Key figures
- searches for “avocat” per month in France
- 90,500
- searches for “avocat” per month in France
- Google reviews for the median listing
- 11
- Google reviews for the median listing
- Study average: 27
- median score of the 161 sites analysed, out of 100
- 71
- median score of the 161 sites analysed, out of 100
- Study average: 71
How customers search for a lawyer
“Avocat” is searched 90,500 times a month in France, including 3,600 for “avocat lyon”, 8,100 for “avocat paris”. People quickly narrow down their need: divorce, dismissal, employment law, criminal law, property, inheritance, business law. They look for a firm that knows their problem, close to them, and for signs of trust before they call.
An ad click costs €3.54 on average for “avocat”. On the firms’ side, the demand is real, in monthly searches: 480 for “référencement avocat” (lawyer SEO), 210 for “site internet avocat” (lawyer website), 170 for “seo avocat” (SEO lawyer). Many lawyers know they need to be visible and are looking for how to do it properly.
| Google search | Searches / month | Cost per ad click |
|---|---|---|
| avocat | 90,500 | €3.54 |
| avocat paris | 8,100 | €3.06 |
| avocat lyon | 3,600 | €3.36 |
| avocat marseille | 2,900 | €5.32 |
| avocat toulouse | 3,600 | €2.23 |
| avocat bordeaux | 2,400 | €2.93 |
| avocat nantes | 1,900 | €1.88 |
| avocat lille | 2,400 | €1.64 |
| référencement avocat | 480 | n/a |
| site internet avocat | 210 | n/a |
| seo avocat | 170 | n/a |
What Google shows for “avocat paris”
Survey of 18 October 2026: the Google Maps card block (local pack) takes the top of the page, with an answer generated by Google’s AI (AI Overview). Below these blocks, the first 2 standard results visible are: avocatparis.org (institution), avocats.paris (institution).
- Answer generated by Google’s AI
- Google Maps local pack
- 1avocatparis.orginstitution
- 2avocats.parisinstitution
What we measured on 161 lawyer websites
We collected the top 200 Google Maps listings for “avocat” in Lyon and Paris, then ran each of the 161 websites belonging to these businesses through our free analysis. 12% of listings show no website at all and 4% only link to a platform (consultation.avocat.fr, sites.google.com, instagram.com).
84% of lawyer websites have no FAQ on the home page
Share of sites failing the check, compared with the average across the study’s 24 trades and 7 cities.
Have no FAQ on the home page: 84% ; Have no llms.txt file: 84% ; Do not describe the business in structured data: 59% ; Do not have a meta description of 70 to 165 characters: 50% ; Have no enquiry form on the home page: 45% ; Do not have a page title of 25 to 65 characters: 38% ; Have no clickable phone number or WhatsApp on the home page: 37% ; Have fewer than 400 words on the home page: 36% ; Do not have a single H1 saying what the business sells: 34% ; Have no share preview (Open Graph): 29% ; Leave more than 20% of their images without a description: 27% ; Have fewer than 10 internal links on the home page: 19% ; Do not declare a canonical URL: 17% ; Do not publish a sitemap: 13% ; Do not declare their language: 4% ; Are not mobile-friendly (no viewport tag): 3% ; Are not on HTTPS: 2% ; Block at least one AI assistant in their robots.txt: 0% ; Block Google in their robots.txt: 0%.
