Top Law Firm Directories of 2021

One of the cornerstones of your law firm attaining top placements on Google is authoritative backlinks and citations. There are many legal directories that offer citations for lawyers. While some are free legal directory, and some will cost you, not all directory websites are created equal.

The key to local SEO for law firms and citation building is to focus on quality over quantity. We’ve scoured the Internet to bring you the top legal referral directories that will give your law firm the most significant advantage for getting those rankings.

#1 Justia

As one of the top attorney directories, Justia can deliver a decent amount of referral traffic, covering over 5.3 million keywords. They are one of the highest-rated directories, in terms of authority, and the backlink offered passes authority. Plus, a standard listing is free! Our clients benefit not only from increased local rankings by having a listing on Justia but also by receiving referral traffic and leads.
Click here to signup for your Justia listing. | Read a full review of Justia.

#2 AVVO

Avvo, similar to Justia is a foundational directory that every attorney should get a listing on. The listing is free; they’re listed on over 1.9 million keywords and have an excellent reputation. One thing to note is that Avvo’s links are “nofollow.” So, authority from the links doesn’t pass, but the citation is authoritative.
Click here to sign up for your Avvo listing. | Read a full review of Avvo.

#3 HG

I won’t go as far as calling HG.com an underdog or unknown directory with its 403,000 keyword listings. I would say that those in the legal industry often overlook the authoritative value of having a listing on HG.com in comparison to less authoritative competitors. I’ll safely call this the “sleeping lion” of directory listings. With a high authority and a significant amount of natural traffic, HG.com is a must-have citation.

Now, a basic listing is free. This basic listing includes the citation, which packs a punch. If you have a backlink, that will cost you $195/yr. The value in the premium listing goes beyond a backlink, though. There are plenty of great features with a premium listing that delivers an SEO boost and overall excellent marketing exposure.
Click here to sign up for your HG.org listing.

#4 FindLaw

FindLaw is more known in the legal industry as a quality directory and has obtained over 4.2 million keyword rankings. They also have a considerable amount of authority. As a part of the Thomson Reuters network of sites, the listing on this site does cost money.

You will need to contact them to schedule a call and negotiate a listing of what best suits your needs. We cannot dismiss the power of this citation though. The links back to your website do pass authority, and the citation is of high value. As for organic lead generation, we have had mixed results. With the right value proposition, the lead generation value can extend past the SEO value.
Click here to sign up for your FindLaw listing. | Read a full review of FindLaw.

#5 NOLO

Similar to Avvo and Justia, Nolo is a staple amongst legal directories with over 1.2 million keyword listings. With an aHrefs and Moz domain authority rating of 85 and 73, respectively, Nolo’s citations carry a significant amount of weight. Note that this is a paid listing, and clients do report mixed reviews regarding the lead gen value. The cost? You’ll have to contact them directly to determine your needs and the appropriate fee.
Click here to sign up for your Nolo listing. | Read a full review of Nolo.

#6 Best Lawyers

What can we say? One hundred twenty-three thousand keyword rankings, a high authority site, dofollow backlinks, and the listing is free! Now, you will have to be nominated. This nomination can come from anywhere, though. Plus, if you do get selected as a top attorney, the marketing value goes far beyond local law firm search engine optimization.
Click here to nominate a lawyer for Best Lawyers. | Read a full review of Best Lawyers.

#7 US Legal

US Legal is another excellent directory that has made our list of top twelve law firm directories with over 825,000 ranked keywords and a domain authority ranking of 67 and 75 on Moz and aHrefs, respectively. If you’re looking at the metrics, then this should be listed above Best Lawyers. There are two main reasons for US Legal having a rank on our list in 6th place instead of 7th.

First, US Legal’s directory sits on a subdomain that has lower metrics than its primary domain. Now, there is some debate over how subdomains are measured regarding these metrics.

The second and primary reason is due to Best Lawyers having additional marketing value from its award system. Earning a badge from Best Lawyers is a valuable trust signal that can add value to your firm’s marketing.

