Law firm PPC guide: Proven tips and strategies
Pay-per-click (PPC) is a powerful advertising tool for law firms and attorneys to reach their target audience and generate meaningful results by bidding and paying for each click. With PPC, law firms can create and manage paid search ad campaigns, allowing them to monitor and make ongoing adjustments to maximize performance.
By harnessing the power of PPC as part of a broader advertising strategy, small law firms can increase their visibility, connect with highly qualified prospects, and grow their business sooner rather than later.
In this guide, PPC experts who specialize their work in the legal industry provide proven tips and strategies for:
- Budget and bidding strategy
- Keywords, ad copy, and landing pages
- Tools to use
- Targeting
- Building a brand with PPC
Jump to:
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The basics of PPC |
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Crafting effective PPC campaigns |
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Maximizing ROI with PPC |
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Build and protect your brand with PPC |
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Advantages of hiring a PPC expert and team |
Related and free guides:
The basics of PPC: How does it work, and what does it look like?
The distinct benefit of PPC is its ability to quickly introduce your firm to highly qualified consumers who are actively searching for legal representation in your target market.
PPC can quickly convert consumers into contacts for your most desired practice and geographic areas by grabbing their attention at key moments when they're ready to connect with you.
How ads appear
PPC advertising operates on search engine results pages (SERPs), where ads appear at the top of the page and above organic listings. These ads can feature a variety of assets such as:
- Headlines
- Short descriptions
- Callouts
- Sitelinks
- Images
Similar to traditional billboards, the appearance and ad copy can capture the attention of search visitors scrolling down the SERP.
Notice below how the first two highlighted sections feature different types of sponsored PPC ads in Google's SERP — standard search ads, and some with a Google Screened badge.
Organic results mixed with PPC ads follow after the sponsored spots which also include local business results on Google Maps.
Bidding and auction process
The core concept of PPC involves bidding on keywords and participating in an auction process. Search engines determine which ads appear and how often based on their relevancy and past performance.
If an ad is triggered frequently but receives few clicks, it will gradually show less often and may incur a higher cost per click (CPC). Both Google and Microsoft offer manual and automated bidding options, allowing advertisers to adjust their strategies based on performance.
Ad relevancy and strength
Ad relevancy and ad strength play a crucial role in PPC ad quality. Creating compelling ads that highlight expertise, unique selling points, and strong calls to action enhances visibility and exposure in the search results. Advertisers should strive to optimize their ads on a regular basis to keep up with evolving trends which in turn positively impacts ad performance.
“Creating compelling ads that highlight your expertise, unique selling points and calls to action help enhance visibility and exposure in the search results”
- Emily Francis, Senior PPC Strategist
Regular review and adjustment of bidding strategies are essential to achieve success. Continuous campaign optimization can increase your visibility, drive more clicks, and ultimately achieve their PPC goals.
Crafting effective PPC campaigns
Several key factors need to be considered and optimized when creating an effective PPC campaign.
Budget and bidding strategy
Setting a budget and targeting the right keywords are crucial starting points.
Why is that? Determining relevant keywords that align with the queries being searched will drive the types of leads you are looking for. Furthermore, setting the proper bidding strategy ensures that your budget is maximized and impacts the overall performance of the campaign.
By optimizing campaigns to drive more leads at a lower cost per lead (CPL), you can make the most of your budget and achieve a higher return on investment (ROI).
Art and science of keywords, ad copy, and landing pages
Keyword selection is both an art and a science. It requires thorough research, ongoing optimization, and informed decision-making. By refining and updating your keyword list, your campaign becomes more cost-effective and targets the most relevant audience.
The role of ad copy and landing pages shouldn't be underestimated. Creating compelling ad headlines, descriptions, and callouts is crucial in enticing searchers to interact with your ads. Additionally, optimizing landing pages to align with the ad copy and provide a seamless user experience can significantly impact conversions.
Google or Microsoft PPC campaigns?
While Google is the dominant search engine, utilizing Microsoft Ads can also be an effective tool.
“The majority of searches happen on Google but utilizing Microsoft Ads can also be an effective tool in driving high quality leads at a lower cost per lead, depending on practice area and location”
- Emily Francis, Senior PPC Strategist
By carefully considering these factors and continuously optimizing your PPC campaign, you're on your way to maximize your budget, drive targeted traffic, and generate valuable leads for your law firm.
Maximizing ROI with PPC: Tips and strategies
To truly maximize budget and further maximize your return on investment (ROI) with PPC, several strategies can be implemented.
Location and demographic targeting
Did you know you can target the right audience through location and demographics? In fact, you can reach searchers in locations most relevant and valuable for your firm by utilizing targets such as cities, towns, and zip codes.
Further optimizations can be implemented to increase competitiveness in specific markets.
Demographic targeting allows you to hone in on searchers based on characteristics such as age, gender, education level, household income, and marital status. This helps broadly target searchers based on their likely legal needs, driving more relevant results.
Integrate PPC with other channels
Integrating PPC with other marketing channels is essential for a cohesive online presence.
“PPC is an effective performance driver because it can generate immediate exposure in the search results and bypass ranking factors that often take time to establish when it comes to the organic results.”
- Emily Francis, Senior PPC Strategist
Yet it's important to have a consistent and scalable brand presence across channels. For instance, while PPC generates faster results, SEO strategies help with longterm and sustainable visiblity in SERPs.
This kind of undertaking sometimes requires an entire team to develop a similar user experience on your website, social media, and paid search results. However, the integration is worth the effort since it solidifies brand awareness and enhances overall marketing effectiveness.
Optimize campaigns with automation tools
Using AI for marketing strategy and tactics is becoming a standard practice. Machine learning and automation in particular can play a vital role in bidding and ad selection, provided there is enough data to support it and the campaign is effectively managed.
However, be careful to avoid blindly implementing recommendations in Google Search Ads or Microsoft Ads. Doing so can easily result in negative performance.
You can maximize your ROI with PPC by effectively targeting the right audience, integrating marketing efforts, and optimizing campaigns both manually and using automated tools.
Build and protect your brand with PPC
PPC can be a powerful tool for law firms to enhance brand recognition and credibility in SERPs.
Enhance brand recognition and credibility
By leveraging paid search, law firms can appear prominently in search engines. This visibility not only drives immediate results but also creates opportunities for consumers to validate the brand. As a result, you're instilling trust and credibility the next time they visit your firm's website.
However, managing PPC advertising can be complex, with frequent search changes and fierce competition. FindLaw offers comprehensive online advertising management services that effectively deliver leads from various advertisement types and platforms.
Having a team of experts dedicated to the legal industry like Findlaw can help ensure that your firm appears consistently across different channels.
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Findlaw PPC Target highly relevant legal consumers, grab their attention and convince them to visit your website |
Advantages of hiring a PPC expert and team
Hiring a PPC expert and team can provide several advantages for law firms looking to maximize their online advertising efforts.
Stay informed about the evolving nature of PPC
Search engines regularly update their algorithms and standards, making it essential to have a team that is specialized, data-driven, and stays up to date on evolving market trends.
By partnering with experts like FindLaw, law firms can make informed decisions based on years of expertise, data, and performance with clients in the legal space.
Industry knowledge
Industry knowledge is another key advantage of hiring a PPC expert. Specializing in the legal industry allows experts to have a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities within the legal market.
They track performance markers and use them to make inferences about future performance, enabling a proactive approach to marketing efforts. By hiring a PPC expert or team, your firm can leverage their specialized knowledge, stay ahead of industry trends which agencies rely on for industry insight.
Get even more insight and comprehensive overview about PPC with a free downloadable guide.
