A Comprehensive Guide to Google Ads for Attorneys in 2024

To create a Google Ads account, you will need to provide some basic information, such as your name, email address, and payment method. You will also need to agree to the Google Ads terms and conditions. Once you have completed these steps, you will be able to access the Google Ads dashboard and start creating your first campaign.

Creating a Google Ads campaign involves several steps to set up and optimize your advertising efforts.

1. Campaign type: Google Ads offers multiple campaign types that benefit law firms and attorneys, including search, display, and video, each with its own unique set of features and targeting options called assets. You will need to select the campaign type that best aligns with your law firm's advertising goals. Most times that is search but display and video offer advantages as well.

2. Budget and bid strategy: You will need to decide and set a budget for your campaigns and determine how you want to bid for ad placements. Google ads are set up as an auction with a bidding system. The keyword price per click will be determined by what your competitors are willing to spend per click or a set number of impressions. Google Ads offers various bidding strategies, such as manual bidding, automatic bidding, and enhanced cost-per-click (ECPC).

3. Target audience: Knowing your target audience before you set up your campaigns will help dramatically. If you do not have a thorough buyer persona written down I highly advise you to do that before moving forward. You can find success just by knowing the basics but doing the homework and creating an in-depth buyer persona will help your ad budget stretch much further and avoid wasting your time and money. Google ads allow you to target your ads to specific demographics, locations, interests, and behaviors.

   Some locations popular for law firms and attorneys can include hospitals, jails, and courthouses. It's good to think hard and know where your target audience commonly visits.

4. Keywords: Choosing the right keywords can save you a lot of money and frustration. There is nothing worse than watching your money be wasted without any return on your investment. When choosing consider searching behind the keyword phrase. Is it informational, navigational, or transactional? Understanding search intent but is just one factor. Another factor to consider is that Google will take liberty with broad match keywords meaning if you bid on the keyword criminal defense attorney not only will your ad show for any search that has that phrase in it your Ada will show for closely related keywords. There is a good chance that Google will also show your ad for all the criminal defense law firms in your location. So when a searcher types in John Does Law Firm your ad will likely show.

   Branded Keywords
   This I why it’s also important to bid on your own branded keywords as brand protection to keep competitors from “stealing” clients that were looking for your law firm

   I go more in-depth about keywords here.

   Choosing the right keyword phrases to target with your ads is critical to reaching the right audience. You should choose keywords that are relevant to your practice areas, and that your potential clients are likely to search for.

5. Ad groups: Ad groups make it easier to organize your ads. You might want to create an ad group for each of the practice areas that you plan to advertise. You would not want a DUI ad to show for Domestic Violence keywords. You would create a DUI ad group and a Domestic Violence ad group. With each group having its own settings, keywords, and target audience.

6. Ads: Consist of headlines, ad copy, and assets. Each of these topics is discussed below in great detail. These are of great importance since all the other factors are behind the scene helping you target the potential client. Ads are what the targeted lead sees and decides to take action. If the ads are not on point you will lose out on a lot of potential clients leads.

It's important to note that once the campaign is set up and running, regularly monitor and optimize the campaign by checking the metrics and adjusting the targeting, keywords, ad copy, and bid strategy often. If you do not your law firm could waste a lot of money.

After setting your first ad campaign and all of the above factors Google will take you to your Google Ads Dashboard. Your ads should be running at this point. The dashboard will collect all relevant information and display it nicely for you to easily comprehend. The dashboard will show you ad impressions, ad clicks, budget, daily spend and more. Using the dashboard will allow you to effectively improve your ad campaigns based on real world data. Some of the advantages the dashboard are

1. Tracking performance: by tracking impressions, clicks and conversions you can analyze what is working and what is not working. You can also see what costs most and least amount of money. If an ad is costing you a lot of money but converting well enough you can pause it until you find out why and make those adjustments. If one ad is performing much better than others you can learn from that ad and strengthen your weak ads and keyword.

2. Targeting options: You can analyze your targeting to see what location, demographics, interests and behaviors are performing best. You can also tweak these options to fit your ideal client persona. You can use any of these features to narrow down or widen your ads reach. If you are a criminal defense you might want target locations around the courthouse or county jail. If you are a personal injury you might want to target locations around the local hospitals. If you are family law attorney you might want to target high income earners. The targeting options will be closely tied into your ideal client personas.

