Martin
Founder, strategy and audits
Writes every audit and takes every first call. On your account from day one, running growth for SMEs since 2010.
SEO for Criminal Defense
SEO for Criminal Defense Lawyers
A person charged last night does not search for your firm by name. They search for a DUI lawyer or a drug possession attorney in their county, and they call the firm whose page explains what happens next. SEO puts your firm there.
For small criminal defense firms in the United States that want search to feed the defense pipeline, with public defender and wrong-fit searches sent to their own path.
How people search before they hire a defense lawyer
Context from how your customers search, compare and book.
The search that converts is specific. DUI lawyer with a city attached, criminal defense attorney with a county attached, drug possession lawyer, domestic violence defense attorney, federal criminal defense lawyer. Searches that look similar on a keyword report belong to a different person: free criminal lawyer, public defender application, how to become a criminal lawyer, criminal lawyer salary. Each charge needs its own page, the wrong-fit searches need their own path or none at all, and the owner needs to see which search each defense inquiry came from.
Most small firm websites are built around attorney bios and a list of practice labels. The person reading on a phone at midnight after an arrest wants something else: does this firm handle my charge, does it appear in my court, what happens at the first appearance, what does it cost and who will answer if I call now. The firm that answers those questions on one plain page gets the first conversation.
Lawyer advertising is governed by the rules of professional conduct of the state where the firm's attorneys are admitted, and HeyLead holds no law license and gives no legal advice. We quote no state rule on this page and we imply no national one. The owner confirms which rules apply where the firm is admitted, and the credentials page states only the admissions, certifications and memberships the firm actually holds.
Who this SEO suits
groups Customer segments
- person Owners with 1 to 5 attorneys who grew on referrals from bail agents and former clients and have never ranked for anything but their own name
- person Firms of 5 to 20 lawyers whose site ranks for attorney names but not for DUI lawyer or criminal defense attorney with a county attached
- person Firms that defend DUI, drug, assault and theft charges and need a page for each kind of charge they take
- person Firms that appear in two or three counties from Houston and Phoenix to Chicago, Atlanta and Miami and need a presence in each
psychology What drives their decision
- check_circle Charge, court and county pages written for the question the person charged or their family searched
- check_circle A page that explains what happens after an arrest and at the first appearance, with no promised result
- check_circle A retainer page that explains how the firm bills in USD, whether a flat fee by stage or an hourly rate
- check_circle Inquiry tracking that shows which search produced each defense conversation
How we deliver SEO
A clear, repeatable process built around how criminal defense customers search and decide.
1
Search and page audit
We map the charge, court and county searches people type in the United States to the pages you have and the pages you lack, separate the public defender and student searches from the client ones, check every admission, certification and membership claim on the site against what the firm actually holds, and test whether forms and call tracking record correctly, including after hours.
2
What happens next and retainer pages
One page for what happens after an arrest and at the first appearance, one for how the firm handles a contested matter from arraignment to trial, one for how it bills in USD and what a retainer covers, and one for the admissions and memberships the firm holds. Each page ends with a short intake form that asks for the charge, the court date and the county.
3
Charge and county pages
A page for each kind of charge the firm defends and a short page for each county it appears in from Houston and Phoenix to Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, with the attorney who covers that courthouse and the kinds of matters the firm has handled there in general terms. Family or employment content, if the firm wants it, lives on its own section with its own tracking.
4
Plain-language content
Short articles for the questions people actually type: what happens at an arraignment, what a bond hearing is, whether to speak to a detective without a lawyer, what a license suspension deadline means after a DUI arrest. Written in plain words, with no promised result and no legal advice.
5
Tracking and monthly review
Calls and forms are tagged by page and search, with defense and wrong-fit inquiries on separate lines. Where your practice management system records retainer signed, those results are added so the monthly report shows defense conversations rather than visits. Each month we review which pages produced defense inquiries and what to add or fix next.
search
What Criminal Defense SEO includes
Help nearby customers find you on Google before they call a competitor
- check_circle Search and page map for defense intent, with wrong-fit intent separated
- check_circle What happens next, retainer and credentials pages
- check_circle Admission and membership claim review
- check_circle Charge, court and county pages
- check_circle Short monthly report on defense inquiries by search
What you can expect
- verified People charged, and the families calling for them, find your firm for charge and county searches in the United States
- verified The what happens next page answers the first appearance question before the call
- verified The retainer page explains how you bill in USD, with no promised result
- verified Defense and wrong-fit pages are measured separately, so you know which one brings matters
- verified Admission and membership claims on the site match what the firm holds
- verified Defense inquiries arrive tagged with the page or search behind them
Deliverables you receive
inventory_2 What happens next, retainer and credentials pages with the person's question answered first
inventory_2 Admission, certification and membership claims reviewed against what the firm actually holds
inventory_2 Charge pages for each kind of matter the firm takes, and county pages from Houston and Phoenix to Chicago, Atlanta and Miami
inventory_2 Family or employment sections kept on their own path with their own tracking, or removed from the defense pages entirely
inventory_2 Short articles for the plain questions people and their families type after an arrest
inventory_2 Call and form tracking showing which search produced each defense inquiry
Technical approach
The mechanics behind SEO for criminal defense, explained plainly.
