Google Ads for family lawyers, for a slow and careful decision

A decision made over weeks

A family law client usually reaches a lawyer slowly. They start reading about separation or parenting arrangements. A few weeks later they search for a firm. Then they open three or four websites and read each closely. The click from an ad is one step in a long walk.

That shapes the account. A cost per click means little here. What counts is how many of the people who clicked rang or sent a form, and what each of those cost. We read the account over a few months, not a few days.

Ads that sound like a calm person

An advertisement for a family lawyer is read by someone under strain. Capital letters, countdowns and bold claims land badly. We write plain ads that say what you help with, where you are and how to book a first conversation.

The conduct rules apply. Rule 36 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules, as the Law Society of NSW publishes it, says advertising must not be false, misleading, deceptive, offensive or prohibited by law. We also avoid any hint of specialist expertise the firm cannot support. Details differ by state, so your firm should take its own professional guidance, and each ad goes to you before it runs.

A page for each matter

An ad for property settlement should open a page on property settlement. An ad for parenting arrangements should open one on parenting arrangements. Divorce, consent orders and the first meeting each have their own ad group and their own page.

The page does the slower work. It explains the steps, who is involved and when it is time to see a lawyer, and it ends with a number and a short form. If your site does not yet have that page, we can write it, and the SEO for family lawyers service builds the pages an ad can send people to.

Keeping out the wrong searches

Family law searches attract people who will never hire a firm. Some want a do it yourself divorce kit. Some want forms. Others want legal aid, a free answer or a law degree. Every one of those clicks costs money.

We read the search terms report weekly and add negatives, after checking each against what you do. If you take wills, or you offer a free first call, the matching words stay in. It is slow work and it makes the largest difference to what an enquiry costs. A search for a lawyer to help with a will, or a dispute over a business, may belong in another campaign or nowhere, depending on what your firm takes. We ask you which matters you want before we guess.

Privacy and the form

A person searching about separation may be doing it in secret, from a phone or a shared computer. The page they land on should load fast and show a number to ring. The form asks for a name, a phone number or email, and a short note, and nothing else.

Starting small

We suggest beginning with one or two matters in one location, such as property settlement or parenting arrangements. You set the daily budget and can change it whenever you like. After a few weeks the report shows which searches brought calls and forms, and which brought clicks and nothing else. That tells us where to add budget and which ad groups to cut. A firm with several offices can add them one at a time, each with its own page and phone number.

Hours and the first call

Family enquiries are rarely an emergency of the clock, and many arrive in the evening. We set the ad schedule around how your office handles them. If someone answers until six, the ads can run later, with a form that says you will call back the next morning. If the office has an after hours line, the ads can run longer.

Counting and control

We count calls from the ad, taps on your number and sent forms as conversions. Extra actions that Google tallies by itself stay out of the count, so the account learns from enquiries and not clicks that did nothing. Whether an enquiry became a client is for your intake team to say.

You create the account and pay Google directly. We are added as a manager and can be removed at any time. Each month you get a short report on spend, enquiries and the changes we made.