3. Ad copy and formatting: The dashboard allows you to create new variations of ads as well. You can run multiple variations of ad to do A/B testing. After a certain amount of time and data you can analyze what ad copy, headlines and assets work best. Pause the ad that isn’t performing well and let the winners ride.

4. Bid strategy: the dashboard also lets you change your bid strategy. By testing and improving your campaigns you will get the maximum bang for your buck. It is a lot of work but that work can save you a ton of money and bring in a lot of leads. With all these variables by optimizing and improving constantly it’s highly likely you could spend less and receive more than your competitors who don’t put in the proper time and effort.

In addition to considering the type of legal services you offer, you will also want to consider the location of your law firm. If your law firm serves a specific geographic area, you can use location targeting to ensure that your ads are only shown to users who are within your service area. You can also use location targeting to reach users who are searching for legal help while they are traveling or in a different location. This will help you to reach the right audience and increase the chances of getting leads and clients that are more likely to convert.

Location targeting

Google considers law firms as a local business and the searcher as a buyer of local products. That’s why when you create an ad campaign you need to consider your law firms office location and how to best use ‘Location Targeting’. Google will serve up law firms that are closer to the clients physical location most of the time. With ads you can target just about any location but always consider how likely it is the searcher will convert into a client.

Ads also let you target people who are visiting your area but don’t necessarily reside in that location. They will also let you exclude those same people. Based on your services you can decide if that option is best for your goals. As an example if your law firm is in the metro area of your city and you only want to serve clients in the city you can use location targeting. If you are a personal injury lawyer who targets tourists in your city you have that option as well.

Demographic targeting allow you to target your ads to people based age, sex, income parental status, education and more. By having your ideal client persona created you should know a range of the demographics that will work best for your law firm.

One example would be if you are estate planning attorney and your ideal client are older couples. Another, could be a family law firm that specializes for female clients. There are many reasons why a law firm would want to target certain demographics.

targeting your ads to specific demographics

By targeting your ads to specific demographics, you can ensure that your ads are shown to users who are more likely to be interested in your services.

In summary, considering the demographics of your ideal clients is an important aspect of online advertising. By using demographic targeting, you can ensure that your ads are shown to users who are more likely to be interested in your services and are more likely to convert to paying clients.

The Google Ads Keyword Planner is a tool offered by Google Ads that allows you to conduct keyword research for your online marketing campaigns. With this tool, you can identify the volume and competition level of different keywords and get suggestions for related keywords that you may not have considered.

By using the Google Ads Keyword Planner, you can:

1. Research keywords: Enter a keyword or even a website url. If you enter a website url Google will comb the website and extract what it thinks are they keywords from that site. You can enter any site URL not just your own. So if you have a high performing competitor you could use Keyword Planner to see what keywords Google is picking up most from the website pages. This is not only good information for ads but also search engine optimization (SEO) strategies as well. Keyword planner will show you search volume and bid competition level for that keyword. If you don’t want to spend a ton of money per click you can just avoid the high competition keywords. If you want to dominate your market at any cost you can bid on those high competition keywords. Consider low competition might be for a good reason it’s possible this keywords don’t convert to leads and can be a waste of money.

2. Get historical statistics: Keyword planner will display historical data for the keywords you are researching. This can give you a good idea how keywords have performed in the past.

3. Keyword list: You can add keywords from Keyword Planner to a list and export them into campaigns or ad groups. This save you time as you pick out the keywords you like most for your ad groups.

4. Research keywords: Keyword planner will not only show you keywords you are looking for it also give you a list of relevant keywords. This can help spark your creativity and open you up to ideas you haven’t considered up to that point.

5. Analyzing your competition: Keyword planner will allow you research keywords your competitors are currently using. You can use this information to create campaigns that will outcompete local competition.

Google ads offers several different match types including broad match, phrase match and exact match. This is very important to keep in mind when setting up your ad campaigns.