Structured data and consistency
The office page and each charge page carry structured data for a legal service with the firm's name, address, phone and the counties served. Those details stay identical across the site, the Business Profile and directories, which is what local results depend on.
Phone-first intake path, nights included
People search after an arrest on a phone, often late at night. Images are compressed, scripts are trimmed, the call button and phone number are large tap targets, and the short intake form submits on the first try and asks for the charge, the court date and the county rather than the whole story.
Defense and wrong-fit tracking apart
Defense forms and calls are tagged by page and search. Family or employment forms, if the firm keeps them, record to a separate goal. Where your practice management system records retainer signed, those results are added so reports show matters rather than visits, without any client detail leaving the firm.
Marketing from $500 USD a month
Month to month, no commitment. One fee covers the pages, the search and ad work and the tracking. Ad spend is separate and stays in your own accounts.
Starting at
$500 USD per month
Free to cancel with 1 month's notice. Tell us what you sell and where. We come back with what the first month would fix.
Get a Free AuditWhat $500 a month covers
Pages
IncludedPages built around the searches your buyers actually type.
Search and ads
IncludedSearch and ads aimed at people ready to inquire.
Tracking
IncludedCalls, forms and bookings tagged to the search, ad or page behind them.
What to expect from SEO
Search visibility for charge and county terms builds over months, and a person who found the firm once often sends the next family member who needs it. The first weeks fix what blocks an inquiry, and later months add depth for each kind of charge and each question.
Days 1 to 14
We audit pages, tracking and every admission and membership claim, fix dead form links, broken call tracking and after-hours calls that go nowhere, and agree the page plan and the credentials wording with you. Anything that stops a person reaching an attorney is repaired first.
Weeks 3 to 8
The what happens next page, the retainer page and the priority charge pages go live, any family or employment section is moved to its own path and the first articles are published. You start to see which searches bring defense inquiries and which pages need clearer answers.
Months 3 to 6 and beyond
Pages mature and visibility improves for each kind of charge and each county in the United States. We refine against inquiry and retainer data. We cannot promise positions, because competition and the market shape results.
Other Criminal Defense marketing services
Our team
The same people on the audit and on the work
Martin writes every audit and takes the first call. The same team stays on the account. 160+ businesses since 2010.
Yoana
Social and app development
Shapes social strategy and builds practical app experiences that turn attention into action.
Mike
SEO
Owns technical, local and content SEO so the right buyers find you when demand is highest.
Robert
Paid media
Plans and manages paid search and social campaigns around qualified leads.
Elmer
Analytics
Connects tracking, attribution and reporting so decisions are based on revenue-quality data.
Dino
Design
Creates clear brand and conversion-focused design across landing pages, campaigns and product experiences.
Certified and experienced
Certified where it matters. Accountable for the outcome.
Verified platform knowledge, 25+ years of hands-on experience, and an operating track record since 2010.
Google AdsCertified
✓Google AnalyticsCertified
✓Google Tag ManagerCertified
✓Operating since 2010Proven experience
✓Frequently Asked Questions
How long does criminal defense SEO take? expand_more
The what happens next page, the retainer page and inquiry tracking usually happen within weeks, while stronger visibility for charge and county searches builds over months. Anyone promising a fixed rank by a fixed date is guessing. We report progress as it comes.
Should we rank for public defender? expand_more
Only if you want people who will not hire you. A page titled public defender brings people applying for appointed counsel, which is fine on an information section with its own tracking, but it does nothing for the firm's pipeline and it muddies the numbers. The defense pages target DUI, drug, assault and other charges with a city, a county or the word attorney attached.
Should our website show fees? expand_more
We recommend a page that explains how the firm bills, whether a flat fee by stage, a flat fee for the whole matter or an hourly rate against a deposit, using the figures the owner sets in USD. It does not need to quote a rate, but it should remove the fear that fees are a secret.
How do you write about admissions and certifications? expand_more
We state the admissions, certifications and memberships the firm holds, confirmed by the owner, and we never imply a specialty certification the firm does not hold. The advertising rules are set by the state where the firm is admitted and the owner confirms what applies. The owner approves the page before it goes live.
Will you write about our cases? expand_more
Only in the general terms the owner approves, such as the kind of charge and the court, and never with a client name, a case number, a confidential fact or a result presented as typical. Confidentiality is part of why a person hires private counsel.
Can SEO promise a number of clients? expand_more
No. People hire counsel on their own schedule and the firm decides which matters to take. We do not promise a number of clients, a dismissal, an acquittal or a reduced charge, and we do not quote a success rate. We report which pages and searches produced defense inquiries so you can judge the channel on evidence.
Ready to get more from Criminal Defense SEO?
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