Google Reviews for Lawyers: What Actually Works

Law firms have unique challenges when it comes to getting Google reviews. 

So many lawyers I consult with don’t actually have a Google review strategy. They just do their jobs, try to please clients, and hope to get Google reviews organically. And while you may get the occasional review this way, it’s not scalable or sustainable for real growth. 

I’ll show you what actually works, and how to handle some sensitive situations with personal injury clients who may not be in a position to leave you a review.

The Importance of Google Reviews For Law Firm Marketing

There is a direct correlation between Google reviews and local SEO for lawyers. So when someone searches “lawyer near me” or “attorney [your city]” on Google, the top organic results are always law firms with a high volume of recent, relevant, and positive reviews.

Don’t believe me?

Run these searches now for your city or state. You can get more specific by adding keywords related to your practice area. 

Google reviews help lawyers:

• Rank organically for local searches
• Create trust and credibility for prospective clients
• Build authority in search engines
• Boost domain visibility and increase site traffic
• Appear in map searches when people look for lawyers nearby

All of this gives you the edge over other practices competing for the same clients.

Conversely, if you fail to prioritize Google reviews, other law firms are going to rank ahead of you and get leads from clients that would otherwise be yours. 

How to Get Google Reviews For Your Law Firm

Add Review Links to Your Email Signature: This is a quick trick that can make a huge impact. Anyone you’re corresponding with via email can easily leave you a review in a single click, which is much easier than having to find your profile on their own. Less friction = more reviews. 

Authentic Cold Outreach: Instead of sending out mass email blasts to everyone in your contact list, authentic asks tend to have far better success rates. Whether it’s via email, call, text, or LinkedIn DM, the recipient can tell the difference if you crafted the review ask specifically for them or if it’s generic. Keep these short, but be direct, specific to how you helped them, and explain how helpful it would be to you personally. 

Follow Up: If someone told you that they’re going to leave you a review, follow up and make sure they actually did. Anyone who says this is likely being sincere about it. So if they didn’t leave the review, it probably just slipped their mind and a slight nudge (days later) will likely make it happen. 

Strategically Place Review CTAs on Your Site: 99% of the CTAs on your website should be focused on getting new client consultations. So you obviously don’t want to hurt those conversions to favor reviews. But if you have any specific pages on your site for existing clients, potentially behind a login or client portal, these are excellent spots for “Leave Us a Review” buttons.

Get the Whole Practice Involved: To maximize the chances of getting as many Google reviews as possible, you should be soliciting help from the whole firm. Partners, other attorneys, receptionists — everyone. They should have review links in their email signature and also be doing their own cold outreach. Make sure everyone understands the importance of getting reviews.

Respond to All Reviews: Answering all Google reviews (both positive and negative) in a timely and professional manner also helps a ton. It signals to those on the fence about leaving a comment that you’re actually taking their feedback seriously, and it also shows Google that you’re active and engaged. This helps push you up in the results, too. 

Establish Review Goals and Benchmark Progress: Google reviews need to be part of your overall attorney marketing strategy. Just like you should have a plan for how often you’re posting on social media or how many blog posts you’re publishing per week, you should also use concrete numbers for how many new reviews you want to get per month. Then work backwards to determine how many weekly cold outreach emails you should be sending to get there.

Be Sincere and Genuinely Helpful in All Interactions: Go above and beyond when you’re interacting with people, even when it’s outside the scope of your professional duty. Small changes in the way you carry yourself can make people more willing to help you, and they’ll go out of their way to write a review in scenarios where they otherwise wouldn’t have.  

Alternative Options for Personal Injury Lawyers

Traditional Google review strategies don’t always work in certain scenarios. 

For example, let’s say you’re a personal injury attorney who specializes in mesothelioma cases. You’re probably not going to ask a sick or dying client to write you a review. And you certainly aren’t going to ask the spouse or family member to leave a review after their loved one passes away.

If your practice falls into this category, you’ll need to look for alternative sources for reviews.

Start by digging into your network. Other attorneys can write reviews for your practice if you refer them clients outside of your practice area or consult with them on cases for their clients. 

From there, consider anyone who interacts with you or your firm as a potential candidate for writing reviews.

This could mean anyone who hears you speak at a seminar or conference. Or you could politely ask people who receive free consultations from your firm, but never sign on as a client. Heck, I’ve even seen lawyers get Google reviews from people who listen to their podcast, read their blog for legal advice, or heard them as a guest on another podcast. 

The idea here is that it can really be anyone. And as long as they actually interacted with you or your firm, it’s not against Google’s policies for them to write you a review. 

Mistakes to Avoid

These are the most common mistakes that I see lawyers make when trying to get Google reviews for their practice:

• Doing nothing and “hoping” reviews will come naturally.
• Underestimating the importance of Google reviews.
• Offering incentives to clients for leaving reviews.
• Using review software to automate the process.
• Relying on third-party services to get reviews on your behalf. 
• Giving up on your strategy too soon if you’re not getting reviews right away.

There are plenty of sources on the web giving advice to lawyers seeking Google reviews. Most of them are selling some type of software or service designed to help you get more reviews.

These may work for certain types of businesses, like retailers selling t-shirts online. But those types of large-scale programs just don’t work for attorney marketing.

Those third-party tools and services not only violate Google’s terms, but you also run the risk of violating bar rules. You don’t want something like review outreach in the hands of someone else who may “buy” reviews or do anything that goes against what your firm represents. 

Keep this in-house where you have control. 

Final Thoughts

Law firms with hundreds or thousands of 5-star Google reviews didn’t get there by accident. They’ve incorporated review management into their overall lawyer SEO strategy, and it’s paying off.

You can do the same. Just stay the course.

Getting 50 reviews overnight isn’t going to happen (and it would likely send major red flags to Google). But getting a few reviews every week or month will have a snowball effect that will ultimately lead to even more reviews.

With these reviews, your law firm will get more visibility on Google, rank higher in local searches, and ultimately get more qualified leads. 

Just apply the tips I’ve covered above, and you can always reach out to me if you have any questions or need specific advice for your practice.