The Short Answer
Look for a genuine track record with law firms specifically, not just general local businesses; transparent reporting that shows real ranking and traffic data rather than vague monthly summaries; and real familiarity with Law Society of Alberta advertising rules, since generic marketing copy can create compliance problems a general agency won't catch. Any agency vague on any of these three is worth a harder look before signing.
The Questions That Separate Real Agencies From the Rest
Ask for specific law-firm case studies with real, verifiable metrics, not just a generic client list. Ask exactly what technical work is included versus what counts as an extra — some agencies quietly bill separately for schema markup or site speed work that should be table stakes. Ask directly whether they understand the Law Society of Alberta's ban on 'specialist' and superlative advertising claims, since a general agency writing content with words like 'leading' or 'best' is creating a real compliance risk without realizing it.
Ask how they measure success — an agency fixated purely on keyword ranking position, with no mention of actual lead volume or AI citation, is optimizing for a metric with real declining relevance. See how the whole idea of a "click" is shifting.
Red Flags vs. Good Signs
Why This Matters More for a Firm New to SEO
A firm evaluating its first real SEO engagement often can't easily judge quality from the outside, which is exactly the position a lower-quality agency counts on. Asking pointed, specific questions upfront — and insisting on real answers, not reassurance — is the best defense against a vague, underperforming engagement that only becomes obvious a year in.
See SEO agency vs. AI website agency for a related distinction worth understanding before comparing proposals.
Any agency that can't clearly explain what it's actually doing, in specific terms you can verify, isn't being modest about complexity. It's hoping you won't ask a second question.
James Harmiden · Founder & CEO, Lexscale.ai
One Piece of a Larger Puzzle
Think of this as one piece of a larger puzzle for a Calgary law firm. The adjacent pieces are How Much Does Google Ads (PPC) Cost for a Law Firm in Calgary?, Are Facebook and Meta Ads Worth It for a Calgary Law Firm?, How Do I Build a Referral Program for My Calgary Law Firm?, and What's the Difference Between Branding and Marketing for a Calgary Law Firm? — and a bit further out, How Much Should a Calgary Law Firm Spend on Marketing?, How Do I Track Marketing ROI for My Calgary Law Firm?, and What Are the Law Society of Alberta's Advertising Rules for Calgary Firms?. The Calgary growth hub shows how all of it connects, with AI Website Design for Calgary Law Firms and AI SEO for Calgary Law Firms as the two services underneath.