The Evaluation Framework That Separates Legal SEO Specialists from General Agencies

This guide is written for managing partners, firm administrators, and senior attorneys who are actively evaluating SEO vendors — not researching whether SEO works in general, but deciding which agency to trust with their firm's digital presence.

If you've already received proposals from two or three agencies and you're trying to make sense of what differentiates them, this framework will help. If you're a solo practitioner comparing a $500/month package against a $3,000/month retainer, the scorecard in this guide applies equally.

A few context notes before we start:

• This guide covers evaluation criteria and process — for a breakdown of what legal SEO typically costs by firm size and service scope, see the Lawyer SEO Resource Hub.
• Attorney advertising rules vary by state. Any SEO agency working with your firm should understand this. Where this guide references ABA Model Rules or bar advertising guidelines, treat it as educational context — verify current rules with your state bar. This content is not legal advice.
• "Legal SEO" is not a protected term. Any agency can call itself a legal SEO specialist. The criteria below are designed to test whether that claim holds up.

The goal here is simple: give you the tools to make a confident, well-informed decision — not to steer you toward any particular outcome.

When comparing agencies, most firms focus on price and presentation quality. Both are proxies for the wrong things. Use these six criteria instead:

1. Legal-Vertical Depth

Ask how many law firm clients the agency currently manages, in what practice areas, and in what markets. Ask them to describe — without prompting — how attorney advertising rules affect their content and link-building approach. An agency that draws a blank on ABA Model Rules 7.1–7.3 has not worked seriously in the legal vertical.

2. Verifiable Case Studies

Proposals frequently include screenshots of ranking improvements with no firm name, no market context, and no practice area specified. These prove nothing. Ask for a case study that includes the starting position, the actions taken, the timeline, and a contact you can call. In our experience, agencies with genuine legal SEO results are willing to share references.

3. Reporting Transparency

Before signing, ask to see a sample monthly report from a current client (redacted is fine). The report should show keyword movement, organic traffic trends, Google Business Profile metrics, and — critically — lead or call volume attributed to organic search. If reporting stops at traffic, the agency is not measuring what your firm actually needs.

4. Technical and Content Capabilities

Legal SEO requires both technical site health and authoritative practice-area content. Ask which is handled in-house versus outsourced. Content written by non-attorneys can pass legal review if the process is rigorous — but ask what that process looks like. Thin, generic content on legal topics is not just ineffective; it can create bar compliance concerns depending on your state's advertising rules.

5. Asset Ownership

Your website, your content, your GBP profile, and your backlink profile are business assets. Some agencies retain ownership of websites they build or content they produce as a retention mechanism. Confirm in writing, before signing, that all assets transfer to your firm if the relationship ends.

6. Contract Structure

Evaluate the contract term, cancellation provisions, auto-renewal clauses, and performance benchmarks. Agencies confident in their work typically offer shorter initial terms or clear exit provisions. Aggressive lock-ins with no performance benchmarks transfer all risk to your firm.

Some signals in the sales process indicate deeper problems with how an agency operates. These are not minor concerns to negotiate around — they are reasons to end the conversation.

• designed to rankings. No agency controls Google's ranking algorithm. Any guarantee of a specific position by a specific date is either a misunderstanding of how SEO works or a deliberate misrepresentation. Walk away.
• No familiarity with bar advertising rules. If you ask an agency about ABA Model Rule 7.1 and they have never heard of it, they are not a legal SEO specialist regardless of what their proposal says. Content that makes unsubstantiated claims or uses prohibited language like "specialist" in certain jurisdictions can create compliance exposure for your firm.
• Vague deliverables in the contract. "Monthly SEO work" and "ongoing optimization" are not deliverables. A legitimate proposal specifies what will be produced: the number of pages, the type of links, the technical items addressed. If you cannot hold them accountable to the contract, the contract does not protect you.
• Agency retains ownership of your assets. If a contract states that the website, content, or any digital property belongs to the agency, do not sign it. This is a structural conflict of interest.
• Heavy use of vanity metrics. If a pitch leads with impressions, social shares, or domain authority scores without connecting them to intake volume or revenue, the agency is not thinking about your business outcomes.
• No client references available. Agencies that cannot or will not provide references from current law firm clients are signaling something. Legitimate agencies have satisfied clients who will speak to their work.
• Pressure to sign quickly. "This price expires Friday" is a sales tactic, not a sign of a serious professional services relationship. Good agencies do not need to rush you.