These two points aside, the value that US Legal makes it a “must have” directory listing. Plus, the listing is free, and you will receive a dofollow backlink to your website.
Click here to sign up for your US Legal listing. | Read a full review of US Legal.

#8 Lawyers.com

Part of the Martindale-Avvo network of websites, Lawyers.com is a paid listing. This site’s directory carries a high amount of authority, and the link back to your website is a dofollow link.

With over 700,000 ranked keywords, a listing on lawyers.com should be a consideration as long as the price and your budget allow for some testing to make sure the listing will be profitable for your firm.
Click here to contact Martindale-Avvo. | Read a full review of Lawyers.com.

#9 Law Info

Boasting over 181,000 ranked keywords and a Moz domain authority of 58 along with an aHrefs domain rating of 73, Law Info has good potential for a solid return on investment. Now, this is a paid listing, and the link to your site is a nofollow link, but the citation’s value is pretty good. So, contact Thomson Reuters and see if they have a pricing option that makes sense for you.
Click here to sign up for your Law Info listing. | Read a full review of Law Info.

#10 Super Lawyers

Another Thomson Reuters web property, any list discussing the topic of authority lawyer directories should include Super Lawyers. The site ranks for fewer keywords than others, and outbound links to your website are nofollow, but the authority of their website is relatively high, which gives the citation a high value.

What drives a listing on Super Lawyers higher in our ratings is their brand awareness. Being able to use the Super Lawyer designation in your marketing is an advantage that holds a great deal of value. Being rated as a “Super Lawyer” and displaying the award on your website will help in instilling user trust and can aid in converting visitors into clients.
Click here to request access to Super Lawyers. | Read a full review of Super Lawyers.

#11 Lawyer.com

For over a year, Lindsay Lohan has partnered with Lawyer.com to increase their reach and brand recognition. With over 170,000 ranked keyword listings, Lawyer.com is a paid listing of $149/month. Your listing will contain a full citation along with a dofollow link to your website.
Click here to sign up for your Lawyer.com listing.

#12 Lawyer Legion

Rounding out our list of the top 12 lawyer directories is Lawyer Legion. This directory ranks for about 70,000 keywords and offers a full citation along with a dofollow backlink. The price is free. This high authority directory allows for you to integrate a number of your social platforms and have an expanded profile page that can link to other directories that you’re listed on as well as display any recognition that you have received.
Click here to sign up for your Lawyer Legion listing. | Read a full review of Lawyer Legion.

How We Rate The Best Law Firm Directories

Backlinks

Building links to your website is essential, especially if the link comes from a quality website that can refer traffic to your firm. If a legal directory offers a direct link to your website, we cannot ignore the additional value. If the link is a “do follow” link, then it might help to increase your rankings. Thus, an even higher value is attributed to the listing.

Domain’s Authority Rating

We use two industry-leading tools to measure the overall authority of the websites, Moz, and aHrefs. The overall rating is based, in general, on the number and quality of links to the site.

Directory’s Baseline Webpage Authority Rating

Not only can we attribute a grade to the authority of an entire directory, but we’re also giving a rating to the amount of power on the page level. Numerous factors go into these ratings.

We analyzed the scores of several directory page listings where no backlinks existed to get a base reading. This way, we can accurately predict the base authority that your new listing will receive.

Think of this as us measuring the starting point of authority for new listings on a given directory.

Keyword Rankings

One way to measure the value of a directory is to look at the volume of keywords placements it has attained. If a site has 100,000 keywords that it is listed on, it’s a safe assumption that the site receives more traffic than a similar site with 50,000 search engine listings. So, a directory with greater reach can achieve more significant traffic, and we, therefore, view it as potentially more authoritative in Google’s perception. Our recommendations heavily weigh on real directories with real traffic.

Paid vs. Free Lawyer Directory Listings

The cost of being listed on a directory is another important factor. If you can grab a listing from a directory for free as opposed to paying hundreds of dollars and the other metrics are the same, the free directory offers an exponential return. What the cost is and if “it’s worth it” is not a heavily weighted consideration. Why? It’s because what is inexpensive to one person is too expensive for another.