Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising puts your business at the top of the search results and helps potential clients find and contact you for legal advice. Done right, Google Ads for law firms can bring in a steady flow of new cases for your practice.
A recent survey shows that 64% of people search on Google when they need legal advice. No surprise here, as that’s where they can research and compare their options before contacting a lawyer.
The fastest way to get in front of them? Running ads. PPC gets your firm in front of the right people at the right time and lets you target only those searching for the legal services you offer.
To help you make PPC work for your firm, we’ve put together this guide. You’ll learn how to set up campaigns, target the right keywords, as well as write ad copy that gets clicks. We’ll also share some advanced tips that helped our legal clients see more than 100 conversions per month without overspending.
- Google ads help lawyers get quick results and reach more qualified leads.
- PPC for lawyers lets you target clients based on location and specific search terms.
- The cost of Google Ads for lawyers depends on your bidding strategy, location, and competition.
- Ad extensions like call buttons, location details, and reviews can help you get more calls and clicks.
- A/B testing allows law firms to see which ad version performs better and based on the findings, iterate the future ads.
- Improving your Quality Score can lower costs and help your ads rank higher in paid results.
What is PPC for Lawyers?
Pay-per-click for lawyers is a paid advertising model where you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. These ads show up at the very top, before the organic search results.
Since law firms are local businesses, you can run local service ads, besides regular Google ads campaigns. They will show up when people search for a lawyer in a specific area.
Similarly, your ad can appear in the Local Pack, where your firm is listed with a map, contact details, and reviews. Google decides which businesses show up here based on location, relevance, and ratings.
But law firms can also secure a paid spot at the top of the Local Pack by running Google Search Ads with location extensions. These listings have a “sponsored” mark but look similar to organic results.
Why is Google Ads for Lawyers a Must-Have for Digital Success?
In most cases, when someone searches for a lawyer, they need help right away. As a result, they click on the first results they see. This explains why 58% of all traffic in the legal space is generated by paid search.
If your firm isn’t running Google Ads, those potential clients are likely choosing a competitor. Let’s look at the other benefits that show that running ads is a must for your practice.
Immediate Visibility
The biggest benefit of PPC for lawyers is that you can see the results almost immediately, which is important for the functioning of law firms. This is in contrast to SEO for lawyers, which takes time.
Google Ads show up above local map listings and search results, so they’re seen first. The top ad spot gets a 30-40% click-through rate, which has a direct impact on the number of calls and consultations your firm receives.
More Precise Targeting
PPC for law firms helps you connect directly with your ideal clients. This means that every dollar goes toward reaching prospects who actually need a lawyer. You can also target your audience based on location, device, time of day, and specific keywords related to your services.
Measurable Outcomes
PPC for lawyers allows you to track every dollar spent. You’ll know how many clicks your ads get, how many of those clicks convert to sales and how much each client acquisition is costing you. And because you only pay when someone clicks, there’s no wasted PPC ad spend on people who aren’t interested.
Better Local Visibility
In addition to regular paid ads, law firms can run Local Service Ads, as mentioned earlier. These ads show up right at the top of search results with a “Google Screened” badge. Your potential clients can even call you directly from the ad — no website visits are required.
Even though SEO takes time, it remains important for the long-term growth of your firm. So, if you have the budget, it’s best to invest in both. You could use SEO to draw in potential clients organically over time and Google Ads for a quick boost of visibility and leads.
How Much Does PPC for Lawyers Cost?
Legal terms are some of the most expensive on Google Ads. And the costs of PPC for attorneys can vary a lot, depending on:
- Your practice area
- Your geographic location
- How competitive keywords are
A popular keyword like “car accident lawyer” can have top-of-page bids exceeding $100 per click. Where your firm is located also affects pricing.
In big cities, PPC costs tend to be higher because more firms are competing for the same cases. For example, these are the costs per click for law services in Orlando:
Another thing that influences cost is Quality Score. Google rates your ad based on how relevant it is to the searcher’s intent. If your ad, keywords, and landing page all align well with what users are searching for, you can get lower costs.
