PPC for lawyers, run by people who respect the CPC.

The keyword "personal injury lawyer" regularly clears $200+ per click in major metros. "Car accident attorney" often runs $150 to $400. That is not a bidding mistake. That is a symptom of case value: a signed PI case is worth tens of thousands of dollars in fees, so firms are rationally willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a single click.

The response is not to run cheaper keywords. Cheaper keywords convert worse. The response is to be more disciplined than every other firm in the auction: cleaner query control, sharper ad copy, faster intake response, and landing pages built specifically for the practice area, so the expensive click actually converts to a signed case.

Google Local Services Ads sit above the paid Search results and are billed per lead, not per click. They also carry the "Google Screened" badge, which requires background checks on the firm and its attorneys and is increasingly what consumers look for before calling.

For most law firms, LSAs deliver the lowest cost per intake in the entire paid stack. They do not replace Search Ads. Search Ads still handle competitor queries, information queries, and specific practice areas LSAs do not cover. Run both, budget them separately, and track them separately.

Your homepage is not a landing page. A landing page has one offer, one action, no top nav, and copy written for the exact search query that sent the visitor there. For law firms, that means one page per practice area, minimum. Personal injury visitors are in a different emotional state than estate planning visitors, and one page cannot serve both.

The pattern that consistently wins:

• Headline that names the practice area and the city.
• One-sentence promise ("Free consultation. No fee unless we win.") above the fold.
• Short intake form (name, phone, case type, brief description) with a call button next to it.
• Trust block: verdicts and settlements, attorney bios, bar admissions, reviews.
• Case-type-specific FAQ that pre-answers the fears keeping the visitor from calling.
• Sticky call button on mobile. Mobile is 70%+ of legal traffic.

Single-metro, single practice area: plan for $5,000 to $15,000 per month in media. Below $5,000 in a competitive vertical, you cannot gather enough conversions to optimize and the algorithm never leaves the learning phase.

Personal injury, mass tort, or multi-metro firms: $20,000 to $100,000+ per month in media is normal. Case values justify the spend, and larger accounts unlock Performance Max, YouTube prospecting, and a real remarketing footprint.

Boutique or specialty (estate planning, immigration, IP): $2,500 to $8,000 per month can work because the auctions are lower and lifetime values are strong, especially paired with content and retargeting.