Google Ads can be a powerful tool for law firms. By using Google Ads, legal practices can generate leads and drive measurable growth over both the short and long term. However, most firms don’t use paid ads, and as a result, are missing out on revenue.
Google itself generates more than $61.69 billion/year in revenue from its ad platform, and for good reason. Businesses like yours understand its value and invest heavily to receive a good return on ad spend.
If you are struggling to set up your law firm’s Google Ads and execute the most effective strategies, you’re in the right place. In this blog post, we will discuss the different ways that law firms can use Google Ads to grow their business. We will also provide actionable strategies that law firms can use to get the most out of their Google Ads campaigns.
You can also enroll our paid ads course for law firms if you want to develop advanced skills with media buying.
How do Google Ads work?
Google Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that allows businesses to advertise on Google.com and its partner websites. When someone clicks on one of your ads, you pay Google a small fee. This fee can vary depending on the keywords you are bidding on and the competition for those keywords. You can also take advantage of Google’s display network to serve ads on third-party websites and apps.
Why should law firms use Google Ads?
One of the benefits of using Google Ads is that it allows you to reach a large audience very quickly. There are over two billion active internet users worldwide, and over 89.3 billion people visit Google each day. This gives you a lot of potential exposure for your law firm if you use Google Ads correctly.
Another benefit of using Google Ads is that it allows you to target your ads specifically to your target audience. You can use a variety of targeting options, including location, demographics, interests, and even past searches. This ensures that your ads are being seen by people who are most likely to need your services.
Google Ads can be a great way to grow your law firm. However, it is important to use it correctly in order to get the most out of your campaigns. In the next section, we will discuss some tips for using Google Ads effectively.
Law firm Google Ads strategies
These are strategies and tips law firms can use to maximize their return on investment of Google Ads campaigns.
Target local keywords and areas
When targeting potential clients with your Google Ads, it is important to target local keywords and areas. This will ensure that your ads are being seen by people who are actually in your area and who are looking for legal services. Seeing as 76% of people who search for a local business visit one within 24 hours, this is a highly lucrative strategy.
To find local keywords, you can use the Google Keyword Planner tool. Just enter in a few seed keywords related to your law firm and choose “Location” as a filter. This will give you a list of local keywords that you can bid on.
You can also target specific locations with your ads. This can be done by entering the zip codes or city names into the “Locations” field when creating your ad campaign.
By targeting local keywords and areas, you can make sure that your Google Ads are reaching potential clients who are most likely to use your services. These search terms also tend to have less competition and convert more.
Retarget users on your website
One of the highest return on investment Google Ads strategies for law firms is remarketing. This involves targeting ads to users who have and serving them ads to bring them back to your website. And, retargeting can increase conversion rates by 147%.
You can do this by connecting Google Analytics to your ad account. This adds a piece of code that will place a cookie on the user’s computer. Once the cookie is placed, you can then show ads to that user as they browse the internet.
Remarketing is an effective way to get law firm leads because you are targeting people who are already interested in what you have to offer. These users are more likely to convert into clients than someone who has never heard of your law firm before.
Split test sales copy and creatives
An effective Google Ads strategy is to split test your sales copy and creatives. This means creating two different ads and testing to see which one performs better. In fact, 77% of companies perform A/B testing.
You can do this by creating two different ad groups with different ads in each group. Then, you can monitor the performance of each ad group and see which one has a higher click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate.
You can also use A/B testing to test different elements of your ad, such as the headline, description, image, or call to action. By split testing these elements, you can find the combination that performs the best and produces the most leads for your law firm.
Use ad extensions
Extensions are additional links that you can add to your ad that send users to different pages on your website. These can be used to drive leads by sending users to a landing page or contact form. You can also have a call extension to help leads easily call your law firm.
To set up extensions, go to the “Extensions” tab in your Google Ads account and click the blue plus button. From there, you can choose which extension you want to use and set up the link.
Site extensions are a great way to increase the click-through rate of your ads and generate more leads for your law firm. In particular, call extensions can be used to display your phone number and generate more phone calls.