These questions are designed to surface how an agency actually thinks — not rehearsed answers from a sales deck. Ask them in conversation, not via email, and listen for specificity versus generality in the responses.

On Legal-Vertical Knowledge

• "How do attorney advertising rules in our state affect the content you'd produce for us?"
• "What disclaimers or disclosures do you include as standard practice on law firm pages?"
• "Have you worked with firms in [your practice area] in markets similar in size to ours?"

On Process and Delivery

• "Walk me through what happens in the first 90 days of an engagement with your firm."
• "Who specifically would be working on our account — and what is their background in legal SEO?"
• "How do you handle algorithm updates that affect our rankings?"

On Measurement and Reporting

• "What does a good result look like for a firm our size in our market — and over what timeframe?"
• "How do you track leads and intake volume from organic search?"
• "Can you show us a sample report from a current client?"

On Commercial Terms

• "Who owns the website, content, and GBP profile if we end the engagement?"
• "What is the notice period to cancel, and are there any early termination fees?"
• "What performance benchmarks, if any, are written into the contract?"

An agency that answers these questions with specificity, honesty about timelines, and clear ownership terms is worth serious consideration. An agency that deflects, pivots to pitch mode, or cannot answer the bar-rule questions should not be managing your firm's digital presence.

A few recurring objections come up when managing partners evaluate legal SEO agencies. These are worth addressing directly.

"We already tried SEO and it didn't work."

This is one of the most common reasons firms hesitate. In our experience, "SEO didn't work" usually means one of three things: the agency was not legal-vertical specific, the engagement was too short to produce results (most competitive legal markets require 6–12 months to see meaningful movement), or the wrong metrics were tracked so results existed but weren't visible. Before writing off the channel, it's worth diagnosing which of these applied.

"We can't tell the difference between agencies — they all say the same things."

This is a legitimate problem, and the reason this guide exists. The difference shows up in specificity: specific case studies, specific processes, specific contract terms, and specific answers to the bar-rule questions above. Generic answers to specific questions are an answer in themselves.

"Our current firm has been with us for years — switching feels risky."

Tenure is not the same as performance. If your current provider cannot show you clear reporting on keyword movement, organic lead volume, and GBP performance over the past 12 months, the risk is in staying — not switching. Before making any change, audit what you currently own: your website, content, GBP access, and any third-party tool accounts. These should be transferable regardless of which agency manages them.

"SEO is too slow — we need results now."

Paid search delivers faster results; SEO builds compounding value over time. These are not mutually exclusive. A good legal marketing agency should be able to advise on both and be honest about timelines. Any agency promising fast organic results is either redefining "results" or misrepresenting how the channel works.

Once you've used the scorecard, asked the questions, and identified the agencies that clear the bar-rule knowledge test, asset ownership test, and reference check, the decision usually comes down to two things: who do you trust to represent your firm's reputation online, and who can demonstrate they've done this for practices like yours?

A few practical next steps:

• Run each finalist through the six-criteria scorecard above and score them 1–3 on each criterion. The scoring forces you to be specific rather than going on instinct.
• Request a sample report before the final decision — not a mock-up created for the pitch, but an actual redacted report from a current client.
• Have your general counsel or firm administrator review contract terms, particularly the asset ownership, cancellation, and auto-renewal provisions, before signing.
• Set 90-day check-in benchmarks in writing — specific deliverables, not vague milestones — so both parties have clear expectations from day one.

If you want to see how we approach legal SEO — including how we handle bar advertising compliance, what our reporting looks like, and what a realistic timeline for your market and practice area would be — see why law firms choose our SEO services and request a consultation. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit, and if we're not, we'll tell you that too.