Google Ads for Lawyers

The facts quoted here come from Google's own help pages: Local Services Ads Help Getting started with Local Services Ads, About Google Verified badge, Business screening and verification requirements and About ad rankings; Advertising Policies Help Other restricted businesses; and Google Ads Help About call assets, About call reporting and About negative keywords, all checked on 13 November 2026. Where we give an opinion, we say so. Google does not publish a standard cost per case for law firms, and we do not quote one. This is not legal advice: your state bar's rules on lawyer advertising also apply to ads.

The short answer

If Local Services Ads cover your practice area and city, set them up: you pay per lead, and the screening puts a Google Verified badge on your profile. Run Search ads next to them for the practice areas, phrases and areas Local Services Ads do not reach. Split Search campaigns by practice area, exclude job and student searches, show a call button only when someone can answer, and count signed-up consultations as conversions, not clicks. The account setup that every local business shares is in our Google Ads for dentists guide; this page covers what is different for lawyers.

Local Services Ads or Search ads?

Local Services Ads appear at the top of Google results for eligible services. Google lists many legal categories, among them "Bankruptcy lawyer services", "Criminal lawyer services", "DUI lawyer services", "Family lawyer services", "Immigration lawyer services" and "Personal injury lawyer services", but availability depends on the area, so check eligibility for your address. Google describes the payment model as "Pay only for leads related to your business and the services you offer." More on how they work is in our Local Services Ads guide.

Many lawyers still look for the "Google Screened" badge. Google has replaced its older badges: it says it is "simplifying our advertiser badging by launching a single badge for all advertisers", the Google Verified badge. To earn it, a firm completes Google's screening. For each lawyer category, Google's requirements page lists "Business owner identity verification", a business check for select users, "Professional liability insurance" for select users, and "State bar license checks for each bankruptcy lawyer in the firm" (the same line appears for each practice area). For professional services, pre-badge ads also ask for "Headshots" and reviews.

Ranking matters as much as the badge. Google ranks Local Services Ads on your bid and profile quality, and it warns that "Missed calls may negatively affect your responsiveness." Profile quality includes "Your rating, number of reviews, average response time". A firm that lets calls go to voicemail pays for that in placement.

Search ads give you what Local Services Ads do not: your own ad text, your own landing page, your own keywords and full control over the bid per practice area. In our view most firms do best with both, with Search filling the gaps.

One campaign per practice area

A person searching "DUI lawyer near me" at midnight and a business owner comparing contract lawyers want different things. In our view each practice area should get its own campaign, with its own budget, ads and landing page. Then a costly area like personal injury cannot quietly use up the budget meant for estate planning, and you can see what each area costs per consultation. Inside each campaign, split ad groups by intent: urgent searches (arrested, accident, deportation hearing), research searches (how does chapter 7 work) and comparison searches (best divorce lawyer in a city). Research searches are cheaper but rarely call today, so we start with urgent and comparison phrases. Our account structure guide shows how to lay this out.

Negative keywords for law firms

Legal searches pull in a lot of traffic that will never hire a firm. Our starting list (our view, adjust to your practice): free, pro bono and legal aid (unless you offer it), jobs, salary, careers, paralegal, internship, law school, LSAT, bar exam, course, template and do it yourself. Add the practice areas you do not handle, so a family law firm is not paying for criminal searches. Google notes that negative keywords work differently from normal keywords: "you'll need to add synonyms" and plural forms yourself. Check the search terms report every week at first; our search terms and negative keywords guide walks through it.

Location, calls and office hours

Target the area your firm can serve, which for many practices means the counties or state where your lawyers are licensed; the settings and the "Presence" option are covered in our dentist guide and location targeting guide. Legal leads often come by phone, so add a call asset. Google lets you set numbers "to appear only when your business can accept calls", and you can schedule a call asset to show "only when your business is answering phone calls." In our view a firm with no one on the phone after hours should switch the call asset off then and send people to a short contact form instead. See call ads and ad schedule.

Tracking consultations, not clicks

With call reporting on, Google assigns a forwarding number "to track calls as conversions", with details like "call duration". A call that lasts a few seconds is not a lead, so set a minimum call length. Then go one step further: count the consultation that was actually booked or the case that was signed, which you can send back to Google Ads from your intake system with offline conversion import. The setup is in our conversion tracking guide.

In our view, nothing about the client's matter should go into a tag, a URL or a conversion name: no names, charges, case types tied to a person or free-text form fields. Use a neutral conversion name such as "consultation booked" and keep the details in your case management system.

Google ad rules for legal services

Google Ads Help has no general certification for law firms, but some legal-adjacent services are restricted. Its Other restricted businesses policy says: "Promotion of bail bonds services that offer to act as surety in order to secure bail for a defendant is not allowed." A criminal defence firm can advertise its own legal services, but in our view it should not run ads that read like bail bond offers. Google's normal editorial and misrepresentation rules apply too. On top of Google, state bar rules on lawyer advertising cover things like results, testimonials and the words "specialist" or "expert"; ask your bar or ethics counsel, because those rules differ by state.

Landing pages

Send each practice-area campaign to the matching practice-area page, not the home page. The page should say who you help, where you practise, how a first consultation works, and give a phone number and a short form above the fold. What a firm site needs overall is in our law firm website guide, and the page basics are in landing page basics.

Budget and where to start (our view)

Clicks are priced in an auction, and legal terms in larger cities are among the more expensive ones. Google does not publish a standard cost per consultation for lawyers, and we do not guess one. In our view a firm should start with one or two practice areas that bring in the most work, set Local Services Ads up where they are available, add Search for the same areas, and judge the result by cost per signed client after a few months, not by clicks in the first week. Our budgets and bidding guide explains the settings. Other trade guides: Google Ads for dentists and Google Ads for contractors. We set up and run Google Ads for law firms and other local businesses through our marketing services.

Frequently asked questions

Can lawyers use Google Local Services Ads?

Yes, in many areas. Google lists legal categories such as bankruptcy, criminal, DUI, family, immigration and personal injury lawyer services. The firm passes Google's screening, which includes a state bar license check for each lawyer in the firm.

Is Google Screened still a thing?

Google has moved to a single Google Verified badge for all Local Services advertisers. Firms that completed the verification requirements earn it automatically; new firms get it after the screening and verification process.

What negative keywords should a law firm use?

Start with job and student terms (jobs, salary, paralegal, law school, bar exam), free or do-it-yourself terms if you do not offer them, and the practice areas you do not handle. Then add new ones from the search terms report every week.

How much do Google Ads cost for lawyers?

There is no set price. Search clicks are priced in an auction, Local Services Ads charge per lead, and you control the budget. Start with one or two practice areas and measure the cost per signed client.