Google Ads for Law Firms

Law firm PPC can be an effective way to drive more leads to your firm. can be an effective way to drive more leads to your law firm. However, the success of your ads depends on having the right targeting strategy, ad copy, and calls to action (CTAs) to entice people to click on your ads.

With Google Ads, your law firm can capture the attention of people who are already using Google to find legal services. By targeting the right keywords, you can effectively “outrank” your competitors and gain more market share in Search.

Learn more about Google Ads for law firms and how to run ads that generate real leads for your business.

Do Google Ads Work for Law Firms?

Google is one of the most effective marketing platforms for law firms, given that over 70% of people use Google to search for legal services. And while search engine optimization (SEO) is one way to “rank” in Search, sometimes the market is just too competitive to rank organically.

Google Ads can be a smart way to level up your Google presence by “bidding” on the keywords people are searching for to find services like yours. While Google Ads can be more expensive than SEO (due to ad budget, ad management, etc.), it can help you generate new leads in less time compared to organic methods.

Benefits of Google Ads for Law Firms

Many law firms choose to use Google Ads in combination with their existing organic efforts. That allows firms to earn leads organically (for the long term), while generating immediate leads with their ad spend. In fact, there are many benefits of investing in Google Ads.

Immediate Exposure

Google Ads allow you to bid on keywords in real time, earning clicks (and potentially leads) right away. You can launch your ads and start appearing for search queries the same day, versus SEO, which can take weeks or even months to start earning traffic.

Precise Targeting

Google Ads setup requires you to select and bid on the specific keywords that are most important for your business. The goal is to target keywords that are most likely to drive relevant, ready-to-work-with-you leads. You can even exclude keywords (i.e. “negative keywords”) to avoid attracting the wrong types of clients.

Budget Control

With Google Ads, you have complete control over your advertising budget. You can adjust your budget at any time, based on performance, and only pay if someone actually clicks on your ad.

Geo-Targeting

Google Ads are particularly effective for local law firms. You are able to target your ads to appear to users in specific geographic locations, meaning you only attract clients in your service area(s).

Adaptability

Google Ads analytics provide a wealth of data to inform your ad strategy and overall marketing campaigns. You can A/B test different ad formats and messaging, which can help you refine your message and improve marketing performance over time. And you can always adjust your ads, keywords, and budget to keep up with market changes.

How to Get More Legal Leads with Google Ads

Whether you’ve already dabbled in Google Ads or are getting started for the first time, you’re in the right place. As a trusted law firm SEO and PPC agency, we help law firms like yours generate positive results with their advertising campaigns.

Here’s how to get started with Google Ads and begin driving more legal leads for your business.

Create Your Google Ads Account

The first step is to set up your Google Ads account. You can do this by visiting the Google Ads website and signing up for an account using your Google email account. You will then need to enter your business information and billing information in order to activate your account.

Once you have logged into your new Google Ads account, you will see the following sections and features:

• Dashboard: This is a visual display of your account’s key performance metrics and trends. (This will likely be blank if you have never ran ads before.)
• Alerts: This includes important updates, suggestions, and alerts related to your Google Ads campaigns.
• All Campaigns: Here is where you view and manage all your advertising campaigns.
• Settings: You can navigate to Settings to update things like your ads budget, bidding strategy, and targeting options.
• Ad Groups: Ad Groups refer to a collection of one or more ads targeting a set of related keywords.
• Ads: This is where you create and edit your ads.
• Ad Variations: Here, you can test different versions of your ads to see which perform best.
• Extensions: You can add extra information to your ads, such as phone numbers, links to your website, or promotional messages.
• Search Keywords: This is where you select the keywords that trigger your ads to appear.
• Negative Keywords: This is the list of keywords that you don’t want your ads to show for.
• Demographics: Age, gender, and audience targeting; view and adjust your targeting based on demographic factors.
• Reports: Create and view custom reports based on the metrics and dimensions that matter to you. You can also access a variety of predefined reports for quick insights.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with the various features and tools within Google Ads. You might not end up using all of these features, but it can be helpful to know where they exist and what their capabilities are.

Define Your Google Ads Strategy

As with any marketing plan, it’s important to set some goals. Consider what you want to achieve with your Google Ads (e.g., phone calls, website visits, client inquiries, etc.).

You might even want to set specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your campaigns, such as Click-Through Rate (CTR), total clicks, phone calls, or completed form fills.

Next, you need to determine what keywords to target with your ads. Often, this will be largely informed by your existing SEO strategy. You can analyze the search volume, competition level, and cost per click (CPC) for the keyword relevant to your business.

You can even use Google Ads’ native keyword research tools to look at the keywords your competitors are targeting. This can help you identify potential opportunities.

For example, say you are a family law firm based in Newark, New Jersey. Some keyword examples might include:

• Family lawyer Newark NJ
• Divorce attorney Newark NJ
• Child custody lawyer Newark NJ
• Spousal support attorney Newark
• Family law firm Newark NJ
• Adoption lawyer Newark NJ
• Prenuptial agreement attorney Newark
• Domestic violence lawyer Newark NJ
• Child support attorney Newark
• Mediation family law Newark NJ
• Newark NJ divorce lawyer near me
• Family attorney Essex County NJ
• Child custody attorney Newark New Jersey
• Newark NJ family court lawyer
• Family law advice Newark

Create Your Ads

This is where it’s time to get a little creative. In order to run effective ads, you will need to write compelling ad “copy” that entices people to click on your ads.

Best practices for law firm Google Ads copy are to: 1) concisely describe the legal services you offer, 2) use thought-provoking language to grab users’ attention, 3) include the target keyword in the ad copy, and 4) add a clear CTA that drives people to take action (click, call, etc.).

You’ll also need to select the types of ads you want to run. These can include text ads, display ads, or video ads. Text ads are the most common format for law firms.

Of course, you will need to direct users somewhere—usually, to your website. It can be helpful to create specific landing pages that correspond to your ads. These pages should provide additional information about your services and incorporate language that’s similar to your ad copy.

You might not hit it out of the park with your first ads. And that’s okay. Try your best to create optimized and enticing ads, and then monitor performance so you can make incremental improvements over time.

Target Your Ads

Now it’s time to target your ads. This involves selecting the geographic areas you want to target. This is crucial for law firms that only provide services to certain states/cities.

Next, schedule your ads. This is where you decide when your ads should be shown. For example, you might set your ads to run only during your business hours so you are available to respond to phone calls.

Then comes your ad budget. Determine how much you want to spend per day or per month on your Google Ads campaigns. Select a bidding strategy based on your goals and KPIs (e.g. optimized CPC, number of clicks, cost per lead acquisition, etc.).

This is where Google Ads gets a bit more complicated, since most law firms are nervous to blow their budgets on ineffective ads. If you aren’t sure how to set up effective ad targeting, consider working with a law firm PPC agency.

Monitor & Optimize

Once your ads start running, you should begin to see some performance data. Google Ads analytics provides a wealth of insights to help you understand how your ads are performing, whether you are effectively utilizing your ad budget, and whether you are targeting the right keywords.

Then, based on the performance data, you can make adjustments to your keywords, ad copy, and budget to optimize the campaign. Be sure to review the results of your campaigns and measure this against the goals/KPIs you’ve set for your strategy.

You can always use this data to improve existing ads or create more effective ads in the future. Often, you will even get helpful information for your other marketing strategies, such as the copy on your website or CTAs used on social media.

Want to see how Google Ads are paying off for our clients? Check out case studies here.