Google Ads for lawyers: 20 Do’s and don’ts for driving more qualified leads in 2025
If you’re looking for a way to bring in more qualified leads (and signed cases) fast, Google Ads may be the answer.
Compared to other platforms, Google Ads is great because you’re targeting people who are already searching for your services. So people are much more likely to fill out that form on your website (and answer the phone when you call).
But getting leads is one thing. What about getting qualified leads that turn into signed cases? Well, that’s a bit more difficult.
In this article, I’m not going to tell you how to set up a Google Ads campaign. There are a plenty of blog posts and Youtube videos on that topic.
Instead, I’m going to show you you the top do’s and don’ts of Google Ads for lawyers – and how to use Google Ads to drive not just more leads, but more qualified leads.
Ready?
Cool, let’s dive in. Starting with the things you should do when using Google Ads…
DO the VOC research before launching any campaign
Most marketers and agencies do keyword research. But I haven’t found a single one that does voice-of-client research. Which is a shame because this is KEY to a high-converting, lead-generating Google Ads campaign.
So what is the voice-of-client research?
It’s when you find out exactly WHO your target audience is. And I’m not talking about generic info like “30-45 year old female who lives in a big city and has 2 kids.”
The VOC reserach goes waaaaaay beyond that. It dives into psychographics, rather than demographics. Uncovering your client’s deep seated pain points, hesitations, motivations and dream states. What they’re thinking and feeling when they land on the page, what’s holding them back from taking the next step, and what motivates them to take action.
Doing this research IS time-consuming. But it’s worth it. ‘Cause it will allow you to get hyper specific in the copy. And speak your client’s language (using the words that they use). So that as your potential clients are reading the copy, they feel understood. And think:
Finally, a lawyer that gets me.
I could write an entire blog post on this topic alone, but will save that for another day. In the meantime, here are a few ways to conduct VOC research:
Interview a few of your ideal clients
Listen to call recordings with prospects and clients
Peruse subReddits and Facebook groups where your ideal client hangs out (Reddit is my favorite because it’s anonymous so people are more likely to get vulnerable and ask questions that they otherwise wouldn’t ask)
Reading testimonials from your former clients and of competitors
2. DO cut the legal jargon – and write killer copy
If you want your Google Ads campaign to get the best results possible, your copy needs to be good.
That means…
Cut out the fancy words and legal jargon and speak your client’s language
Even if your ideal client is more educated, your copy should be no more than a 7th grade reading level. And it should read like a natural conversation between two good friends.
Pro Tip: Try the barstool test. Try reading the copy aloud and see how it sounds. If it doesn’t sound like something you’d say to a good friend at a bar over drinks, cut it out.
2. Emphasize with the reader. Show them that you understand what they’re going through. Tell a story that resonates with them.
3. Get specific. For example, rather than saying things like “we’re compassionate” (which doesn’t mean anything to your reader), give specific examples of how you’re compassionate. Prove it. What have you done for former clients?
4 Use persuasion techniques to convince your reader to take the next step (things like social proof, urgency/scarcity… )
Again, I could write a whole blog post on this topic alone. But for now, let’s leave it at that!
3. DO create different ad groups targeting different keywords/topics
Your Google Ads campaign will be most effective if your ads align with what people are searching for.
For example, if you’re a PI lawyer who wants to run ads for your car accident service and wrongful death service, you should create separate ad groups (and landing pages) for each of those services.
It may sound obvious but you’d be surprised how many law firms don’t do this.
4. DO have a landing page that’s tailored to what people are searching for
I’ve seen soooo many Google Ads campaigns for lawyers that direct people to their homepage, rather than a tailored landing page. Here’s the problem with that:
When people search for, say “car accident lawyer”...
They don’t want to find a “personal injury lawyer.” They want a lawyer who specializes in car accidents. Someone who understands the ins and outs of these cases and their specific situation.
Here’s the other thing:
If your landing page doesn’t match your ad copy, Google will penalize your quality score. Which means higher cost per click, lower ad ranking and fewer leads for your budget.
5. DO focus on longer-tail keywords
Instead of bidding on broad, hyper-competitive terms like “lawyer” or “personal injury attorney,” go for more specific, intent-driven phrases like “car accident lawyer in Chicago” or “slip and fall attorney free consultation.”
Longer-tail keywords typically have lower competition, higher relevance and a lower cost per click. They also allow you to better understand the intent behind someone’s search, which allows you to get more specific with the copy (and convert more traffic into leads).
Bottom line?
Longer tail keywords may get fewer searches… but they tend to convert at a much higher rate.
6. DO be careful with broad match
There are three different keyword match types you can use in your Google Ads campaign: phrase match, exact match and broad match.
Phrase match, just like it sounds, only shows your ad when the search includes your keyword in the same order, possibly with other words before and after.
