Advertising for mediators in Germany: page by page to a compliant website

Which rules apply to whom

The Mediationsgesetz (MediationsG, Mediation Act) contains no advertising provision. It still affects your advertising, because it defines what mediation is: a confidential process with a neutral person who has no power to decide. Anyone advertising mediation must actually meet these criteria. Which additional rules apply depends on your original profession.

Titles: certified, association seals, original profession

In Germany, non-lawyers may use “Mediator:in” freely. “Zertifizierte:r Mediator:in” (certified mediator), on the other hand, is tied to the ZMediatAusbV (Certified Mediators Training Regulation): a 130-hour classroom course, five supervised mediations within three years and then 40 hours of continuing education every four years. If you fail to meet any of these conditions, you may not call yourself certified, and advertising with it is misleading under § 5 UWG. Because no authority checks this, complaints usually come from competitors.

Home page and service pages: concrete and impartial

Mediation is usually sought by one side but offered to both. Under § 2 Abs 3 MediationsG, you are equally committed to all parties. A home page that only courts the person making the enquiry misses the point of the offer and can mislead, because it promises representation of interests that mediation does not provide.

Good service pages describe areas of conflict, the process and the limits of mediation: when mediation is not suitable, for example where there is violence in the relationship, and when you refer people to other services. This honesty comes across as more trustworthy than any success rate.

The costs page: prices, initial meeting, legal expenses insurance

• Total prices for consumers: state prices including VAT for private individuals, as the Preisangabenverordnung (Price Indication Ordinance) requires. In business mediation with companies, net prices with the addition “plus VAT” are common.
• Reference unit: say whether the hourly rate applies to one person or a co-mediation team, how long a session lasts and whether preparation and minutes are charged separately.
• Splitting costs: many parties share the costs. Write that this is agreed jointly rather than prescribing a split.
• Free initial meeting: permitted if it is really free of charge and creates no obligation. For lawyers, the statutory cap on the initial consultation fee under § 34 RVG applies to advice, not to mediation.
• Legal expenses insurance: many insurers cover mediation costs, but often only with their own partners. Write “Ask your insurer whether it will cover the costs”, not “paid for by all legal expenses insurers”.

Reviews and client stories

Unlike chamber professions, mediators have no professional rule on testimonials. The limit results from confidentiality: under § 4 MediationsG, you and everyone involved are bound to confidentiality. Anything discussed in the mediation must not end up in a client story, and even the fact that someone came to you is protected.

A technical note: your own reviews on your website do not produce stars in Google's search results, because Google does not use reviews a business collects about itself for this. Reviews on your Google Business Profile, by contrast, appear in map search.

Google Ads and social media

Paid search ads are unproblematic for mediators, as long as the ad and landing page are truthful. You may bid on search terms such as “Mediation Trennung Köln” (separation mediation Cologne) or “Wirtschaftsmediator München” (business mediator Munich). Trade marks of associations you do not belong to and the names of other mediators do not belong in your ad copy.

• Ad copy: factual and neutral, for example “Separation mediation in Cologne: finding solutions together for children and finances”. Superlatives such as “the best mediator in town” are misleading without proof.
• Landing page: the matching service page, not the home page. This lowers the cost per click and helps searchers.
• Social media: expert posts, short explainer videos on the process and announcements of talks work well. Case stories, even altered ones, are risky on social media, because comments can allow conclusions to be drawn.
• Local visibility: for searches with a local reference, a well-maintained profile is often more effective than ads. More on this under local SEO.

Email, newsletters and partnerships

Marketing emails without prior express consent are an unacceptable nuisance (§ 7 Abs 2 UWG). For a newsletter you therefore need provable consent, in practice via double opt-in. The existing-customer exception in § 7 Abs 3 UWG is narrow: it only applies to similar services of your own, only with a notice of the right to object, and rarely fits mediation, because former parties are unlikely to expect advertising for their next separation. Marketing calls to private individuals require express consent, and to businesses at least presumed consent.

Germany has no mediation-specific ban on referral commissions. Even so: a commission to the law firm that sends you couples can call your independence into question and must be disclosed under § 3 Abs 1 MediationsG. Lawyers may not give or accept benefits for referring instructions anyway (§ 49b Abs 3 BRAO). Professional partnerships, joint talks and mutual recommendations without anything in return are the clean route.

Lawyers and notaries: what applies in addition

Under § 43b BRAO, lawyers may advertise insofar as they inform factually about their professional activity and do not target an individual mandate. Under § 7a BORA, the title mediator is only permitted if you meet the training and continuing education requirements under § 5 Abs 1 MediationsG, and § 18 BORA makes clear that professional law also applies in mediation. Advertising such as “Mediation first, then we'll represent you in court” falls foul of § 3 Abs 2 MediationsG, which rules out later acting for one party in the same matter.

Notaries may truthfully mention their mediation training. The BGH has, however, held the equal-ranking double title “Notar & Mediator” on letterheads and websites to be misleading advertising contrary to professional rules (decision of 11.07.2022, NotZ(Brfg) 6/21), because mediation is part of a notary's official activity and the impression of a second profession is created. More on lawyer advertising in Advertising for lawyers in Germany, and on mandatory information in Mandatory website information for mediators in Germany.