When someone’s been arrested, invited to a police interview or charged with an offence, they don’t browse. They search, pick a firm that looks credible and call. Often it’s late at night, often it’s from a phone, and often it’s a family member doing the searching.
We help criminal defence firms be the one they call. Marketing Lawyers works only with law firms, and we build SEO, Google Ads and website strategies that bring in privately funded crime, motoring and regulatory enquiries, while protecting the reputation your firm has built with clients, courts and the police station.
For a free initial discussion and no-obligation quote, call 0330 133 8783 or email info@marketinglawyers.co.uk.
A Marketing Agency That Understands Criminal Defence
Our Managing Director, Ben Trott, holds an LLB and previously headed up SEO and digital marketing for a top 200 UK law firm. Our Head of Digital Marketing & Client Strategy, Jon Budge, has more than 15 years’ marketing experience, much of it in-house at law firms including Irwin Mitchell, Hugh James and Healys LLP, where he ran national PPC campaigns at a minimum 1:10 return on ad spend.
We know the difference between a legal aid police station practice and a private client fraud team, and we build marketing that fits the work you actually want more of.
Why Marketing a Criminal Law Firm Is Different
Enquiries are urgent
Searches like “solicitor for police interview” or “arrested what happens next” need an immediate answer and a phone number that gets picked up. If your website can’t be used one-handed on a phone at 11pm, and nobody answers, the enquiry goes to the next firm.
Legal aid and private work need different marketing
Legal aid crime work is shaped by the duty solicitor scheme and clients asking for you by name. Private work, from motoring offences to fraud and regulatory investigations, is won through search, referrals and reputation. We help you market the private side without confusing people who need to know whether you can help on legal aid.
Discretion matters
Clients don’t want anyone to know they’ve searched for a criminal solicitor. Many won’t leave a public review. We plan for that, with discreet contact options, anonymous or initial-only review collection where clients agree, and content that reassures without sensationalising.
Pre-charge and investigation work is growing
More people are looking for advice while under investigation, before any charge. They search for things like “voluntary police interview” and “released under investigation”. Content that answers those questions early wins instructions that would otherwise go elsewhere.
The rules are tighter
Criminal firms must avoid unsolicited approaches and inducements, and the SRA Transparency Rules require published pricing for certain summary-only motoring offences. We build marketing that sits comfortably within the SRA Standards and Regulations and only use white-hat SEO that follows Google’s guidelines.
Our Criminal Law Marketing Services
SEO for criminal defence solicitors
We build a page structure that matches how people search: police station representation, voluntary interviews, magistrates’ and Crown Court defence, motoring offences, drug offences, sexual offences, fraud and financial crime, and regulatory investigations. Each core service gets supporting guides for the questions people ask in the first hours and days.
View more on our SEO services here.
Local SEO and Google Business Profile
Most criminal enquiries are local to the police station or court. We optimise your Google Business Profile for every office, build location pages for the courts and areas you cover, and keep your details consistent everywhere.
View more on our Local SEO services here.
Google Ads for urgent enquiries
Paid search puts you at the top when someone needs a solicitor now. We run call-focused campaigns scheduled around when you can answer, exclude searches you don’t want, and track calls and forms back to the keyword so you know what each instruction cost.
View more on our PPC services.
AI search and Google AI Overviews
People increasingly ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews what happens after an arrest. We structure your content so it’s found and cited. For one specialist firm, our approach secured AI Overview positions for 87 terms and a 222% rise in traffic from ChatGPT.
View more on our AI and GEO services.
Websites built for a phone call
Click-to-call buttons, a clear 24-hour number if you offer one, simple enquiry forms, solicitor profiles with photos, and plain explanations of what happens next. That’s what turns a worried visitor into a client.
View more on our Website Design service
Reputation and reviews
We help you build reviews in a way that respects client privacy, respond to them properly, and showcase accreditations like Law Society Criminal Litigation Accreditation or Legal 500 and Chambers rankings where you hold them.
Results
- 200+ leads in two months. A leading UK law firm generated over 200 leads from a £1,870 Google Ads spend, with a 14.7% click-through rate and 390% ROI.
- 310% increase in organic leads. A regional single-office firm saw monthly organic enquiries rise by over 310% over two years.
- 45% of new work from the website. For one specialist legal practice, 45% of a department’s new work came through the website over 12 months.
How We Work With Criminal Defence Firms
- Free review. We look at your website, rankings, ads, call handling and competitors, and show you where enquiries are being lost.
- We agree the offence types, locations and funding mix you want more of.
- We handle SEO, content, ads and website work, with one point of contact who understands criminal practice.
- We report on calls, enquiries and cost per lead, not just traffic.
No long-term contracts. Our service runs on a rolling monthly basis.
Criminal Law Marketing FAQs
Can marketing help with legal aid work?
Indirectly, yes. Strong local visibility and a good reputation mean more people ask for you by name. Most active marketing spend is best focused on privately funded work, where search drives the instruction.
Which criminal work responds best to online marketing?
Motoring offences, voluntary police interviews, pre-charge advice, fraud and regulatory investigations all have strong search demand and privately paying clients.
Do we need to answer the phone 24/7?
Not necessarily, but you need to be honest about when you can. We schedule ads and messaging around your real availability so you don’t pay for calls nobody answers.
Our clients don’t leave reviews. What can we do?
We help you ask at the right moment, offer anonymous or initial-only options where platforms allow it, and make the most of peer recognition and directory rankings.
How long does SEO take for a criminal firm?
Meaningful ranking improvements usually take around six months, longer in big cities. Google Ads can bring in enquiries from the first week while SEO builds.
How much does it cost?
It depends on your size, locations and goals. We’ll give you a free review and a transparent quote, with no long-term contract.
Book a Free Criminal Law Marketing Review
Wherever your firm is based, we can help. Call 0330 133 8783 or email info@marketinglawyers.co.uk for a free initial discussion.