Broad match

As an example if you use broad match for “criminal defense lawyer” Google will not only show your ad for that keyword phrase but for any keyword phrase related to it including the branded names of other law firms. This can result in other attorneys dissatisfaction with your firm and many attorneys admit to clicking on ads that show up for their firm from competitors. I have seen this discussed on LinkedIn and most of the time the attorneys simply don’t understand Google's broad match and they believe the competitor is directly targeting them.

Phrase match

Phrase match is a bit more targeted than broad match keywords but less than exact match. Phrase match is a keyword match type that allows advertisers to show their ads to users who search for specific phrases or combinations of words in a specific order. Ads will only appear when the search query matches the keyword phrase or a close variation of it.

For example, an attorney who practices family law can use the phrase match keyword "family law attorney" to target users who search for that exact phrase or variations of it, such as "best family law attorney" or "family law attorney near me". When law firms and attorneys use phrase match to show ads they can cast a wider net for leads but avoid keywords that irrelevant.

Exact match

Law firms and attorneys can use exact match keywords to target exact keyword phrases. Your ads will only show when the user types in the exact phrase in the same order as your exact match.

Law firms and attorneys can use exact match for branded keywords such as the name of their attorneys or the name of their law firm.

Another use of exact match can be to have a very specific query such as "car accident attorney" that leads to a landing page for that specific topic. Exact match avoids serving the "car accident attorney" ads to something more broad such as someone searching for "personal injury attorney." Personal injury attorney is too broad of a topic to send anyone searching for that term to your car accident attorney landing page.

With in depth research and when used properly  exact match keyword phrases can lead to the highest ROI for your ad campaigns.

The drawback to exact match is you might miss out on a lot of potential leads that use a slightly different keyword phrase that has the same meaning. For example "car accident lawyer", 'auto accident attorney" or anything that might be misspelled by the searcher.

As a legal professional, you already know the importance of digital marketing to increase your client base. Google Ads is one of the most popular digital marketing platforms for attorneys, but it can also be very expensive if you don't know how to use it correctly.

One of the most significant mistakes that law firms make on Google Ads is targeting only head terms, which are single-word keywords like "lawyer" or "attorney." These keywords are highly competitive, and only the largest firms with big budgets can afford to compete in that arena.

Instead of focusing on head terms, you should concentrate on long-tail keywords and body keywords. Body keywords are 2-3 word phrases that attract a high search volume but are more specific than head keywords, like "family law firms."

In addition to choosing relevant keywords to target with your Google Ads, you may also want to consider using negative keywords. Negative keywords are terms that you do not want your ads to show up for in search results. For example, if you are a personal injury lawyer and you don't handle criminal defense cases, you might add "criminal defense" as a negative keyword to ensure that your ads don't show up for searches related to criminal defense.

Some examples of negative keywords can include

1. Jobs: "attorney jobs," "lawyer job openings," "legal job postings"
2. Education: "law schools," "legal education," "online law degrees"
3. Free: "free legal advice," "pro bono attorneys," "free law consultation"
4. DIY: "self-representation," "DIY legal services," "do-it-yourself law"
5. Cheap: "cheap legal services," "affordable attorneys," "discounted legal fees"
6. Non-legal: "books about law," "legal movies," "law-related blogs"

If you are a family law attorney be careful with how many times your ads will be shown for searches that are about celebrity divorces or tv shows and movies that characters are divorcing. There are hundreds of these keywords just waiting to waste your money.

Increase ad relevance for your law firms target audience

Using negative keywords can help improve the relevance of your ads and ensure that your ads are only shown to users who are interested in your services. This can help improve the performance of your ads and increase the chances that users will click on your ad and visit your website.

To add negative keywords to your Google Ads campaigns, you can use the Google Ads dashboard to create a list of negative keywords for each ad group or campaign. You can also use negative keyword lists to apply negative keywords across multiple campaigns or ad groups at once.

Long-tail keywords are even more specific, with four or more words, like "divorce finance lawyers in Calgary." By targeting long-tail keywords, you ensure that you're as specific as possible, which increases your chances of attracting potential clients interested in your particular services.

Another advantage of long-tail keywords is that they're more attainable than head terms. Everyone is competing for the main head keywords, but the long-tail terms you're targeting are more specific and less competitive.

