Ads judged on cost per signed case.
Three channels, and they are not the same buy. Local Services Ads bill per lead and sit above everything else on the page. Google Search buys the highest intent demand in legal and punishes you for every job seeker you forgot to block. Meta creates demand nobody was typing. One number decides all of it, and it is not cost per click.
Google Search
High intent case-type terms, built around the negative keyword list as hard as the keyword list. Job seekers looking for paralegal work and people researching how to handle it themselves cost the same per click as a real case and sign none of them.
Local Services Ads
Billed per lead instead of per click, sitting above the Search ads and the map pack. We run the license and insurance verification that earns the Google Screened badge, then work the leads and dispute the ones that were never real.
Facebook and Meta
Paid social pointed at slow decisions and at retargeting the people who read a page or called once and never came back. Not funded ahead of Search when the intent you want is already sitting in the auction on Google.
Cost per signed case
Call tracking on every number, lead scoring, and an intake feedback loop. The number we report is what a signed case cost you, not what a click or a form fill cost you.
Where each dollar belongs.
Three platforms, three billing models, three different jobs. Buying all three the same way is how a firm ends up paying for clicks that were never going to sign.
Google Search
Someone types car accident lawyer near me at eleven at night. That is the highest intent demand in legal, and the click prices reflect it. What separates a profitable Search account from an expensive one is subtraction. The negative keyword list matters more than the keyword list: job seekers hunting paralegal and attorney positions, law students, and people researching how to file the claim themselves all click, all cost the same as a real case, and none of them sign. That list gets worked every week, not built once.
- Your case type has real search volume in your city
- Someone answers the phone fast, including nights and weekends
- You can hold a budget long enough to collect signed-case data
- Calls go to voicemail. A search lead has three other firms in the same tab
- You want brand awareness rather than cases this quarter
- Nobody will feed intake outcomes back into the account
Local Services Ads
Local Services Ads sit above everything else on the page, above the Search ads and above the map pack. You are billed per lead instead of per click, and leads that were never real can be disputed and credited back. Getting in is the work: Google requires license verification and insurance verification before the Google Screened badge appears next to your firm, and that paperwork takes weeks to clear. Two things run the account after that. Disputes, filed weekly against wrong numbers, spam, and callers outside your service area, because the window to file is short. And responsiveness, since how fast and how often your firm answers feeds back into how often Google shows you. Most firms should start here. It is the best placement on the page and the billing already matches how a firm thinks about cost.
- You are licensed and insured and will complete verification
- You want the top of the page before you fight over click prices
- You want to pay per lead and dispute the junk ones
- Your practice area or city is not in an eligible LSA category
- Call response is slow. Responsiveness affects how often you show
- License or insurance documents will not be kept current
Facebook and Meta
Nobody opens Instagram looking for a divorce attorney. Meta does not capture demand, it creates it. That makes it a fit when the decision sits with someone for weeks before they ever type anything into a search bar, and a poor first dollar for a firm that can buy existing intent on Google today. The second job it does well is retargeting the people who read a practice-area page and left, and the people who called once and never signed. Creative is the whole account here. A static image with a phone number stamped on it dies in a feed built for video, and a weak first three seconds costs you the impression you already paid for.
- The decision takes weeks and nobody is searching for it yet
- Retargeting site visitors and inquiries that went cold
- You have video to run. Meta rewards it over static images
- You need signed PI cases and Search is not maxed out yet
- There is no video and no plan to shoot any
- Success is being measured on cost per click instead of cost per case
Fund them in this order
Local Services Ads first wherever your category is eligible. It is the top of the page, and a lead you can dispute costs less than a click you cannot. Google Search second, once the negative list is real and someone is answering the phone. Meta last, and only against a job the first two cannot do. Every one of them gets scored the same way, on cost per signed case, and the channel that stops signing loses its budget to the one that is.
Two decisions sit next to this one and are not this one. Which platforms your firm posts on without paying for reach is covered on social media marketing. How fast someone picks up when the ad works is covered on criminal defense, where it decides more cases than the ad does. Answer six questions and we will tell you which channel to buy first.
What it costs.
