An Introduction to Local Service Ads for Legal Marketing
Local Service Ads, also sometimes abbreviated as “LSAs”, can be enormously helpful for attorneys who are trying to find more clients. In other words, attorneys can generally benefit from this Google ad service. However, there are caveats.
Your practice area and location must be eligible for Local Service Ads. Many of the most common practice areas are eligible, such as criminal defense, estate planning and personal injury. You can find more eligible practice areas here. Local Service Ads are easier to set up for attorneys than for other businesses.
What Are Local Service Ads?
Local Service Ads are a pay-by-lead service. If you perform a “near me” search for your practice area in any large city or town, chances are you will see the Local Service Ads carousel populate at the top of the search results.
Google does not charge for leads that have nothing to do with your business or practice area. If you receive a call or message through your ad that does not have anything to do with your business, then seek a refund.
Additionally, you can set a maximum bid amount per lead so you do not overspend. Pay-Per-Click Ads (PPC), which many in the legal marketing industry are already familiar with, work a bit differently depending on the ad type and its specifications. With PPC, you pay for a certain amount of visibility and clicks (as the name implies) within the SERPs or elsewhere online, and the success of the ad depends upon factors like the ad copy and landing page. In contrast, Local Service Ads go live after you pass the setup phase. You would pay for any eligible leads, such as phone calls or messages, that come through the ad. If you can prove Google charged you for a bad lead, you can appeal the charge for that lead.
Do I Need Local Service Ads?
If your firm is eligible for Local Service Ads, then you should explore using them as an option to obtain more clients. This is especially true of newer attorneys who are just starting out. Newer attorneys should do everything possible to obtain more SERP real-estate. In addition, if your competitors are running Local Service Ads and you are not, then you could be missing out on potential new clients.
In some cases, you may have very little competition for Local Service Ads in or around your area. If this is the case, then you could potentially pull in a large number of clients more quickly because of where Local Service Ads appear in the search engine results. With less competition, your Local Service Ad would appear at the top of the results more often.
If you are eligible for Local Service Ads and have a large number of positive reviews and a high aggregate score, then your Local Service Ads would likely perform well. This is especially true if you properly optimize the ad, such as by providing multiple photos and detailed information about your firm and team. Remember, Google is primarily concerned with providing product users with a good user experience. Google is more likely to serve up search results for firms with a positive online history, as it signals those firms provide good user experience for clients.
Follow Our Blog for Future Local Service Ads Tips
Co-owner Dale Wooddy has a lot of experience helping law firms with Local Service Ads. Schedule a free consultation with Dale if you wish to learn more about Local Service Ads and whether they are right for your law firm. Future blogs will go into more detail on how to optimize Local Service Ads and how to overcome brutal competition in competitive areas. You must take a data-driven approach to Local Service Ad optimization if you want to succeed. Schedule a free 30-min consultation via our contact form!
