Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be one of the fastest ways for law firms to generate leads โ but itโs also one of the easiest places to waste money. We often see firms come to us after spending tens of thousands on Google Ads with little to show for it. The culprit is almost always the same: poor campaign setup and a lack of focus on what really matters โ signed cases.
Here are five common mistakes inexperienced legal marketing agencies make when doing ppc for law firms and how to fix them:
Relying Too Heavily on Broad Match Keywords
Broad match keywords are one of the fastest ways to burn through your budget. Googleโs default settings make it easy to show up for searches that are only loosely connected to your target terms.
For example, if youโre bidding on broad match โpersonal injury lawyerโ, your ad could show for searches like:
- โPersonal injury lawyer salaryโ
- โFree legal advice for car accidentโ
- โHow to file a personal injury claim yourselfโ
None of these searchers are looking to hire an attorney โ and yet youโll pay for every click.
The fix: Focus on exact match and phrase match keywords with strong intent, and use negative keywords such as โfreeโ and โsalaryโ to filter out irrelevant searches.
Tracking Leads Instead of Signed Cases
Too many agencies report on clicks, CTR, and leads generated โ and stop there. But law firm marketing success isnโt about how many people became a lead โ itโs about how many signed clients you gained.
Without call tracking, form tracking, and case intake data connected back to ad performance, youโre operating blind.
The fix: Ensure your PPC reporting includes cost per lead, cost per signed case, and keyword-level performance tied to actual cases signed.
Not Optimizing for Location or Time
Just because your firm can technically serve clients statewide doesnโt mean you should target the entire state. Advertising in markets where you rarely sign cases inflates your cost per lead and reduces conversion rates.
We also see missed opportunities when it comes to leads that come in over the weekend or at night. This is why we always ensure our clients have either a call answering service or an internal process for who will answer leads after hours or we donโt run ads when they canโt answer them quickly. This is crucial to giving you the best shot at converting every lead into a client.
Weโve helped law firms cut PPC waste by 20โ30% simply by focusing their campaigns around their main office and surrounding high-performing zip codes and by using time and day parting to optimize when ads run.
The fix: Analyze your signed case data to see when and where your best clients come from and focus your ad targeting on those areas and times.
Using Generic Ad Copy
Legal advertising is crowded. If your ads say the same thing as every other firm โ โInjury Lawyers. Free Consultation. Call Today.โ โ you wonโt stand out, and youโll attract people โsettlement shoppingโ rather than seriously seeking representation.
The fix: Write ad copy that speaks directly to the clientโs situation. Instead of โFree Consultation,โ try โInjured in a Car Accident? Get Legal Help Now from a Local Attorney Who Fights for Maximum Compensation.โ
Check our guide on legal copywriting and how effective can be to compel your message
Failing to Audit Campaigns Regularly
One of the biggest mistakes we see other agencies make is setting up a Google Ads campaign and leaving it on autopilot. This is why itโs important to find out how many accounts your PPC manager is assigned. Often agencies give their staff too many accounts to work on making it difficult to give your account the attention it deserves.
Further, the market, competition, and bidding environment change constantly. Without regular audits, you risk spending money on irrelevant terms or letting underperforming ads run for weeks or months.
The fix: Conduct weekly or monthly audits (at minimum) that review:
1. Wasted Spend on Irrelevant Clicks
Why it matters:
A large portion of ad spend can be wasted on clicks from people who are not a good fit for your serviceโeither because they were searching for something unrelated or only loosely relevant.
How to check:
Ask your marketing manager or agency to walk you through the Search Term Report. This report shows the exact phrases users typed into Google before clicking your ad, alongside the cost of each click.
What to look for:
- Irrelevant searches (e.g., competitors, job seekers, general info queries).
- High-cost keywords that donโt convert.
Pro tip: If youโre using Broad Match or even Phrase Match, youโre likely appearing for a wider range of termsโmany of which you might not want to pay for. Consider tightening targeting by shifting to Exact Match for high-intent terms and using Negative Keywords proactively.
2. Bidding Strategy Performance
Why it matters:
The bidding strategy your agency uses directly influences how aggressively your ads are served and how much you pay per click. If itโs not optimized, you might be overspending or missing valuable opportunities.
Questions to Ask:
- Are you using Manual CPC, Maximize Conversions, or Target ROAS?
- Is your current strategy aligned with your lead goals and ROI expectations?
- Are automated strategies (like Smart Bidding) performing as promised, or are they misallocating spend?
Pro tip: Regularly evaluate if your chosen bidding strategy is meeting your KPIs (Cost per Lead, Conversion Rate, ROAS). Be ready to test different approaches as the account evolves.
3. Lead Quality Analysis (Using Intake Call Reviews)
Why it matters:
Not all leads are created equal. Getting more leads is greatโbut getting the right leads is what drives business growth.
How to do it:
We set up clients with CallRail, a call tracking system that records inbound calls from ad clicks and allows us to attribute good calls as conversions we want more of in Google and Bing Ads. By reviewing these calls, we can assess whether leads are genuinely qualified or simply wasting time and resources.
What to listen for:
- Are the callers within your target audience?
- Are they asking the right questions or just price shopping?
- Are there patterns in poor leads that correlate with certain keywords?
Pro tip: We use these insights to refine keyword targeting and ad copy, and to optimize landing page content for better pre-qualification.
Your budget should guide your audit cadence. The more you’re spending, the more data you haveโand the greater your need to regularly evaluate what’s working and whatโs not. At a minimum, monthly reviews help ensure your keywords, ad copy, and landing pages are aligned with your goals and driving meaningful results.
Donโt Settle for Surface-Level Metrics
If your agencyโs Google Ads reports are filled with click and impression metrics but no data on cost per signed case, youโre not getting the full picture. A well-optimized PPC campaign should be a predictable, scalable source of high-quality leads.
Want to know if your Google Ads campaigns are set up for real ROI?
Request a complimentary audit from Neon Ambition and weโll have our Director of Paid Ads show you exactly where your budget is going.
