Practice Area Pages for Law Firms: What They Need

Why do practice area pages matter?

Practice area pages are where most paying enquiries first land. A person searching for help with a house purchase, a divorce or an accident claim does not want a general firm profile. They want to know that you handle their problem, what the next step is and whether they can trust you. Google's guidance says to write content that is easy to read, well organised, original, current and useful to people. It also advises giving each page a unique, clear title and using descriptive links. A page that tries to cover every service in one block does the opposite: it is vague, so it serves neither the reader nor the search engine. One page per type of work lets you speak directly to that client and make the next step obvious. It also gives you a clear place to measure enquiries, so that you can see which areas of the firm your website is helping.

What should every practice area page include?

Each page should answer the same set of questions in the same order, so that readers know where to look. Start with a short, plain-English summary of the work and who it is for. Explain what usually happens, in steps, with realistic timescales and what can change them. Say how fees work, and give prices where you advertise work that the Transparency Rules cover. Name the people who do the work and say what they are qualified to do. Answer the three or four questions that clients ask most often, using real questions from your own calls and emails. Finish with a simple way to get in touch: a phone number, a short form and a note about what happens next. Keep the same structure across your pages, so they feel consistent and are easy to maintain. The checklist below gives a starting point.

• A heading that names the work and the client, such as "Residential conveyancing for buyers and sellers"
• A short summary in the first paragraph
• The usual steps and typical timescales
• Fees, or a clear explanation of how fees are worked out
• Who does the work, with links to their profiles
• Answers to common questions
• Regulatory details and links to complaints information
• A phone number and a short enquiry form

How do you write for the client, not the lawyer?

Write as you would explain the work to a friend who has never needed a solicitor. Use short sentences and everyday words. Define any legal term the first time you use it. Put the answer first, then the detail. Google's guidance on people-first content asks creators to show who wrote or reviewed the content, how it was made and why it exists, and says authorship should be clear where readers would expect it. For a law firm, that means a named solicitor or reviewer and a review date on each page. It also says the main purpose should be to help people, not just to attract search visits. Avoid stuffing the page with the same phrase, which makes it read badly and does not help ranking. Keep a gentle tone on sensitive topics such as divorce, bereavement and injury. Say what you can do, not what you hope to win, and never promise an outcome.

How do you handle prices and regulation on the page?

Some work carries specific publishing duties. The SRA Transparency Rules require firms that advertise certain types of work to publish costs information. The listed work includes residential conveyancing and remortgages, uncontested estate administration, non-asylum immigration applications, summary road traffic matters and employee unfair dismissal claims, plus some business work. The information must include the total or typical cost, the basis of charges, likely disbursements, whether VAT is included, what is included and excluded, and key stages and timescales. It must be clear, accessible and prominent. Every page must also keep publicity accurate and not misleading, under the Code of Conduct. Put costs high on the page, not in a footnote. Use the same fee wording on the page and in your client care documents, so that the two always agree. Our SRA website checklist lists the other items. This is general information, not legal advice, so ask your COLP to review each page.

How do you make the page easy to find?

Search visibility starts with basics that Google itself recommends. Give each page a unique title that says what the work is and where you do it. Use headings that match the questions people ask. Link to related practice areas and to the profiles of the people who do the work, using descriptive link text. Add alt text to images. Make sure the page loads quickly and works well on a phone. Google's Web Vitals guidance sets "good" targets at the 75th percentile: Largest Contentful Paint at or under 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint at or under 200 milliseconds and Cumulative Layout Shift at or under 0.1. Avoid creating near-identical pages for every town, because they add little for the reader. If you serve several areas, write a page only where you have something real to say. Our guide to law firm SEO basics covers this in more detail.

What mistakes should you avoid?

Most weak practice area pages share the same few faults. They open with the history of the firm instead of the client's problem. They use legal terms without explaining them. They hide the phone number or make the enquiry form long and demanding. They copy text from another firm, or from a template used by dozens of sites, which gives the reader no reason to choose you. They make promises about outcomes that the firm cannot keep, which is a risk under the rule that publicity must be accurate and not misleading. They go out of date, with old fees, old staff names or old rules. A reviewer who reads the page as a stranger will spot most of these in a few minutes. Ask someone outside the firm to read it on their phone and tell you what they think you do, what it costs and what to do next.

• No page that tries to cover every service at once
• No stock text copied from other sites
• No outcome promises or award figures
• No form that asks for details of the case on first contact

How do you know whether the page is working?

Measure what the page produces, not just who visits it, because visits alone do not pay the bills. Record the enquiries that come from each page, by phone and by form, and follow them to signed cases. Check the questions people ask when they call; if you hear the same question often, add the answer to the page. Look at how many visitors leave without taking any step, and check the page on your own phone. Add privacy information next to any form, since the ICO says privacy information must be given at the time you collect personal data. Review each page every few months, and update the date and reviewer when you do. Our guide on law firm lead tracking explains how to connect pages to results. Improve the pages that already attract enquiries before you write new ones, because a small gain on a busy page is worth more than a new page nobody finds.

Next step

If you would like us to review your practice area pages, book a free audit. Our law firm website service builds pages with room for the regulatory information you supply, and your COLP approves the content before it goes live.