Criminal lawyer marketing, when the buyer is not the client
Most legal marketing assumes the person searching is the person who will become the client. In criminal defense that is often wrong, and getting it wrong costs a firm the 3 or 4 hours in which the decision is actually made.
Last updated: 4 August 2026
Who is actually searching?
Frequently somebody other than the defendant.
A person in custody is not searching for anything. The searching is done by whoever received the call: a parent, a spouse, a sibling, sometimes an employer. That person has a different set of questions from the one the firm's website answers.
| What the firm's site usually says | What the person searching needs to know |
|---|---|
| Areas of practice and years of experience | Whether anyone will answer the phone right now |
| Attorney biographies and bar admissions | What happens in the next twelve hours |
| Case results and awards | What this is going to cost, roughly |
| A contact form | A phone number that works at 11pm |
None of the left column is wrong. It is answering a question that comes later.
When does the search happen?
In a compressed window, usually outside office hours.
Arrests do not follow business hours, and the search follows the arrest closely. This has two consequences most firms have not built for:
- The site is visited on a phone, often on a poor connection, sometimes in a parking lot or a corridor. A page that takes six seconds to render loses the visit.
- The visit happens when nobody is at the desk. Whatever the site says at that hour is the entire pitch. There is no follow-up call to recover it.
We do not know what share of criminal defense searches occur outside office hours. We have not measured it and will not publish a number we cannot source. The structural point stands without one: arrests are not scheduled, and a firm that only converts between nine and five is choosing to be absent for the rest.
What pages should a criminal firm build?
Fewer than most suppliers propose, aimed at the third party.
- A page per charge type the firm actually defends. Not one per city — one per charge.
- A "what happens in the first 48 hours" page, written for somebody who has never been near this process.
- A fees page saying how the firm charges, even if the number varies. "It depends" published honestly beats silence.
- A page per attorney, named, with the charges they personally handle.
- The phone number in the header on mobile, tappable, above everything.
That last item is not marketing advice so much as a build requirement, and it is missed often enough to be worth listing beside the others.
What does the traffic cost?
Less than personal injury, more than most practice areas.
In Phoenix, criminal defense runs at 8,100 searches a month with a cost per click of $86.12, measured 3 August 2026. That is well below the $151.31 that personal injury reaches in Philadelphia, and still high enough that a click landing on a page which cannot be read on a phone is an expensive mistake.
What can a firm say in its advertising?
Less than it might expect, and the rules vary by state.
US lawyer advertising runs through ABA Model Rule 7.2(b), which each state has adopted differently. Which version binds a particular firm is a question for that firm and its own advisers, not for a marketing supplier, and we do not give advice on it.
What we hold to regardless of state: no promise of an outcome, no claim about results we did not verify, and no payment arrangement tied to cases. Our pricing is fixed and published for exactly that reason.
What does it cost?
$1,450 for the Practice Sprint, $2,900 for the build. Fixed, no minimum term.
Of 40 legal-marketing suppliers we read in full on 3 August 2026, twelve published a price at all, eight claimed a guarantee of some kind, and one offered work with no minimum term.
How long before it produces matters?
Three to four months for movement, six to nine before fair judgement.
If the firm needs matters this quarter, it needs paid campaigns, and we do not manage ad spend. Saying so sends the work elsewhere, and it is still the right answer.
What this is worth where you are
In Phoenix, 8,100 people a month search for criminal defense, and Google charges around $86.12 for one of those clicks. We hold the same figures for 52 cities.
The free report gives you yours, plus which pages are missing from your site, and what 40 suppliers charge.
No call required. Our own prices are on that page.
Where should I read next?
On what happens when the call comes in: law firm client intake forms covers capturing the inquiry at 11pm.
By market: lawyer marketing NYC.
Other practice areas with different buyers: estate planning lawyer marketing, where the searcher has months rather than hours.
On running the function internally: chief marketing officer law firm and forward lawyer marketing.
Frequently asked questions
Who is actually searching for a criminal lawyer?
Frequently not the defendant. A person in custody cannot search. The searching is done by whoever took the call — a parent, spouse, sibling or employer — and that person has different questions from the ones most firm websites answer.
What does the person searching need to know first?
Whether anyone will answer the phone right now, what happens in the next twelve hours, and roughly what it will cost. Practice areas, biographies and case results answer a question that comes later.
When do these searches happen?
In a compressed window following an arrest, which does not follow business hours. We have not measured what share fall outside office hours and will not publish a figure we cannot source. The structural point holds: arrests are not scheduled.
Why does page speed matter more in criminal defense?
Because the visit happens on a phone, often on a poor connection, sometimes in a corridor or parking lot. A page taking six seconds to render loses the visit, and there is no follow-up call to recover it.
Which pages should a criminal firm build?
One per charge type it actually defends — not one per city. Plus a first-48-hours page, a fees page, a page per attorney naming the charges they handle, and a tappable phone number in the mobile header.
What does criminal defense traffic cost?
In Phoenix, 8,100 searches a month at $86.12 per click, measured 3 August 2026. That is below the $151.31 personal injury reaches in Philadelphia, and high enough that an unreadable mobile page is an expensive mistake.
What are the advertising restrictions?
US lawyer advertising runs through ABA Model Rule 7.2(b), adopted differently in each state. Which version binds a given firm is a question for that firm and its own advisers. We promise no outcomes and tie no payment to cases.