What Are Google Local Services Ads?

Google Local Services Ads are a new ad type for the legal vertical that first appeared about two years ago. This ad type which is kind of like a hybrid between a legal directory and a PPC ad was first introduced for home services businesses like plumbers, electricians, roofers and HVAC services.

Google has since expanded this ad platform to many more service businesses including most areas of law that are advertised. This platform is pay per call as apposed to pay per click , however the cost ends being about the same as a call from a regular PPC campaign, at least for now.

Scroll down to see all available categories and sub categories for the legal vertical as well as some easy tips and tricks at the bottom. Happy Advertising!!

All Available Categories & Sub Categories For Google Local Services Ads For Lawyers.

Bankruptcy Lawyer

If you choose the bankruptcy law vertical you will be showing up for the main category of “bankruptcy lawyer” And then each sub category that you select.

Business Lawyer

Contract Lawyer

Criminal Lawyer

Disability Lawyer

Estate Lawyer

DUI Lawyer

Family Lawyer

Immigration Lawyer

Intellectual Property Lawyer

Labor Lawyer

Litigation Lawyer

Malpractice Lawyer

Personal Injury Lawyer

Real Estate Lawyer

Tax Lawyer

Traffic Lawyer

Tips & Tricks For Success With Google Local Services Ads For Lawyers.

Local Services Ads are supposed to operate on the 3 R’s. These are Radius, Reviews and Responsiveness. However Google is still working out A LOT of kinks in this platform and how it operates.

Because legal marketers tend to be on top of the trends, many have adopted black hat and gray hat tactics to game this system. This is why currently Googles Local Services Ads Platform, at least for the legal vertical is not working the way it should or really going by the 3 R’s as of yet.

Right now, as far we can tell the platform is still mainly driven by budget changes. In the legal vertical you can currently set your weekly budget to $35 Million dollars a week. This is a pretty ridiculous budget capping out at $140 million dollars a month. This is again part of the problem.

If you want to ensure you are always showing you should set a high budget within the LSA platform, however setting it to max will get it flagged and in review. If you want to stay competitive we suggest setting in the $9,000/week range. However make sure that you stay on top of the costs as they can get high very quickly. Costs per call in the legal vertical range between $100-$1,000 per call. Also these are not always good leads so be careful. While you can dispute certain calls that come through this platform, there are rules to the calls you can dispute. A good idea to track these calls is to set up call tracking with notifications alerts.

Crossovers

Another tip to mention is to be aware of crossover verticals. There are some areas of law that crossover into separate categories. The main example I use is for “Workers’ Compensation” This actually crossover into 3 separate categories, Disability, Personal Injury & Labor Law. If you don’t have all of these categories, you could miss out on potentially good leads. In order to get a category added, you need to call a local services representative and ask for it to be added.

A note of caution on crossovers – While it’s important to add crossover categories, you may get calls for the main category. So if you added Labor Law and the sub category of “Workers’ Compensation” it is more likely that you will get labor law calls that are not specifically about workers compensation. Unfortunately there isn’t much that you can do about this, because of the major drawback of the Local Services Ads Platform is lack of control and being at the mercy of the walled garden, although google is doing a lot to alter and test these to make them work better and there are still ways to improve your performance by testing and measuring different metrics.

…We Hope This Helps!

From the AD Engineers at ADSQUIRE.