When someone needs a solicitor, they usually start with a Google search. They might be dealing with a family law matter, a commercial dispute or the aftermath of an accident. Google Ads lets your firm appear for those searches straight away, without waiting months for organic rankings to improve.
Showing up is only half the job. The real challenge is attracting the right enquiries and turning them into clients. Here’s how UK law firms can get more from their advertising budget.
Start with what people are searching for
Someone searching “what is a financial settlement in divorce” is probably researching their options. Someone searching “divorce solicitor London” is more likely to be looking for representation. Both can be valuable, but they’re different audiences, and your campaign should treat them differently.
Focus on searches that match your practice areas, your location and your capacity to take on new matters. Then check the search terms report regularly. It shows what people are actually typing, and where your budget is really going.
Keep campaigns organised by practice area
Don’t lump every service into one campaign. A family law firm might run separate campaigns for divorce, child arrangements and financial settlements. Each one gets its own keywords, ads and landing page and you can see which services are generating enquiries.
Two setup basics are worth getting right:
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Location: Target only the areas you can genuinely service, and use the setting that limits ads to people who are in or regularly in those areas, rather than people who are just interested in them.
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Keyword matching: Start with phrase and exact match, such as “family solicitor London” and “family law solicitor London”, until you have enough conversion data to justify loosening it.
Build compliance in from the start
Legal advertising comes with professional obligations. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Standards and Regulations, the SRA Transparency Rules, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) CAP Code, and Google’s own policies may all apply. Check your ads before launch, not after.
In practice, that means:
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Avoid claims like “The UK’s Best Solicitors” or “Guaranteed Court Success.”
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Only refer to “specialist” status if the practitioner holds relevant Law Society accreditation. Practising regularly in an area isn’t the same thing.
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Explain the conditions behind any “no win, no fee” (conditional fee agreement) or fixed-fee offer, including disbursements and court fees.
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Get advice before advertising personal injury services, ensuring full compliance with LASPO rules on referral fees and SRA restrictions on direct approaches.
Write clear, honest ads
You don’t need exaggeration to stand out. Say what you do, where you do it and what happens next. For example:
Headline: Family Solicitors in London
Description: Advice on divorce, child arrangements and financial settlements. Contact our team to discuss your situation.
A few things help:
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Use the same language your prospective client would use.
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Be specific about location.
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Tell people the next step, whether that’s calling, booking a consultation or sending an enquiry.
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Only mention experience or qualifications you can back up.
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Add call and sitelink assets so people can phone you directly or jump to the right service page.
Send people to a relevant landing page
Sending everyone to your homepage makes visitors hunt for what they came for. Someone searching for a child arrangements solicitor should land on a page about child arrangements.
A good landing page has a headline that matches the ad, plain-English information about how the process works and an easy way to get in touch. Keep forms short and easy to complete on a phone, make your phone number easy to find, and include genuine trust signals such as practitioner profiles and memberships. Make sure any testimonials or badges (such as your SRA digital badge or Law Society accreditations) are authentic and permitted under the professional rules.
Track what happens after the click
Clicks don’t tell you whether a campaign is working. Track calls and form submissions, and where possible connect them to your intake process so you can see which enquiries became consultations and which became clients. Call tracking can show which campaigns are driving phone enquiries.
A phone call or form isn’t necessarily a new client. A campaign that produces 20 enquiries and several new matters can be better value than one that produces 40 enquiries and no clients. Good conversion data also helps Google’s automated bidding aim for the outcomes you actually want.
Use negative keywords, carefully
Negative keywords stop your ads showing for searches unlikely to lead to clients, such as jobs, careers, pupillages, law school, or Legal Aid (if you don’t offer it). Review them carefully before applying them. Someone searching for a “court form” may well need help preparing or responding to an application, so a blanket exclusion could cost you a good enquiry. Keep reviewing your search terms report, as negatives won’t catch every variation.
Keep reviewing and adjusting
Google Ads isn’t set-and-forget. Search demand changes, competitors adjust their bids and some keywords will outperform others.
Look at the numbers that reflect real business results: cost per qualified enquiry, conversion rate by campaign and landing page, how many enquiries become consultations, and cost per retained client where you have the data. A cheap lead isn’t a good result if it never becomes a client, and a pricier one can be worth it if it regularly does.
Want a second opinion?
Lift Legal Marketing works with law firms on Google Ads and digital marketing, taking into account the rules that apply to legal advertising. If you’d like to know whether your current campaigns are delivering value, visit liftlegalmarketing.co.uk or email [email protected].
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