Exact match only shows your ad when the search is very close to the keyword — either identical or with slight variations (like misspellings).
Broad match shows your ad for searches that are related to your keyword. Including synonyms, variations and loosely connected terms.
I don’t want to go as far as to say don’t use broad match (because there are certainly times when it can be effective). But I’ve found that many times, broad match leads to low-quality traffic and wasted ad spend. Even accounting for negative keywords (more on that in a bit).
For example, for one of my clients, we were able to reduce our cost per qualified lead from $350 to $127.50 in just one week by pausing a broad match keyword from our campaign and putting all of our ad budget towards the better performing phrase and exact match keywords.
And remember, those are qualified leads who finish all 18 questions of our form. Our form completion rate also skyrocketed from 30% to 88%.
If you do use broad match keywords, then be sure to follow the next “do”…
7. DO use negative keywords for your campaign
Negative keywords are keywords that you don’t want your ads to show for. Adding negative keywords to your campaign can help improve ad relevance and reduce wasted ad spend. Negative keywords are especially important when using broad match keyword type.
For example, let’s say you’re running ads for your sexual harassment services. If you only want to help people who were sexually harassed (rather than harassed), then your negative keywords might be “verbal harassment” or “workplace bullying.” Anything that signals that the person wasn’t harassed in a sexual way.
8. DO get specific with your targeting
To make your campaign even more effective, you’ll want to get as specific as you can with the targeting. That might include:
Geotargeting (only showing your ads in certain regions)
Device targeting (only showing your ads on mobile or desktop)
Ad schedule targeting (only running ads during business hours or when your intake team is available)
Demographic targeting (showing ads based on age range, gender or income)
For example, maybe you find that your best leads come from cities (not rural areas). In that case, you could set up your campaign to only target cities.
9. DO set up a detailed form to filter out low-quality leads
To bring in the highest quality leads possible, I highly recommend setting up a more detailed form. Rather than just asking people for their name, email address and phone number, you can ask for more information to filter out bad quality leads. And then tell Google to only count a conversion once people reach the end of the form. That way, Google will optimize your campaign to find more leads like that.
I highly recommend setting up a Typeform because it’s user friendly and interactive, displaying one question at a time. It also allows you to set up conditional logic, so you can tailor follow-up questions based on previous answers and immediately disquality leads based on their answers to questions.
You can see where people drop off in the form, but Typeform doesn’t tell you if people drop off because they were disqualified or because they choose to leave.
For one of my clients (who helps women who have been sexually assaulted by property managers), we have a Typeform set up with 18 questions. Starting with:
If they respond “no” to that question, they are immediately disqualified and don’t count as a conversion. If they respond “yes” they go to the next question…
If they respond “yes,” they are immediately disqualified. If they respond “no,” they continue to the next question.
And so on.
We get fewer conversions from the form, but the conversions we do get tend to be very high-quality leads. And since we’ve started optimizing the campaign (to bring in higher quality traffic), our form completion rate has gone up as well (currently 72.99%).
10. DO use Hotjar to see how people engage with your landing page
Hotjar allows you to see how people are interacting with your landing page, where they are clicking and where they are dropping off.
So if you find, for example, that many people are only scrolling halfway down the page, then you might want to consider improving the copy to keep people on the page longer. Or putting key information higher up on the page.
You can also run on-page surveys or polls asking questions like “What’s stopping you from taking the next step?” I like to trigger the survey as people are about to exit so as not to interfere with the conversion process or distract people from filling out the form.
11. DO pin your headlines
When it comes to your ad copy, you can either let Google mix and match the ad copy for you or you can pin your headlines so that they appear in a certain order. Google will try to convince you not to pin your headlines because it reduces reach and click-through rate. And obviously their goal is to get as many clicks as possible since that’s how they make money.
But don’t listen to them! I highly recommend pinning the headlines as this tends to lead to better results.
For one of my clients, pinning the headlines resulted in much better results. The CTR dropped 70.2% but the conversion rate jumped 146%. And more importantly, the lead quality improved too.
Yup, all from changing the order of the headlines.
12. DO share your story
Storytelling is one of the best ways to build a connection with your audience. In the book Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath, the authors talk about how storytelling is one of the keys to making your messaging more memorable.
Sharing your story (aka why you became a lawyer and why these issues are important to you) helps build trust, set you apart from other firms and build a connection with your audience. For example, see what we did for one of my clients:
Notice how I made the story relevant to the reader. And got vulnerable. Sharing my client’s “mistakes” from the past. According to the Pratfall effect, admitting your flaws can make you more likable. So don’t be afraid to do this!
Pro Tip: Skip the suit photo. Instead, go with a more casual picture. This will break down the barrier between you and potential clients. So that they feel more of a personal connection with you — and comfortable getting on that call.
