A Lawyer’s Quick Guide to Google Ads Keyword Search

As you may know, keywords are the lifeblood of any successful Google Adwords for lawyer campaign. You’ll need to target and bid on the most relevant search terms to increase your ads’ accuracy and targeting capabilities. However, with the stiff competition in the legal service sector, finding the right keywords to incorporate into your campaign without breaking your budget is always an uphill climb. Good thing we at Kinetic Traffic have created a Google Ads keyword search guide to help you identify the best search terms to bid on and use in your ads.

Start with Google’s Keyword Tool

With all the keyword research tools available these days, you might be wondering which of them can yield the best results. Since you’re using Google Ads, the search giant’s keyword tool is the best place to start.

Google Keyword Planner is a valuable tool for those who don’t know much about keyword research. It provides suggestions on basic topics relevant to your legal practice. All you have to do is enter phrases, topics, or URLs from your website to identify the keywords you can target.

Once you enter the necessary information, Google will give you a list of keyword suggestions you can use in your campaign. It will also tell you how much you need to bid on each keyword for your ads to appear on top or bottom of the first page of search results and how many monthly searches each search term has.

To ensure the best results, here are a few strategies to remember:

1. Target long-tail keywords

In most cases, keywords with higher average monthly searches have more competition. While they are popular, they are also more general in nature. As a result, they often attract fewer or low-quality leads. This is why you’d want to target long-tail keywords, which are more specific and relevant, to attract prospects ready to enlist your services.

2. Consider user intent

Always consider user intent when selecting keywords to target. This will help ensure that your ads align with your marketing goals. Consider asking yourself the following questions when choosing keywords to incorporate in your campaign:

• Is this campaign designed to help people know more about your legal practice?
• Is this campaign meant to attract new leads and attract them into paying clients later?

Learn from the Competition

Keyword research is not just about identifying the search terms you want to bid on. It’s also about learning from your competitors and identifying the keywords they are succeeding with.

Not sure who your competitors are? Don’t worry; finding who they are is not that complicated. A quick search on Google for a keyword you found earlier with the Keyword Planner can help you identify your direct competitors. The results you’ll see are likely the law firms bidding on the search terms you researched.

You can use third-party tools to “spy” on the competition and learn from their strategy. For instance, SEMRush lets you see a competitor’s existing keywords and their position, cost per click, and landing pages. On the other hand, SpyFU gives you an insight into another law firm’s entire Google Ads history.

The idea behind this Google Ads keyword search strategy is not to copy other law firms. Instead, you should:

• Determine what they are doing and do it better.
• Look for opportunities the competition hasn’t explored yet and use them to your advantage.

Bid on Branded Search Terms

As the name implies, branded keywords are search terms with your brand name (i.e. your law firm) in them. You might be wondering why you should spend money on branded keywords when your target audience can simply click on your organic listings. While people can and do click on your organic listing, that’s not usually why you should bid on your brand name.

When you search for any branded term on Google, you might be surprised that their competitors often bid on them. This means that if you’re not bidding on your branded keywords, you’re giving other law firms free passes to steal your clicks and leads.

Besides protecting what’s yours, bidding on branded search terms can offer you several benefits:

1. They are pretty inexpensive

Branded keywords are the perfect solution if you’re looking for inexpensive keywords with significant search volume. However, to make the most of these search terms, see that you just don’t bid on your law firm’s name. You should also consider bidding on your services or even your URL.

2. They can help you dominate search result pages

Giving your target audience several opportunities to click on your link can provide a competitive advantage. Furthermore, appearing in both the organic and paid search spaces gives your audience the impression that you are a legal industry authority.

3. They allow you to control your messaging

Indeed, showing up in organic search results allows you to promote your law firm for free. However, you can’t control how your target audience will perceive your message. With PPC ads, you have the power to create messages that will grab the attention of your prospects. You also have the opportunity to send them to specific landing pages, which can help drive your point home.

Always Research Your Keywords

Thorough keyword research is the foundation of a successful Google Ads campaign. It is an essential step that you mustn’t skip at all costs. Otherwise, sending your message to the right people and attracting high-quality leads would be next to impossible.

Don’t have the time to perform keyword research? We can help. At Kinetic Traffic, our team specialise in law firm SEO and Google Ads. We can help you identify the best search terms to target to attract high-quality traffic and leads to your website. Please contact us, and we’ll create a Google Ads campaign that matches your legal practice’s goals and needs.