Management fee plus ad spend, billed separately
Single channel
One platform run properly. Usually Google Search or LSA.
- One platform, fully managed
- Landing page and form review
- Call tracking setup
- Monthly reporting
Multi channel
Search, Local Services, and Meta running together.
- Up to three platforms managed
- Practice-area landing pages
- Creative testing on ad copy and video
- Lead scoring and intake feedback loop
Ad spend is paid directly to the platforms and is never marked up. Most firms start between $5,000 and $15,000 a month in spend.
Case-type math
We start with the average fee a case carries in each practice area and the rate your intake actually closes at. Those two numbers set the ceiling on what a lead can cost before a channel stops making sense.
Verify and build
Local Services Ads verification goes first because it takes the longest to clear. While that runs, we build Search, negatives, practice-area landing pages, and call tracking.
Launch narrow
One case type, one city, tight match types. Wide launches spend the first month on searches you would never have bought on purpose.
Score and cut
Every lead comes back from intake scored. Terms, audiences, and placements that produce calls but never cases get cut, and that budget moves to what signs.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different.
Good to know.
How much does it cost to run Google Ads for a law firm?
High Arc Media charges $2,500 a month to manage one platform, usually Google Search or Local Services Ads, and $4,000 a month to run up to three platforms together. Ad spend is separate, paid directly to the platforms, and never marked up. Most firms start somewhere between $5,000 and $15,000 a month in spend depending on case type and city.
What are Local Services Ads for attorneys, and how are they different from Google Ads?
Local Services Ads are the pay per lead units that sit at the very top of Google, above the Search ads and above the map pack. Regular Google Ads bill per click whether or not anyone calls. LSA bills per lead, and leads that are clearly not real can be disputed. To run them, a firm has to pass license verification and insurance verification, which is what earns the Google Screened badge shown next to the listing.
Should a law firm start with Local Services Ads or Google Search ads?
Start with Local Services Ads if your practice area and city are eligible. The placement is above everything else on the page, the billing is per lead rather than per click, and the Google Screened badge carries trust that a text ad cannot buy. Verification takes time, so file for it first and build Google Search campaigns while it clears. Firms in categories LSA does not cover go straight to Search.
Do Facebook and Meta ads work for law firms?
Sometimes, and it turns on how the decision gets made rather than on the platform. Meta creates demand instead of capturing it, so it earns budget when a client sits with the choice for weeks before searching, and when there is a pool of site visitors and cold inquiries worth retargeting. It is usually the wrong first buy when the intent already exists in search and can be purchased on Google today. Two practical rules. Fund Search and Local Services Ads before Meta, and bring video, because static images with a phone number on them lose in a feed built for video.
Can you dispute a bad Local Services Ads lead?
Yes, and it is part of running the account. Google bills per lead, so a wrong number, a spam call, a caller outside your service area, or someone asking about a practice area you do not take should not stay on the invoice. Disputes get filed against the individual lead from the Local Services dashboard with a reason attached, and approved ones come back as credit. The filing window is short, so the review runs weekly instead of at month end. A firm that never disputes pays full price for calls that were never cases, and its reported cost per lead reads better than the truth.
What negative keywords do Google Ads for lawyers need?
Three groups, blocked aggressively. Job seekers, meaning searches with words like jobs, hiring, salary, paralegal, internship, and law school. Do it yourself researchers, meaning free, forms, template, how to file, and legal aid. And terms that describe a case type you do not take, so a criminal defense budget is not paying for divorce clicks. Every one of those clicks costs the same as a real case and signs nothing, so the negative list gets reviewed against the search terms report every week.
How do you know if a law firm ad campaign is actually working?
By cost per signed case, not by clicks, impressions, or form fills. Three pieces have to be wired before launch. A tracking number on every channel, so a call can be traced back to the ad that caused it. Lead scoring against your intake criteria, so a call that was never a case gets marked as one. And a feedback loop where your staff tells the account which leads signed. With those in place, the monthly report says what a signed case cost by channel and by case type, and budget moves to whichever channel is signing. Without them, a campaign can look excellent on the platform dashboard while your intake team quietly knows the calls are worthless.