Attorney PPC services, compared on the numbers and the rule the ads run under

Agencies with a verified published price

How to choose attorney PPC services

1. Fix the fee model and the budget separately. A flat fee, a share of spend or a fee per signed case each rewards something different, and legal click prices make a share of spend expensive fast. Decide the model, then set the ad budget as the firm's own number, never bundled into the agency's fee so that neither can be read.
2. Own the ad account, the landing pages and the call tracking. The account, the analytics, the call tracking numbers and the landing pages are created in the firm's name with the agency granted access. A firm that leaves an agency that owned the account loses every search term, negative list and audience learned on the firm's spend.
3. Report in consultations and signed cases, matched by name. Legal PPC produces calls, and calls become consultations and some become cases. The monthly report matches them: cost per call, per consultation, per signed case, by practice area and campaign, with the search terms the money went to. A cost-per-click report is the agency's activity.
4. Put every ad and landing page under the bar's rule. The state bar's advertising rule, following the ABA model rule linked below in most states, governs what an ad may say: no misleading claims, no unverifiable comparisons, specialisation and results handled as the rule requires, and any required disclaimers present. The firm reviews the ads; an agency that has not read the rule cannot.

Why legal PPC is different, and what the click price does to the fee

Personal injury, criminal defense, family law and immigration terms are among the most expensive in paid search, and a campaign's budget is measured in what a single signed case is worth to the firm. That arithmetic decides everything: the firm has to know its value per case by practice area before it can judge a cost per signed case, and an agency's fee taken as a share of that spend is large in absolute terms even at a modest share. A flat fee or a per-case fee with the definition of a case written down usually serves the firm better, and the index marks which agencies publish their model.

Google's advertising policies, linked below, add their own requirements for legal services ads on top of the bar's rule, and an agency running legal campaigns should be able to describe both.

Intake: where most legal PPC money is lost

A legal PPC campaign that produces calls nobody answers has produced nothing, and firms lose more money in intake than in the auction. The campaign is only as good as the phone: answered in seconds, by a person who can screen and book, with a follow-up on every missed call. The agency should insist on call tracking and listen to the calls, and its report should show the share of calls answered and the share that became consultations. A firm that cannot staff intake should fix that before buying clicks.

Landing pages are the other half: one per practice area, matching the ad, with the number on every screen and a form that reaches intake, on a site the firm owns.

Claims to test before signing

A guaranteed cost per case before seeing the firm's intake and market is a guess. A certification badge is a training record. A minimum ad spend that suits the agency's fee model is a claim about the firm's market the agency has not earned. A proposal that does not mention the bar's advertising rule has not read it, and the firm carries the consequence. Ask who owns the account, the pages and the tracking at the end, and what the exit looks like.

The agencies in the index are listed on what they publish about these terms; the law firm SEO company guide on this site covers the organic side, and the digital marketing and SEO services guide covers how to read the rest.

Questions people actually ask

How do attorney PPC services charge?

A flat fee, a share of ad spend, or a fee per signed case, or a mix. Legal click prices make a share of spend expensive in absolute terms; a flat or per-case fee with a written definition of a case usually serves the firm better. The index marks which agencies publish their model.

Who should own the Google Ads account for a law firm?

The firm, with the agency granted access. The account holds the search terms, negatives and audiences learned on the firm's spend, and an agency that owns it keeps all of that when the engagement ends.

What rule do legal ads have to follow?

The state bar's advertising rule, following the ABA model rule on communications about a lawyer's services in most states, plus Google's own policies for legal ads. The firm reviews every ad and landing page; an agency that has not read the rule cannot.

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