Google Ads for lawyers
Google Ads for lawyers. One campaign for each practice area you want more of.
A law firm does not have one kind of client searching. Someone charged last night, someone who has been thinking about separating for six months and someone who needs a contract of sale reviewed by Friday are three different searches. They should never share a campaign.
Omologist builds each campaign for you: the keywords, the ad groups, the ad copy, the negative keywords and a budget forecast, one practice area page at a time. You pay once and run it yourself, or hand it to whoever looks after your marketing.
One-off price in US dollars · No retainer · Delivered within 24 hours
Every build is read by Sean Cooney before it is sent.
Running Google Ads since 2001.
Family law
yourfirm.com.au/family-law
Conveyancing
yourfirm.com.au/conveyancing
Wills and estates
yourfirm.com.au/wills-and-estates
Criminal law
yourfirm.com.au/criminal-law
Employment law
yourfirm.com.au/employment-law
Five pages to advertise is five campaigns. You do not need all five. Start with the practice area you most want more of.
Three kinds of legal search. Three different campaigns.
Most law firm Google Ads accounts that waste money do it the same way: every practice area in one campaign, one budget, one set of ads. The searches below behave nothing like each other, and Google will spend the shared budget on whichever is cheapest to buy.
Urgent
The client who needs a lawyer today
criminal lawyer · drink driving lawyer · urgent court date
Searching now, often on a phone and often frightened. They call the first firm that looks able to act, and the click is wasted if nobody answers.
In the campaign: a tight service area, a schedule that matches when someone answers the phone, and ads that say what happens when they call.
Considered
The client weighing a hard decision
divorce lawyer · contesting a will · unfair dismissal
Researching for weeks or months. They search for cost, for the process and for where they stand long before they speak to anyone.
In the campaign: separate ad groups for people asking about cost, people asking about the process and people ready to book a consultation.
Transactional
The client with a task and a deadline
conveyancing · making a will · contract review
Comparing on price and speed. These searches turn into work quickly, but the fee is often fixed and modest, so the cost of the click matters more here than anywhere else.
In the campaign: a budget forecast that says whether the fee can carry the click cost, and negative keywords for people looking for a free template.
What one build covers
One build. One campaign. One practice area page.
Each campaign is built around a single page on your website. For a law firm that is usually a practice area page, sometimes a single matter type such as drink driving or contested wills, sometimes a fixed-fee service. A second page is a second build.
One campaign · family law
one budget · one goal
Ad group
People ready to book
Searches that name the matter and a place, or ask for a consultation
Ad group
People asking about cost
Searches about fees, fixed prices and what a first meeting costs
Ad group
People asking about the process
Searches about how separation or a property settlement works
Ad group
People who know your name
Searches for your firm, kept apart from the rest
every ad leads to
One page on your website
The keywords, the clusters and the audiences are all researched for this page.
An example for one practice area. In Performance Max the groups are asset groups and audiences, and they still lead to the one page.
Three practice areas to advertise is three builds.
Count the pages you want to send paid traffic to. That is the number of campaigns your law firm needs.
One build
A practice area
yourfirm.com.au/family-law
One area of work that deserves its own budget
One build
A matter type
yourfirm.com.au/drink-driving-lawyer
A narrower page for one kind of matter
One build
A fixed-fee service
yourfirm.com.au/fixed-fee-conveyancing
A priced service, with its terms stated
What is in a Google Ads build for a law firm.
Every build covers the same ground, delivered as an editable spreadsheet you own. Here is what each part does for a law firm.
Keywords read for intent
“Family lawyer” and “free family law advice” share most of their words. One is a client. The other is looking for Legal Aid. Live search volume and cost for your own area, then a decision on every term.
Ad groups built from what people are asking
Grouped by what the searcher is trying to do, not by your list of services. It is what lets each ad answer the search it appears for.
Match types
Exact and phrase, chosen term by term. We never use broad match in an initial build.
Ad copy written to each group
Headlines and descriptions inside Google’s character limits, written for the question that ad group is asking.
Negative keywords
Legal searches are full of people who are not clients. The list on the right is where that money goes when nobody excludes it.
Budget forecast
What your budget can realistically buy in your area, and what a new client has to be worth for the numbers to hold. If Google Ads is the wrong channel for that work, the build says so.
Landing page readiness
What the practice area page needs fixed before you send paid traffic to it.
Pre-launch checklist
Conversion tracking for calls and enquiry forms, locations, schedule, bid strategy, and the defaults Google switches on for you.
People looking for free help
free · legal aid · pro bono · community legal centre
Students and jobseekers
degree · clerkship · salary · jobs
People doing it themselves
template · form · kit · sample letter
People looking something up
definition · meaning · what is · legislation
People looking for the court
court list · registry · opening hours
Examples of the kinds of term a legal campaign should exclude. Your own list comes from the search data for your practice areas and your area.
See the Performance Max build →
Or open a complete sample build, made for a fictional retailer: Search sample · Performance Max sample. Free, no email.
The advertising rules a legal campaign has to respect.
