How SEO and PPC Helped a Criminal Law Firm Build Momentum Online

“Results measured year-on-year, comparing November 2024 to October 2025 against the previous 12-month period.”

Criminal law is one of the most competitive areas of online search, where people are often looking for help quickly and under pressure. Being visible at the right time, and building trust just as fast makes a real difference.

Rana Lawyers worked with Five by Five to strengthen their online presence through a combined SEO and PPC approach. The focus was on improving visibility for key criminal law searches, attracting more of the right enquiries, and building a digital platform that could support steady growth as the firm expanded its reach.

Rana Lawyers is a specialist criminal defence firm based in Brisbane, working exclusively in criminal law. The firm brings together a team with more than 75 years of combined experience, representing clients across Queensland and, where required, Australia-wide.

Focused solely on criminal defence, Rana Lawyers provides clear, experienced representation for people facing serious charges. The firm’s work relies on trust, credibility, and visibility at critical moments, making its digital presence an important part of how new clients find and engage with the team.

Rana Lawyers already had an online presence, but it did not reflect the level of professionalism or authority required in a market as competitive as criminal law.

To support growth, the firm needed a higher-performing website and a clearer digital strategy. The focus was on creating a platform that aligned with the firm’s expertise, supported how people search for criminal defence services, and made it easier for prospective clients to take the next step when they needed legal help.

Key challenges included:

• Improving visibility for high-intent criminal law searches in a competitive search landscape
• Increasing the volume of qualified enquiries, rather than simply driving more traffic
• Replacing an underperforming website with a more professional, scalable platform
• Supporting both service depth and location-based growth without diluting authority
• Boosting leads straight away using paid search while long-term organic visibility continued to build through SEO

The goal was clear: a professional website, supported by SEO and PPC, that could improve visibility, generate consistent enquiries, and support sustainable growth over time.

Rana Lawyers engaged Five by Five on a custom SEO and PPC package designed to build visibility progressively and sustainably. This included paid backlink acquisition, three long-form content pieces per month, and ongoing optimisation across both organic and paid channels.

Establishing Strong Service Foundations

The first phase of the campaign focused on building depth across core criminal law and sexual offence services. This included two detailed service pages supported by a long-form blog targeting high search volume topics each month.

In several cases, these blogs addressed keywords commonly searched in Australia using American legal terminology. While these terms are not used in Australian law, they reflect real search behaviour. Content was written to capture this demand while clearly explaining the correct legal context for Australian audiences.

This approach allowed Rana Lawyers to increase visibility for high-volume searches without compromising accuracy or professionalism.

Building Authority Through Content and Links

Alongside service and blog content, the strategy included paid backlinking to strengthen authority in a competitive legal market. This was supported by ongoing on-page optimisation, including improvements to page structure, internal linking, and metadata, ensuring content had the best chance to perform as it was published.

Shifting to Location-Led Growth

As service coverage expanded and authority improved, the strategy evolved to focus more heavily on location-based growth. Primary service pages were created for specific locations, starting with the Gold Coast and expanding into areas such as Logan and Toowoomba.

Once coverage for one location was established, the same framework was applied to the next, creating a repeatable approach that could scale without diluting relevance or authority.

SEO and PPC Working Together

SEO and PPC were planned together throughout the campaign. Paid search supported immediate visibility and lead generation, while SEO continued to build long-term authority. Performance insights from PPC helped guide SEO priorities, ensuring both channels worked together rather than in isolation.

This structured approach allowed the strategy to adapt over time, building momentum steadily and supporting ongoing growth across multiple locations.

Execution focused on delivering the strategy consistently across the website, content, and acquisition channels.

A new website was built to support SEO and PPC from the outset, with a clear structure across services and locations. This provided a scalable foundation that could support ongoing growth without requiring structural changes as the campaign evolved.

Content was delivered each month, including long-form service pages and supporting blog content targeting high-intent and high-volume searches. Paid backlink acquisition and ongoing on-page optimisation supported this content as it was published.

As service coverage expanded, location-based service pages were rolled out, starting with the Gold Coast and extending into other target areas. This allowed visibility to grow in specific locations while maintaining strong service relevance.

SEO and PPC were managed alongside each other throughout the campaign, with ongoing refinements made to improve efficiency, lead quality, and overall performance across both channels.

Measured year on year, the combined SEO and PPC approach delivered steady growth across visibility, traffic, and enquiries, even within a highly competitive legal market.

Organic Visibility and Traffic

Organic performance increased consistently as service coverage and authority grew.

• 69.48% increase in organic users, rising from 9,477 to 16,062
• 575% increase in keywords ranking in the top three positions, growing from 8 to 54

This increase in visibility meant Rana Lawyers were appearing more frequently for high-intent criminal law searches, improving exposure at the point where potential clients were actively seeking legal support.

Rana Lawyers’ growth was driven by a clear focus on fundamentals done well. A professional website built for search, a phased SEO strategy, and PPC working alongside organic activity created a digital presence that could compete in a demanding legal market.

Rather than chasing short-term wins, the campaign prioritised consistency, intent-led visibility, and scalability. The result was stronger exposure for key criminal law searches, improved enquiry quality, and a platform that can continue to support growth as the firm expands into new locations.

For law firms operating in competitive search environments, this case shows the value of treating SEO and PPC as long-term assets, supported by the right foundations and a strategy that evolves as results build.