To make the most out of your Google Ads campaign, think specific, think niche, think buyer intent, and focus on the practice areas that generate the most revenue for you. By doing this, you'll create a targeted campaign that is more likely to attract the right clients to your law firm.

In conclusion, targeting long-tail keywords and body keywords is a cost-effective way to attract potential clients to your law firm through Google Ads. By thinking specific and focusing on your niche, you'll create a campaign that is more likely to succeed and generate a positive return on investment. Chris Lancaster, our expert Google Ads specialist for attorneys, can help you design a campaign that meets your unique needs and goals. Contact us today to learn more.

Jan 28, 2023 update - Negative keywords at the account level

There are two types of negative keyword lists that can now be created - account-level and campaign-level. Previously you could add negative keywords at the campaign level. Google released the added ability to create negative keywords for the entire account cutting down on a lot of redundant work for attorneys using Google ads.

Account-level negative keyword lists automatically apply to all search relevant campaign types, allowing you to create a single, global list that applies negative keywords across all relevant inventory in your account. Campaign-level negative keyword lists, on the other hand, can be applied to multiple campaigns at once and allow you to add up to 5,000 negative keywords per list and create up to 20 negative keyword lists in your account.

Ad copy is the text that appears in your Google Ads, it's what the searcher. After doing all the hard work of optimizing your campaigns to be shown to the searchers who are your ideal clients at the right stage of the buying process your ad copy can still make or break your campaign. No matter how good your targeting it really won't mean much if you do not know how to write compelling ad copy.

A few basics rules for great ad copy is that it is clear, easy to understand, to the point and evokes the proper emotion from your ideal client. Your ad copy should clearly convey your expertise, experience, trustworthiness and specialization that matches the searcher exact need at the moment all in a few short sentences.

Some rules for writing better ad copy

Avoid using jargon or technical terms

Use simple and easy to understand language. If you ever heard the term "Give me the eli5." it stands for explain it to me like I'm a five year old. Writing ad copy at a 5th - 7th grade reading level will ensure that clients understand your unique selling proposition.

action-oriented language

Use call to actions to compel the searcher to take action. As the professional most potential clients are looking for a expert to take control of the situation and lead them through potentially tough situations. This starts from the first moment when they see your ad in search. Some action-oriented language examples can be "call now", "schedule a free consultation",

It's also important to use action-oriented language in your ad copy. This means using words and phrases that encourage potential clients to take action immediately, such as "call now" or "schedule a consultation", "speak with an attorney", and "get legal help now."

Creating and highlighting your law firms Unique Value Proposition (UVP) in your ads can set you apart from the boiler plate ads that many law firms use in ads.

To create a UVP focus on your practice areas that you specialize in and wins you've had in court. You can also point out specialized training or experience that makes your law firm the better choice. When doing this don't think about other law firms and what they have to offer be selfish with your UVP.

You can mention subjects such as how many 5 star reviews you have on Google for example.

Properly using call to action (CTA) in your ads is an important factor to thoroughly understand. A CTA prompts the searcher to follow through with a specific action that will assist them to move forward instead of procrastinating. CTA asks the searcher to do something specific such as visit the law firm's website, call the law firm, contact the law firm, or fill out a contact form.

Having a clear CTA helps encourage the searcher to take action which will ultimately help them forward in the legal process. People are often looking for a professional to take charge of the process as the expert. Attorneys should guide the client through the process and protect them during the process this includes any advertising or marketing the law firm creates.

Once the person takes the action don't confuse them by directing them to a broad or irrelevant website page. Be sure the next step the person takes after following the call to action is a logical step in the process and be sure it is not confusing at all.

For example, if you have a call to action in an ad about "car accident attorney" don't lead the client to your personal injury website's home page that has options for all your other practice areas. Confusing the person will create a dramatic drop in lead conversions.

Using numbers and statistics in your ad copy can be a powerful way to make your ad more persuasive and convincing. Quantifying success make a foreign topic to someone easy to understand. Anyone can understand "40 years of experience", ""15 experienced attorneys on our team" or "99% win rate at trial" for example.

