A Step-by-Step Framework for Optimizing Your Law Firm's Google Business Profile

When someone searches 'divorce attorney near me' or 'DUI lawyer in [city],' the results they see first are almost never the organic blue links. They see the Map Pack — the three-business local listing block with a map, star ratings, phone numbers, and directions. Google Business Profile is what controls whether your firm appears there.

For most practice areas, the Map Pack sits above organic results and captures a significant share of clicks from high-intent searches. A prospect who just decided they need a personal injury attorney is searching with their credit card out, metaphorically speaking. They want a local firm, they want to call immediately, and they want social proof. GBP delivers all three — if your profile is set up correctly.

The profile also feeds into Google's local Knowledge Panel when someone searches your firm name directly. That means GBP optimization affects both how you rank for anonymous local searches and how credible you appear when a referred prospect looks you up before calling.

Unlike your website, where changes take months to affect rankings, GBP improvements can show visible impact in days to weeks. That's why we treat it as the first local SEO priority for any law firm — not because it's easy, but because the return on time invested is faster and more direct than almost any other tactic.

This guide covers every major GBP lever specific to legal practices: categories, service areas, photos, posts, Q&A, and reviews. The compliance considerations around attorney advertising apply here too — this is educational content, not legal or ethics advice. Verify any review solicitation or advertising approach with your state bar's guidelines.

Category selection is the most consequential decision in your entire GBP setup. Google uses your primary category as a core local ranking signal — it determines which keyword queries your listing is eligible to appear for. Getting this wrong means optimizing everything else perfectly while still not showing up for the searches that matter.

Primary Category: Be Specific

Always choose the most specific category that accurately describes your primary practice area. Google offers granular legal categories, and using them is almost always the right call.

• Personal Injury Attorney — not 'Law Firm' or 'Lawyer'
• Divorce Lawyer — not 'Family Law Attorney' if divorce is your core service
• Criminal Justice Attorney — or 'DUI Attorney' if that's your focus
• Estate Planning Attorney — not 'Attorney'
• Immigration Attorney — one of the most competitive local categories

Secondary Categories: Add Breadth Without Diluting Focus

You can add up to 9 additional categories. Use them to reflect secondary practice areas you genuinely handle — not aspirational areas you want to rank for. If you're primarily a family law firm that also does estate planning, adding 'Estate Planning Attorney' as a secondary category is accurate and appropriate. Adding 'Personal Injury Attorney' when you don't take those cases is not.

Category Audit for Existing Profiles

If your profile has been live for a while, check your current primary category. Many firms default to 'Law Firm' during initial setup and never revisit it. Changing to a more specific category is one of the highest-impact, lowest-effort adjustments available — and in our experience working with law firms, it produces measurable improvement in relevant local pack appearances within a few weeks of the change.

Google rewards profile completeness. An incomplete profile signals less relevance and trustworthiness than a fully filled-out one. More practically, every missing field is information a prospective client doesn't have — and may use as a reason to call the next firm instead.

Business Name

Use your legal business name exactly as it appears on your website, bar association listing, and other directories. Do not add keywords to your business name (e.g., 'Smith Law — Best Divorce Lawyer Chicago'). This violates Google's guidelines and risks suspension. Consistency across all platforms is the goal.

Address and Service Area

If clients visit your office, list your physical address. If you serve clients across a region but don't want to display your address publicly (common for solo practitioners), you can hide the address and use service area settings instead. For firms with a physical office, keep the address displayed — it reinforces local relevance.

Service areas should reflect where you actually serve clients. Adding 15 counties when you realistically serve 3 dilutes your local relevance signal. Start with your core service geography and expand deliberately.

Phone Number and Website

Use your primary local phone number — not a tracking number that differs from what's on your website, unless that tracking number is consistent everywhere (this is an advanced NAP management decision). Link to your website's homepage or a dedicated landing page, not a third-party directory.

Hours

Keep hours accurate and updated, including holiday hours. Profiles with stale hours that don't match reality generate negative reviews and erode trust. If you offer after-hours consultations by appointment, note that in your business description.

Business Description

You have 750 characters. Use the first 250 carefully — that's what's visible before the 'more' truncation. Describe who you serve, what practice areas you handle, and what makes your firm worth calling. Write for a prospective client, not a search engine. Avoid superlatives like 'best' or 'top-rated' — these can raise attorney advertising compliance questions depending on your state bar's rules.