Take advantage of negative keywords and exclusions
Another important Google Ads strategy is to use negative keywords and exclusions. Negative keywords are words or phrases that you don’t want your ad to show up for. Exclusions are areas that you don’t want your ad to be shown.
You can add negative keywords by going to the “Keywords” tab in your Google Ads account and selecting “Negative Keywords.” From there, you can add the words or phrases that you want to exclude.
You can also add exclusions by going to the “Locations” tab and selecting “Excluded Locations.” From there, you can enter in the areas that you want to exclude from your ad campaign. Or, you can exclude low-performing placements like mobile apps and websites.
Match landing pages to your ads
One of the most critical aspects of improving the effectiveness of your law firm’s Google Ads is not the ad itself, but the landing page. If the page that the user lands on doesn’t match the copy and offer of the ad, it will result in a low conversion rate.
It’s important to match the copy and offer of your ad to the landing page. For example, if your ad is for a personal injury lawyer, the landing page should be for a personal injury lawyer. It shouldn’t be for a general law firm or an attorney that specializes in another area.
For example, if let’s click this top result for “Personal injury Toronto.”
We land on a relevant website for personal injury law. Not another practice area or business that would cause confusion for the user.
The best way to ensure that your landing pages match your ads is to create separate landing pages for each ad group. That way, you can control the message and offer on each page and make sure that it matches the ad that users clicked on.
Creating separate landing pages can be time-consuming, but it’s worth it if it means generating more leads for your law firm.
Improve Google Ads quality score
One final Google Ads strategy that can help you improve your results is to focus on improving your quality score. Quality score is a measure of how relevant and useful your ad is to users.
The higher your quality score, the lower your cost-per-click (CPC) will be. And, a lower CPC means more leads for your law firm for less.
There are a few things that you can do to improve your quality score, such as split testing your ads, using negative keywords, optimizing your landing pages, and using the other practices we’ve outlined in this article.
Schedule Google ads to display at their best times
Ads don’t perform the same around the clock. Some campaigns and ad groups will drive better results on different days and at different hours. To find the best times to display your ads, you can use the “Ad Scheduling” feature in Google Ads.
From there, you can choose the days and hours that you want your ad to run. You can also set a bid adjustment for each day and hour. This allows you to increase or decrease your bids based on when users are most likely to convert.
Do competitive analysis
Work smarter, not harder. Reverse-engineering what your competitors are doing is a great way to learn how to better set up your ad campaigns.
A competitive analysis will allow you to see what other law firms in your area are doing with their Google Ads campaigns. You can then model your own campaign after the most successful ones.
To do a competitive analysis, you can use tools like SEMrush. These tools will show you the keywords that your competitors are bidding on and the ads that they’re running.
An example of sample text ads from a law firm using SEMrush.
You can also use these tools to see how much traffic your competitors are getting from their Google Ads campaigns. This information can be valuable in setting your own budget and goals for your campaign.
Track conversions with Google Analytics
Last but not least, you need to ensure that you are tracking conversions of your law firm Google Ads. Otherwise, you won’t know if you’re generating a positive return on investment.
The best way to track conversions is to use Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a free tool that you can use to track website visitors and their interactions with your site.
To set up Google Analytics, you’ll need to create a Google Analytics account and install the tracking code on your website. Once you’ve done that, you can start tracking conversions from your Google Ads campaigns.
To view conversion data in Google Analytics, go to the “Conversions” tab and select “Goals.” From there, you will be able to see how many people have completed each goal that you’ve set up.
You can also use Google Analytics to track other important metrics like time on site, pages per visit, and bounce rate.
Final thoughts on Google Ads for law firms
Google Ads can be difficult to master for legal practices, but they are a must in any effective digital marketing strategy. The right strategies will allow your firm to drive more revenue and increase brand awareness. This is a summary of the tactics we discussed today:
- Target local keywords and locations.
- Retarget users who’ve interacted with your business.
- Conduct A/B split tests and experiments.
- Use site extensions.
- Add negative keywords and exclusions to campaigns.
- Match ads to landing pages.
- Improve your Quality Score.
- Optimize ad schedules.
- Analyze competitors’ ads.
- Set up proper conversion tracking.
If you need help with your digital marketing or advertising, contact WiseMedia today.
