SEO and ads for law firms in all 50 states and DC

Probative works with law firms in all 50 states and DC. Each state page sets out that state’s lawyer-advertising rules in plain English, shows how we verified each one, links the source, and then says what the rules mean for a firm’s SEO and ads. Every page also carries Census language data, the state’s largest metro areas and a count of its law firms.

Not legal advice. These pages summarize public sources for marketing planning. Rules change, and your firm answers to its own bar for every ad. Check with your bar and your counsel before relying on anything here.

How to read the verification codes

Every rule on every state page carries one of four codes.

The codes are a quality mark for this library, not a gate on our work. When a firm in a new state signs on, every ad-affecting rule for that state is checked against its primary source during onboarding.

What we’ve verified so far

The library tracks nine rule types for 51 jurisdictions: 459 cells in all. As of October 24, 2026:

• 70 cells (15%) are primary-verified (P). They are concentrated where we work first: Texas and Florida have 7 of 9 rule types verified against primary sources, and California 8.
• 242 cells (53%) rest on secondary sources (S), mostly a published white paper for each state’s ad rules and 2026 guides for call recording and privacy.
• 145 cells (32%) are ABA-model defaults (D), mostly the rules on results, referral services and non-English ads in smaller states.
• 2 cells are open questions (U): whether Ohio requires referral services to register, and Mississippi’s waiting period.

35 jurisdictions have no primary-verified cell yet. Their pages say so rule by rule, and every one of those cells is checked against the primary source before we run an ad there.

The national picture

Filing

Seven states make lawyers file their ads: Texas (within 10 days after first use), Florida (at least 20 days before), Nevada (within 15 days after), Louisiana (at or before first use), Mississippi (before first use), Connecticut (at or before first use) and Alabama (within 3 days after). Four more file only targeted solicitations: Indiana, New York, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Kentucky offers a voluntary review, and South Carolina deleted its filing rule, though older summaries still list it.

Words inside the ad

Most states require a responsible lawyer or firm in each ad, with contact details or an office address. Two states require a set sentence in every ad: Missouri (99 characters) and Alabama (154). Both are longer than the 90 characters a search-ad description holds (Google), which makes them the hardest rules to meet in search ads. Louisiana adds the bar’s filing number to each non-exempt ad.

Waiting periods

Nineteen states restrict targeted contact with injured people. Most set 30 days, some only after deaths or disasters; Texas sets 31 and makes early contact a crime, and Connecticut sets 40. In every state, federal law bars unsolicited contact about injury claims for 45 days after an air-carrier or passenger-rail accident (49 U.S.C. §1136, §1139). Search ads and replies to people who asked for contact are generally not solicitation.

Call recording

Twelve states require all parties’ consent to record a call, by the sources we use: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. Michigan and Oregon are mixed. Because a firm’s lines take calls from anywhere, every tracked line we set up opens with a recording notice.

Texting and follow-up calls

Six states give consumers private suits over texts or sales calls: Florida, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Arizona add hours, registration or consent rules enforced by the state.

Privacy and health data

Twenty states have a comprehensive privacy law in force, and four more start soon: Alabama, Louisiana and Oklahoma in 2027, Vermont in 2028. Most count consumers, not clients, so a firm’s website visitors can push it over a threshold. Washington, Nevada and Connecticut also have health-data laws that apply at any business size, and Washington’s allows private suits (RCW 19.373). Injury details on an intake form can count as health data.

Spanish

Nationally, 13.9% of people age 5 and older speak Spanish at home, about 44.9 million people, and 41.1% of them speak English less than “very well” (ACS 2024, table C16001). The share ranges from 28.8% in California and 28.2% in Texas to 1.2% in Maine. Since September 2026, Google matches the language of a search to the language of the ad (Google), so a firm without Spanish ads doesn’t appear for Spanish searches at all.

Metro areas that cross state lines

Many large markets straddle a border: New York-Newark-Jersey City, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Louisville, Memphis, Charlotte, Portland and Omaha, among others (Census metro definitions). An ad aimed at one of them reaches people in more than one state. Each state page flags its cross-border metros.

Rules that apply in every state

• Air and rail accidents: no unsolicited contact about injury claims within 45 days (§1136, §1139).
• Automated calls and texts: marketing calls and texts by autodialer, or with a prerecorded or artificial voice, AI voices included, need prior express written consent, and opt-outs are honored within 10 business days (47 CFR 64.1200).
• Reviews: the FTC rule bans fake, bought and AI-generated reviews, undisclosed insider reviews and review suppression (FTC).
• Google audiences: remarketing, Customer Match and lookalike audiences are barred in sensitive categories such as health and trauma; conversion uploads for bidding remain allowed (Google).
• Local Services Ads: each lawyer’s bar license is screened, and advertisers can’t sell or pass leads (Google). Since October 1, 2026, a business-hours missed call is billed as a lead when the caller stays on more than 20 seconds (Google).

What the ABA model default means

Where a state’s cell is marked D, the ABA Model Rule applies until we check the state’s own text:

• results only if truthful and given in context;
• “certified specialist” only through an approved body that the ad names;
• lawyers may pay reasonable advertising costs and a qualified referral service’s usual charges, never for a recommendation;
• lead generators are allowed only if they don’t recommend the lawyer, imply a recommendation or split fees;
• every ad names at least one responsible lawyer or firm, with contact information.

Our defaults in every state

Some rules are strict in one state and absent in the next. Rather than chase the gaps, we build every ad to the strictest common rule, so an unchecked cell can’t cause a problem.

• The responsible lawyer’s name and office city in every ad, in pinned text, the image or the video.
• No targeted contact with injured people, and no geofencing of hospitals, clinics, accident scenes, police stations or courthouses.
• No dollar results, testimonials, awards, “best”, “expert” or “specialist” in ads unless the state’s rules clear the exact wording.
• No referring, recommending or routing people to lawyers, no selling leads, and no pricing per lead or per case.
• Every required statement in each language the ad uses.
• A recording notice on every tracked call.
• Callbacks 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the caller’s time zone, at most 3 attempts in 24 hours, with no autodialers, prerecorded or AI voices.
• Forms that ask only what intake needs, tags that fire only after consent, and no injury details sent to ad platforms.
• Location targeting by presence only, with every targeted state’s rules loaded into the ad check.

How Probative works across states

• Every state, from day one. A new state’s rules are checked against primary sources during onboarding, inside the normal setup, so they never delay launch.
• Your attorney approves every ad. That is the bar’s rule for law firms. Where a state requires a filing, we prepare it, and your attorney signs, files and pays.
• Remote, plus in person. We work remotely and travel when it helps. Travel terms are on the pricing page.
• One number everywhere: what each signed case cost, from your own records, every Monday, under The Probative Standard.

The lawyer advertising rules by state table puts every rule for every state side by side, and the glossary explains the terms.

All states and DC

Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming

Rules last checked October 24, 2026.