Summary: For a criminal defense law firm in Fort Worth, Texas, organic traffic grew about 21% (from roughly 990 to 1,200 visits a month) and ranking keywords grew 43% (from 74 to 106). That traffic is worth an estimated $3,300 a month, and the site holds a perfect 100/100 technical health score (Ahrefs, October 2026).
What was the challenge?
Criminal defense is one of the most competitive local legal markets in Texas. Every lead is high value, so established firms invest heavily in search. Legal content is also YMYL, which means Google looks closely at expertise and trust. The firm needed to rank for practice-area and location searches against much larger competitors.
What did I do?
- Practice-area and location pages: optimized each page for the specific charges and areas people search for.
- Legal content strategy: planned content around real questions clients ask, written to show expertise.
- Local SEO: Google Business Profile and citation work for Fort Worth searches.
- Authority link building: 127 new referring domains in the period.
- Technical maintenance: kept the site at 100/100 health so nothing held rankings back.
What were the results?
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Organic traffic | About 990 → 1,200 visits a month (+21%) |
| Ranking keywords | 74 → 106 (+43%) |
| Estimated traffic value | $3,300 a month |
| Domain Rating | 36 (+1) |
| Referring domains | 1,200 (+127) |
| Site health | 100/100 |
What works for law firm SEO?
In competitive legal markets, steady gains come from pages that answer specific questions well, a clean technical base and links that build authority over time. If you run a law firm or another high-value local service, see my SEO services or get in touch.
Source: Ahrefs project dashboard, October 2026. Traffic value is Ahrefs’ estimate of what the same organic traffic would cost through Google Ads. The client’s name is withheld for confidentiality.