Photos are not decorative. Google's own documentation identifies photo quantity and quality as profile signals, and in our experience, profiles with robust photo libraries consistently outperform sparse ones in both ranking and click-through rate from the Map Pack.

The Minimum Photo Set Every Law Firm Needs

• Exterior photo — your building frontage, street view, parking area. Helps clients find you and signals a real physical location.
• Interior photo — reception area, conference room, or lobby. Reduces anxiety for first-time visitors.
• Team photos — attorneys and staff. People hire people. A face builds more trust than a logo.
• Logo — uploaded to the dedicated logo field, not just as a photo.
• Cover photo — the banner image that appears prominently on your profile. Use a high-quality, professionally shot image.

Going Beyond the Minimum

Firms that consistently add new photos signal an active, maintained profile. Consider adding photos of your conference room, library or bookshelf (signals expertise visually), signage on the building, and any community involvement or speaking engagements your attorneys participate in — without crossing into advertising territory that might require disclaimer language under your state bar's rules.

What to Avoid

Stock photography is a missed opportunity. Google can't tell the difference algorithmically, but prospective clients can — and it undermines the trust that authentic photos build. Avoid heavily filtered or edited images that misrepresent your office environment. Do not upload images with text overlays promoting services; these can violate both Google's guidelines and attorney advertising rules in some jurisdictions.

Geo-tagged photos (images with location metadata embedded) are sometimes cited as a local SEO factor. The evidence is mixed, but there's no downside to shooting photos on-location with a device that retains location data.

Most law firm GBP profiles are set up once and then abandoned. Posts and Q&A are the two features that separate actively managed profiles from static ones — and active profiles send stronger engagement signals to Google.

GBP Posts

Standard GBP posts expire after approximately 7 days and are replaced in the 'Updates' section by newer ones. To keep your profile visually current, post a minimum of twice per month — weekly is better for competitive markets.

What to post as a law firm:

• Plain-language explanations of common legal questions your clients ask (educational, not advertising)
• Changes in relevant law or procedure that affect your clients (with a disclaimer that this is general information, not legal advice)
• Office announcements — new locations, updated hours, new attorneys joining
• Community involvement or events your firm participates in

Avoid posts that make performance claims, use superlatives, or could be construed as advertising under your state bar's rules without appropriate disclaimers. Consult your state bar's attorney advertising guidelines for specifics — rules vary significantly by jurisdiction.

Q&A Management

The Q&A section is publicly visible and publicly editable. Anyone — including competitors — can post questions and answers on your profile. This is one of the most overlooked risk areas in GBP management for lawyers.

Seed the Q&A section yourself by posting the most common questions your intake team fields, then answering them accurately. Good seed questions include:

• 'Do you offer free consultations?'
• 'What areas of law does your firm handle?'
• 'Do you serve clients in [surrounding county]?'
• 'What languages does your staff speak?'

Monitor the Q&A section regularly. Inaccurate answers left unchallenged become the public record of what your firm offers. You can flag incorrect answers to Google for removal, but proactive seeding is more reliable than reactive cleanup.

Reviews are a confirmed local ranking factor and the primary trust signal prospective clients use when choosing between firms. A law firm with 4.8 stars and 80 reviews will consistently outperform one with 4.2 stars and 12 reviews — both in ranking and in call volume from the Map Pack.

Review Generation: What's Permitted

You can ask satisfied clients to leave a Google review. You cannot offer incentives, pay for reviews, or ask clients to post reviews from your office devices on your network. Most state bars permit review solicitation but prohibit requesting reviews that include false or misleading information. Review your state bar's advertising rules before launching any systematic review request program. This is general guidance — not legal or ethics advice. Verify with your bar association.

The most effective review request methods in our experience:

• A direct ask via text or email immediately after a matter closes — timing matters significantly
• A direct link to your GBP review form (reduces friction by eliminating steps)
• A brief follow-up if the first request goes unanswered, sent once

Review Response

Respond to every review — positive and negative. For positive reviews, a brief, genuine acknowledgment is sufficient. For negative reviews, the response is not primarily for the reviewer — it's for every prospective client who reads it afterward.

Negative review responses from attorneys require care. Do not disclose whether the reviewer is or was a client (this can implicate attorney-client privilege and confidentiality rules). Do not include any details about the matter. A professional, non-defensive response that acknowledges the feedback and invites the person to contact your office directly is typically appropriate. When in doubt, run your response past your ethics counsel before posting.

For deeper guidance on managing reviews in a bar-compliant way, see our law firm reputation management guide.