than fifteen years in the job, four co-written books, and the Newp agency, co-founded in Charente. I also run my own online shops, in France and internationally: one of them went from zero to a million visits a month.
Before we talk tags, we talk margin, average basket and profitability. When you book a call, I'm the one who picks up.
FAQ
I'm no judge of your professional ethics, and I won't tell you what they allow. You know better than I do, and your professional body can answer you. I work within the limits you set me. Making a site clear and readable is nothing like soliciting clients.
No. I give no legal opinion. I propose the topics, titles and structure, based on what people search for. The substance comes from you. My team can rephrase it to make it readable, and you approve every page.
This vocabulary is regulated in your profession, and I don't use it without your agreement. We decide together which words to use for each lawyer. You can describe precisely what you do without resorting to a reserved term.
First claim the profile, so you can reply. Then decide with your professional body what you can say in a reply, given professional confidentiality. I prepare template replies for you that never confirm that a person is a client.
As long as your site doesn't bring you enough enquiries, keep what works. For a few months, note where each new case comes from. You will then decide on the facts.
Yes, but differently from family law. Business owners search less on Google and look more at profiles. Partner pages, signed publications and coverage in the local business press count for more.
Allow several months for new pages to settle in. Highly contested areas, like divorce in a large city, take longer than specific searches. I don't commit to a ranking. I commit to the work done.
Yes, if you actually see clients there or plead before their courts. Each town then has a page with its own content. I don't create empty town pages copied from one another.
It depends on what it lets you change. I need to change titles, create pages and fix the structure. I check this before proposing anything.
Yes. My agency is in Charente, and I work remotely for the rest of France. A firm's SEO is prepared the same way in Angoulême or elsewhere: we start from your bar, your practice areas and your lawyers.
See also
30 minutes · video call · with me
Together we look at where you stand on Google and in AI, and what should change first.
