Now more than ever, law firms must establish a solid online presence to survive in the real world. It’s crucial to be seen at the right time with a message that generates a lead for your legal services. Google LSAs for law firms are an effective tool to go from no visibility to total recognition and recall with your local audience. Because these ads appear prominently at the top of search results on both mobile devices and desktop, you increase the likelihood they see you first.
Your message resonates. They click. They choose to pursue your counsel. Visibility and credibility grow in both the local online and physical online community where you practice.
Staying informed about local services ads trends will help you stay both ahead of the competition and efficient—so you’ll use your ad budget wisely.
What Are Google Local Services Ads?
Google Local Services Ads is an amazing tool designed to help local law firms like yours connect with potential clients in your region. To be clear, these aren’t your standard pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Google LSA uses a pay-per-lead model. LSAs do it better!
If we’re honest, paying for 100 clicks that don’t become leads can be frustrating—particularly in the services industry where the stakes are higher. Google LSA seeks to remedy that by having you only pay when the search contacts your firm through the ad. What’s more, these ads are the epitome of visibility. They sit at the top of search results, so you gain awareness for free—even when they don’t contact you at that moment.
Google has taken this further with its “Google Screened” badge. It signifies that Google has checked out your business to ensure you are who you say you are and have the licenses to perform the services you’re advertising. This builds instant credibility you might otherwise have to work for. The result? More leads and shorter lead-to-client time window.
Current Trends in LSAs for Law Firms
Since their launch, Google LSAs for law firms have become an indispensable tool for local legal businesses. Here are the top trends and features to know.
Increased Adoption
Law firms nationwide are starting to recognize the value of Local Services Ads to enhance local presence and generate high-value leads. This trend represents a broad shift in digital marketing and also a heads-up that competition will likely increase as more lawyers who directly compete with you for clients become aware of these tools.
For these reasons, it’s important to learn how LSAs work and scale quickly to stay ahead. The right local marketing software will help you achieve this competently, quickly, and cost-effectively.
Google Optimized Profile Photo
Google has added a feature that allows them to automatically optimize your images based on what their data says will generate the most leads. To take advantage of this feature, it’s important to upload at least 3-5 high-quality images that may appeal to different types of clients. For example, let’s say you’re a law firm specializing in family law; having an image of a male vs. female lawyer could resonate with specific clients and vice versa.
Ad Spending Controls
Advertisers now have more control over their monthly spending limits to help maximize their budget and avoid generating more leads than they can reasonably follow up on at once. You can toggle this feature on and off as needed to improve your lead funnel.
Google Reinforcing Its Commitment to Local Business in Recent Update
Google has long designed its algorithms to give small, local businesses an advantage in their area. Using a local marketing platform to leverage this favoritism and optimize your online presence with local SEO is one of the smartest moves you can make as a local law firm.
But to take it a step further, Google continues to refine its tools and algorithms to favor small businesses. This is great news for small—to medium-sized local law firms competing with big law firms with significant resources. This may be one digital space where you can make a significant push to increase online visibility and generate leads without breaking the bank.
Expanded Geographic Targeting
One of the top reasons to follow Google LSA trends is to adapt and update your current LSA strategies with the rollout of the enhanced feature. Suppose you’ve been running local service ads for six months or more. In that case, you may not have revisited the improved geographic targeting features, customizations, and advanced lead-tracking tools that are now available. You’ll definitely want to check these out.
And if you’re new to local service ads, these are certainly features you’ll want to check out. They help you reach the right people and deliver deeper insights into how your campaign strategies are working for you.
With so many new features and changes, it’s hard to keep up. This showcases one of the benefits of managing your digital marketing tasks in an all-in-one small business marketing platform. The local marketing tools on these platforms are immediately updated, so you’re always working with the latest and best features on Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, and more.
Setting Up LSAs for Your Law Firm (Step-by-Step Guide)
1. Profile Creation
To get started, create a Google Local Services Ads account. Provide accurate business information, including your law firm’s name, address, phone number, hours of operation, and website. List your practice areas and the services you offer so that those who contact you are indeed your target client.
2. Verification
Initiate Google’s verification process to earn your green checkmark. This is the “Google Screened” badge that helps you build instant trust with strangers. You will need to submit a background check and license verification to confirm your firm’s legitimacy.
3. Create an Ad
Craft compelling ad content that clearly communicates your services and value proposition. Include high-quality images and accurate business hours, and encourage satisfied clients to leave positive reviews, as these elements can enhance your ad’s performance.
4. Verification Requirement Changes
Recent updates have made it mandatory for law firms to verify and affiliate their Google Business Profile (GBP) with their LSA account. This change, effective November 21, 2024, seeks to enhance security and integrity by ensuring that only verified businesses can run LSAs. This makes this ad format exclusive and, therefore, a great option for small, local businesses trying to compete on a small business marketing budget.
5. More AI-Driven Advertising
Artificial intelligence has already been helping Google manage bidding, optimize ads, and make decisions about where and when to display ads. It will now help Google manage disputes regarding low-quality leads.
Best Practices for Google LSAs for Law Firms
1. Local Targeting
Define your service area. Ideally, you should start in a small area, saturate that area, and then expand out with what’s working. This will allow you to reach the right people and customize messages to different regions to maximize localness and relevance.
2. Review Management
Actively manage your reviews by encouraging clients to write reviews and engaging with both good and bad reviews professionally to show you’re listening. 99.9% of people who use the Internet to buy goods and services look at reviews before contacting them. No reviews, no recent reviews, or a high bad-to-good review ratio can deter would-be clients.
Know that bad reviews aren’t the end of the world. Most people know that every business gets a bad review sometimes. What’s important is how you respond and what your overall reputation looks like.
3. Budgeting
Consider your marketing goals and set a realistic budget to meet those goals. If you’re in a competitive environment with high-value clients, realize you may need to spend more and be more strategic with how you spend your money. Monitor your ad performance regularly.
Adjust your budget as needed to maximize ROI. Small business marketing tools that help you track and manage your spending, campaigns, and performance all in one place will save you time and help you get more out of your ad budget.
Google LSAs for Law Firms: What’s Next?
Establishing online visibility is critical for law firms in the digital age. If they don’t see you online, they don’t take time to get to know you. Google LSAs make it easier and more cost-effective for small, local law firms to generate leads because you only pay when they contact your practice. Appearing at the top of searches in your area allows you to make an impression and earn a new client.
But it’s important to invest the time and energy into setting up your profile, getting verified, and managing your reviews to maximize your ROI. With local targeting, setting a reasonable budget, and creating compelling ads, you can succeed with Google Local Services Ads.
And the right small business marketing software can certainly make a difference—saving you time while ensuring your campaigns stay on track. It’s time to see for yourself how all-in-one local marketing software helps small law firms get more out of their campaigns. Schedule your Surefire Local demo today.