What should a law firm's Google Business Profile say?

A law firm's Google Business Profile should carry the name on the firm's door and letterhead, a few categories that match its core practice, and a description that tells a prospective client what matters the firm handles, where it meets clients, and how first contact works. Everything on the profile is a communication about the firm's services, so the same advertising review that covers the website covers the profile. Decide early whether individual attorneys get profiles of their own, because that choice shapes everything after it.

The profile is often the first thing a person sees when they search a firm's name, and it is maintained by whoever had the login when it was set up. That is how firms end up with a keyword-stuffed name, a description written in 2019, and three profiles for attorneys who have since left.

This is profile and marketing guidance for firm owners, not legal advice. Treat the profile as covered by the firm's state advertising rules, and let the firm's attorneys or ethics counsel decide what meets them.

Firm profile, attorney profiles, or both

Google's guidelines name lawyers specifically: "Doctors, dentists, lawyers, financial planners, and insurance or real estate agents are all individual practitioners." When several lawyers practice at one location, the guidelines say "The organization should create a Business Profile for this location, separate from that of the practitioner." For a solo attorney practicing under a firm brand, they describe a single shared profile, named "[brand/company]: [practitioner name]." A practitioner gets a dedicated profile only where the guidelines' conditions are met, including that the person works in a public-facing role and can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours.

The decision has consequences a firm should talk through before anyone creates a profile. A client may review an attorney's profile instead of the firm's, so a well-reviewed associate's profile can hold praise the firm profile never sees. The partners should agree on the answer to "If an associate with her own profile leaves next year, who controls that profile and its reviews?" before the profile exists. The Google guidelines page cited here does not address what happens to a practitioner profile when a lawyer leaves, so the firm needs its own written policy on it.

The name on the door

Google's guidelines say "Including unnecessary information in your business name isn't permitted," and give examples of what does not belong: marketing taglines, service or product details, and location details added to the name. A fictional firm called Harper Gaines PLLC should appear as "Harper Gaines PLLC" on its profile, not "Harper Gaines Car Accident Lawyers Memphis." A keyword is not a firm name, and a name padded with one tells a reader the firm cares more about the search than about them.

For firms with several offices, the guidelines also require the same name for all locations in a country, which our page on structuring multi-office location pages covers along with linking each profile to its own office page. The profile's name should match the website, the letterhead, and any firm name the firm has registered in its state.

Categories and the description

Google asks businesses to "Use as few categories as possible to describe your overall core business from the provided list." For a law firm, that usually means the most specific category that fits the main practice, plus one or two more only where the firm does substantial work. Choosing a category for a practice the firm handles once a year invites calls the firm will turn away.

As of October 2026, Google's help page on editing a profile says not to exceed 750 characters in the description field. Google also says to "Focus primarily on details about your business instead of details about promotions, prices, or sales," and "Do not include URLs or HTML code." Two attorney advertising points apply on top of that. ABA Model Rule 7.2(c) says a lawyer "shall not state or imply that a lawyer is certified as a specialist in a particular field of law" unless conditions are met, including that "the name of the certifying organization is clearly identified in the communication." Words like "specialist" or "expert" in a profile description belong on the reviewer's list. Model Rule 7.2(d) requires a communication under the rule to include the name and contact information of a responsible lawyer or firm, which the profile's name and phone fields may supply; ask counsel whether the firm's state expects more.

Here is a fictional description for a fictional two-attorney estate planning and probate firm in Tennessee. It is invented for illustration and runs about 420 characters, well under that limit.

Harlow & Pike PLLC helps families in Knox and Blount counties plan estates and settle them. We prepare wills, trusts, and powers of attorney, and we guide executors through probate in Tennessee courts. Your first meeting is with an attorney, in our Knoxville office or by video, and we explain the flat fee for planning work before you decide. We do not handle litigation over contested wills; we will tell you who does.

Every statement in that example is a fact the firm would have to confirm. It names the matters, the place, the first step, and a limit, and it claims nothing a reviewer would need to soften.

Keep the profile and the website telling one story

The profile summarizes; the website explains. The services listed on the profile should each match a page on the site, the hours should match the office page, and the phone number should reach the office the profile describes. The writer should not have to guess which practice areas are current; the attorneys supply that list once, and the profile, the practice pages, and the bios are all built from it.

Reviews and replies live on the profile too. How to respond to criticism without revealing anything about a matter is covered on our page about responding to a negative online review. For a quick look at the firm's own website first, our free AI visibility check asks 8 questions and takes about two minutes.

In Hudson South's process, Authority Asset gathers the firm's approved knowledge and evidence, including the practice list and office facts the profile depends on. Hudson Twenty-One records how the firm communicates across 21 dimensions, so even a short profile description sounds like the firm. Market Intelligence researches how competing firms in the market present themselves. AEO Creation turns those inputs into answer-first pages that the profile can point to. The rest of this question set is in our law firm content guide.

Compare your profile and pages with competing firms

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Sources

1. Guidelines for representing your business on Google. Google Business Profile Help. Read 2026-10-16.
2. Edit your Business Profile. Google Business Profile Help. Read 2026-10-16.
3. Rule 7.2: Communications Concerning a Lawyer's Services: Specific Rules. American Bar Association. Read 2026-10-16.