13. DO set up an automated welcome sequence
There’s a good chance that people have filled out forms on multiple law firm websites. You want to remind them why your firm is the best choice for them. That’s where an email welcome sequence comes in.
A welcome sequence is an automated email sequence that you send to leads after they fill out your form. In the emails, you can:
Reintroduce your firm (and explain how you’re different from other firms)
Share your story and why this topic is important to you (should be specific to the service)
Motivate new leads to pick up the phone when they call
Help people picture a better future once they take action (aka future pacing)
Remind them why now is the best time to take action
14. DO continually test and optimize for lead quality
Once your campaign is up and running, you definitely do NOT want to just set it and forget it. After launching, you’ll find unexpected search terms (and keywords to target), unrelated keywords (and negative keywords you should add), along with other patterns you didn’t plan for.
For example, maybe you find that many of your leads are coming from one metro area. Or that most calls come in the evening.
Maybe you find that desktop users hang around your landing page for much longer than mobile users. Perhaps Hotjar insights tell you that people are bouncing before they get to the most important information on the page.
Without monitoring and optimizing, you’ll waste ad budget on clicks that don’t convert into clients.
You should also be regularly A/B testing different ad copy and elements on your landing page regularly to see what resonates best with your audience (and leads to the most signed cases).
If that’s not enough to convince you of the importance of optimization, then consider this:
Your competitors are also running ads. If they start bidding higher for certain keywords, improving their ad copy or upping their game, then your campaign will fall behind. And you’ll miss out on leads that you otherwise could get.
Ok now that we’ve covered the things to DO, let’s move on to the things *not* to do when running a Google Ads campaign…
15. DON’T put too much focus on CPC, CTR or quality score
Most media buyers seem to be obsessed with CTR (click-through rate) and CPC (cost per click). And I’m not saying you should completely ignore these metrics. But don’t let them guide your decisions. ‘Cause at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is this:
Is your campaign bringing in high-quality leads (and signed cases)?
If it is, then who cares if your CPC is high or your CTR is low?
In fact, many times your CTR *should* be low (especially if you’re targeting broad match keywords). Because your ad copy should be filtering out low quality prospects (otherwise you’re just burning through your budget).
As for quality score, don’t worry too much if it’s “poor.” I’ve had high-performing campaigns with a poor quality score.
So what is “quality score” anyway?
It’s a score that Google assigns you based on your expected CTR, ad relevance and landing page experience. Thing is, quality score basically penalizes good ad copy (ad copy that filters out the wrong leads, like we discussed above). And it’s a metric that’s based on Google’s goals (aka high click-through rate), not lead quality.
Instead, pay attention to these metrics:
Conversion rate (assuming that the leads that come in are qualified, which you’ll know if you set up a detailed form like Typeform and tell Google to mark a conversion when that form is completed)
Cost per qualified lead/conversion
Cost per signed case
At the end of the day, those are the only KPIs that really matter.
16. DON’T blindly follow what your competitors are doing
I can’t tell you how many law firm websites I’ve seen… and 99% of them look and sound the same:
“We’re compassionate”
“We have 20+ years of experience”
“We’re recovered millions for our clients”
(Yawn)
But here’s the thing:
Our brains are wired to remember the unexpected. So if you sound the same as all your competitors, your website visitors are more likely to click away, forget you or not pick up the phone when you call.
Whereas if your website copy grabs their attention and gets them to keep reading, you instantly increase the chances they’ll trust you, remember you and answer when you call.
With one of my clients, we took the complete opposite approach of every other firm:
Instead of a suit-and-tie photo, we used a casual photo of him in a t-shirt
Instead of "we, we, we" language, we focused entirely on the reader: *Their* pain points, *their* hesitations, *their* potential future if they filed a case, and how *they* would feel after taking the next step
Instead of listing off credentials and case studies, we shared my client’s story and the “why” behind why he did
Instead of fancy words and legal jargon, we used simple, conversational language and spoke to the reader like a good friend would
Instead of feigning perfection, we got vulnerable and shared some of my client's imperfections and mistakes from the past
Instead of writing copy that "sounded good," we relied on in-depth voice-of-client research (so that every line spoke directly to what prospects were thinking and feeling)
The result?
That campaign generated a 1400% ROI (far surpassing the industry average of 300%). Bringing in leads who were *so* eager to hire my client, they felt "betrayed" when he didn't take on their case.
Bottom line? It pays to be different.
17. DON’T talk about yourself or your accomplishments too much
Truth?
Your readers don’t *care* how much money you’ve made for other clients. Or the fact that you have “a combined 20 years of experience.” They care about how you can help them.
If you’re going to include this information, then frame them in a way that shows the value to the reader.
For example:
“With over 20 years of combined experience, we’ve handled hundreds of cases just like yours… and we know how to get you the biggest possible settlement.”
