Pages a solicitor's website should have

A solicitor's website has one job. It helps a person who has a problem decide whether to pick up the phone. That's it.

Most firm sites try to do far more. They carry every service ever offered, a wall of text nobody reads, and a stock photo of a gavel. So here's the plain version: a short list of pages, what each one is for, and what to leave out. Build them in order. Skip any that don't match what your firm really does.

Purpose: Tell a stranger in a few seconds who you are, what you do and how to reach you.

Start with one clear sentence. Name the firm, the town and the main kinds of work you take on. Not a slogan. A sentence a person could repeat to a friend.

Underneath, list your main areas of law, each one linking to its own page. Add a phone number, an email address and a link to the enquiry page near the top, so nobody has to hunt. Show your address and opening hours.

Keep a short line about how you work, such as a first conversation to understand the problem before anything is agreed. Add a link to your fees page and your complaints information. A visitor should be able to find those without scrolling for a week.

If you are a limited company, show the registered company name, registered number, registered office address and where you are registered. GOV.UK sets that out for UK limited companies. The footer is a fine place for it.

One photo of your real office or your real team beats a stock image every time.

Avoid vague claims like "a full range of legal services", lists of every area of law under the sun, sliding banners that move before anyone has read them, and any promise about results. Don't bury the phone number. Don't write the page for other lawyers.

Purpose: Give each kind of work its own page, so a person with a specific problem lands somewhere that speaks to it.

Only build a page for work your firm really does. If you don't act in a certain area, leave it off. A page for a service you can't deliver wastes the reader's time and yours.

On each page, describe the service in plain English. Say what kinds of situations people come to you with, what you help with, and what usually happens first. Explain the stages in ordinary words, without legal shorthand.

Name who in the firm handles this work, if they agree to be named. Link to your fees page and to the enquiry page. Say how to get started.

Each page needs to carry something genuinely different. Google's spam policies treat many near-duplicate pages, made mainly to game the results, as spam. So don't copy one page, swap the heading and publish it ten times. If two areas of work are handled the same way by the same people, one page may be enough.

Keep to describing the service. Don't give legal advice on the page, and don't claim outcomes.

Avoid copying the same text across pages with a few words changed. Avoid jargon the client wouldn't use. Avoid pages for work you don't do, and avoid anything that reads like advice on someone's actual case. No promises about what you will win.

Purpose: Let a visitor see the real people they may be dealing with.

Nobody wants to hand a worry to a faceless firm. A short profile for each fee earner helps a person picture the first meeting.

Ask each person first. Only put someone on the page with their agreement, including their photo and their details. If someone would rather not appear, leave them off. That's their call.

Keep each profile short. Give a name, a role, the areas of law they work in and a line or two on what they do day to day. Add a plain photo if they are happy with one. Say how to contact them or the team.

Write in a normal voice. Skip the long list of every course ever attended. If a qualification matters to the work, say so briefly and accurately. If you are unsure how a title or qualification should be described, check with the relevant regulator.

Keep the profiles current. When someone leaves, take them down. An out-of-date team page tells a visitor nobody is looking after the site.

Avoid stiff third-person biographies that read like a plaque. Avoid listing people who haven't agreed. Avoid claims about results or reputation. Avoid stock photos standing in for staff.

Purpose: Show how you charge, in plain words, so nobody is afraid to ask.

Money is often the thing people worry about most. A clear fees page takes that fear out of the first call.

There is also a rule here. Solicitors' firms regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) must follow its transparency rules on what their website shows. That includes price information for certain services the firm advertises. Read the current rules on sra.org.uk and check your site against them. We won't state the details here; the SRA is the place for those.

Beyond that, explain how pricing works. Say whether work is charged by the hour, at a fixed fee, or in some other way. Say what is usually included and what might cost extra. Explain what a client will be told before work begins and how they will be kept informed. If you give a price, make sure it is current and accurate.

Don't make up figures to fill the page. If you can't state a price for a service, say how the cost is worked out and how someone can get a clear answer.

Avoid hiding fees behind "contact us for a quote" when your regulator expects more. Avoid vague wording like "competitive rates". Avoid prices that are out of date. Avoid small print tucked away where nobody will find it. And don't invent prices to make the page look complete.

Purpose: Walk a nervous person through what happens next, so contacting you feels less like jumping in.

They don't know what the first call involves or how long anything takes. This page answers that.

Write it as a short run of steps in the order they happen. For example: an enquiry comes in, someone replies, a first conversation takes place, the firm explains how it can help and what it will cost, and work begins if the client wants to go ahead. Use your real steps, not these.

Say who they will speak to and how quickly you aim to reply. Only promise a reply time you can keep. Explain what the person should have ready, such as documents or dates, if that helps.

Be honest about what you can't do. If a conversation shows that you're not the right firm, say that you will tell them. That candour is a good thing to write down.

Keep it calm and clear. This is the page a worried person reads at night.

Avoid timescales you can't meet. Avoid describing a process that doesn't match how you actually work. Avoid legal terms nobody asked for. Avoid making it sound like an obstacle course.

Purpose: Make it easy to get in touch, in whichever way suits the person.

Offer more than one route. A phone number, an email address and a short form cover most people. List your address and opening hours too.

Keep the form short. Ask for a name, a way to reply and a few words on what the matter is about. Every extra field is a reason to give up. Don't ask for sensitive detail in a form unless you have thought about how it is stored and handled; if you're unsure, check with the relevant regulator or your data protection adviser.

Say what happens next. A line such as "we will reply within a set time" works only if you do reply within that time. Confirm to the person that their message has arrived.

Test it. Fill it in yourself on a phone and on a computer. Check the message actually reaches someone, and that someone reads it. A form that sends to an inbox nobody checks is worse than no form.

