2025 FindLaw Review: Benefits, Drawbacks, and Winning Tactics

Is FindLaw really the game-changer it claims to be for small law firms? Since 1995, FindLaw has stood as a prominent legal directory, owned by Thomson Reuters, with its listings consistently ranking high in organic search results. But with over a million visitors each month, is this legal marketing giant truly worth the investment, or are there hidden pitfalls that could cost more than they return?

In this guide, we’ll break down the benefits of the marketing tool for attorneys, drawbacks, and key considerations so you can decide if FindLaw is the right choice for your firm’s online presence.

What Is FindLaw?

Initially created as a resource hub for online legal information, FindLaw evolved significantly over the years. By 2012, it shifted its focus to becoming a comprehensive law firm directory, now covering over 100 practice areas and hosting profiles of thousands of attorneys across the U.S.

The platform serves both legal professionals and the public, offering everything from legal updates and case law to a robust attorney search tool.

FindLaw directory has become a key player in digital marketing for lawyers, but is it the right choice for every law firm?

The Benefits of Having a FindLaw Profile

One of the major benefits of a FindLaw profile is the effect a listing can have on your law firm's search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.

Link building is one of the most powerful off-site SEO tactics and one of the benefits of FindLaw SEO is that it provides you with a backlink to your website.

FindLaw's law firm backlinks are particularly valuable because of the volume of traffic the website receives. This traffic adds to your website's perceived authority and will eventually increase your organic traffic.

There are additional branding opportunities that allow you to share news about your FindLaw reviews. For example, the brand that owns FindLaw also owns SuperLawyers, another rating service. If your law firm has been ranked there, your legal profile will also link to your SuperLawyers rating.

This backlinking is important because the Super Lawyer designation is highly respected. It's worth creating a profile on FindLaw if you have received this designation. Your FindLaw profile can be a very helpful tool for digital marketing and SEO services.

How to Get Started with FindLaw

As an attorney, you will have to create a FindLaw profile for yourself and your law firm. A free profile on the FindLaw site will allow you to enter your name and basic contact information. You can also detail your practice areas.

To create a profile, you will:

• Follow the "create an account" link
• Tap or click "register here"

• Enter and confirm your email address

• Add your FindLaw lawyer directory information

After you click submit, there will be a few instructions to follow. Then, the FindLaw team will review the information you entered. You should see your information posted on the FindLaw site in a couple of days.

If you are willing to pay for a premium law firm profile, you will be allowed to add important, additional information.

This information includes up to 4,000 words of text to describe your practice, the addition of other practice areas, as well as details such as:

• Past employment info
• Percentage of litigation your law firm handles
• Examples of cases and clients
• Bar memberships and education
• Honors and awards
• Recommendations from others
• Memberships in professional organizations
• Languages that are spoken in your law practice
• Information on pro bono work
• Mergers and acquisitions involving your law firm
• Previous law firm names
• Your published work

If you fill out a form for a premium profile, someone from FindLaw marketing services will assist you with pricing for your law firm and other information.

The Advantages of Having a FindLaw Profile

Having a FindLaw profile offers a range of benefits for law firms. From boosting online visibility to building credibility, it’s a valuable tool to help attract potential clients, boost your social media marketing and establish your firm’s presence in the legal market.

Gainig High-Value Backlinks

FindLaw offers a strategic advantage for law firms, especially smaller ones aiming to grow their digital footprint. By being listed on FindLaw’s network of legal directory websites—such as Lawyers.FindLaw.com, SuperLawyers.com, LawInfo.com, and Abogado.com—you gain valuable backlinks and citations that boost your website's SEO performance. This is increasingly important as Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) prioritizes trusted sources.

Additionally, in many geographies and practice areas, FindLaw’s directory pages rank well for high-intent searches, generating traffic and potential leads directly from the legal directories. The combination of improved search visibility and potential referral leads makes a FindLaw profile a worthwhile investment.

Acquiring FindLaw Client Reviews for Your Law Firm

Once FindLaw website reviews are enabled, clients can easily leave a rating and share their feedback by clicking the review button at the top of your FindLaw profile. This provides an opportunity for both current and potential clients to share their opinions, contributing to your firm’s credibility.

The review process includes a star rating on a scale of one to five, a short opinion of 50 characters or less, and the reviewer’s contact information.

Attorneys have the ability to manage reviews by selecting specific ones to feature at the top of their review section, ensuring that the most impactful feedback is prominently displayed.

Reviews left by verified clients are prioritized, appearing from newest to oldest, while reviews from unverified clients are shown at the bottom of the list. This structure not only enhances transparency but also encourages potential clients to trust the reviews on your profile.

