The quickest proven method to market your law firm is to rank on the top of the search engine results pages. This can be accomplished both through local SEO or through law firm PPC campaigns such as Google Ad for lawyers. Although local SEO is more sustainable, it can take months to years to achieve page one ranking depending on your target keyword and its relevant competition. Google Ads on the other hand allows you to rent your way to the top within days, not months. By using PPC advertising, your law firm can outperform your local rivals and gain visibilitywith your target audience if you follow the Google ad campaign process created by Legal Marketing Strategy Pros. You can rely on consistent new clients when you manage advertising campaigns carefully and correctly. Your goal with Google ads is to get users to click through your ad and visit your website. Google refers to this as user engagement. The more time a person spends on your site, the more conversion you will receive. This means that if someone clicks on an ad but quickly leaves after arriving at the website, it can negatively affect your campaign
Conduct a Competitive Analysis To Find Your Target Keywords
The first step towards a successful Google advertising campaign is to find highly targeted keywords. If you are hiring a digital marketing agency, make sure they will conduct thorough research on the best and most profitable keywords that relate to your practice area and geographical location. You can use Google's AdWords online tool also known as, "Google Keyword Planner" to come up with a long list of high traffic keywords that are specific to your law firm and practice area. You can also use free and paid tools such as SpyFu, SEMrush, Google Suggest, and Google Trends to determine which keywords have the most search volume seen by your target audience.
If you already own the domain and website for your law firm, you can first identify which keywords are mostly searched by potential clients by using Google Search Console. This tool allows you to see which terms and related keywords your website appears on and how many impressions and clicks each keyword has received over the past 90 days. Even more helpful, Google Search Console provides the average position of every keyword on your website so you can easily determine which keywords are already bringing your law firm traffic.
After you have identified the most profitable long-tail keywords with high search volume, it is time to evaluate who you are up against in each SERP.
Law Firms Who Compete Using A Google Ads Campaign
The next step is to figure out which of your local competitors is already advertising with google ads campaigns.
Once you know which of your competitors are using Google ads, you can review ad history using Spyfu's free tool. You can even get an estimate of their ad budget with Spyfu's tool. You can then review their ad copy, keywords that are being targeted, and the CTR for each keyword.
Researching Google ads cost & Setting your advertising budget
How much does each click cost? Start by looking at how much your competitors are paying for each click. You can easily find this information in Google Ads Keyword Planner or Spyfu and review the average CPC (cost per click) of their most profitable keywords. For example, if you determine that a competitor is spending $11 per click on the keyword "Orlando car accident lawyer" that brings in 30 leads then you need to at least match that amounts to compete with them.
You also need to factor in how many clicks they receive in a month and divide by 30 to come up with their CTR (click-through rate). So if your competitor receives 200 clicks in a day and has an average CTR of 2% then they will have 10 new potential clients every month. At this point, you have a solid grasp on other lawyers' Google Ads campaigns in your local area and you are ready to start planning your PPC campaign.
Should you use exact match or phrase match keywords?
Before you start ranking at the top of Google's organic search results with your PPC ads, you need to choose which keywords to use for your PPC campaign.
What is an Exact Match in Google Adwords
An exact match means that your ad will be displayed when a user types in the exact keyword that you've chosen. For example, if you buy "personal injury lawyer" as an exact match then this ad will appear when someone searches anything from "personal injury lawyers near me" to "how much does a personal injury lawyer cost." Exact match is best used when there are less than 10 high traffic exact match keywords relevant to the legal services offered by your law firm.
What is a Phrase Match in Google Adwords
Phrase match is similar but not as targeted as exact matches because it allows for misspellings and variations of each keyword. For example, the phrase match for "personal injury lawyers" would be considered as any words that included personal injury and law such as:
- personal injury lawyer
- accident injury attorneys
- injury lawyer reviews
- criminal defense attorney jobs
The main difference between exact and phrase match keywords is that exact match ads appear on the search engine results page when a user types in exactly what you've chosen but a phrase match shows up if someone searches anything similar to your keywords. If you want more control over which search queries trigger your Google ads then use an exact match campaign. However, if you are just starting out, then try both methods and see which one brings in the most qualified leads. The type of match choice can affect the cost, as the more specific the term the less your ad will be seen, but it will also be shown to a more qualified audience.
How to use a negative keyword to prequalify your audience
You don't want to waste money on search ads that get impressions but no clicks so use negative keywords. If you only target the wrong keywords, it could cost your law firm a lot of revenue and sometimes also your reputation. Negative keywords can be used to exclude words and phrases that could potentially trigger an ad and decrease the number of searches that might cause your ad to show up. You can add a negative keyword by using the text box next to "Keywords" in the Campaign tab when creating your Google Ads campaign.
Ad extensions are crucial for user engagement
Using Google ad extensions can be a huge help in converting searches into prospective clients. For example, location extensions give customers the ability to view your business information directly on a map similar to Google my Business searches, without the need to go beyond the search results page. This way, a user does not even need to click over to one of your landing pages to contact your law firm. Callout extensions allow you to highlight specific services and benefits of working with your law firm so potential clients know exactly what they will get if they choose to work with you.
The Call Only extension, allows you to specifically target people on the search engines who are searching on their smartphones where the call to action is a request for phone calls to your office.
Learn More About Law Firm advertising by Running Google Ads
In order to generate interest, your law firm's online advertising must speak to its target audience and their google searches. If you choose to utilize Google ads in your marketing efforts, you can certainly run it on your own, but oftentimes consulting with a third-party marketing professional with experience working with other law firms can save you from making costly mistakes.
If you're ready to finally get your law firm the leads it deserves, contact one of the many agencies experienced with law firm's website marketing such as Legal marketing strategy Pros today for a free consultation to learn if they can help. The Google Adwords system is extremely intuitive and it's easy to start running ads right away (especially if you have an ad agency handling everything), but it can also be easy to make costly mistakes that could have been easily avoided.
