Engagements
What it costs to work with us.
A foundation, then a partnership. Every figure below is a starting floor, published so you can qualify us before you ever pick up the phone.
The short answer
CounselDigital engagements start at $15,000 one-time for the Foundation (the website, technical SEO, and AEO setup), followed by a monthly SEO and AEO retainer starting at $2,500 per month. Firms that already have working SEO can add Answer Engine Optimization on its own from $2,000 per month.
Step one · one-time
What does the one-time Foundation cover?
The asset and the setup the search work runs on: a fast, legal-specific website, technical SEO, structured data, and AEO entity foundation.
Bespoke, legal-specific website design & build
Technical SEO foundation (speed, crawlability, accessibility)
Structured data for organization, attorneys & services
AEO entity & knowledge-graph setup
Practice-area architecture & intake structure
Analytics and search foundation in place at launch
Step two · monthly
How much does a monthly SEO and AEO retainer cost?
Ongoing SEO and AEO. Pick the depth your firm needs. Every tier builds on the Foundation.
SEO EssentialsFrom $2,500 per monthLocal and organic search, handled. Firms that need to be found in search and the local pack first.
- Ongoing technical & local SEO
- Google Business Profile management
- Practice-area & local content (light cadence)
- Monthly reporting in plain language
- AEO entity monitoring
- Full AEO program
- Thought-leadership content program
SEO + AEOFrom $4,500 per monthBe found in search and cited by the AI. Firms that want to win both the search result and the AI answer.
- Everything in SEO Essentials
- Full Answer Engine Optimization program
- Entity, structured data & citation building
- Answer-engine monitoring & reporting
- Question-led practice content (steady cadence)
- Thought-leadership content program
Market DominationFrom $8,500 per monthOwn your market in search and in AI. Firms intent on being the obvious answer in their market.
- Everything in SEO + AEO
- Aggressive content & authority program
- Thought leadership & insights
- Priority ongoing care & edits
- Expanded local & practice-area coverage
- Quarterly strategy with a principal
For firms with existing SEO
Add Answer Engine Optimization
Already have search handled but invisible to AI? We layer a full AEO program (entity foundation, structured data, question-led content, and answer-engine monitoring) on top of your existing SEO.
Side by side
What is the difference between the retainers?
| Included | SEO Essentials | SEO + AEO | Market Domination |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search (SEO) | |||
| Technical SEO | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Local search & Google Business Profile | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Practice-area architecture | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Monthly reporting | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Answer engines (AEO) | |||
| Entity & knowledge-graph foundation | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Question-led answer content | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Answer-engine monitoring | – | ✓ | ✓ |
| Content & authority | |||
| Practice-area content | Light | Steady | Aggressive |
| Thought leadership program | – | – | ✓ |
| Priority care & edits | – | – | ✓ |
| Engagement | |||
| Quarterly strategy with a principal | – | – | ✓ |
All retainers follow a one-time Foundation engagement. Every price shown is a starting floor, not a fixed rate; final scope is set per firm after we understand your market and practice areas. No long-term lock-in, references available on request.
Common questions
Questions firms ask about cost.
Ongoing SEO for a law firm at CounselDigital starts at $2,500 per month, and most firms that want both search and answer-engine work sit at $4,500 per month. Those retainers follow a one-time Foundation engagement from $15,000 that builds the site and the technical SEO and AEO setup the monthly work runs on. Across the industry, credible law-firm SEO generally runs from a few thousand dollars a month upward, scaling with how competitive the market and the practice area are.
AEO is included in our SEO + AEO retainer from $4,500 per month. If your firm already has SEO handled elsewhere and only needs to become visible to AI answer engines, we run AEO as a standalone program from $2,000 per month, covering entity and knowledge-graph foundation, structured data, question-led content, and answer-engine monitoring.
Because that is how the work actually runs. The Foundation builds the asset and the technical SEO and AEO setup once. The retainer does the ongoing search and answer-engine work that compounds month over month. Search is never one-and-done, and pricing it as a single project would misrepresent the engagement.
No. Every figure we publish is a starting floor. Final pricing is set per firm once we understand your market, your practice areas, and how competitive the search landscape is. A firm in a saturated metro competing on high-value practice areas costs more to compete in than a firm in a quieter market. We quote clearly and in writing before any engagement begins.
Because it is a different service. Low-cost retainers typically buy a set number of generic blog posts and an automated report. Our retainers buy technical and local SEO, a full answer-engine program, content written for legal practice areas, and direct access to a principal. If a low-cost vendor is producing results for your firm, keep them. We are built for firms that intend to own a competitive market.
Not always. If your current site is technically sound, we can build the SEO and AEO program on top of it and you skip the Foundation rebuild. The Foundation is for firms whose site is actively holding them back: slow, unstructured, or impossible to update.
No long-term lock-in. Search compounds, so the firms that see the most benefit stay for the long run by choice rather than because they are trapped in a term.
Mid-market firms, roughly 10 to 50 attorneys. Smaller firms that are serious about owning their market in search and AI are a good fit too, but the pricing assumes a firm for whom a single additional matter comfortably covers a year of the retainer.
Get started