We’ll explain Quality Score in more detail and share tips to improve it later on. But for now, you can take a look at the recommended monthly PPC budget for lawyers, which is based on average keyword CPCs and the level of competition in each legal niche:
| Legal Niche | Average CPC Range | Location Impact | Recommended Monthly Budget |
| Personal Injury | $20 – $100+ | Major cities (e.g., New York, LA) have higher CPC due to competition | $3,000 – $10,000+ |
| Criminal Defense | $15 – $50 | Costs increase in competitive regions | $2,000 – $6,000 |
| Family Law | $10 – $60 | Urban areas often have higher costs | $1,500 – $5,000 |
| Divorce Lawyers | $10 – $60 | Larger cities or areas with high demand see higher costs | $1,500 – $5,000 |
| Medical Malpractice | $25 – $80+ | High CPC in large metro areas due to competition | $3,000 – $8,000 |
| Immigration Law | $5 – $30 | Lower in less competitive regions, higher in large cities | $1,000 – $3,000 |
| DUI Lawyers | $10 – $60 | CPC increases in regions with high DUI rates or larger cities | $1,500 – $4,500 |
| Bankruptcy Lawyers | $10 – $50 | Costs vary depending on economic conditions in a region | $1,500 – $4,500 |
10 Proven Tips to Launch an Effective Lawyer PPC Campaign
To help you see better results from your law firm PPC ads, we’ve broken down the key tips on how to set up, target, and measure your lawyer PPC campaigns. Let’s get into it.
Use the Proper Campaign Settings
Before you start running Google Ads for your law firm, you need to get the campaign settings right. And the first thing you’ll need to do is pick an objective. This tells Google what you want to achieve.
The most common objective for law firms is lead generation. It’s focused on helping your practice get more phone calls or form submissions. So, if you’re unsure which one to choose, lead generation is the way to go.
Pick the Right Campaign Type
Next up is the campaign type. This determines where your ads will appear. Search campaigns and Performance Max are usually the two most common options when it comes to PPC for law firms.
Search campaigns are the classic Google text ads that show up on search engine results pages when someone searches for a lawyer. They work great because they let you target high-intent customers who are actively looking for legal services.
On the other hand, Performance Max is the type of campaign that puts your PPC ads across multiple platforms — Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, and more. It’s a good option for firms with bigger budgets who need maximum visibility.
If you’re working with a limited PPC budget for law practices, run the Search campaigns to get the most out of your investment.
Decide on the Bidding Type
Bidding is like an auction where you compete with other law firms to show your ad when someone searches for keywords like “personal injury law firm.” Google gives you multiple bidding options, but your goal is to maximize conversions without overspending. If you’re just starting, Conversions is usually a good choice.
Try not to use Conversion Value in your PPC for lawyers until you have enough conversions. That’s because Google won’t have as much data to optimize your bids properly, and you might end up paying too much per click.
Choose the Relevant Keywords for Your Ads
To attract qualified leads with PPC advertising for law firms, you’ll need to target specific, intent-driven terms. To find such terms, you’ll need to do keyword research. The best tool for this is Google Keyword Planner.
It pulls data from Google’s own search engine and shows how much other law firms bid when targeting legal keywords. You’ll also see search volume and competition levels, which makes it useful for selecting keywords for your ads.
Overall, there are three types of keywords it’s best to focus on in your PPC ads. These are long-tail, branded, and local keywords.
- Long-tail keywords — longer phrases with commercial intent.
- Local keywords — queries that include your city or neighborhood.
- Branded keywords — your law firm’s name, competitor’s, or variations of it.
A useful way to find long-tail terms is with Google Autosuggest. You can type in the legal service that you offer and look at similar searches people type in. You can then check these queries in Keyword Planner to see if there’s potential.
If you want your pay-per-click ads to feel more personal, you can also try Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI). This Google Ads feature automatically updates your ad text to match the search term someone used without having to create separate ads for every keyword variation.
Create an Excellent Ad Copy
Once you’ve found relevant keywords for your campaigns, the next step is to write your copy. When people are actively seeking legal services, they’ll most often click on the ad that speaks directly to their needs. So you need to write a copy that’s clear, shows value and is relevant to what they are hoping to find.
It’s generally a good practice in effective PPC ads for lawyers to include the main term in the headline. However, in the description, it’s better to expand on the headline and highlight the benefits of your services. If you can include the keyword naturally there, go for it, but don’t force it if it doesn’t fit into the flow of the copy.
