Solicitors · Google Ads
Google Ads for solicitors
Search ads can bring in conveyancing, probate, employment or family enquiries soon after launch. The value lies in two things: targeting the matters you want, and handling the calls that follow.
From £199 per month, fixed fee
The situation
Why your customers are searching.
Legal keywords can be expensive. They also attract people after free advice, legal aid, help in another jurisdiction or a type of matter you don't handle. Many enquiries arrive by phone, so tracking and answering calls matters as much as the ads. Some legal and claims-related categories carry extra Google policy requirements too.
What sends them looking
- An accepted offer, and conveyancing that needs to start quickly.
- A bereavement that leaves someone responsible for an estate and a probate application.
- A dismissal, grievance or settlement agreement at work.
- A separation, divorce or disagreement over arrangements for children.
- A business dispute, unpaid invoices or a contract to review before signing.
The problem
What costs solicitors work.
Where the work slips away
- Big firms, national conveyancing providers and legal directories own the broad search terms.
- Price and service information has to be published for certain services. Many sites bury it, or set it out in a way clients can't follow.
- Many sensitive enquiries come by phone. Miss the call, or rush it, and they're gone.
- Matters you don't handle, conflicts and cases outside your jurisdiction all eat into fee-earner time.
- Legal content is judged on expertise and accuracy, so thin, generic pages struggle to rank or reassure anyone.
What makes customers hesitate
- Legal fees feel unpredictable, and hourly rates make people nervous about the final bill.
- Prospects worry about discretion when the matter is personal or involves family.
- Has a small firm handled enough matters like theirs?
- Some doubt they need a solicitor at all, and hope a quick free answer will do.
How it helps
What Google Ads changes.
- Structures campaigns by practice area, so budget follows the matters you value most.
- Uses negative keywords to filter out free advice, jobs, courses and matter types you don't take.
- Tracks calls and forms back to the campaign and keyword that produced them.
- Checks Google policies and advertiser verification for the practice areas involved before launch.
What you get
Practice-area campaigns
Separate campaigns for areas such as conveyancing, probate, employment and family, each with its own budget, ads and landing page.
Call tracking and call assets
Call assets scheduled to office hours, with tracked numbers so answered, missed and qualified calls are all visible.
Location and jurisdiction targeting
Targeting limited to the areas you serve, excluding places where you can't act.
Negative keyword lists
Lists covering free advice, legal aid where not offered, jobs, training and unwanted matter types, updated from the search terms that come in.
Fee-led ad copy
Ads that mention fixed fees or initial consultations only where offered and accurate, consistent with the price information on your site.
Enquiry quality feedback
A simple way to mark enquiries as instructed, unsuitable or conflicted. Arête uses it to refine targeting and bidding.
Measurement
The enquiries that count, tracked properly.
What counts as an enquiry
- A phone call during office hours, answered promptly or returned quickly.
- A practice-area enquiry form that captures the matter type and other party details for a conflict check.
- A conveyancing, probate or wills quote request.
- A booked initial consultation with a named solicitor.
What gets tracked
- Qualified enquiries by practice area, and what each one costs.
- Answered versus missed calls from ads, by time of day.
- Enquiries marked unsuitable, and the search terms behind them.
- Instructions won from paid search and their approximate fee value.
Worth knowing
What customers check, and the rules to follow.
What customers look for before they call
- Price and service information that's easy to follow, for the services where it's required and ideally beyond.
- The SRA digital badge and regulatory details, showing the firm is authorised and regulated.
- Named solicitors with their practice areas, experience and accreditations, such as Law Society schemes where held.
- Reviews on Google or legal review platforms that reflect the service while respecting confidentiality.
- Plain English on how a matter works, typical timescales and what happens after first contact.
Rules worth knowing
- The SRA Transparency Rules require firms to publish price and service information for certain services, such as residential conveyancing, uncontested probate and employment tribunal claims about unfair or wrongful dismissal, and to display the SRA digital badge.
- Publicity must be accurate and not misleading, including about charges, so fee examples, experience claims and descriptions of outcomes need care.
- Firms are expected to publish their complaints procedure, including how and when clients can complain to the Legal Ombudsman.
- The SRA regulates solicitors in England and Wales. Firms in Scotland and Northern Ireland follow their own Law Society rules, so your wording should match your jurisdiction.
Straight answer
Is it right for you?
Yes, if you have capacity in specific practice areas and someone reliable on the phones. If calls regularly go unanswered, fix that first.
Made for
- Firms with capacity in fixed-fee services such as conveyancing, wills or probate.
- Firms able to answer or return calls quickly during the hours ads run.
- Practices with a dedicated landing page for each advertised practice area.
Not for
- Firms without the budget to compete on expensive practice-area terms in their location.
- Firms that cannot answer calls promptly, since a missed call wastes the click that produced it.
Starting price
From £199
per month, fixed management fee
What moves the price
- Number of campaigns, services and locations
- How much conversion tracking is already in place
- Landing page needs
- Reporting frequency and depth
Your ad budget is separate. It goes straight to the platform and is never marked up.
Questions
Google Ads for solicitors: your questions answered
Does Google require verification before a law firm can advertise?
Google requires advertiser verification for most accounts, and some legal and claims-related categories carry additional restrictions in certain countries. The requirements change, so Arête checks the current policy for each practice area before launch. Verification uses your firm's own details and can take some time to complete.
How are out-of-hours legal enquiries handled in a campaign?
Call assets run to office hours, and outside them ads can pause or switch to form-only enquiries. If you offer out-of-hours cover, such as criminal defence, calls can keep flowing to that service. The principle: don't pay for calls nobody can answer.
Start a conversation
Tell Arête about the business and what currently feels missing.
You will receive a direct reply with the most sensible next step, even if that means recommending that nothing needs changing yet.
A direct reply
A personal reply, usually within one working day. No sales script, no chasing.
A short conversation
A look at the business, your current website and what a good result would look like for you.
A clear recommendation
The leanest sensible next step, with fixed scope and a fixed price. Sometimes that's nothing yet, and you'll be told so.
Prefer email? Write to info@aretemarketing.co.uk.