Google Local Service Ads for law firms.

LSAs are a new Google advertising option for lawyers and law firms. These ads help potential new clients find, learn about, connect with, and hire lawyers. This is what they look like in Google search (note the distinctive green “Screened” checkmark”:

• Unlike with traditional Google PPC ads, you’re charged only for relevant leads, instead of clicks.
• Your Ad is displayed at the top of Google results, even before pay-per-click-ads.
• To qualify to run local service ads, you’ll get a “Google Screened” badge, a powerful trust signal for potential new clients.
• Local services ads for lawyers help clients find you easily and quickly for urgent matters.

Google Local Services Ads (LSAs) are available nationwide for nearly every legal practice area. To become Google Screened, lawyers must provide their active law license information and proof of professional liability insurance. LSAs no longer perform a separate background check on Google Screened lawyers because each U.S. state requires lawyers to undergo a background check to receive a license to practice law. The Google Screened badge will help your firm build a trusted online reputation with potential clients.

• Optimization of your LSA account profile
• Lead dispute assistance (so you’re not charged for irrelevant leads)
• Google Ads expert assigned to manage your account
• Onboarding and Setup Assistance
• Monthly reports reviewing the overall performance
• Keep you current with your Google Screened status for yearly renewals

• Bankruptcy Lawyer
• Business Lawyer
• Contract Lawyer
• Criminal Lawyer
• Disability Lawyer
• DUI Lawyer
• Estate Lawyer
• Family Lawyer
• Intellectual Property Lawyer
• Immigration Lawyer
• Labor Lawyer
• Litigation Lawyer
• Malpractice Lawyer
• Personal Injury Lawyer
• Real Estate Lawyer
• Tax Lawyer
• Traffic Lawyer

Not really. Unlike with traditional PPC, you as the advertiser do not get to select specific keywords that your local service ads will show for. Rather, you choose the categories of law that you practice, Google determines which searches are most relevant to your chosen categories, and then displays your ad.

For example, if you choose the category “Personal Injury Lawyer” your ads will show for a variety of keyword searches that Google considers relevant to that area, eg:

• car accident lawyer
• injury lawyers
• accident attorney
• motorcycle accident lawyer
• dog bite attorney
• etc.

More or less. The way bidding works with Google Local Service Ads is that you set both a max cost per lead and a maximum weekly budget.

So, a high max bid per lead might ensure that you are highly visible for a certain period of time. However, if your weekly max budget is relatively low, you may run out of budget quickly with a high max bid per lead, in which case your ads wouldn’t show altogether after you hit your weekly max budget.

At Juris Digital we can help develop a bidding strategy that will balance these two interests, where your ad not only shows frequently and prominently, but also shows consistently over time.

Your average cost per lead will depend significantly on:

• The competition of your target practice area(s), and;
• The size of your target market

For personal injury law firms in competitive markets, we have seen a cost per lead in the ballpark of $100 to $300.

Alternatively, for family law and estate planning in much smaller markets, we have seen a cost per lead more in the ballpark of $50 to $150.

Google allows advertisers to dispute leads that they consider to be irrelevant.

If approved, you can be credited the cost back into your account. This is one of the major advantages of hiring a company like Juris Digital to manage your Google Local Service Ads: We can stay on top of vetting your leads for relevance, and disputing irrelevant leads with Google.

Google provides the following as reasons why a lead may be credited:

• Job not served (not on your profile)
• Location not served (zip code or city)
• Wrong number or sales call (not a customer)
• Spam or bot (not a human)
• Duplicate lead (customer contacted you twice)
• Incorrect business (lead does not belong to you)

That being said, the decision is ultimately Google’s as to whether or not to credit a disputed lead, and so we cannot make any guarantees as far as our ability to overturn disputed leads.

1. Start the Process of Getting “Google Screened”

We will gather your law firm information, license information for each licensed lawyer in your firm, practice areas, locations of service, and required documents to complete the application.

3. Adjust Budget

Once the application is complete, we will set up the budget and bidding mode for leads and correct law firm billing information.

4. Google My Business & Reviews

Local Services Ads utilize the Google reviews from your Google My Business profile. You must have a review score of 3.0 or higher in order to qualify.

5. Optimize Local Service Ad Profile

Local Services Ads utilize the Google reviews from your Google My Business profile. For personal injury law firms, you must have at least 5 reviews to qualify. All other types of law firms require at least 1 review.