Case Study · Immigration Law
In organic clicks to the pages we rewrote, year over year, for a bilingual Montreal immigration law firm.
How ProStar SEO reversed a four-month decline in rankings, rebuilt the firm's pillar and procedure pages in French and English, and tripled its lead over the nearest competitor in Quebec search.
Four numbers that sum up the first four months.
+105%
Organic clicks to
the pages we rewrote
2×
Keywords in Google's top 10,
from 128 to 257
21
Tracked keywords in
Google's top 3, up from 8
3×
Visibility lead over the
nearest competitor in Quebec
Immigration law, explained clearly.
ProStar SEO's client is a boutique law firm in Montreal that has practised immigration law for decades. It serves individuals and families (foreign workers, international students, sponsored spouses, future permanent residents) as well as Canadian employers recruiting abroad. Its lawyers can represent clients before the Federal Court and the Immigration Appeal Division, which consultants cannot, and the firm publishes its consultation fees openly.
Industry
Legal services · Immigration law
Business type
Law firm with videoconference consultations across Quebec, Canada and abroad
Region
Montreal · Quebec · Canada-wide
Primary goal
Grow non-branded visibility on immigration procedures and “immigration lawyer” searches, in French and English
Real expertise, slipping rankings.
The firm had the credentials and a bilingual site, but its search presence was moving the wrong way. Ranking keywords had fallen for four straight months before the engagement began, and the pages that should have carried commercial searches weren't doing the job.
- A pillar page competing with the homepage. The homepage and the main immigration page targeted the same keywords, splitting Google's signals between two pages instead of building one strong one.
- Procedure pages that didn't match how people search. Articles on work permits, permanent residency and program guides ranked on formal program names, while clients search with acronyms and plain questions.
- Outdated and thin content. Legacy articles from earlier years were short and dated, and references to a replaced Quebec immigration program were still live.
- Two jurisdictions, strict professional rules. Every page had to explain the Quebec and federal layers of immigration clearly, and stay within Barreau rules: no promised outcomes, no guaranteed timelines.
Goal
Stop the decline, turn the firm's key pages into ranking assets in both languages, and win “immigration lawyer” searches across Quebec against established competitors.
An approach in four moves.
ProStar SEO deployed a four-part strategy, rolled out in three waves between June and August 2026.
Client and competitor analysis
Auditing the firm's voice, mapping every page of the bilingual site, and benchmarking each target keyword against the pages already ranking for it. Every page was built on a measured term list and density target, and written in the firm's pedagogical, lawyer-not-consultant voice.
Homepage and pillar page rework
Rewriting the homepage and the main immigration page in June, the first wave. The pillar page was restructured around the firm's full range of immigration services, with clear programs, a numbered process and transparent pricing.
High-intent procedure guides
Rewriting and publishing guides on the searches clients make right before they hire a lawyer: immigration lawyer fees, work permit renewal, permanent resident card renewal, applying for a work permit, the Quebec skilled worker program and the Quebec acceptance certificate. Outdated program content was removed in the second wave, in July.
Bilingual build and local pages
Building every page in both Quebec French and English, with each language's official program names, then adding city pages for Québec City and Sherbrooke in August to extend the firm's reach beyond Montreal.
Top 10 rankings, doubled.
Four months after the first wave, the decline had fully reversed. Ranking keywords climbed back past their previous peak, and nearly all the growth landed in Google's top 20, on the pages we rewrote.
| Metric | Before | After | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking keywords, Canada (total) | 596 | 918 | +54% |
| Top 3 keywords, Canada | 33 | 54 | +64% |
| Top 10 keywords, Canada | 128 | 257 | +101% |
| Positions in Google AI Overviews | 7 | 60 | ×8.6 |
| Tracked French keywords in the top 3 | 8 | 19 | +138% |
| Tracked French keywords in the top 10 | 30 | 55 | +83% |
| Tracked English keywords in the top 10 | 6 | 20 | +233% |
| Visibility in Montreal, French | 4.38% | 8.04% | +3.66 pts |
| Visibility in Montreal, English | 0.86% | 1.83% | ×2.1 |
| Organic clicks, rewritten pages (Jul–Sep, year over year) | 371 | 761 | +105% |
| Organic impressions, rewritten pages (Jul–Sep, year over year) | 60,000 | 116,000 | +91% |
A · Rewritten pages
On the pages we rewrote
- English work permit extension guide 194 clicks in three months, with 51 keywords in the top 10 +341%
- French immigration pillar page Organic clicks, year over year 1 → 79
- French permanent resident card renewal guide 116 clicks, with all 10 tracked keywords in the top 10, including “renouvellement carte de résident permanent” (480 monthly searches), up from #11 to #3 +40%
- Immigration lawyer fees guide “avocat immigration canada prix” straight to #1, and “immigration lawyer cost” (260 monthly searches) entering Google at #7 #1
- Homepage Organic clicks +111%
B · Competition
Ahead of the competition in Quebec
In French-language search in Montreal, the firm now holds 8.04% visibility on its tracked keywords, against 2.65% for the nearest of its four main competitors. At the start of the engagement the gap was 1.35×; it is now 3×. Two of the four competitors lost visibility over the same period.
C · English site
English, gaining ground
The English site added 27 tracked keywords that weren't ranking in June, including:
- immigration lawyer consultation 260 monthly searches #22 → #1
- immigration lawyer canada 590 monthly searches, new entry #7
- renew the pr card 1,000 monthly searches, new entry #11
The numbers, in pictures.
Screenshots taken straight from our SEO analytics tools.
Four metrics that make the difference.
+54%
Ranking keywords
From 596 to 918 keywords ranking in Canada, reversing a four-month decline.
×8.6
AI Overview positions
From 7 to 60 appearances in Google's AI Overviews.
41
New tracked keyword entries
Tracked keywords in French and English that weren't ranking when the work began.
+91%
Impressions on rewritten pages
From 60,000 to 116,000 impressions year over year on the pages ProStar rewrote.
Want your clients to find you first?
Whether you're launching a new business or looking to strengthen your local visibility, we help professionals and organizations dominate search results and earn their audience's trust from day one.
Contact us