Top Citation Sources for Law Firms in 2023 [Downloadable List]

This post was last revised with new, up-to-date information on October 1, 2022.

If you’re serious about ranking in Google’s 3 pack, Google Maps or local finder you can’t ignore the importance of citations.

While the importance of citations has decreased over the years, citations are still an important ranking factor and can also provide highly relevant links to your website.

This is especially true for legal and local business directories that already rank for important keywords in your market.

If you’re working for a law firm you probably realize that links and mentions from authoritative legal websites and prominent local business directories are very important.

When you’re building citations you want to focus primarily on QUALITY over QUANTITY. There are a million small legal directories out there but if they don’t provide a ranking benefit or the possibility of referral traffic you can generally stay away from them.

What Are Citations?

Citations are simply your business name, address, phone number and website listed on a business directory like Yelp.com. In the SEO industry, we call this NAP or NAP+W (Name, Address, Phone Number + Website). These play less of a part in 2021 but are still tables-takes for a successful attorney SEO campaign.

How Do Citations Help With Local SEO?

Having accurate and non-duplicative citations can help tell Google that a business is real and it actually exists. Having these from highly recognized sources act as a vote of confidence in their eyes and help with rankings. Although these have been greatly minimized as a ranking factor in 2021, they are still table stake. If you’re a lawyer competing in the Local SEO space, you need to make sure you have the right citations.

There is also a potential added benefit of link equity. Anywhere your NAP is listed, you should also have a link back to your website. This can help with your law firm organic SEO strategy.

Are These The Best Citation Sources for Attorneys?

This list is a curated list we work off of to help guide our citation building efforts for our clients. Since locally relevant directories exist in every metropolitan area like Chamber of Commerce’s, this list should not be considered the end all be all.

You should combine this list with a list you curate in your specific geographic area. Find out what business directories get the attention in your local area and focus on those as well.

This list uses the domain authority metric as a guide of how you could prioritize your efforts. If you care about Local SEO you need to care about citations.

My Five Rules for Using The Attorney Citation List:

1. Vet these sources yourself. Things change and it’s important you’re always on your A Game.
2. Don’t limit yourself to these sources. This list does not include the citation sources that might be powerful in your area.
3. Change your mindset. Don’t just think about the citation value. Think about total search share and the benefits of being visible in more than one place. Notice how Google has been rewarding websites like Avvo, Yelp, and Findlaw recently.
4. If you build a citation, build it right. Don’t create more work for someone in the future. Fill out your profiles completely and make them look good. Don’t ignore adding pictures.
5. Don’t build duplicates. Seriously. Check the website FIRST every SINGLE TIME. Search by your business name, phone number, or even the search string in Google.  Site:Citationsource.com Mywebsite.com To use this successfully replace citationsource.com with the website of the citation. Also you can replace mywebsite.com with your phone number or business name. This will show if Google has an indexed listing for you on their website.

The Top Legal Citation Sources for 2021

Below is the raw list of the top citations we have vetted and added to our list for 2021. If you would like the full list with the submit URL’s simply fill out the form below and we will email it right to you.

Download The Whole Top Citation List With The Submit URL Link

To make your life easier we created a spreadsheet with the direct submit a listing URL for each citation source. Download it here.

After You Have Downloaded The Citation List

The citation list comes in a Google Doc. Once you get the link to the file you will want to go to FILE > MAKE A COPY (so that you have your own copy).

Once you have your copy made you will see how easy I made it for you. I included a list with the domain name, the submit URL (Where available), the domain authority, whether they’re free or paid and notes on the costs per each listing where applicable.

I hate to beat a dead horse, but… Be super sure there are no duplicates before you create a new listing. 

Once you’re sure you’re not creating a duplicate all you have to do is click the Submit URL link and fill out the listing as required 🙂

If you’re looking to create the top citations easier check out MozLocal to get the data aggregators and some of the top sources.

Author: Casey Meraz

Casey is the founder and president of Ethical SEO Consulting and Juris Digital based in Denver, CO. Casey’s specialties are in organic and local SEO. Casey can be found on the legal tech speaking circuit at conferences like ABA Techshow, BEDLAM, and more.  He is a regular contributor to the Moz Blog and the author of  the Amazon Best selling books: “How To Perform The Ultimate Local SEO Audit” and “Local Marketing for Personal Injury Lawyers”. If you have an SEO question or need advice please feel free to reach out by email: cmeraz@jurisdigital.com. Follow Casey on Twitter @CaseyMeraz.