Avoid long forms with a dozen required boxes. Avoid asking people to describe their whole case. Avoid a "submit" button that leads nowhere. Avoid promises of instant replies you can't keep.

Purpose: Show who regulates you and how a client can complain, in a place they can find.

This page matters, and not only for show. Firms regulated by the SRA must follow its transparency rules on what their website shows. Read the current rules on sra.org.uk and check your site against them. Don't rely on memory or on what another firm does.

Beyond what the rules require, make the information easy to reach. Link to it from the footer of every page. Use plain words. Say who regulates the firm, and explain in simple terms how a client can raise a concern with you first.

Keep the details accurate and current. If your complaints process changes, update the page the same day. If you're not sure whether a particular detail must appear, check the SRA's current rules rather than guessing.

If you are a limited company, the company details mentioned earlier belong somewhere visible too. Many firms put them together with the regulatory information.

Avoid burying this page where only a determined reader will find it. Avoid vague wording such as "we take complaints seriously" with no steps. Avoid copying text from another firm. Avoid leaving old information up after things change.

Purpose: Answer the questions people actually ask, in your own words.

Start with the real thing. Write down the questions clients and callers ask you, over and over. Those are your FAQs. Not questions you wish they'd ask, and not a list lifted from a competitor.

Keep the answers short and plain. Cover what you can state with confidence: how to get started, what to bring, how you charge and how long a first conversation takes. Add how to reach you. Link out to the fees page, the process page and the enquiry page where it helps.

Stay on the right side of one line. Do not give legal advice on the page, and don't claim outcomes. If a question needs advice on someone's own situation, the honest answer is to explain that this depends on the facts, and invite them to get in touch. Describe the service; leave the advice for the conversation.

Add to the page over time. Each time a new question comes up more than once, add it. In a year you'll have something genuinely useful, and written by the people who know.

Avoid made-up questions. Avoid answers that amount to advice about a particular case. Avoid promises about how a matter will turn out. Avoid walls of text under every question.

Purpose: Show what real clients have said, honestly and with their permission.

Use real reviews only. Never write one yourself or ask a friend to, and never edit a review to make it sound better than it was. Ask clients who have finished their matter whether they'd be willing to share a few words. Make it easy: a link and a short message.

Get permission before you put anyone's words on your site, especially in a field where privacy matters. Check with your regulator if you're unsure what you may and may not show. Leave out details that could identify a client or reveal their matter unless they've agreed.

Show reviews where they were left, if you can, and say where they came from. Keep the page up to date. A set of comments from years ago tells its own story.

Answer reviews politely, including the unhappy ones. A calm, helpful reply to a complaint says plenty about the firm.

Avoid invented testimonials. Avoid reviews you've reworded. Avoid naming clients without their agreement. Avoid claims about results taken from a review. And don't pay for reviews.

Purpose: Tell people who the firm is and exactly how to find and reach you.

Say what the firm is and how it came to be, in a few honest paragraphs. Where you're based, how long you've been there if that's true, and what you care about in how you work. Keep it human and short.

Then give the practical details. Full address, phone number, email address and opening hours. Add a map or clear directions, and say what's nearby: parking, public transport, step-free access, if you can state it accurately. Say how to reach you outside normal hours, if there's a way.

Repeat the details exactly as they appear on your letterhead, your shopfront and your Google Business Profile. Mismatches cause confusion. If your registered office differs from your trading address, show both and say which is which.

If you're a limited company, make sure the company details are shown, as GOV.UK requires for UK limited companies: the registered company name, registered number, registered office address and where registered.

Avoid a page that is all history and no contact details. Avoid different addresses in different places. Avoid vague "get in touch" with no actual way to do it. Avoid stock photography of handshakes.

Purpose: Make sure the firm shows up correctly when someone looks for a solicitor nearby.

This isn't a page on your site, but treat it like one. For a high-street firm it may be the first thing a person sees.

Use the real-world name of the business, the one shown on your shopfront, your website and your stationery. Don't add keywords to the name. Google's guidelines are clear on that. You also can't pay for a better local ranking, so be wary of anyone who says otherwise.

Keep the details complete and matching your website: address, phone number, opening hours, website link, a clear description and real photos of your office. Keep hours up to date, including holiday hours. Nothing irritates a person more than a closed door when the listing said open.

Check it regularly. Look at what's shown, fix what's wrong, and answer reviews.

For a sense of scale, DataForSEO estimates about 14,800 UK searches a month for "solicitor near me". That's a national estimate, not a figure for your town, and it shows only that people do search this way. It promises you nothing.

Avoid stuffing the name with extra words. Avoid leaving old hours up. Avoid inconsistent details between profile and site. Avoid ignoring reviews or questions.

If you're starting from scratch, do these in order.

1. Home page: who you are, what you do, and how to reach you, all in one clear screen.
2. Your main area of law pages: one for each kind of work you really do, each with something different to say.
3. Fees and how pricing works: plain words, checked against the SRA's current rules on sra.org.uk.
4. Enquiry page: a short form, a phone number and an email address that someone actually answers.
5. Regulation and complaints information: easy to find, accurate, and checked against the SRA's current rules.

Then work through the rest as time allows. Set up your Google Business Profile early; it doesn't have to wait for the site.

For anyone curious about how people look for this kind of help online, the DataForSEO estimates for UK monthly searches are small for the specialist terms: 170 for "solicitor seo", 170 for "solicitors seo", 140 for "seo for solicitors" and 90 for "solicitor website". These are national estimates from 18 October 2026, not figures for any one town. They're a rough guide at best.

You may already have some of these pages. The harder question is which ones are missing, or too thin to help anyone.

Seracu offers a free snapshot. It shows which topics your site lacks compared with competitors. That's all it does, and it's free to ask for.