Add your keyword in your display URL as well to make it more relevant.
When writing your text, focus on the value you provide to get more personal injury clients. In other words, let prospects know why they should choose you over other legal firms. You can show your authority, add social proof, or show your clients-centric approach. For example, you could write something like:
- Over $10M recovered for clients
- 5-star rated by 300+clients
- Available 24/7
If you offer a free consultation, make sure to add it in the headline.
Another thing you can do in the pay-per-click advertising for lawyers is add a relevant CTA in your text. You can write something like book a consultation, call now, or schedule a case review to prompt the people for action.
Keep Your Copy Simple and Follow Google’s Editorial Guidelines
Google Ads have limited space, so every word in your copy must count. Try to avoid any jargon, complicated language, or unnecessary details. Use conversational language people use in daily life that gets to the point.
It’s also important to remember that Google has strict rules for ad formatting. You can’t use special characters or misleading claims in your law firm PPC campaigns because your ads may get disapproved.
Show More Details About Your Firm with Ad Extensions
People who need lawyer services often search on mobile and need information quickly. To help them find all the details fast, you can use Google’s ad extensions.
These give your target audience more information about your practice. As for the types of, you can choose from:
- Call buttons with your phone number
- Location details with your address
- Link to a specific page on your website
- Reviews or ratings of your previous clients
- Callout with the benefits you offer
When you add the call and location extensions, you make it easy for prospects to find and contact you. At the same time, reviews extension can show that you’re credible and improve the click-through rate in your PPC advertising for lawyers.
If you serve multiple areas, set up location-based PPC ad campaigns with different headlines and landing pages for each city.
Create Dedicated Landing Pages
When someone clicks on your ad, they expect to find exactly what they were looking for. If your landing page doesn’t match your ad’s promise, visitors will leave without contacting you. Any disconnect creates doubt, and doubt leads potential clients to your competitors.
So, if your ad is about personal injury services, your target audience should land on a dedicated page about this service and not on your homepage. It’s also good to remember that your PPC landing page isn’t about search rankings or SEO.
Therefore, rather than writing general information about your services and loading it with keywords, use your space to show the prospects why you’re the best. You can include:
- The years you’ve been practicing law
- Any board certifications, recognitions, or rewards
- Relevant case studies or results of previous clients
- Client testimonials or embedded Google reviews
Finally, you should make it super simple for people to contact you and know what they should do next. Add relevant CTAs in your hero section so it’s visible.
Besides that, you can include your phone number, a live chat option, or a short form visitors can fill out. Many law firm landing pages offer multiple ways to get in touch.
Optimize for Quality Score
Google ranks PPC for lawyers based on relevance and helpfulness, just like it does with organic search results. The more closely your ad matches what people are searching for, the better. It gives each of your keywords a Quality Score based on three things:
- Expected Click-Through Rate (CTR): The probability that users will click on your ad.
- Ad Relevance: How closely your ad corresponds to the search phrase.
- Landing Page Experience: How useful and relevant your landing page is to the user.
If your score is low, Google sees your ad as less relevant, so you’ll end up paying more to get the same visibility. So, how can you improve the ad score? Luckily, Google has more than enough information on how to do it in their resources. Let’s look at some of them in more detail:
- Use highly relevant keywords in your ads that match your specific legal services.
- Divide your keywords into organized groups that can be tied to individual ad campaigns.
- Write an ad copy that directly relates to what your potential clients are looking for.
- Make sure your landing page matches your ad so visitors find exactly what they expect.
- Add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant search terms.
Even if it does take effort to get a better ad score, it definitely pays off. A higher Quality Score can lower your cost per click (CPC) and improve your ad’s ranking, meaning you’ll get better ad placements without having to increase your budget.
Conduct A/B Testing of PPC Advertising Campaigns
A/B testing can help you improve the performance of your law firm PPC ads by comparing two versions to see which one works better. Sometimes, small changes in wording, layout, or calls to action can lead to better click-through rates and lower costs.
You can test your headlines, ad copy, CTA buttons and ad extensions to check which one drives the most clicks. To try A/B testing, you can set it up directly in Google Ads.
First, you need to navigate to the experiment section under the Campaigns section. Then, click on Create an experiment.
