Paid search is an excellent marketing strategy to help you drive valuable leads to your company. Yet, paid search marketing or Pay-per-click (PPC) needs to be more utilized and understood in legal marketing campaigns.
When implementing a lawyer PPC campaign, you include ads targeting search interests. The objective is to channel prospective customers through the advertising funnel by digitally engaging them and driving them to your business.
Paid search marketing for lawyers is the perfect solution to finding the right customers at the right time when they are looking for your services. But first, what is it?
What is Paid Search Marketing?
Paid search is a digital marketing aspect where law firms can place ads on Google, and other search engine results pages (SERPs) and only get charged for the ad if a user clicks on it. The fee is known as cost per click (CPC), depending on the keywords the user searched.
Targeting popular keywords is why paid search marketing is sometimes expensive, especially considering the number of monthly searches such keywords can generate. For instance, the most popular and costly legal marketing keywords are “attorney” and “lawyer.” Therefore, if your law firm chooses to use “family lawyer” or “divorce attorney” in your ads, you may end up paying up to hundreds of dollars per click on specific platforms.
Still, paid search marketing has proven to be a compelling aspect of online marketing campaigns for lawyers since you only pay for the ad when someone clicks on it; paid search is a more controllable marketing strategy than traditional options.
Why Law Firms Use Paid Search Marketing
With the help of technology, tools, and other capabilities like AI, ad platforms are becoming more precise and accurate with their targeting approaches.
Paid search can be beneficial to both marketers and target audiences. Well-written, well-designed, and relevant ads engage the right audience at the right moment when they are just searching the web for a law firm, providing them with precisely what they’re seeking.
There are three primary reasons why paid search marketing campaigns are popular among law firms of different sizes:
- Intentional targeting. Directing ads to a specific population segment.
- Measurability. Get valuable data regarding clicks, conversions, traffic, and impressions to help guide your advertising campaign and marketing efforts.
- Immediacy. You are receiving results as soon as you launch the PPC campaign; there is no waiting like with an organic SEO campaign.
Here are more top reasons why law firms use paid search marketing:
- Paid search helps build brand awareness; after all, they are the first thing users see in SERPs
- Get your ads in front of the target audience at the right time
- Control your legal marketing budget
- Test various search ad options and strategies
- Obtain a detailed analysis of your ads’ performance compared to how much you are spending
With paid search, you get real-time results that allow law firms to learn more about how prospective customers engage with their ads. An initial ad campaign can be a valuable foundation for lawyers to adjust future ads and other digital marketing efforts.
Cutting through the noise of digital competition for clients is vital to your firm’s success. Paid search can help you get your messaging across strategically, leading potential clients to your website.
Types of Paid Search Marketing for Lawyers
So, what options for PPC ads can a law firm run?
Here are some of the most effective paid search marketing options you can use to drive more leads for your legal business.
1. Traditional Google Adwords Search Marketing
While several platforms offer PPC marketing, Google Ads remains the most popular among legal firms and other companies. Google Ads stay the most popular because Google hosts 93% of all online searches.
Traditional PPC Google Adwords is the most common ad campaign businesses run to reach more leads. These all-text PPC ads appear at the top of the search results on Google, just above organic listings. These ads are often tagged next to your listing with the word “ad,” indicating paid content.
Traditional Google Adwords contain text without visuals. It’s one of the most popular marketing methods that drive positive results. The format is among the several options in PPC ad campaigns you can run to attract qualified leads to your legal business.
To create an effective Google Adword, you need to start by choosing keywords. These trigger your PPC ad to appear in Google search results.
To reach more leads seeking your services or products, ensure you choose relevant keywords first. The best keywords for paid search Google ads are long-tail keywords containing three or more words, such as “Family law attorney in Jacksonville, FL.” Long-tail keywords help drive more interested and qualified leads for your law firm and keep your CPC low.
Your quality score and bid amount determine your ad placement. After selecting your keywords, you’ll need to bid for the ad’s placement by setting your maximum bid. Placing your maximum bid is the maximum amount you are willing to pay for each click.
Aim for a high-quality score to get a better rank for your chosen keyword. Your quality score refers to how Google rates your PPC ad. Determining your ad’s importance to a user’s search query involves relevancy and the clickthrough rate.
You can launch your paid search ad once you have the ad placement.
These Google Adwords are perfect for attracting potential clients searching for specific terms related to your services. It’s an excellent way to get people to visit your website and check out your services.
2. Remarketing and Retargeting
Remarketing is a method that uses a user’s browser’s cookies to display to them specific and relevant ads depending on their previous online searches. For instance, a user who searched for an immigration lawyer could see display ads regarding immigration law firms near them. It is also known as retargeting.
A remarketed ad is one of the paid search marketing campaigns that help you reengage your clients. Most people will visit your site to learn about your legal services but wait to convert.
