Law Firm PPC Ads That Earn New Clients

PPC is a great marketing channel for any law firm. It allows you to connect directly with potential clients.

A few practices you should follow to create fantastic law firm PPC ads include:

Engaging copy that gives the viewer a reason to click
Add an eye-catching headline
Use great visuals (in ads that use visuals)
Adapt your ads for different audiences and searches
A/B test your ads to see what resonates with your audience
Monitor analytics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, engagement and return on ad spend (ROI)
Adjust ad creative (that’s your copy and visuals) if you see a performance dip.

Download our free guide, which includes a PPC checklist to ensure your ads are well-optimised.

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What Are PPC Campaigns?

Pay-per-click advertising, more commonly known as PPC, refers to all online advertising, not just the ones where you pay for each click.

PPC ad campaigns include Google search ads, YouTube ads, banner ads and social media ads.

There are more types of PPC ads, but these are the ones you’ll use most in your law firm’s PPC campaigns.

Google search ads appear at the top and bottom of the search engine results pages (SERPs). The placement isn’t just based on spend. Google also takes into account the quality of your ads.

In Google’s AI Search Generative Experience, SGE, ads will be included in and around the AI-generated answer.

YouTube ads appear in a few different places. Video ads can run at the start, middle or end of YouTube videos. The user can skip some of these ads, and you only pay if they watch 30 seconds or more of your ad. Other YouTube ads are unskippable; users must watch them to get to their main content.

Banner ads also appear on YouTube next to some videos. In-feed ads are another option. They appear among the other search results.

Banner ads run on websites around the internet. These are often run through Google ads, too. The image below shows three different banner ads on the Lawyer Monthly website.

Social media ads run in different formats depending on the platform you use.

It’s best to use social media ads to retarget people who have visited your site in the past. It’s unlikely people will make an impulse purchase with a law firm, which is what many social media ads are designed to do.

Retargeting past visitors on social media reminds them of your USPs and why they should hire you, which is useful if they shop around.

Using a mix of these different types of ads would be the best PPC strategy for your law firm, but we suggest prioritising Google search ads to start with.

Common PPC terms

PPC campaigns are full of jargon. Here are some of the most common PPC terms and how they relate to your ads.

Click-through-rate (CTR)

CTR is the ratio of users who click on an ad to the number of times the ad is shown.

For example, if an ad is displayed 100 times and is clicked on 5 times, the CTR is 5%.

Cost-per-click (CPC)

CPC is the amount you pay each time someone clicks on your ad.
For example, if you pay $1 each time your ad is clicked and the ad is clicked 100 times, the spend is $100, and the CPC is $1.

Cost-per-impression (CPI)

CPI is the amount you pay for every 1,000 impressions (views) of your ad.

For example, if an ad campaign costs a total of $20 and receives 10,000 impressions, the CPI is $2 ($20/10,000 impressions).

Conversion Rate (CR)

CR can be measured in a few different ways. It can be the percentage of website visitors from your ads who complete a desired action. It could also be the number of people who just click your ads. It depends on what you’re counting as a conversion.

For example, if 100 people visit your website and 1 becomes a client, the conversion rate is 1% (1 client/100 visitors). We increased the PPC conversion rate for a client by 207%.

Cost-per-acquisition (CPA)

CPA is the cost of acquiring a new customer.
For example, if an ad campaign spends $1,000 and acquires 100 new customers, the CPA is $10 ($1,000 total cost/100 new customers).

Call-to-action (CTA)

The CTA is the text or graphics in your ad that’s meant to prompt a desired response from the viewer.

For example, “Get a free consultation” or “Find out if you have a case”.

Why Should Law Firms Use PPC Ads?

There are a few reasons why PPC ad campaigns are important for law firms. Not only do they help you reach your ideal customer faster, but they can also help you compete with AI.

Law firm PPC is often expensive because of high competition, but the benefits are huge.

And, if you create strong PPC ads, you’ll get a good return on investment (ROI).

The benefits of PPC for law firms

Targeted reach

PPC allows you to target your ads precisely to your ideal clients based on location, demographics, keywords, interests, and more.

This helps you connect with clients actively searching for legal services with a message and CTA that resonates with them.

Measurable results

With PPC, you only pay when someone clicks your ad. This makes tracking and optimising your ad spend easy based on metrics like cost-per-click and conversion rate.

Flexibility

PPC campaigns can be adjusted quickly based on performance. You can change targeting, bids, ad copy, landing pages, and more to improve results.

Competitive edge

Good PPC puts your law firm’s ad in front of people right when they are searching for legal help.

This allows you to stand out from competitors in online search results — especially when there are so many poor ads out there.

Cost-effective

PPC costs are only incurred when someone clicks your ad. This is often a more affordable way to reach potential clients than traditional advertising. It’s easy to turn PPC up or down, depending on your goals and budget.

How to Create a Successful PPC Campaign for Your Law Firm

Every successful PPC campaign needs a solid plan and strategy behind it.

Keyword research

Review your SEO keywords and identify the keywords you want to target with PPC.

Have you seen a drop in traffic from a keyword you rank in position 1 for? Check the search engine results page (SERP) to see if competitors run ads there. You will want to run competing ads.
Are there some keywords you want traffic for but are struggling to rank? Perhaps you’ve added a new service and want a traffic boost while your page steps up the ranking. PPC is a great fit for this.
Use a tool like Semrush (which you can try for free for 14 days with our link), to identify new keywords that could be a good fit for your law firm’s PPC ads.

Competitor research

While researching your keywords, analyse competitor ads to find out what works.

Pay attention to the language and CTAs competitors use.
See if they use ad extensions
Take inspiration from the ad imagery.

Ad creative

When creating a search ad, it’s essential to include the following:

A strong headline that’s enticing and contains the keywords you are targeting. Think back to the titles of the blogs we discussed earlier.
A compelling offering in the text. This should clarify your offering and why the viewer should choose you.
Ad extensions, including other relevant pages on your site or a click-to-call button so viewers can get in touch right away. Consider the intent of the search. Ads run on a search where users are not quite ready to convert will have different CTAs to those that are for people ready to get in touch with your law firm.

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When creating a social media ad, it’s important to include:

A scroll-stopping image that grabs the viewer’s attention
A compelling offering in the text. This should clarify your offering and why the viewer should choose you.
A compelling, relevant CTA.

If you decide to go the video ad route, you need to include:

High-quality, scroll-stopping video that grabs the viewer’s attention
A script that gets straight to the point, with a hook that keeps the viewer watching
A strong, relevant CTA.