Conducting personal injury lawyer advertising campaigns can be difficult. Some clicks cost as much as $100, so a mistake can cost you thousands. Even a basic term like “personal injury lawyer” can cost more than $133 for individual clicks. An ineffective PPC campaign can waste a lot of money. However, if you effectively select keywords to run your PPC campaign, you can reap great returns.
Use Local Long-Tail Keywords Instead of Generic Keywords
If you look at the top 25 most expensive keywords on Google Ads, then you’ll see that most of them are related to legal concepts. In fact, only two of the top 25 words do not involve the term’s lawyer, attorney, or law. Legal keywords are expensive. That means that your cost per lead can be expensive for a law-related PPC campaign. A single engagement could cost hundreds.
Reducing the cost of PPC campaigns and per engagement is important for attorneys. Otherwise, the campaign won’t be worth the number of clients you attract. You need to utilize strategies similar to those being used by top personal injury attorneys in order to maximize profits while decreasing costs.
A study by a client of Einstein Law indicated that one of the top strategies for PPC is using localized long-tail keywords. In fact, the client saw a 70% reduction in costs related to the acquisition of clients. They also saw a 95% decrease in average cost-per-click. At the same time, they realized 250% higher than conversion target and were 36% under their budget on Google AdWords.
Local long tail keywords expand keywords past the general “personal injury lawyer.” Instead, you include a geographic location in the search term. As an example, you might use “personal injury attorney Atlanta” or “injury lawyers in Charlotte.” Keywords shouldn’t be generic. Instead, successful attorneys are using specific locations in PPC campaigns.
Although localized long-tail keywords are not as high-volume as something generic like “personal injury attorney,” they are cheaper and still target potential clients with specific characteristics, such as location. This results in a greater conversion rate overall. You can often utilize multiple local long-tail keywords for the same price as one generic keyword.
Thoughtfully Use Geo-Targeting
Users are likely to be searching for keywords along with their location. Google is likely using geo-targeting to filter results for potential clients.
People often use the phrase “near me” when searching for services. If they’ve just been in an accident, potential clients are likely to search for “car accident attorney near me,” They want someone close, and fast. Google has indicated that searches including the phrase “near me” grew by more than 130% year over year.
Search queries with the phrase “near me” are searching for products or services. That means people are quickly making decisions about spending money based on Google’s results. In fact, as many as 76% of people who search for services and products nearby on a smart phone will visit that business within 24 hours. As many as 28% of them will make a purchase.
Keywords should include geographic locations and your PPC campaigns should focus on local long-tail phrases in order to get the best results.
Profitable Google Ads: Attracting Clicks
You may possibly be confused about where to start when you begin writing ads for personal injury lawyer advertising. The goal is obvious. You want to entice potential clients to click in any way possible. However, that does mean that you can use negative or unscrupulous methods. That will not fulfill your ultimate goal of conversions.
In order to write Google Ads that attract clicks, you need to know the pain points of your potential clients. You need to know that people are attracted to things that benefit them. In order to get clicks, you need to convey a message that involves no negatives and little effort for the person searching. This can be done by offering a free case review, free telephone call, or other quick and easy benefit.
People who are searching for “personal injury lawyer near me” are likely in the beginning stages of their search. They aren’t yet using a branded name or message to find a service provider. People are window shopping and want to see what types of services they can select. Ads should be tailored to the experiences of each user. Potential clients should be nurtured with phrases like “24/7 customer services” and “free consult.” Boring ads that do not reach the needs of potential clients will not get clicks.
Present Landing Pages that Convert
You can cater your Google Ads to attract a specific clicks, but if your landing pages aren’t focused, you won’t get a conversion. Legal landing pages aren’t great at converting. In fact, an average conversion rate on legal landing pages is around 3.2%. This may sound bleak. However, some of the best landing pages in the legal industry are converting at 15%.
Top firms with successful landing pages are using account-based marketing approaches with PPC campaigns. Instead of the typical sales funnel that casts a huge net for access to a lot of leads, the account-based marketing approach turns the funnel upside down. Every single lead is treated as an individual market. This allows you to provide better service to individual clients, leading to conversions. You can also avoid many of the junk leads that PPC typically brings.
You may opt to pre-qualify leads before giving them a marketing message. This involves a short quiz for potential clients when they land on your website. The quiz will filter out undesirable leads and unlikely clients. You can save time and money by pre-qualifying potential clients. Account-based marketing focuses a targeted message on targeted clients.
Another helpful option on your pre-qualification quiz is a zip code entry. This can help you ensure the potential client is within your geographic locale and direct them to the correct office location. Leads can be automatically sent to the correct office and landing page.
Law firms are moving away from forms and using more direct phone calls. In fact, as many as 70% of people engage with click-to-call features on landing pages. Calls to businesses that originate on web sites typically last up to five minutes, and they’re generally high-quality calls.
Call Tracking and Click-to-Call are Important Features
The goal with most personal injury lawyer advertising campaigns is to get a call and consult with the potential client. You should offer an easy path to calling the attorney and offer a compelling reason for why. A single click is all it should take for a potential client to call. Top firms are using click-to-call features on top performing landing pages and Google ads. Google found in a study that potential clients who used click-to-call had a very high intent of committing to the service provider.
