Criminal defense
An urgent search. A clear next step.
Charge and county pages should answer the urgent search clearly. Show the attorney’s work accurately and give someone an obvious way to reach the firm.
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Your firm.
Search that is local and urgent
The person searching for a criminal defense lawyer is rarely browsing. They, or someone they love, are dealing with an arrest, a charge that was just filed, or a court date only days away.
So the searches are short, local and full of worry: "[city] DUI lawyer", "[county] criminal defense attorney", "best criminal lawyer near me". The firms that show up are not the ones with the most content. They are the ones whose charge pages, attorney bios and reviews all say the same clear thing: this firm handles this charge, in this court, and you can reach a lawyer now.
One page for each charge you defend
Criminal defense covers many different charges, and people search by the charge: DUI and DWI, drug possession, assault, domestic violence, theft, white-collar, federal, juvenile, sex crimes, weapons and traffic. Each has its own searches, its own worries, its own evidence and its own bar-rule limits on how a lawyer may advertise around it.
A strong defense site gives each major charge its own page, with depth that matches how often people in your market search for it. A DUI page that people in your county actually find is worth more than several general "criminal defense services" pages. Your main criminal defense page and the charge pages under it link to each other, so a reader and a search engine can both see how they fit.
The attorney bio does real work
In criminal defense, people search for the lawyer. They search by name, by background ("former prosecutor") and by experience ("federal criminal defense attorney"). Many firm sites give each attorney a short paragraph and a headshot.
A bio that helps someone decide carries the full record: courts admitted, bar memberships, publications, speaking, and case results where your state bar allows them. It carries schema, the labels that tell search engines this is an attorney and what they practice, and it is linked from every charge page that attorney handles. The detail is on on-page SEO and technical SEO, and the line on case results is on bar-compliant marketing.
Reviews that respect confidentiality
Criminal defense clients are often reluctant to post under their real names or to mention the charge, and that is their right. The review program has to respect that while still earning steady, recent reviews. Short, general reviews like "[Attorney] helped me through a difficult time" are normal and honest in this practice.
Replies need the same care. A reply that mentions the case can break confidentiality, so replies stay warm and general. The review management page covers the request wording and replies that fit both your confidentiality duties and the review platforms' rules.
Local results carry a lot of weight
Criminal defense is a local practice. Most people want a lawyer who knows their courthouse, so the map pack, the short list of firms Google shows beside a map, matters a great deal. Map pack ranking for attorneys covers what moves it.
If your firm appears in several courts, geo landing pages explains how to answer "[charge] lawyer in [city]" searches in each one, without copying the same page with a new city name.
Every call needs an owner
Arrests do not keep office hours. A missed call at night is often a family that calls the next firm on the list. We map how your calls, forms and after-hours messages are handled, and intake support sets up the routing, the follow-up and the record. Your team answers; the setup makes sure nobody slips.
Some clients face more than one problem. A charge can carry immigration consequences, and domestic violence cases can meet family law in protective orders. If your firm covers those too, the pages should link. More practice plans are on the SEO for law firms page.
What you get in a criminal defense engagement
Structure
Your main criminal defense page with charge pages under it, attorney bios with schema, and pages by court or county.
Local
Your Google Business Profile built out, a review program with bar-aware request wording, and consistent listings across directories.
Content
Charge questions, sentencing guides and court-process explainers, written for the moment someone needs them.
Reporting
Cost per signed case by charge type and by source, from your intake records.
Before you make the plan.
Can we publish case results?
Where your state bar permits it, with the disclaimers it requires. We check each result against the rules before it goes live. See bar-compliant marketing.
Do we need a page for every county?
Only for the courts you actually appear in and can say something useful about.
Is the work always done in the same order?
No. The order comes from your audit of 30 checks. A missing charge page might come first for one firm, and reviews for another.
How do we start?
With a free strategy call, plus a written audit of your site. It is yours to keep, whether you hire us or not.
The next useful question.
See how this work connects to the rest of your plan.
Start with your firm
Can the urgent search reach you?
Let’s look at your charge pages, the courts you serve and the person who answers. The first plan should make that path clearer.
Book a FREE Strategy Call