What a law firm website needs: winning clients within the advertising rules

A lawyer's website follows different rules from other sectors. What belongs on it, what does not, and how clients find you on Google.

Someone with a legal problem types it into Google first: "divorce lawyer Gaziosmanpaşa", "employment lawyer", "eviction lawyer Istanbul". They weigh the sites that appear in a few seconds and call one. A lawyer's website has to earn trust in those seconds. But law is one of the professions with the strictest advertising rules in Türkiye, and what you may write differs from other sectors. This article covers both the rules and how to build a site that wins clients within them.

The limits first: the advertising ban

The Union of Turkish Bar Associations' Regulation on the Prohibition of Advertising allows lawyers to have a website but limits its content. The broad principle: the site may not contain statements aimed at soliciting work or incompatible with professional dignity. In practice:

• No superlatives or comparisons such as "the best", "most successful" or "guaranteed win".
• No fees, offers or discounts.
• No client names, client testimonials or showcased victories for promotional purposes.
• The title "specialist" only where legislation allows; listing practice areas is fine.
• Check your bar association's current view on paid listings and referral schemes.

These are a summary; the regulation and bar opinions are updated over time. Compare your texts with your bar association's current rules before launch. We write the copy within this framework, but the final legal judgement is yours.

Building trust within the rules

"If I cannot show testimonials, how do I build trust?" is the question we hear most. The answer is plain, concrete information:

• A clear identity: name, bar registration, office address, hours. A site that says who you are, not a vague "legal consultancy".
• Practice areas: family, employment, criminal, property, commercial law. A separate page for each.
• Process explanations: plain answers to "what happens at the first meeting, which documents should I bring, how long does a case take?" build more trust than anything else.
• Informative articles: "How to file an eviction case", "Rights of a dismissed employee". Informative, not promotional, so compliant and good for Google.
• Real photography: you and your office, not stock images.

Pages the site needs

1. Home: who you are, your practice areas, where you are and how to reach you. The phone number visible on the first screen.
2. Practice area pages: one per area, with the stages of the process, frequently asked questions and links to related articles.
3. About: education, bar details, office history. Short and true.
4. Articles: regularly updated informative content.
5. Contact: address, map, phone, WhatsApp, appointment form with a "subject" field.
6. KVKK and privacy: a privacy notice is mandatory when a form collects personal data, and its absence looks especially bad on a lawyer's site.

How clients find you on Google

Broad searches like "lawyer Istanbul" are very competitive. For a small or mid-sized firm the realistic target is district-and-topic searches: "divorce lawyer Gaziosmanpaşa", "employment lawyer Eyüpsultan". That takes three things:

• Google Business Profile: your office on the map, with the right category, full address and hours. Check your bar's view on reviews; moving reviews onto the site falls under the ban.
• Topic pages: a substantial page per practice area. A single "services" page ranks for nothing.
• Regular articles: a few a month answering questions people actually ask.

We explain SEO timelines in a separate article; district-level legal searches usually respond faster than city-wide ones.

Common mistakes

• A ready "law theme" with stock images and the scales-of-justice photo, identical to hundreds of sites.
• Phone number buried on inner pages. People with legal problems call, they do not email.
• All practice areas listed in one paragraph.
• Using "the best lawyer" to get around the ban: a disciplinary risk and a loss of trust.
• Replying to form enquiries days later.

Bilingual needs

For firms with foreign clients an English version adds direct value. Rather than translating the Turkish content word for word, a structure built around what foreign clients ask (residence permits, company formation, property purchase) works better. You can see a bilingual law firm site we built on our work page.

How we work

For law firm websites we start with the copy: your practice areas and the questions you hear most shape the page structure. The design is custom, the site ships with an admin panel so you can add articles yourself, and Google Business Profile and Search Console setup are included. Request a quote on the corporate website page or call +90 534 974 66 80.