Google Ads for law firms
Google Ads for Law Firms and Real Estate Lawyers
Real estate law firm · Dec 1, 2025 – Jun 17, 2026 · Ongoing
The numbers from a live account
From client accounts I've managed (in-house and freelance). Client name withheld.
496
Conversions
$128.57
Cost per conversion
10.26%
Conversion rate
7.45%
CTR on 64,956 impressions
4.84K
Clicks
$13.19
Average CPC
$63.6K
Ad spend
$967/day
Combined daily budget, 12 campaigns
Why legal PPC is different
Expensive clicks punish loose accounts
Legal keywords are some of the most expensive on Google, and the people searching aren't all potential clients. Students, tenants looking for free advice and people searching for jobs all click the same broad terms. A law firm account has to be tighter than almost any other kind.
- City-level campaigns. Sacramento, Riverside, Los Angeles and Nevada each get their own keywords, ads and budget, so spend follows the markets that convert.
- High-intent keywords only. Exact and phrase match on searches that signal someone needs a real estate attorney, plus negatives built from weekly search term reviews. My negative keyword list generator has a starter list for real estate attorneys.
- Ads written for the right client. A 7.45% CTR shows the ads match what people search for.
- Conversion tracking that bidding can trust. Calls and forms tracked properly, so a 10.26% conversion rate reflects real enquiries.
What I manage
Everything inside a law firm Google Ads account
Account structure
Keywords and negatives
Tracking and intake
Process
How we start
- 01
Free account review
I look at structure, search terms and tracking, and show you where budget is being wasted.
- 02
Restructure by market
City-level campaigns with their own budgets and ads.
- 03
Fix conversion tracking
Bidding learns from enquiries that matter.
- 04
Weekly optimisation
Search terms, negatives, bids and ads, plus a monthly report on cost per conversion.
Real estate attorney PPC in California and Nevada
The account behind the numbers on this page covers Sacramento, Riverside and Los Angeles in California, plus Nevada. Each of those markets behaves differently. Clicks cost more in some than others, search volume varies, and the people searching use slightly different language. That's why the account runs 12 separate Search campaigns instead of one statewide campaign. When one market's cost per conversion rises, I can move budget elsewhere without disturbing the rest.
If your firm practises in one city, you don't need twelve campaigns. You need a structure that matches where you're licensed, which matters you take, and how much search demand there is. I build to fit the firm, not to a template.
What I do for a law firm, step by step
Practice and market mapping
Which matters you want more of, which you'd rather not get, and where your attorneys can take cases. This becomes the campaign structure.
Keyword research with intent filtering
I look for searches that show someone needs a lawyer now, in your area. Research and DIY searches are excluded from day one. I explain the method in my guide to real estate attorney keywords.
Negative keyword lists
Free advice, jobs, schools, forms and out-of-area searches blocked before launch, then added to weekly from real search terms.
Ad copy within the rules
Clear, specific ads that name the city and the type of work, with no promises about outcomes. Your firm approves all copy before it runs.
Call and form tracking
Calls from ads and from the website, plus form submissions, measured as conversions, with a minimum call length of 60 seconds so hang-ups and wrong numbers don't count.
Intake feedback
Where your intake software allows it, signed matters imported back into Google Ads so bidding learns which enquiries became clients.
Your first 30, 60 and 90 days
Days 1 to 30
audit of the existing account (or a fresh build), tracking fixed or set up, campaigns structured by market, and negatives in place before spend scales.Days 31 to 60
weekly search term reviews, ad testing, budget moved toward markets with the best cost per conversion, and a first look at which enquiries your intake team rates as good.Days 61 to 90
refinement. Fewer wasted searches, better ads, and if intake data is flowing, bidding based on signed matters. I won't promise a cost per case. That depends on your market, your fees and how quickly your team answers the phone.
Mistakes I see in law firm Google Ads accounts
- The same ad copy running in every city, so nothing tells a searcher in Riverside that the firm is local to them.
- Ads scheduled around the clock while nobody at the firm answers the phone after hours.
- Location targeting that includes people "interested in" an area, which brings in out-of-state researchers.
- The firm's own name mixed into general campaigns, so existing clients searching for the office make the numbers look better than they are.
- Nobody comparing Google Ads enquiries with what intake actually signed.
Who this suits
Real estate law firms first, because that's where my live experience is. The same approach suits other practice areas where clients search for a local attorney and one case is worth a lot, but I'll be clear that my published numbers come from real estate law. It's not a fit if your firm can't respond to enquiries quickly, because paid search leads go cold fast.
Reporting for partners
A monthly summary built for people who don't live in Google Ads: spend, calls, forms, cost per enquiry, and the split by market. If you share intake outcomes, I add cost per signed matter, which is the number that really matters to the firm. With an average fee per matter, you can turn that into the return you need to break even.
Pricing approach
I quote after the free account review. The main factors are the number of markets and practice areas, whether tracking needs rebuilding, and whether intake data can be connected. Your ad budget is paid to Google directly, from an account your firm owns. For a first estimate before we speak, the budget calculator has a legal benchmark preset and one built from the account above.
Tools
Google Ads, Google Tag Manager and GA4 for tracking, call tracking for calls from ads and the website, and your intake or CRM system for offline conversions.
For a deeper look at this exact account, read my breakdown of the real estate attorney campaigns. For other industries, see my wider Google Ads approach, and every published figure, with dates, is in my results page.
Plan your firm’s budget and ads
The budget calculator has a legal benchmark preset and a preset from the real estate law firm account I run. When you’re ready to write the ads, the headline generator keeps every line inside Google’s limits. The negative keyword generator has a real estate attorney preset, and the max CPC calculator shows what a click is worth to your firm.
FAQ
Law firm Google Ads questions
Do you currently run Google Ads for law firms?
Yes. I have run, and still run, Google Ads for a US real estate law firm. The numbers on this page come from that ongoing account.
Why split campaigns by city?
Each market has different competition, search volume and cost per click. Separate city-level campaigns let me move budget toward the markets that produce consultations at the best cost, instead of letting one big campaign chase the cheapest clicks.
What does a conversion mean here?
A tracked enquiry action such as a call or form submission from the ad. I set conversions up so bidding learns from real enquiries, not page views.
Can you work with my intake software?
Yes. Where your intake or CRM system allows it, I import qualified or signed matters back into Google Ads so bidding optimises toward the cases you want.
Do you run real estate attorney PPC outside California and Nevada?
My live law firm account covers Sacramento, Riverside, Los Angeles and Nevada. I can build the same structure for firms in other US states, but those are the markets where my published results come from.
How many campaigns does a law firm need?
As many as there are markets and practice areas with enough search volume to give each campaign real data. A single-city firm may need one or two; the account on this page needed twelve.
Should a law firm bid on its own name?
Usually yes, in a separate campaign, so competitors can't take those clicks cheaply. Keeping it separate also stops brand searches from flattering the numbers in your other campaigns.