Law Firm SEO FAQs
Practical answers for UK solicitors, law firms and barristers' chambers on working with Affirmed, from SEO and Google Ads to the free audit, fees, timelines and reporting.
Working with Affirmed
Who does Affirmed work with?
Affirmed works only with solicitors, law firms and barristers' chambers across the UK, both single-office and multi-office. Legal search is the whole of what we do, so every recommendation is made with legal clients and legal searches in mind.
Affirmed Digital is based in Portsmouth and is part of Attaché Digital Group.
Which services does Affirmed offer?
Affirmed offers six core law firm SEO services. Exact scope is confirmed after the free audit, so each firm uses the services its site actually needs:
The work also covers Google Business Profile optimisation, schema and structured data, multi-location SEO, and analytics and reporting. We also manage Google Ads, with SEO as our main focus. The law firm SEO overview shows how the services fit together.
Do you run Google Ads as well as SEO?
Yes. Affirmed manages both, with SEO as our main focus. Because organic results take time, we often recommend running Google Ads alongside SEO while it builds.
Your firm can hire us for Google Ads on its own, or alongside SEO. Google Ads management is charged as a fixed management fee plus a percentage of ad spend.
Our SEO vs PPC guide explains how the two channels work together for law firms.
Who will we work with day to day?
Each client gets a senior contact who leads the engagement and keeps strategy close to delivery. The people doing the work are the people you speak to.
Meeting cadence stays flexible around what your firm needs. You can read how an engagement runs from the first audit to monthly reporting.
Can you work with our web developer, or do you make the changes?
Either works. We write clear briefs or specifications for each change, your firm's developers usually implement them, and we retest the result.
We can also make the changes ourselves as project or retainer work. Either way, nothing goes live until your firm approves it.
The Free Audit
What does the free audit include?
A senior team member reviews how your site is performing today, where the opportunities are, and which early improvements and longer term targets matter most. The review covers technical foundations, local visibility, trust signals and content against competitors.
Every free audit also includes an AI search check and an SRA details check. The SRA details check looks at whether your SRA number is visible, whether the SRA digital badge is on the site, and whether the price and service information the SRA Transparency Rules require is easy to find. These are checks of visible marketing basics, and compliance sign-off stays with your firm's compliance officer for legal practice (COLP).
You get a written report and a recorded video walkthrough. The review works from publicly available information and Affirmed's own analysis tools, so no credentials or backend access are needed.
Paid audits and onboarding go much deeper: an in-depth SEO audit uses your firm's own data, goes to page level and ends in a roadmap and handover. Request the free law firm SEO audit to start.
Does the free audit cover Google Ads?
No. The free audit covers SEO and does not review Google Ads accounts.
A paid search review needs access to your firm's ad accounts, so it is a separate conversation. Talk to us about Google Ads if your firm would like one.
How long does the audit take?
You receive the written report and recorded video within 3 to 5 business days. A senior team member prepares every audit.
The recorded video takes you through the main findings, so partners and marketing leads can watch it without booking anything first.
Is there any obligation?
No. The audit is free, with no obligation to hire Affirmed afterwards.
The audit lets your firm see how we think before any commercial work, and it opens a conversation when your firm is ready for one.
Fees and Terms
How much does law firm SEO cost?
The fee depends on your firm, so Affirmed does not use a package menu. Every firm has a different mix of practice areas, offices, competition and site readiness.
Four factors set the scope: competition and geography, scope, current site health, and ambition and resource. A firm-specific fee follows the free audit, and Pricing explains how we charge.
How do retainers and projects work?
Work can run as a retainer, as a project, or as a mix of both that matches your firm's priorities and the audit findings. There are no contract tie-ins.
The services the audit points to can sit in one retainer or be bought as a single project. The choice follows what your firm needs, not a fixed package.
What access do you need from us?
For ongoing work, we ask for read-only access to your firm's analytics (GA4) and Search Console, where your firm grants it. Your firm keeps its own accounts and approves any change to the site.
The free audit needs no access, because it works from publicly available information. A paid search review needs access to your firm's ad accounts.
Timelines, Reporting and Rules
How long does SEO take to work for a law firm?
Meaningful movement is mostly seen between 6 and 12 months, with some early improvements sooner. Deeper work takes longer.
The pace is set by competition in your practice areas, the state of the site, and how much content and local work is needed. The free audit shows where your firm starts.
How do you report on progress?
Affirmed provides clear monthly reporting on the work and on the enquiries and search terms that matter to your firm. Each client also gets a custom StoneGhost dashboard.
Reporting draws on your firm's own GA4 and Search Console data, plus any enquiry information you choose to share. Monthly reporting sets out what each report covers.
What is StoneGhost?
StoneGhost is Affirmed's analysis platform for legal search. Affirmed uses it to deepen the analysis behind the work it does for each firm, from the free audit through to monthly reporting.
Every client gets a custom StoneGhost dashboard alongside the monthly report.
How do you handle SRA and BSB publicity rules?
Every strategy is written with SRA and BSB publicity rules in mind. Affirmed plans and drafts content, and your firm signs off before anything goes live.
The free audit also checks visible SRA details: your SRA number, the SRA digital badge and your price and service information. Compliance sign-off stays with your firm's COLP, and we do not give legal advice.
Our SRA advertising rules guide sets out the main rules for online marketing.
We have several offices. Can you help?
Yes. We plan local work office by office, so each staffed office has its own Google Business Profile and its own location page.
See local SEO and SEO for multi-location law firms for how that work runs.
Do you cover AI search and AI Overviews?
Yes. Generative engine optimisation (GEO) is part of our content and SEO work, not a separate product.
Every free audit includes an AI search check, which looks at whether your site is set up well for LLMs, including not blocking AI bots. Our guide to AI search for law firms explains more.
Start with a Free Audit
Tell us about your firm and a senior team member will review the site. The free law firm SEO audit comes with no obligation. You receive the written report and recorded video within 3 to 5 business days.