| Check | Lawyers | Study average |
|---|---|---|
| Have no FAQ on the home page | 84% | 81% |
| Have no llms.txt file | 84% | 80% |
| Do not describe the business in structured data | 59% | 55% |
| Do not have a meta description of 70 to 165 characters | 50% | 50% |
| Have no enquiry form on the home page | 45% | 48% |
| Do not have a page title of 25 to 65 characters | 38% | 41% |
| Have no clickable phone number or WhatsApp on the home page | 37% | 39% |
| Have fewer than 400 words on the home page | 36% | 40% |
| Do not have a single H1 saying what the business sells | 34% | 45% |
| Have no share preview (Open Graph) | 29% | 28% |
| Leave more than 20% of their images without a description | 27% | 21% |
| Have fewer than 10 internal links on the home page | 19% | 26% |
| Do not declare a canonical URL | 17% | 21% |
| Do not publish a sitemap | 13% | 18% |
| Do not declare their language | 4% | 6% |
| Are not mobile-friendly (no viewport tag) | 3% | 5% |
| Are not on HTTPS | 2% | 4% |
| Block at least one AI assistant in their robots.txt | 0% | 2% |
| Block Google in their robots.txt | 0% | 1% |
Source: FindMyCompany scanner, 161 sites scanned on 18 October 2026.Read the method
| City | Maps listings | Sites analysed | Median score | Reviews (median) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lyon | 100 | 81 | 70 | 15 |
| Paris | 100 | 80 | 73 | 8 |
The mistakes that cost lawyers customers
No simple way to get in touch
45% of the law firm websites analysed have no form on the home page and 37% have no tappable phone number. Lawyers fail on the form about as often as the average trade. A worried client who cannot find how to write moves on to the next firm.
A home page that does not state the practice areas
34% of the websites have no main heading that says what the firm does, and 84% answer no frequently asked question on the home page, about as often as the average trade. Google and AI assistants cannot connect the firm to “avocat licenciement” (dismissal lawyer) or “avocat divorce” (divorce lawyer) if it writes them nowhere.
A Google Business Profile with hardly any reviews
48% of the lawyer listings surveyed have fewer than 10 reviews, more often than the study average. Prominence is one of the three criteria of Google’s local ranking; replies to reviews, for their part, must remain compatible with professional secrecy.
Priority actions
Complete your Google Business Profile
The exact primary category, the firm’s address, opening hours, photos of the office and the team, a link to the website, a factual description of your practice areas.Write one page per practice area
For the client: the situations you handle, how a procedure runs, the documents to prepare, how appointments work. Facts and procedures, with no promise of outcome and no comparison with other firms.Make contact obvious
A tappable phone number and a short form at the top of every page, with how the first appointment works.Answer the frequently asked questions
Timescales, how a first appointment runs, useful documents: short answers that Google and AI assistants can pick up.Describe the firm in structured data
LegalService or Attorney type, address, opening hours, phone number, identical to your Google Business Profile.Check your presence on third-party sites
Directories, client-matching platforms, rating sites: in France, the Conseil national des barreaux (the national bar council) publishes a practical guide on this subject.
Frequently asked questions
Can a lawyer do SEO?
Yes. A complete Google Business Profile, a clear website and pages that explain your practice areas inform the public about your firm. The professional rules for lawyers apply to this communication: in France, if in doubt about a wording, ask your bar.
What does the CNB say about platforms and third-party sites?
The Conseil national des barreaux (CNB, the French national bar council) has published a practical guide on lawyers’ participation in online platforms owned by parties outside the profession, whose updated 3rd edition was presented at its General Assembly in November 2023. It restates the applicable professional and ethical rules, contains practical recommendations and covers the protection of online reputation with respect for professional secrecy, as well as online rating and comparison practices.
Why do the bar’s websites rank above my firm?
They answer the generic city search. Your ground is the local pack and the precise searches: a practice area, a city, a question. That is where a well-built firm page ranks.
Method
Google Maps results (up to 100 listings) for the trade’s search query, centred on the city, collected via OpenSEO on 18/10/2026. Free website analysis (lib/audit.js): home page, robots.txt, sitemap.xml, llms.txt. No paid tools. Listings without a website, platform pages (Doctolib, Planity, Facebook, Instagram, Google Sites…) and network pages appearing 3 times or more: counted in the listings, not in the sites analysed. The score out of 100 is the tool’s own, which also counts server response time (4 points out of 100). Server response times are not published: they were measured from outside France and do not reflect what a visitor in France sees. No business name or website address is published: only aggregated statistics.
Search volumes: Average monthly search volumes on Google, France, French language, Google Ads data via OpenSEO (DataForSEO). CPC = estimated average cost of an ad click, in euros.
The data covers businesses in France (websites and Google Maps listings in French cities), and searches and volumes are from Google France.
Sources
- Conseil national des barreaux, Le CNB rappelle les règles applicables à la participation des avocats à des sites de tiers (the CNB restates the rules on lawyers' participation in third-party sites)
- Google, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google
- Google Search Central, LocalBusiness structured data