10-Point Law Firm Website Checklist — Does Your Site Have All of These?
Most small US law firm websites are missing at least 4–5 of these 10 elements. Each missing item is costing you rankings, leads, and clients. Go through this checklist honestly — it will tell you exactly what your current site is lacking.
1. City + Practice Area in Your H1 Headline
Your homepage H1 must contain your primary keyword and location. "Personal Injury Lawyer Houston TX" — not "Fighting For You." This is the most impactful single change you can make to your site's local rankings.
2. Local SEO Schema Markup (JSON-LD)
Structured data in your page code that explicitly tells Google your firm name, address, phone, practice areas, and service area. Without it, you're invisible to many local search features including the knowledge panel and map pack.
3. Click-to-Call Button on Mobile
A tappable phone number or "Call Now" button at the top of every mobile page. Over 68% of legal searches happen on phones. If someone can't call you in one tap, they call someone else.
4. Consultation Form Above the Fold
Potential clients decide within 8 seconds. Your intake form — or at minimum a strong call-to-action — must be visible without scrolling. Forms buried at the bottom of pages are missed by most visitors.
5. Individual Attorney Bio Pages
People hire attorneys, not firms. A dedicated page for each attorney with a photo, law school, bar admissions, specific case experience, and a personal statement. These pages also rank for "[attorney name] lawyer [city]" searches.
6. Separate Practice Area Pages
Each major practice area needs its own page with specific, keyword-targeted content. "Family Law" and "Child Custody" are different keywords. "Criminal Defense" and "DUI Defense" are different keywords. One page covering all your services ranks for none of them effectively.
7. Google Search Console Submission
Your sitemap.xml must be submitted to Google Search Console on launch day. Without this, Google may take weeks or months to discover your new or redesigned site. This is a launch-day step that many freelancers skip entirely.
8. Mobile-First Responsive Design
Not just "it works on mobile" — but genuinely designed for mobile first. Google uses your mobile site's performance for ranking decisions. Buttons must be touch-friendly, text readable without zooming, and forms easy to complete on a 6-inch screen.
9. SSL Certificate and HTTPS
Your site must load on HTTPS (the padlock in the browser). Google penalizes HTTP sites in rankings, and most users will immediately leave a site marked "Not Secure." This is table stakes in 2026 — not optional.
10. Unique, Practice-Specific Content
Content copied from other sites or generated from a template is a Google red flag. Every page must have unique content that addresses your specific practice area, in your specific city, written for your specific potential clients. Our small law firm web design package includes all content written from scratch by our team — at no extra cost.
If your current site is missing 3 or more of these elements, it's likely not generating the leads it could. Read our attorney website cost guide to understand the investment involved in fixing it — and our law firm SEO guide for the technical side.
Missing items on the checklist? We build sites with all 10 — $1,499 one-time.
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