Criminal defense buyers shop on experience, not price

Someone facing charges is going to call 3-5 firms before retaining. The website is where they decide whether to call this firm. They want to know: has this attorney handled my specific charge before, what's the likely outcome range, what's the fee structure, and can they meet me before the next court date.

Generic defense sites lose this buyer with "We Fight For You" banners and a phone number. The firms that win at the consultation rate publish charge-specific, jurisdiction-specific pages that signal exactly this attorney has been in this courtroom on this charge.

WordBinder's local-legal skill, branched to criminal defense, writes this content. The same skill handles personal injury, immigration, and other practice areas firms often combine.

The page archetypes a defense site needs

DUI / DWI pages

The highest-volume defense search. State-specific BAC limits, the DMV vs. criminal court parallel process, license-suspension consequences, refusal-test consequences, ignition-interlock requirements, and the firm's typical approach. Schema includes LegalService with practiceArea = "DUI Defense".

Drug offense pages

Possession. Trafficking. Manufacturing. Federal vs. state. Each gets a page with the charge elements, state-specific schedules, sentencing exposure, and common defense strategies (search-and-seizure challenges, possession-with-intent vs. user-quantity, etc.).

White-collar pages

Fraud, embezzlement, identity theft, healthcare fraud, tax crimes. White-collar buyers are higher-income, longer-decision-cycle clients. Pages emphasize the firm's federal court experience, pre-indictment representation, and the gravity of federal sentencing guidelines.

Violent crime pages

Assault, domestic violence, robbery, homicide. Each charge type is a separate page with the elements, penalty exposure, and common defense approaches.

Investigation / pre-indictment

A subset of buyers know they're being investigated and haven't been charged yet. This is the highest-value engagement — early representation can prevent charges. Page targets buyers searching "federal investigation lawyer" or "target letter [city]."

Attorney bios

Defense attorneys often have unique credentials — former prosecutor, former public defender, board certified, federal court admitted. Bios surface these as trust signals.

What the criminal-defense branch of the legal skill knows

  • Compliance-aware language. No outcome guarantees, no "best lawyer" claims, properly disclaimed results.
  • State-specific framework. Charges, penalties, and procedures are state-specific. Intake captures the state, and pages reference the correct framework.
  • The "former prosecutor" credential. Properly framed as a credential without exaggerating its impact.
  • The consultation as conversion. Defense buyers retain after a consultation, not from a contact form. Pages convert to consultation-booking.

Common ranking mistakes criminal defense firm sites make

Most criminal defense firm sites underperform for the same handful of reasons:

  • Bundling all charge types. DUI, drug charges, domestic violence, assault, white-collar, federal — each has a distinct buyer and query. A generic 'criminal defense' page ranks for none of them.
  • Weak 'what to do next' content. Recently-arrested buyers search 'what to do after DUI arrest' style queries. Pages that answer this urgently convert better than pages that don't.
  • Missing case-result content within bar rules. Won cases, dismissed cases, and reduced-charge outcomes build trust where bar rules allow. Pages without them lose to firms that publish.
  • No sentencing and consequences content. Buyers want to understand what they're facing — jail time, fines, license loss. Pages that explain the actual consequences outrank pages that don't.
  • Weak local court and prosecutor content. Local venue and prosecutor familiarity is a legitimate content signal. National-feel content ranks below content that mentions specific courts and judges.

Fix these and the page usually moves within 6-12 weeks. Legal is a heavily E-E-A-T-scrutinized vertical — see our E-E-A-T for local service pages guide for the specific signals, and why we generate briefs, not articles for the workflow argument.

Try it on a charge type with rising volume

Generate a brief for whatever charge type is most relevant — DUI, drug, white-collar, federal. The local-legal skill writes per-charge pages that capture intent traffic. Trial is free for 14 days. See pricing and how it works before you start.