When writing ad copy try to remember you are always building proof of

1. Experience
2. Expertise
3. Authoritativeness
4. Trustworthiness

Creating multiple copies of your ads with slight variations will help tremendously in knowing what ads outperform others. This is referred to as A/B testing. By swapping out headlines, descriptions, or call to action you can find what resonates most with your target audience.

For example, you can create one version of your ad that includes numbers and statistics, and another version that focuses more on the benefits of your services. By running an A/B test, you can see which ad performs better in terms of click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and engagement.

A/B testing works the best testing lots of ads with very minor changes to each ad. This way you can laser focus on what works and what doesn't. If the ads are dramatically different from each other it will be nearly impossible to know what elements are marking the difference in conversion rates.

Call assets are a type of ad asset that can be added to your Google Ads, and will appear as a clickable phone number below your ad. When a user clicks on the phone number, their mobile phone will automatically call your law firm. This can be a very useful feature for potential clients who are on the go and want to quickly get in touch with your firm.

Track phone calls for analytics

Call assets can also be used to track phone calls that come through your ads, this way you can measure the performance of your ads in terms of calls received. You can also set up different phone numbers for different ad groups or campaigns, this way you can track which ads are generating the most calls.

Call assets only appear on mobile devices

It's important to note that call assets only appear on mobile devices, and they will not appear on desktop or tables. You can also use call-only ads, which are ads that only show a phone number, these ads are designed to encourage users to call your law firm directly.

Location assets are a type of ad asset that allows users to see the location of your law firm on a map and get directions to your office. This can be especially useful for local law firms, as it can help attract potential clients who are searching for legal help in their area.

Google Map included in your ad

When you add a location asset to your Google Ads campaign, a map with a pin representing your law firm's location will appear alongside your ad. Users can click on the map to see the location of your office, and can also click on a "Get directions" button to receive directions to your office. This can be especially useful for users who are looking for a law firm in their area and want to find out how to get to your office.

Displays Your Law Firms Contact information and Google My Business Listing

You can also specify the address and phone number that you want to be displayed on the map, and you can also use the Google My Business account to update the information and keep it updated.

It's important to note that location assets will only appear on ads that are targeted to a specific geographic location, and they will not appear on ads that are targeted to a broader area or to a specific language or device.

Only visible on expanded ads

Additionally, location assets are only visible on expanded ads, this means that they will only appear when an ad is at the top of the search results, and they will not appear on mobile or tablet devices.

In summary, location assets are a useful tool that can be used to help attract potential clients who are searching for legal help in their area. By allowing users to see the location of your law firm on a map and get directions to your office, you can make it easy for potential clients to find your law firm and take the next step in hiring your firm.

Sitelink assets are a type of ad asset that can be added to your Google Ads campaign to provide users with additional links that take them to specific pages on your website. These links can be used to promote specific services or pages on your website and can help increase the visibility and click-through rate (CTR) of your ads.

Some examples of how you can use sitelink assets include:

Promoting specific services

If you offer a wide range of legal services, you can use sitelink assets to direct users to specific pages on your website that highlight specific services. For example, you can use sitelinks to direct users to pages that focus on personal injury law, divorce law, or criminal law.

Encourage users to explore more of your site

Sitelink assets can be a great way to encourage users to explore more of your website and learn more about your services. For example, you can use sitelinks to direct users to your "About Us" page, your "Meet the Team" page, or your "Testimonials" page.

Call to actions

You can also use sitelink assets to create calls to action, such as "Contact Us" or "Free Consultation" that will take users directly to your contact page or a form to schedule a free consultation.

Landing pages

You can use sitelink assets to direct users to specific landing pages that are designed to convert visitors into clients. For example, you can create a landing page that focuses on a specific service or practice area, and then use sitelink assets to direct users to that page.

It's important to note that sitelink assets are only visible on expanded ads, this means that they will only appear when an ad is at the top of the search results, and they will not appear on mobile or tablet devices.

Sitelink Summary

In summary, sitelink extensions are a powerful tool that can be used to increase the visibility and click-through rate of your Google Ads campaign for a law firm. By promoting specific services or pages on your website and encouraging users to explore more of your site, you can increase the chances of your ad being clicked on and your services being hired.