We’ll Help You Weigh the Pros and Cons

Not sure if FindLaw is right for you? Let us help you assess your current directory listings and explore alternatives tailored to your law firm.

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A Review of FindLaw's Marketing Services

FindLaw.com for legal professionals does include marketing services. However, the results they offer are mixed.

FindLaw Website Design for Attorneys

FindLaw’s website designs are easy to spot—and not in a good way. The designs are functional but lack individuality, often making competing firms look nearly identical. They also use a proprietary content management system (CMS), which makes updating your site difficult while you’re a client and almost impossible if you leave.

Other Options for Creating a Web Presence for Law Firms

FindLaw is just one third-party provider that offers website design and law firm marketing. Justia is another popular choice. Our Justia Lawyer Directory Guide provides helpful insights into this service.

There's also SuperLawyers. While this isn't a web design service, it does offer backlinks and other digital marketing benefits. Our SuperLawyers directory guide offers insights on using this site to maximize its benefits for your legal practice.

FindLaw Website Content

The most important component of any legal website is its content. While FindLaw claims strong attorney content marketing, it’s unclear who writes the content, how quality is managed, or how much say you have in content direction. Before committing, ask these critical questions:

• Who writes the content, and how is quality checked?
• Is the content exclusive to your site?
• Can you change or remove content if needed?
• Do you own the content if you leave FindLaw?

FindLaw Law Firm SEO Services

FindLaw’s SEO's services shines with backlinks, particularly by linking to your site from their own high-traffic pages. But, if you leave FindLaw directory, those links disappear. Their overall FindLaw SEO techniques lag behind industry standards, with inconsistent page structures and lackluster keyword research.

Keyword research is also an issue. It doesn't appear that much time is spent on this research, despite it being such an important part of modern legal marketing services.

PPC FindLaw Review

FindLaw offers pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which can boost visibility but is often expensive for attorneys. While PPC might generate traffic, organic leads generally convert better. Plus, since FindLaw may also run ads for your direct competitors, this could create a conflict of interest. Without transparency on their fee structure, it’s hard to gauge the return on investment.

Lawyers should feel absolutely confident that they are getting a good return on any money they spend with a company that offers PPC service for a law firm.

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Other Options for Creating a Web Presence for Law Firms

FindLaw is just one third-party provider that offers website design and law firm marketing. Justia is another popular choice. Our Justia Lawyer Directory Guide provides helpful insights into this service.

There's also SuperLawyers. While this isn't a web design service, it does offer backlinks and other digital marketing benefits. Our SuperLawyers Directory Guide offers insights on using this site to maximize its benefits for your legal practice.

Making the Most of FindLaw Listings

An optimized FindLaw directory listing can significantly boost your firm’s visibility and attract more clients. Using this platform effectively, you can stand out in a crowded legal market and enhance your online presence. Here’s how to make the most of it.

Create Your Own High-Quality Content

FindLaw content often falls short, as their pages are typically much shorter than the 1,000+ words found on top-ranking Google pages. While FindLaw emphasizes keyword optimization, it’s only part of the equation.

To stand out in competitive markets, your content must be in-depth, audience-focused, and directly relevant to your practice. Producing your own high-quality content is a smarter strategy for earning leads and dominating search rankings.

Demand Better Marketing Insights

FindLaw’s marketing reports often lack the depth needed for meaningful insights. A simple page view doesn’t reveal the critical path a potential client took to get there. While FindLaw invests heavily in Google Ads, their reliance on generic keywords drives unqualified traffic with low conversion potential.

Using tools like Google Analytics can provide better insights, helping you track whether leads come from FindLaw’s efforts or branded keyword searches, so you can focus on strategies that truly deliver results.

Analyze Competing Law Firms

When searching for relevant keywords, you’ll notice competing law firms and marketing companies like FindLaw, which works with attorneys in similar practice areas and locations. While FindLaw invests in its own rankings, it also promotes your direct competitors. To respond, build relationships with high-ranking directories by creating free profiles and completing your account information. This strategy helps you earn backlinks and even occasional leads while setting your firm apart from the competition.

FindLaw FAQ

FindLaw Review Summary

Would your law practice benefit from using FindLaw for directory services, marketing, PPC, SEO, or website development? There's certainly a lot of information to absorb. Here are some key points to keep in mind as you make your determination.

FindLaw may offer legal directories, SEO, and PPC, but their restrictive contracts and lack of asset ownership can limit your long-term growth. At Grow Law Firm, we do things differently. You’ll own everything we create—blogs, videos, designs—and our strategies are built to keep delivering results long after our partnership ends. Don’t settle for marketing that locks you in, choose a law firm SEO agency that puts your firm in control and sets you up for lasting success. Let’s grow together!