Running Google Ads for a law firm isn’t like running ads for an e-commerce store. The economics are different, the compliance requirements are specific, and the stakes are higher per click. Here’s what professional management should include and what it should cost.
What PPC Management Should Include
A competent legal PPC agency provides:
Campaign Foundation
- Account structure: Organized campaigns by case type, geography, and intent level
- Keyword strategy: Not just obvious terms, but long-tail variations and intent-based groupings
- Match type management: Knowing when to use exact, phrase, and broad match
- Negative keywords: Continuously excluding irrelevant searches
Ongoing Optimization
- Bid management: Adjusting bids based on performance, time of day, device, and location
- Budget allocation: Shifting spend toward what’s producing cases
- Ad testing: Continuous A/B testing of headlines, descriptions, and extensions
- Quality score improvement: Landing page and ad relevance optimization
Landing Page Strategy
- Recommendations: What to include, what to remove, how to structure
- Conversion optimization: Testing calls-to-action, forms, and phone placement
- Page speed: Ensuring fast load times for quality score and conversions
Tracking and Reporting
- Call tracking setup: Dynamic number insertion, call recording, call scoring
- Conversion tracking: Form submissions, calls, chat. All attributed to campaigns
- Cost-per-case analysis: The metric that actually matters, not just cost per click
- Regular reporting: Weekly or monthly reviews with actionable insights
Legal-Specific Services
Better agencies also provide:
- Intake coaching: How to convert more leads into signed cases
- Lead qualification rules: Defining what counts as a qualified lead
- Compliance review: Ensuring ads meet state bar advertising rules
- Competitive intelligence: What competitors are bidding on and spending
Typical Pricing Structures
Percentage of Spend
Standard model: 20% of monthly ad spend as management fee.
| Monthly Ad Spend | Typical Fee (20%) |
|---|---|
| $15,000 | $3,000 |
| $25,000 | $5,000 |
| $50,000 | $10,000 |
| $100,000+ | $20,000+ (often negotiated) |
Flat Fee
Less common for serious spenders. Flat fees only make sense at lower budget levels where percentage-based fees would be too small to justify the work.
Hybrid
Some agencies combine a base retainer plus percentage above certain thresholds.
For competitive PI firms spending $25K-$100K/month, expect management costs of $5K-$20K/month with experienced legal-specialist agencies.
DIY vs Agency: The Real Trade-off
In-House Management
- Save 10-20% management fee
- Direct control and faster changes
- Deep knowledge of your cases and market
Agency Management
- Expertise across many legal accounts
- Dedicated time for optimization
- Tools and technology investments
- Knowledge of legal-specific pitfalls
The honest answer: PI PPC is unforgiving. A match type mistake, missing negative keyword, or misconfigured geo can waste thousands of dollars in a single month. At $100+ CPCs, every mistake is expensive.
Unless you have experienced PPC staff (not just “knows how to use Google Ads”), agency management typically pays for itself in waste prevention, at least initially. Once you understand what good looks like, bringing it in-house becomes more viable.
Red Flags in Agency Contracts
Watch for these warning signs:
Long lock-in periods: 12+ month contracts with penalties protect the agency, not you. Good agencies earn retention through results, not contracts.
Ownership of ad accounts: Your Google Ads account should be owned by YOUR business, not the agency. If you leave, you should keep your account, history, and data.
Vague reporting: If reports show CTR and impressions but not cost per lead and cost per case, the agency is hiding what matters.
No access: You should have full access to your ad account at all times. “We manage it for you, trust us” is a red flag.
Performance guarantees that sound too good: “We guarantee X leads per month” often means they’re buying junk leads or not filtering properly.
No legal experience: PI PPC is specialized. Agencies running e-commerce or B2B campaigns don’t understand legal economics, compliance, or intake.
What to Ask Before Signing
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“What legal clients do you currently manage?”. Experience in the vertical matters.
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“How do you define a qualified lead?”. Should align with your case criteria, not just “phone rang.”
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“What’s my cost per signed case, not just cost per lead?”. If they can’t track this, they’re not measuring what matters.
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“Who owns the ad account?”. Answer should be “you do.”
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“What’s your approach to negative keywords?”. They should have a proactive process, not reactive.
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“How do you handle intake?”. Best agencies provide intake feedback, not just leads.
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“What’s the contract term and exit clause?”. Shorter is better. Month-to-month is ideal once past initial setup.
Evaluating Performance
Don’t evaluate your agency on metrics they control. Evaluate on outcomes you care about:
Vanity metrics (less important):
- Impressions
- Clicks
- CTR
- Average position
Business metrics (what matters):
- Cost per lead (qualified leads only)
- Cost per signed case
- Return on ad spend (ROAS)
- Month-over-month case volume
- Lead quality feedback from intake
If your agency reports CPC improvements but signed cases are flat, something’s wrong. The goal is cases, not cheaper clicks that don’t convert.
The Bigger Picture
Good PPC management improves your Google Ads performance. But even perfectly optimized campaigns are still competing for the same keywords as every other firm in your market.
The firms seeing the best results from agencies often combine PPC management with awareness strategies that create demand for their brand specifically. When people search your firm name instead of “car accident lawyer,” the entire PPC equation changes.
Management optimizes capture. Awareness creates demand worth capturing.