Callout assets are a type of ad asset that allows you to add additional text to your Google Ads, which can include information about specific features or benefits of your services. These assets can be a powerful tool for highlighting the unique value of your law firm and encouraging users to click on your ad.

Callout assets can be used to highlight the following information:

• Unique selling points of your service
• Promotions or discounts
• Areas of expertise or specialties
• Business hours or contact information

Make callout assets relevant to the potential client

When creating your callout assets, it's important to keep in mind that they should be concise and to the point. You should also make sure that the information you include is relevant to the user and will help them make a decision about whether to click on your ad. Additionally, you should use a clear and consistent message throughout your ad groups.

Can only be used with text ads

It's also important to note that callout assets can only be used with text ads, and not with other ad formats such as image or video ads.

Callout assets summary

In conclusion, callout assets are a great way to highlight specific features or benefits of your services and can be a useful tool for encouraging users to click on your ad. By including relevant and compelling information in your callout assets, you can help to increase the chances of users clicking through to your website.

Overall, using ad assets can be a valuable way to improve the visibility and performance of your Google Ads. By using call assets, location assets, site link assets, and callout assets, you can provide additional information and incentives for users to click on your ads and learn more about your law firm.

To get started with Google My Business, you will need to visit the Google My Business website and follow the instructions to set up a listing for your law firm. You will need to provide basic information about your business, such as your business name, address, and phone number. You will also need to choose a category for your business and add photos and other information about your law firm to your listing.

Once you have set up your Google My Business listing, it's important to keep your listing up to date with accurate information. This can include adding new photos, updating your business hours, and responding to reviews and ratings from customers. Keeping your listing up to date can help improve the visibility of your law firm in local search results and make it easier for potential clients to find and contact your law firm.

Using Google My Business can be a powerful way to improve the online visibility of your law firm. By setting up a Google My Business listing and keeping it up to date with accurate information, you can help your law firm stand out in local search results and make it easier for potential clients to find and contact your business.

A/B testing, also known as split testing, allows you to compare the performance of two different versions of an ad or campaign to see which performs better. You can use A/B testing to test different versions of your ad copy, targeting, or keywords to determine which combinations are most effective.

It's important to regularly monitor your budget and ensure that you are getting the most value for your money. You can use the Google Ads dashboard to track your budget and make adjustments as needed to ensure that you are staying within your budget and getting the best return on investment.

Analyzing your data is an important step in optimizing your online marketing campaigns. By analyzing your data, you can identify trends and patterns that can help you improve your performance and make informed decisions about your campaigns.

variety of metrics

When analyzing your data, it's important to look at a variety of metrics such as click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, bounce rate, and cost per conversion. These metrics will give you an idea of how well your ads are performing and where you may need to make changes.

times of day or days of the week

One important thing to look for is the times of day or days of the week when your ads are most effective. This will help you to identify when your target audience is most active and when you should be running your ads.

types of keywords or targeting

Another thing to look for is the types of keywords or targeting that are driving the most conversions. Identifying the keywords that are working for you will help you to optimize your campaigns and improve your ROI.

placements, devices, and locations

Additionally, you should also analyze your data to understand which placements, devices, and locations are driving the most conversions. This can help you to optimize your targeting and reach more of your target audience.

In summary, analyzing your data is an important step in optimizing your online marketing campaigns. By looking for patterns in your data such as the times of day or days of the week when your ads are most effective, or the types of keywords or targeting that are driving the most conversions, you can make informed decisions and improve the performance of your campaigns.

Another important aspect of optimizing your Google Ads campaigns is to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in online advertising. This can include staying informed about changes to the Google Ads platform, as well as learning about new techniques and strategies that can help improve the effectiveness of your campaigns. You can find resources and training materials on the Google Ads Skillshop, or you can consider working with a digital marketing agency that specializes in legal marketing to help you optimize your campaigns.

Finally, it's important to be patient and give your campaigns time to perform. It can take time for your campaigns to gain traction and for you to see results. Monitor your campaigns regularly, but be prepared to give them time to perform and make adjustments as needed. With the right approach and consistent optimization, you can get the most out of your Google Ads campaigns and attract more potential clients to your law firm.