What’s funny is that with my client who got a 1400% ROAS, we didn’t mention the years of experience he had. We barely mentioned the results he had gotten for other clients. We didn’t even include a single testimonial from other clients. Yet that page still converted cold traffic at 12.45% over 45 weeks.
Why?
Because the copy emphasized with the reader. Tapped into their emotions. And used proven persuasion techniques to guide the reader to take action – without feeling pushy.
18. DON’T include legal jargon
The majority of law firms have this type of copy on their landing pages and website (and I quote…)
“Establishing liability is crucial in securing compensation for your injuries”
“Furthermore, if a case goes to trial, the court may award the victim an amount that exceeds the insured’s policy limits.”
“Our firm strives to maximize your compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and other costs accrued after an accident or medical error.”
(Those all came from different websites BTW.)
Problem is, that language isn’t the same language that your client uses. When writing your copy, try reading the copy aloud. Then ask yourself:
Do my clients really speak like this in everyday life?
If not, then change it until it sounds natural.
Your copy should also be super simple and easy to understand. Think: A 7th to 8th grade reading level. Meaning it should be easy for even a 12- or 13-year old to understand.
Take the first sentence for example. I’m 38 years old and I *still* have to think about that sentence for a bit in order to understand what it means. And still it’s not clear to me. What does “establish liability” mean exactly? That might make perfect sense to other lawyers… but not to your potential clients.
That’s the other problem with writing your own copy:
The Curse of Knowledge can get in the way.
Curse of… what now?
The Curse of Knowledge the cognitive bias where you assume that your readers know as much about a topic as you do (even though they don’t).
Instead, here’s a better way to write that sentence:
“In order to get compensated, you must first prove that someone else is to blame”
Much clearer to the average Jo like me.
Now for the second sentence: “Furthermore, if a case goes to trial, the court may award the victim an amount that exceeds the insured’s policy limits.”
That sentence isn’t very reader-oriented. And the language is waaay too formal.
Instead, you could say…
“If your case ends up going to trial, you could walk away with a higher amount than you would otherwise get.”
As for the third sentence…
“Our firm strives to maximize your compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and other costs accrued after an accident or medical error.
The sentence is pretty easy to understand but once again, the language is too formal. And according to Hemingway Editor, the reading level is grade 15. Way too high.
Instead, you could write:
“We’ll do everything we can to get you as much money as possible. So you can pay for your medical bills, lost income, and any other costs from the accident.”
See the difference?
19. DON’T use stock photos
Another mistake that soooo many law firms make? Using stock photos to fill up space on the landing page.
The majority of stock photos look fake and generic. Our brains naturally tune them out since we see them so much. Plus, when people come to your website, they don’t want to see stock photos. They want to see you (or the lawyers they’ll be working with).
If you do decide to use stock photos, make sure to:
Choose ones that are less generic-looking
Use photos that complement the messaging
Think about how your reader will feel when they see the image
For example, many law firm landing pages use harsh, trauma-triggering images… like a snarling dog on a dog bite page or a wrecked car on a car accident page.
But if someone has just been in a crash (or lost someone they love in a car accident) the last thing they want to see is a mangled vehicle. That will just make them feel worse and bring up all these negative emotions.
You want them to feel safe when they land on your site. So choose images that will do that.
20. DON’T delay responding to leads
You could have the best Google Ads campaign in the world but if you delay too much in responding to leads, then all your hard work (and ad spend) will go out the window. So before launching your campaign, make sure your intake team is prepared to deal with the volume.
With one of my clients, we had to turn OFF the Google Ads shortly after launching because the volume of leads was simply too high for him and his team to keep up.. They ended up hiring more people to handle the volume of leads coming in, but that took time.
If you’ve got the intake team in place, great. After the campaign is running for a bit, you should have an idea of the days/times when most leads come in. And you and your team can best prepare for that.
In the meantime, you could set up that email welcome sequence or automated SMS sequence to initiate contact with leads right away and make sure your firm stays top of mind in the meantime.
Final thoughts on using Google Ads for lawyers
Google Ads can be a GOLD mine for law firms. If you know what you’re doing.
But if you’re just tossing your budget at some keywords, sending traffic to your homepage, and hoping for the best… you’re basically throwing your ad budget away.
Hopefully now you know how to attract qualified leads (not just tire-kickers). How to stand out from the sea of “we’re compassionate, we have 20+ years of experience” firms. And you know what not to do — like using stock photos of handshakes and legalese that makes people’s eyes glaze over.
So yes…
Google Ads for law firms works. But ONLY if your copy connects and your campaign is optimized for the right things.
Want some help making that all happen?
My team and I help with everything from the voice-of-client research and ad copy to the landing page design and campaign optimization.
Get in touch to see how we can help you bring in more high-quality leads fast (forgive me BTW, I don’t have a Typeform set up).