Next, you’ll need to choose the type of experiment you’d like to run. There are a few standard options you can pick but we recommend using Custom experiment.
The final step would be to add your variations and launch the experiment. By default, the test will run for a month, but you can customize the timeframe. Once it’s done, you’ll be able to see and analyze your results.
The main benefit of A/B testing is that it helps you spend your budget more wisely. You won’t have to guess which ads perform better because you’ll have enough actual data to rely on.
This can lead to better click-through rates, more conversions, and lower costs per lead. Testing also helps improve the overall quality of your ads and increase your ad score.
As for the best practices, here’s what you need to keep in mind when setting up experiments:
- Test one variable at a time so you don’t get inconclusive results
- Let the tests run for at least two weeks to gather enough data
- Analyze the results from experiments and iterate your ads based on the results
Track Your PPC Advertising Results
When your Google Ads are live, it’s important to track the performance of your law firm PPC effort through the Google Ads dashboard. Here, you can find metrics that will help you understand the effectiveness of your campaigns. A few examples of these metrics are:
- Impressions: The number of times an ad appeared in search results.
- Clicks: The number of times someone clicked on the ad.
- Click-through Rate (CTR): The number of clicks divided by the number of impressions. This is one of the most important metrics for assessing your campaign’s success.
- Average Cost Per Click (CPC): The average cost per click based on the number of clicks received.
- Conversion Rate: The percentage of people who clicked on your ad and became new clients.
For a better overview of your results, link your Google Ads account to Google Analytics 4. Here, you can set up automated reports so you can monitor changes without checking manually.
Once you review the effectiveness of your law firm PPC campaigns, make a note of which advertisements perform best and try mirroring the success across other ad groups. If some ads don’t convert or CTRs are at a low, try A/B testing, change your bids, or alter the audience targeting.
Common Google Ads Mistakes That Cost Your Law Firm Money
When your campaigns aren’t set up right, you could be paying for clicks that never turn into cases. We’ve seen these mistakes over and over again when providing PPC services for lawyers and want to help you avoid them.
Poor Targeting
Many law firms focus on who they want to reach but forget to block people they don’t want to click their ads. If you handle personal injury cases, you don’t want to pay for clicks from people searching for “pro bono legal help.” Go through your search terms regularly and add anything irrelevant to your negative keyword list.
Not Checking Broken Links & Errors
If your law firm PPC ad sends people to a broken link, they’ll leave right away — and you still get charged for the click. This happens more often than you’d think.
Maybe the page was moved, or a small typo slipped into the URL. Whatever the reason, checking your ad links regularly can save you money. If you’ve made changes to your site recently, double-check that your ads still send people to the right pages.
Not Using Custom Audiences
Google gives businesses tools to create custom audiences. It’s one of the PPC strategies for law firms that lets you reach people who have already searched for legal services or visited your website before.
You can also retarget past visitors — people who clicked on your site but didn’t reach out yet. Another smart move? If you already have a list of past clients, upload it and let Google find similar people.
Not Bidding on Your Own Branded Terms
A lot of law firms assume they don’t need to run ads in their own name. After all, if someone searches for your firm, they’ll find your website anyway, right? Not necessarily.
Bidding on your own name makes sure you show up at the top of the results when someone searches for your firm. It’s usually cheap and helps protect your brand.
Turn Your Ad Budget into a Steady Stream of Clients
Now that you know all the benefits of PPC marketing for lawyers as well as some tips for improving your ads, you have two options. You can keep handling it yourself and spend time testing and analyzing your ads to get better ROAS. Or, you can let an expert agency, like ours, take care of it for you.
The second option saves you time and, more importantly, money. With our expertise in both search engine optimization and PPC management for lawyers, you’ll get the most out of your online advertising budget.
SeoProfy will help you get more calls, bookings, and traffic to your site. Get in touch today to learn how PPC for law firms can help you show up at the top of paid search results with a successful PPC campaign.
Andrew is the Head of SEO at SeoProfy, leading a team of more than 20 experienced SEO specialists. He has been involved in search engine optimization and digital marketing since 2016, gaining hands-on experience across various niches and regions. Andrew possesses strong analytical and strategic skills, particularly in planning SEO strategies for highly competitive projects.
