local-legal-seo-audit

What this skill does

# Local Legal SEO Audit

You are an expert in local SEO for legal and professional services. Your goal is to audit and improve the organic visibility of law firms, attorneys, forensic experts, legal consultants, and related professional services with a local or regional presence.

This skill is scoped to the **specific needs of legal and professional services sites**, where trust signals, local authority, E-E-A-T, and directory presence are the primary ranking levers.

## When to Use
Use this skill when:
- You need to audit or improve local SEO for a law firm, attorney, forensic expert, or similar legal/professional services website.
- The goal is to improve visibility in Google local pack/maps, legal directories, and local organic results for specific practice areas or cities.

Do **not** use this skill when:
- You need a general SEO health check across any niche (use `seo-audit`).
- You are investigating a sudden traffic or rankings crash (use `seo-forensic-incident-response`).

---

## Initial Assessment

Before auditing, gather context:

1. **Practice & Business Context**
   - What is the practice area? (criminal law, civil litigation, forensic expertise, notary, etc.)
   - Solo practitioner, small firm, or large office?
   - Single location or multiple offices?
   - Primary geographic target? (city, state, region, national)

2. **Current Visibility**
   - Are they appearing in Google local pack (maps results)?
   - What keywords are they currently ranking for?
   - Do they have a Google Business Profile?
   - Any competitor firms consistently outranking them?

3. **Existing Assets**
   - Do they have a website? CMS used?
   - Do they have a Google Business Profile?
   - Are they listed in legal directories (Jusbrasil, OAB, Avvo, Justia, FindLaw, etc.)?
   - Do they have any reviews?

4. **Goals**
   - Drive phone calls and contact form submissions?
   - Rank for specific case types (e.g., "advogado criminal em [cidade]")?
   - Build authority for forensic reports or expert witness services?

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## Audit Framework

### Priority Order for Legal & Forensic Sites

1. **Google Business Profile & Local Pack** (highest impact for local queries)
2. **E-E-A-T & Trust Signals** (critical for YMYL — legal is a Your Money or Your Life category)
3. **On-Page Optimization** (practice area pages, location pages)
4. **Technical Foundations** (crawlability, mobile, speed)
5. **Directory & Citation Consistency** (NAP, legal directories)
6. **Content Strategy** (FAQ, blog, case types)
7. **Reviews & Reputation** (trust and local ranking factor)

---

## Google Business Profile (GBP) Audit

For legal services, GBP is often the single highest-ROI local SEO asset.

**Profile Completeness**
- Business name matches website and directories exactly
- Correct primary category (e.g., "Law Firm", "Attorney", "Forensic Consultant")
- Secondary categories added where relevant
- Full address and service area configured
- Primary phone number consistent with website
- Website URL linked correctly
- Business hours accurate and updated
- Services listed with descriptions
- Q&A section populated with common questions

**Photos & Visual Content**
- Office exterior and interior photos
- Team photos (humanize the brand)
- Logo uploaded
- Regular photo updates (signals active profile)

**Reviews**
- Total number of reviews vs. local competitors
- Average star rating
- Owner responses to reviews (all, especially negative)
- Review velocity (frequency of new reviews)
- Strategy for ethically requesting reviews from satisfied clients

**GBP Posts**
- Regular posts (news, case type highlights, legal tips)
- Event posts for seminars or free consultations
- Offer posts if applicable

---

## E-E-A-T Audit for Legal Sites

Legal sites fall under Google's YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) classification. E-E-A-T signals are heavily weighted.

### Experience
- Does the site demonstrate real case experience?
- Are there case studies, results, or anonymized client outcomes?
- Does the attorney/expert have documented field experience? (years, cases, specializations)
- For forensic experts: are expert witness history, court appearances, or published reports referenced?

### Expertise
- Attorney/expert bio pages with:
  - Academic credentials (graduation, postgraduate, PhD, certifications)
  - Bar registration number or professional council registration (OAB, CFC, etc.)
  - Areas of specialization clearly stated
  - Publications, articles, or academic contributions
  - Speaking engagements or media appearances
- Content written or reviewed by a qualified professional
- Accurate, up-to-date legal information

### Authoritativeness
- Is the firm/expert cited or referenced by external sources?
- Are they listed in authoritative legal directories?
- Media mentions, interviews, or press coverage
- Recognized by professional associations
- Academic publications or research (especially relevant for forensic experts)

### Trustworthiness
- Clear "About" page with real people and credentials
- Physical address visible and verifiable
- Contact page with phone, email, and address
- Privacy policy and terms of use
- Secure site (HTTPS, valid SSL)
- No misleading claims or guarantees of outcomes
- Disclaimer on legal content where applicable

---

## On-Page SEO Audit

### Practice Area Pages

Each major practice area or service should have a dedicated, optimized page.

**Check for:**
- One page per distinct practice area (e.g., "Defesa Criminal", "Perícia Digital", "Laudo Grafotécnico")
- Primary keyword in title tag, H1, and URL
- Unique, expert-written content per page
- Internal links to and from the homepage and other related pages
- Clear calls to action (phone number, WhatsApp button, contact form)
- Schema markup for LegalService or ProfessionalService (see schema-markup skill)

**Common issues:**
- All services crammed onto a single page
- Generic content not differentiated by specialty
- No clear geographic signal on practice area pages

### Location Pages

For firms serving multiple cities or regions:

- Dedicated page per location with unique content
- City/neighborhood keyword in title, H1, and URL
- Embed Google Maps on each location page
- NAP (Name, Address, Phone) consistent with GBP
- Local landmarks, courthouse references, or regional context
- No copy-paste duplicate content across location pages

### Homepage

- Clear headline communicating practice area + location
- Primary keyword (e.g., "Escritório de Advocacia Criminal em Belo Horizonte")
- Trust signals above the fold: years of experience, credentials, bar number
- Social proof: client count, case count, review snippets
- Clear primary CTA (call, WhatsApp, free consultation)

### Title Tags & Meta Descriptions

- Format for legal pages: `[Service] em [City] | [Firm Name]`
- Include primary keyword naturally
- Meta descriptions: highlight differentiator (experience, specialization, availability)
- No duplicate titles or descriptions across pages

### Heading Structure

- Single H1 per page with primary keyword
- H2s for subsections (subtopics of the practice area)
- H3s for supporting details
- No headings used purely for styling

---

## Technical SEO Audit

Focus on issues most common in legal site CMS platforms (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace):

**Mobile Experience**
- Most legal searches happen on mobile
- Click-to-call button prominent on mobile
- Fast load time on 4G/mobile networks
- No intrusive pop-ups that block content on mobile

**Core Web Vitals**
- LCP < 2.5s (especially homepage and practice area pages)
- CLS < 0.1 (common issue on sites with banners or cookie popups)
- INP < 200ms

**Crawlability**
- Robots.txt not blocking key pages
- XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console
- All practice area and location pages indexed

**HTTPS & Security**
- Full HTTPS with valid certificate
- No mixed content
- Privacy policy accessible

**URL Structure**
- Clean, readable URLs: `/advogado-criminal-belo-horizonte/`
- No session