Lawyer advertising is regulated in a way that most Google Ads advice ignores. Two sets of rules decide what your ads can say and who they can be shown to.
Australia · the Solicitors’ Conduct Rules
What your ads and landing page can say
- Not false, misleading or offensive. Rule 36 requires that a solicitor’s advertising is not false, misleading or deceptive, offensive, or prohibited by law. Consumer law applies as well.
- Careful with “specialist”. You must not give a false impression of specialist expertise, and “accredited specialist” can only be used by a lawyer who holds the accreditation. It attaches to the lawyer, not to the firm.
- “No win no fee” is a risk. The Queensland Law Society says an unqualified claim is generally likely to mislead. In Queensland personal injury advertising, the phrase can only appear on the practice’s own website, which rules it out of an ad.
- Personal injury rules differ by state. Check with your own law society before you advertise this work.
Sources: Queensland Law Society, rule 36 · Law Society of NSW, advertising legal services · QLS, no win no fee.
Everywhere · Google’s own policy
Who your ads can be shown to
- Some practice areas are sensitive categories. Google limits how advertisers can target people in sensitive categories. Its own examples include divorce services and criminal defence lawyers.
- Your own lists may not be usable. For ads in those categories, Customer Match and lists built from your website visitors are not supported. Do not plan a family law or criminal law campaign that depends on remarketing.
- Search is the least affected. A Search campaign targets what someone types, not who they are. That is one reason it is the usual place for a firm to start.
Sources: Google Ads policy, relationship hardships · commission of a crime.
In the United States, lawyer advertising is regulated state by state, by each state bar. Check your own state’s rules before you launch.
This is a summary and not legal advice. You are responsible for your own advertising, whoever writes it. Read every headline before it goes live, and tell us in the brief anything your firm cannot say.
Is a build right for your law firm?
Not for every law firm. Better to know before you order.
A build fits if
- You know which practice areas you want more work in
- Your website has a page for each of them
- You, your practice manager or your marketing person will run the account
- You want to know whether the numbers work before you spend on clicks
- You already have an agency or freelancer and want the campaigns they manage built properly
Hire an agency instead if
- You want someone to manage the account every week and report every month
- You want an audit of an account that is already running. We do not review accounts
- You want to talk it through on a call. We work by email and do not take calls
- You have no practice area pages yet. A campaign needs a page to send people to
- You run a firm large enough that one person should be watching the account full time
What it costs a law firm.
The price is for each campaign, paid once. Count the practice area pages you want to advertise and you have your total.
Your ad spend is separate and is paid to Google. The budget forecast in each build tells you what that spend can buy.
One practice area, Search
For example a family law Search campaign
One practice area, Performance Max
The same page, built for Performance Max
One practice area, Search and Performance Max
Both campaigns for the one page
Three practice areas, Search
Three pages, three campaigns, 3 × $129
Delivered as an editable spreadsheet within 24 hours. An optional upload into your Google Ads account, paused for you to check, is $79.
Google Ads for law firms: the questions.
Does Google Ads work for lawyers?
It can, and it depends on three numbers: what a click costs in your area and practice area, how many enquiries become clients, and what a matter is worth to the firm. Every build includes a budget forecast that works this through before you spend. If the numbers do not hold for a practice area, the build says so.
How much should a law firm spend on Google Ads?
There is no single figure, because click costs change with the practice area and the location. The build forecasts what your budget can buy, using live search data for your own market, so you can set the spend with the numbers in front of you.
How many campaigns does a law firm need?
One for each page you want to send paid traffic to. A firm advertising family law, conveyancing and wills needs three campaigns, because the searches, the ad copy and the budgets are different for each.
Should a law firm use Search or Performance Max?
Search shows your ad to someone who has just typed what they need, which suits someone looking for a lawyer. Performance Max also runs across YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Display, and works best once conversion tracking is in place. You can order either, or both for the same page.
Can I call myself a specialist in my Google Ads?
Only with care. The conduct rules do not allow a false impression of specialist expertise, and “accredited specialist” is reserved for lawyers who hold the accreditation. Rule 36 is set out here.
Can I remarket to people who visited my firm’s website?
It depends on the practice area. Google restricts advertiser-built audiences, such as website visitor lists and Customer Match, for sensitive categories, and its examples include divorce services and criminal defence lawyers. Check the policy against your practice areas before you rely on remarketing.
Do you manage the campaign after it is built?
No, deliberately. You own the campaign and run it yourself. If you later hire a freelancer or an agency to manage it, they start from a properly structured account.
We already have a marketing agency. Can they use the build?
Yes. The build is an editable spreadsheet that you own. Hand it to whoever manages your account.
Do I need to give you access to my Google Ads account?
No. You receive a spreadsheet. Access is only needed if you add the optional $79 upload, where we load the finished campaign into your account, paused.
Which countries do you work with?
Any. Builds use live search data for your own market and currency. Prices are in US dollars.
Start with the practice area you most want more of.
One campaign, built for that page and checked by a specialist, in your inbox within 24 hours. No retainer and no account access.
One-off price in US dollars · Human-reviewed · Delivered within 24 hours