How We Grew Organic Leads 312% for a London Law Firm in 8 Months

This is a full case study breakdown of an SEO engagement with a Central London family law firm. We're sharing the specific strategy, what we actually did each month, and the outcomes — because we believe in showing the work, not just claiming credit for results.

The situation

Sarah, the managing partner, came to us after two previous SEO agencies had failed to move the needle. The firm had 14 solicitors, a two-decade reputation, and was generating almost no leads from Google. Their website was last redesigned in 2019 and ranked on page 3–5 for every core keyword.

The diagnosis

Our initial audit found three core problems:

• 140+ broken internal links, multiple pages with duplicate title tags, and no schema markup
• All services listed on a single /services page — Google couldn't understand topical relevance by practice area
• No systematic review generation — 12 reviews accumulated over 6 years, no process to ask for more

Month 1–2: Technical foundation

We rebuilt the site architecture before touching any content. Each practice area got its own dedicated page: divorce solicitors London, child custody solicitors London, prenuptial agreements London, and so on. Internal links connected these practice area pages to supporting article clusters.

We implemented LegalService schema with attorney credentials, fixed all broken links, resolved the duplicate title tag issues, and optimised Core Web Vitals to bring load time under 2 seconds.

Month 2–4: Content build

We created 35 content pieces targeting informational queries their potential clients were searching. Topics like 'how long does divorce take in England', 'how are assets divided in UK divorce', 'what does a child custody case involve'. These aren't direct commercial queries — but they build topical authority and bring in people at the start of their legal journey.

Each piece was written to answer the question genuinely and completely, with a clear internal link to the relevant practice area page.

Month 3–8: GBP and review generation

We rebuilt their Google Business Profile from scratch. New description, correct practice area categories, 40+ photos, weekly posts. We implemented a review request email sent automatically to every client at case close — with direct link to their GBP review form.

In 5 months, their review count went from 12 to 40. Average rating went from 3.8 to 4.9. This drove their local pack ranking from non-existent to top 3 for 'family solicitor London' and 12 related searches.

Month 5–8: Authority building

With technical and content foundations solid, we focused on building domain authority. We secured placements in 3 London legal publications, cleaned up and standardised 40+ legal directory citations, and built relationships with 2 local referral sources (estate agents and financial advisors who regularly needed to refer clients to solicitors).

Results at month 8

We went from hoping the phone would ring to having a waitlist. The quality of enquiries changed too — people arrive already understanding our process and fees. — Sarah M., Managing Partner

What we'd do differently

We should have started the review generation system in month 1, not month 3. The local pack improvements that came from review growth were the fastest-acting changes — we left two months of potential gains on the table by starting it late.