SEO for a criminal defense firm usually takes several months to show steady results, longer in large metro markets. A sustainable monthly budget held for a full year tends to beat bigger short bursts, since rankings, reviews and AI visibility build gradually.
Timelines depend on your market and starting point. A firm in a smaller county with few competitors may see map pack movement within a couple of months once its profile and listings are cleaned up. A firm in a large metro competing with multi office firms, lead networks and directories should plan for a longer climb. Be wary of anyone promising top rankings for dwi lawyer in a big city within weeks. Honest timelines are a good sign. Plan accordingly.
Early wins usually come from fixing your Google Business Profile, choosing the right categories, cleaning up mismatched directory listings and repairing technical issues on the site. Deeper gains come from building charge and county pages, publishing useful explainers and earning reviews over time. Those pieces also feed AI search, where tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews increasingly shape which firm a family calls. Each piece supports the others, so progress tends to compound after the first few months. Stay consistent.
Give it a full year. Review results quarterly and adjust focus toward the charges and counties that bring retained clients. On budget, consistency matters more than size. Short bursts of spending followed by nothing rarely build lasting visibility. Pick a level you can sustain and measure it by calls and retained clients, not rankings alone. Heights Digital charges $750 for a site build and $399 a month for ongoing SEO, content and AI search work, month to month with no contract.
Send the site over. We will tell you what is broken, what you could rank for, and whether AI search knows you exist. No charge and no pitch deck.
