Immigration firm owners get a steady stream of SEO pitches. Most of them come from agencies that sell the same package to personal injury, family and criminal firms, with the practice area swapped in the template. Some are excellent. Many are not. Here is how I would assess one if I were in your seat.
Start with guarantees
Google's own SEO guidance says it plainly: no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google, and you should be wary of anyone who claims to. A company that guarantees page one in thirty days is either targeting phrases nobody searches, planning to pad the report, or not being straight with you. Any of those is a reason to stop the conversation.
Questions worth asking
- Who will actually do the work on my account, and can I talk to them?
- Have you worked with immigration firms before, and do you understand the difference between family-based and employment-based work?
- Who writes the content, and does an attorney at my firm approve every page before it goes live?
- Can you build real pages in Spanish or the other languages my clients use, and who reviews the translations?
- How do you handle the Google Business Profile, reviews and directory listings, not only the website?
- What will you do about AI search, meaning ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews?
- What does the monthly report count? I want calls and consultation requests, not only rankings.
- How long is the contract, and what happens to the work if I leave?
Red flags I see often
The agency owns your accounts
Some agencies build the site on their own platform, register the domain in their name or set up your Business Profile under their login. When you leave, you lose the site, or have to negotiate to get it back. Your firm should own the domain, the website and its code, the content, the Business Profile, Search Console and Analytics from day one.
Machine-translated pages
Spanish pages produced by a translation tool and never read by a human are worse than no Spanish pages. They read badly, can misuse legal terms and publish under your firm's name. Ask exactly how translations are produced and reviewed.
Lead programs that recommend you
Some marketing offers are really lead-generation schemes that present your firm as the recommended lawyer for people who submit their details. ABA Model Rule 7.2 generally bars lawyers from giving anything of value for recommending their services, and allows paying for marketing that does not cross into recommendation. If a program's pitch to consumers sounds like a referral, check it against your state's rules before you sign.
Selling the same city to your competitor
Agencies with a template product often sell it to several immigration firms in the same city. Ask directly whether they work with other immigration firms in your market.
Reports full of impressions
Impressions and rankings for phrases nobody searches are easy to inflate. A report that never mentions calls, consultation requests or retained cases is telling you something.
Want an independent look at what your current agency is doing?
Get your free auditAgency, freelancer or someone in-house
Large agencies bring capacity but often hand the day-to-day work to junior staff. Freelancers can be excellent but vary widely, and you are relying on one person. An in-house marketer knows your firm but rarely has deep technical SEO skills and is expensive for a small practice. There is no single right answer. Whoever you choose, the questions above still apply.
For what it is worth, I run a founder-run agency for immigration firms only, and I do the work myself. I cap the number of firms I take, everything lives in your accounts, and there is no long contract. If you want to see what that looks like in practice, the SEO for immigration lawyers page sets out the first ninety days, and what SEO costs for an immigration firm covers pricing.
Founder of Proximity Ranker, with nine years in SEO and an LL.M in International Law. Not a licensed attorney, and nothing here is legal advice. Meet the founder.