Short answer: most UK law firms pay between £500 and £8,000 a month for SEO, and the largest firms pay more. Where you sit depends on who does the work and how much of it there is. A local package from a generalist agency starts at around £500 plus VAT a month. Senior, specialist work for a multi-practice firm sits in the thousands.
I’ve worked in search for 25+ years, including sixteen years in-house as director of digital marketing at two UK law firms, so I’ve bought SEO as well as sold it. This guide is the market as I see it, not a price list for my own work. My own fees are on my pricing page.
Typical monthly costs, by type of provider
| Provider | Typical monthly fee | Who does the work | Usually suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generalist SME agency | £500 to £1,500 | Often junior staff, usually without a legal-sector focus | A small firm in one practice area and one town |
| Legal-specialist agency | £1,500 to £5,000 | A mixed team with sector knowledge | Established firms with several practice areas |
| Senior independent consultant | £3,000 to £8,000 | One senior person, with direct partner access | Firms treating search as a priority |
| Large advisory or consulting firm | £10,000+ | Partner-led teams | The largest UK and international firms |
Ranges are my view of the UK market in 2026, not quotes. For a published example, Green Gecko Digital lists law firm local SEO packages at £500, £1,000 and £1,500 plus VAT a month, covering one, three and five pages (source, checked October 2026).
The ranges overlap because the label doesn’t decide the price. The scope does.
What drives the cost
- Size of the firm. More fee earners usually means more practice areas, more offices and more people to sign off copy.
- How competitive your market is. Personal injury in Manchester is a different job from wills in a market town.
- Where you’re starting from. A site with technical problems, thin practice pages or a neglected Google Business Profile needs more foundation work in the first six months.
- What’s included. SEO on its own costs less than SEO plus AI search visibility, content and digital PR.
- Who signs off. Every page on a regulated firm’s site needs checking against the SRA Code of Conduct and Transparency Rules. If your COLP or a partner reviews copy, build that time in.
What you get at each level
- Around £500 to £1,500 a month: usually a few pages optimised for local terms, Google Business Profile updates and a monthly summary. That’s fine for a small single-office firm. There’s rarely much new content or technical work at this level.
- Around £1,500 to £5,000 a month: practice-area content, technical fixes, local SEO across offices and some link building, with a team who know the sector.
- Around £3,000 to £8,000 a month: a senior person doing the strategy and the work, partner-level conversations, AI search visibility and SRA-aware copy. You pay for judgement rather than hours.
- £10,000+ a month: large teams and wider digital strategy for national and international firms.
I quote each firm in writing after a short call. The details are on pricing, and what my monthly work covers is on the SEO for solicitors and SEO retainer pages.
The costs people forget
- Your own time. Partner input, copy sign-off and asking clients for reviews all take hours inside the firm.
- Content. Some providers charge for writing separately. If you outsource it, a substantial practice-area page can cost £500 to £1,500, and most firms need 20 to 40 of them in the first year. Ask how many pages a month the fee includes.
- Tools. Some programmes pass on the cost of rank tracking or review platforms, usually £100 to £500 a month.
Red flags
- Guaranteed rankings or “page one in 30 days”. Nobody controls Google’s results.
- Long lock-in contracts with no exit after the first six months.
- No named person doing the work, or a pitch from a senior person and delivery by someone else.
- Reports full of traffic and no enquiries. Ask how they’ll show enquiries and instructions.
- Copy that ignores the SRA rules, such as “best solicitors in Leeds”, unsupported success rates or fake reviews.
- Cheap links in bulk. These can do lasting damage.
- A price quoted before anyone has looked at your site.
SEO or PPC?
Paid search buys visibility today and stops when the budget does. In the UK, a click on “no win no fee solicitor” is estimated at about £61, and on “conveyancing solicitor” about £23 (Google Keyword Planner via DataForSEO, October 2026). SEO and the map pack take longer, but the work keeps bringing enquiries in. For most firms I’d put SEO and local search first, with paid search for new offices or short campaigns. I explain the sums in PPC vs SEO for law firms.
How to work out your own budget
Start with what a new instruction is worth to the firm in each practice area, and how many extra a month would make the spend worthwhile. Then ask any provider to show you where your firm stands now, before they quote. If they can’t tell you that, they can’t price the work properly.
Start with a free audit
Before you spend anything, I’ll show you where your firm stands. The SRA-aware AI Visibility Audit is free. It checks how you appear in Google, the map pack and the main AI assistants, cross-referenced against your SRA register entry, ReviewSolicitors profile, Legal 500 entry (where listed) and Google Business Profile. You get a written plan within 72 hours. There’s also a free SEO audit if you only want the classic search side. Or book a 30-minute call and I’ll give you a straight view of what your firm should be spending, even if the answer is “not with me”.
Frequently asked questions
How much does SEO cost for a small law firm in the UK?
A small firm in one town and one practice area can often start at around £500 to £1,500 a month for local SEO. For example, one legal SEO agency publishes local packages from £500 plus VAT a month. More competitive practice areas or several offices push it up.
How much does SEO cost for a website?
For a law firm website it’s usually an ongoing monthly fee rather than a one-off charge, because rankings need regular work. One-off audits and technical fixes are priced separately. My two audits are free.
Is law firm SEO worth the money?
It can be, if the work is aimed at instructions rather than traffic. Work out what an extra instruction a month is worth to you, and judge any quote against that. Nobody can guarantee results, so be wary of anyone who does.
How long before SEO pays back?
Most firms see early movement within months, and the real gains build over six to eighteen months. Local results on Google Maps often move first.
Why don’t you publish your prices?
Because no two firms need the same work. I quote each firm after a short call, and send a written quote within 48 hours of the call. See pricing.
Is PPC cheaper than SEO for solicitors?
Not usually over time. Google estimates UK legal clicks at about £18 to over £60 each, and the enquiries stop when the budget does (Google Keyword Planner via DataForSEO, October 2026). See PPC vs SEO for law firms.