Having a lead not be ready to convert on their first visit may make you feel like you’ve lost a potential client, but there might be other opportunities. You can use the option to send remarketed ads to engage them and get them to consider your business and choose your law firm.
You’ll need to use Google’s remarketing code, also called tracking pixel, to remarket your ads. You can easily add the tracking pixel to your ad campaign if you run Google Adwords.
Place your tracking pixel on your website to better understand what your audience looks for on your pages. This way, you’ll know the service pages your prospective clients are visiting. And once they leave, you’ll have an appropriate list of visitor categories.
Ensure you set up different lists for your ad campaign, segmenting your audience depending on their actions. You could have a separate list for those who visit legal Service Page A and Service Page B. Separating Services pages into A/B versions will ensure your audience sees display ads for the particular legal service they seek.
Remarketing and retargeting focus on services or products your potential clients viewed previously and get them to reengage with your law firm. These ads work to get leads to choose your law firm over your competition. It’s an effective paid search marketing strategy that brings leads to conversions.
3. Video Marketing Ads
Video marketing ads are an effective way to promote a brand. You can use video banner ads on a website or landing page to promote your services. You could also use pre-, mid-, and post-roll video ads that play before, during, or after a video on social media or an online video.
Video marketing ads are emotionally engaging and give a multi-sensory experience to users. The time users spend looking at a particular post while they scroll through online or social platforms is almost the same length of time it takes to blink. The motion in video ads naturally captures their short attention spans, making them pause. Users also remember more video content than text or audio.
4. Display and Branding
Display ads are text, banner, or image ads on various Google partner websites selected to target specific audiences you believe are interested in your business. These ads link back to your website. You can set a particular target audience or focus on targeting users who visited legal websites similar to yours.
Like PPC Google Adwords, you also need to set a bid amount for display ads to help determine how much you pay for clicks.
However, with display ads, you’ll need to get the approval of Google regarding your ad copy. Once approved, you can choose industry-related websites where your ads will appear. Selecting the right places for your display ads ensures that you reach qualified leads who want to hear from your law firm.
Display ads are great for building brand awareness, capturing occasionally interested leads, and clicking on your ad. These ads are perfect for getting your brand at the forefront of your target market’s minds. It helps people discover your brand.
5. Geofencing
Geofencing advertising is location-based marketing that allows you to connect with users in a set geographical area through mobile apps or web pages. You can use geofencing marketing to market to your target audience while they are at your competitor’s firm, browsing your online or offline services, or even preparing to seek your services.
While geofencing advertising may seem complicated, it’s relatively straightforward, primarily when you work with an experienced geofencing marketing company with years of experience.
Here’s a simple summary:
- Your firm sets a geofence in a designated geographic area with an ad campaign for that geofence
- A user who steps into your geofence can be added to your marketing audience
- Your firm starts sending ads to that user (via in-app ads, notifications, or search or display ads)
With geofencing, you typically create a virtual fence around a designated geographic area that you want. If any user with a smartphone enters your virtual fence’s perimeter, they are added to your advertising audience and qualify to receive your PPC ads for up to 30 days.
Remember, you may create a fence in almost any geographic area. Creating a geofence in virtually any area allows you to include your or your competitor’s firm. You can also set a geofence at the location of businesses that often refer clients to your firms, such as real estate agencies or consulting firms.
Geofencing ads may include promotions like discounts on booking fees or an invitation to your firm. For example, if you place a geofence around your competitor’s firm, you could have an ad inviting clients for a free consultation of their legal cases.
6. Social Ads
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest have incredibly high numbers of users who could be potential clients. Paid search advertising on these platforms can help you connect with users and achieve higher click-through rates. Social ad campaigns can enhance awareness of your services or products. The channels can also target specific interests and demographics.
There are several popular platforms lawyers can use to engage their audience. Your chosen platform should base on where your target audience frequents the most.
After establishing your platform, you can create your ad through various formats available. The form you choose will depend on your campaign’s objective.
Social ads also allow advanced targeting. Lawyers can target leads more accurately, which is why firms love leveraging social media channels to reach valuable opportunities.
Implementing Paid Search Marketing for Law Firms
Digital and search engine marketing for legal firms continue to evolve. And while paid search ads can benefit lawyers, they work best when integrated into a more comprehensive search engine marketing strategy. Pairing paid search ads with a comprehensive marketing strategy are why working with legal firm marketing professionals can make all the difference when running a campaign.
The team of professional legal marketers at The Legal Marketing Company has experience running and maintaining successful paid search ad campaigns for law firms. The team knows how paid search marketing fits into a more extensive online marketing campaign and understands best practices to target audiences that align with your law firm’s objectives. If your need help implementing your paid search ad for your business, contact us or Call us at 904-385-9124 today for a consultation.
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