Personal Injury Google Ads: Best Practices

Google is such a powerful tool that it’s become a commonly used verb. Utilizing Google Ads as part of your online presence and marketing strategy is vital to the growth of your law firm in today’s digital era. Google Ads for lawyers can advertise your firm to potential clients who can benefit from your legal assistance. 

In this article, we’ll cover:

• A brief overview of personal injury Google Ads
• How to create Google Ads
• Why Google Ads for lawyers are important

Best practices for creating personal injury Google AdsWhat are Google Ads?

Google Ads is Google’s paid advertising platform where law firms can pay to have their ads show up at the top of a search results page. You can place a “bid” against other businesses to display an advertisement, product listing, or video to Google searchers. 

When it comes to Google Ads there are three ways to bid:

• Pay-per-click or PPC bidding: With this method of bidding, you pay each time someone clicks on your advertisement. Personal injury PPC is ideal if you want to drive traffic to your firm’s website.
• Cost-per-thousand viewable impressions or CPM bidding: For this method, you choose the amount of money you’re willing to pay for a thousand people to see your ad. Google recommends this option if you’re trying to build brand awareness. 
• Cost-per-action or CPA bidding: With this bidding option, you set an average cost you’d like to pay for each conversion or customer action, such as a purchase or sign-up. Google recommends this option if you’re looking to increase conversions. 

Why Should Personal Injury Attorneys Use Google Ads?

In the MyCase 2021 Legal Industry Report that surveyed 2,000 legal professionals, 68% said that getting clients was a challenge for their firms. Therefore, utilizing a platform like Google is a no-brainer. Google handles around 8.5 billion searches a day and was the most visited website worldwide in 2021. Google ads for lawyers can undoubtedly help market your law firm.

Additionally, with Google Ads, you can reach more targeted clients. You get full control of your ads, including when they run, which demographics see them, and even what you’ll pay for them. 

For instance, if your firm specializes in car accidents and is located in Rhode Island, you want your firm to populate when someone nearby Googles “car accident injury lawyer Rhode Island”.

As a result, Google Ads can help your firm reach new potential clients, increase your brand awareness, and generate new leads. 

How to Create a Personal Injury Google Ad

1. To create a Google ad, you’ll need a Google Ads account. This user-friendly process starts by simply providing your email address and website for your business. Create an account here. 

2. After creating your account, head to ads.google.com and click the “Start now” button. 

3. Next, Google will ask you some basic questions about your law firm and advertisement including:

• Your business name
• Where people will go after clicking your ad 
• Your main advertising goal

4. After filling out this basic information, it’s time to write your personal injury ad. Google will give you the option to write three headlines and two descriptions. Craft a variety of  different headlines and descriptions to help you determine what resonates best with your audience. There are also character limits to follow—30 characters for headlines and 90 characters for descriptions.

5. Next, select your keywords. When someone searches for these keywords or phrases, your ad will show up. 

6. Then select where you’ll display your ad. Enter specific zip codes, cities, or regions where you want your ads to appear. 

7. Set your budget for ad spend. 

8. Lastly, review your personal injury Google Ad to ensure everything looks good and enter payment information. 

Best Practices for Personal Injury Google Ads

If you’re investing time and money into your personal injury Google Ad campaigns, you want the best return on investment (ROI). Follow these best practices to maximize your ROI.

1. Set a Budget

Determine what portion of your firm’s budget can be allocated to Google Ad campaign strategy and content creation, and what portion of that budget can be spent on promoting each ad. 

There are several factors to consider when setting your budget, such as which specific  keywords or phrases you’ll want to use. Some may be more competitive and require a higher bid. For instance, the general term “personal injury lawyer” is a keyword that applies to numerous firms and is highly sought after. Whereas more niche terms, such as “personal injury dog bites near me” will have a lower price. It may be helpful to target a mix of high and low competition keywords to ease the burden on your budget and still rank well among your competition. 

You should also consider what kind of bidding you want to do, as that may impact your budget. Do you want to focus on conversion, impression, or clicks? Conversion will help you get more clients. Impressions will help you increase your firm’s brand awareness and expand your reach. Personal injury PPC will increase traffic to your site, which could in turn lead to more clients.  

2. Include a Call to Action

Effective ads include a motivating call to action or CTA. Using action-based language will encourage ad viewers and potential clients to click on your ad, resulting in an increased click-through rate aka CTR. This not only boosts conversions but also helps your ad perform better. Ads that get more clicks will rank higher on Google. 

CTAs should be concise and clear. You can include your CTA in your headline, description, or ideally both. You may even consider including a call-to-action button in your ad. 

3. Create an Ad Schedule

Decide when your ads will run by creating a schedule. Many law firms choose to schedule their ads on weekdays, which is ideal for most practices. For example, a divorce attorney or corporate lawyer will likely conduct most of their business during traditional business hours. This means weekdays are often more competitive.

But personal injuries don’t just happen on weekdays during business hours. With accidents happening 24/7, the likelihood of someone Googling “personal injury lawyer near me” on a Saturday at 10 PM is just as likely as on a Wednesday at 2 PM. For this reason, it may be wise to run your ads on weekends or outside of regular business hours—plus, it’ll be more affordable. Or if your budget allows, consider running ads during the week and on the weekends to see which performs better. 

If you choose to run your ads outside of business hours or on weekends, you’ll still need to respond quickly. A quick response time is an easy way to set your firm apart from competitors and get your lawyer-client relationship off to a good start. Utilizing legal management software to automate your client intake and communications can ensure that no leads slip through the cracks, even outside of business hours. You can automate text messages, emails, or even phone calls.

4. Create Landing Pages that Convert Clicks Into Leads

Once your ads start getting clicks, you’ll need strong landing pages to convert those clicks into clients. These landing pages should be branded and include: 

• Information about your firm
• Attorney bios and photos
• Awards and recognition your firm has received 
• Client testimonials
• A strong CTA

If you are running multiple campaigns targeting different case types (such as dog bites, car accidents, and so on), you’ll need a landing page with tailored messaging for each of these personal injury ads. 

Tools to Optimize Your Personal Injury Ads

Once you begin driving traffic to your site with Google Ads for lawyers, you want to provide the best possible experience for your leads. Legal project management software can help. With MyCase, you can easily manage client communications, create a user-friendly website, and ensure that your online presence portrays your firm as an industry leader. Try a risk-free 10-day free trial to see what MyCase can do for your firm.