Online Presence Management Checklist

Use Google PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse against the home page plus each practice-area landing page (PI, family, immigration, etc.). Record Core Web Vitals scores. Most prospect traffic to a small firm is mobile — a CLS or LCP regression after a vendor update is the common gotcha.

Pull current rankings in Semrush or Ahrefs for the firm's geo-modified practice keywords ("Austin DWI lawyer", "Phoenix immigration attorney"). Update meta descriptions, H1s, and alt text on pages that slipped out of the top 10. Avoid superlatives like "best" or "top" that violate Rule 7.1 in most states.

Confirm every page that constitutes attorney advertising under Rule 7.2 carries the required disclaimer language for each state where the firm practices. Florida, New York, Texas, and Missouri have specific verbatim requirements; testimonials and prior-results pages need additional language. Save screenshots of each disclaimed page for the compliance file.

Push the month's queue from the editorial calendar to LinkedIn (firm page + attorney pages) and Facebook. Skip Instagram and TikTok unless the firm has a specific consumer-facing strategy. Each post must avoid case-specific facts that could compromise privilege under Rule 1.6.

Anyone describing facts about a potential matter via DM is a prospective client under Rule 1.18 — no substantive legal advice in reply, redirect to the intake line. Document the contact for conflict-check purposes even before formal intake.

Export new reviews from Google Business Profile, Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, and Yelp into the month's reputation log. Note star rating, reviewer name, and matter type if identifiable. Do not respond yet — that happens after triage.

Flag any review that names a matter, criticizes representation, or alleges malpractice. Anything 3 stars or below or any review naming a specific attorney needs partner review before response. False reviews from non-clients can be reported to the platform but rarely removed quickly.

Never confirm or deny representation, never disclose matter facts, never respond in anger. ABA Formal Opinion 496 is the guiding authority — a response that reveals confidential information violates Rule 1.6 even when the client posted first. Keep it brief, professional, and offer to take the conversation offline. Partner sign-off required before posting.

Attorney-authored or attorney-reviewed only. Topics tied to recent appellate decisions, statute changes, or agency guidance perform best. Add the firm's standard "this is not legal advice" disclaimer in the footer per Rule 7.1.

JD Supra and Lexology give long-tail SEO and reach in-house counsel readers. Use the same byline as the firm site, retain canonical link to avoid duplicate-content penalties.

Pull new closed-matter contacts from Clio or Lawmatics into the appropriate segment (former clients, referral sources, in-house counsel, prospect drip). Suppress contacts who opted out and any contact whose matter closed under hostile circumstances.

Send via Mailchimp or Constant Contact. Subject line under 50 characters. CAN-SPAM requires the firm's physical address and a working unsubscribe link in every send. Send Tuesday or Wednesday morning for best open rates.

Confirm Name, Address, and Phone are byte-identical to the website footer and the bar-registered address. Update office hours, add new photos, post the month's update. Suite numbers and abbreviations (Ste vs Suite) are the most common citation-mismatch source.

Run BrightLocal or Whitespark against the firm's primary citations and fix any NAP drift. Lawyers who have left the firm but remain listed on FindLaw or Justia bios are a recurring problem — file removal requests directly with each platform.