Pearl Lemon helped Smolin Law, a U.S.-based criminal defense law firm, significantly increase its organic visibility in one of the most competitive SEO industries: local criminal law. Over six months, Pearl Lemon executed a full SEO strategy covering technical optimisation, link building, toxic backlink cleanup, on-page improvements, and local keyword optimisation.
26 → 31
Domain Rating increase
14-20 → top 5-6
Keyword ranking improvement
Smolin Law faced challenges in a highly competitive local criminal law SEO market, with many strategic terms stuck between positions 14-20 and a Domain Authority of 26. They also experienced flat organic traffic growth and had harmful links requiring cleanup. The firm sought higher rankings for high-value criminal defense terms and improved domain authority to compete effectively.
Pearl Lemon implemented a layered, long-term SEO approach combining technical, on-page, off-page, and local optimisation. This included an ongoing link building campaign with high-trust legal placements and a disavow and toxic link cleanup strategy. They resolved key technical issues, targeted local intent keywords, and upgraded high-value 'money pages' with on-page improvements, while continuously monitoring performance.
The campaign delivered strong, measurable results over six months, despite the challenges of legal SEO. Domain Rating increased from 26 to 31, and rankings for many core terms improved from positions 14-20 to top 5-6. This led to stronger rankings, authority, and traffic for Smolin Law in a highly competitive market.
Originally published by the delivering Pearl Lemon team at pearllemon.com/case-studies/criminal-law-seo-smolin-law/.
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Written and reviewed by
Deepak Shukla — Founder, Pearl Lemon Group
Deepak Shukla founded Pearl Lemon Group and its family of niche growth companies. He works hands-on with clients across SEO, paid media and outbound.