In addition to providing opportunities to click-to-call, you should be tracking those calls. Use numbers in your PPC campaign that can be tracked back to your method. This allows you to know what is working and what is not. Although Google AdWords does not provide easy call tracking, you can still use platforms like CallRail and others to collect real data.
Utilize Effective Keywords and Click-To-Call Options to Attract Conversions
PPC campaigns can be difficult. Individual keywords can be extremely expensive, and ineffective if you don’t do your research. Instead of spending thousands on single keywords, utilize local long-tail keywords to optimize searches. Additionally, keep in mind that Google is likely geo-targeting potential clients who use certain keyword phrases. Include relevant geographic locations in your search targeting.
Once you’ve perfected your search terms and Google ads, you should work on your landing pages. You may even opt to use a brief quiz to filter your incoming visitors. This will allow you to target your potential audience with specific information. Additionally, you should provide click-to-call opportunities and consultations for your potential clients.
These techniques can allow you to target potential clients and provide the best user experience for those who arrive on your site.
From Yellow Pages to Google Pages: How a Plaintiff’s Injury Lawyer Succeeded Online
Loren Etengoff, a personal injury lawyer in Vancouver, Washington, remembers the days when he had to purchase double-page ads in the Yellow Pages just to get potential clients on the phone. Now, his focus on SEO and gathering positive online reviews has so many prospects asking to work with his team that he has to turn some away.
Below are the strategies he used to quickly increase his caseload to 150 clients … having only a small team at the office and no formal marketing background.
PAGE ONE OR BUST
Loren Etengoff: “The truth is that your legal website has to end up on page one of Google or Yahoo—and the top half of page one, at that—otherwise you’re just wasting your time and money. That’s just the reality for a lot of law firms, especially ones like ours who see the internet as our primary way to gain new clients. But the market is so competitive; countless attorneys are focusing on SEO and vying for the top spots.
“You really have to make sure that your website shows up in the top three slots and then—and this is the hard part—stay there consistently.
“For us, the key to doing that was knowing the right keywords to use, gaining positive online reviews, and other online best practices recommended by Optimized Attorney. We’ve been working with them for many years.”
Optimized Attorney: Lawyers sometimes forget that rankings are only the first part of a two-step effort: (1) get the prospects to your site and (2) obtain their contact information. An enticing lead magnet like the one shown above is one of the best ways to obtain an email address and phone number. Live chat is another effective technique.
Download our free guide and learn about the importance of key performance indicators (KPIs)
TIPPING POINT: FINDING MARKETERS THAT UNDERSTOOD THE LEGAL FIELD
Loren: “About 10 years ago when SEO was pretty new, we worked with a freelancer who didn’t necessarily specialize in SEO or the legal field. At first, everything was fine but then we started slipping in the rankings.
“I was spending too much time working with that freelancer explaining what I needed, the kind of language to use in our online content (again, she didn’t have a legal background), the impact that keywords could have on our ranking, and the type of blog I needed to build.
“I decided to switch to a marketing and SEO company that specialized in working with lawyers.
“I went to an Avvo seminar in Las Vegas and interviewed 4 or 5 different companies. I landed on Optimized Attorney because they offered the best packages for the price, and the references that they provided had nothing but good things to say about the company.
“That was many years ago. Since then, I’ve been pleased that James has constantly tweaked their offerings to keep up with changing times. They’ve taken so much off my plate, so I can focus on running the office and treating clients the right way. James takes care of gathering my online reviews, maintaining my ranking on Google and other search engines, sending out my newsletter, and building my blog.”
Optimized Attorney: We have steadily added services. Our most recent addition is specialty-specific marketing automation software that (1) sends a variety of high-quality educational content to your prospects, (2) solicits, screens, and posts favorable reviews from your clients, and (3) includes an upfront business process audit that save the typical lawyer several hundred dollars a month.
NOT SPREADING YOURSELF TOO THIN
Loren: “We’re pretty lucky in our community that TV advertisements aren’t a big thing, thanks to our geographic location (we’re right on the border of Washington and Oregon). The internet is our primary way of connecting with new clients, aside from referrals, so we mostly focus on SEO and online marketing.
“Our firm does have social media pages as well and that’s something for us to build on in the future, but we are careful not to spread ourselves too thin. We would rather focus on where the clients are and what’s working for us rather than getting caught up in trying to do everything and be everywhere.
“That focus from our team, plus our hard work for each and every client, has gotten us to where we are today. Now, we can afford to turn away smaller cases that a year or two ago we would have needed to take, and can spend time on bigger cases.
“I’m happy to say that with the effectiveness of our marketing strategies, my practice is pretty much full.”
Optimized Attorney: Loren’s caseload has more than doubled since we took him on as client a few years ago. 90% of Loren’s new clients say they contacted him due to the positive reviews that our software generated.
SEO Research: 13 Mesothelioma Keywords
Mesothelioma keywords are among the most competitive legal keywords there are, and ranking for mesothelioma-related keywords will be slow, hard, and expensive no matter where you live.
Mesothelioma lawyers pay more than $100 per click to have their ads appear on Google, and you can bet they’re spending just as much to boost their organic rankings.
Unless you have very deep pockets, don’t even bother with general keywords like “mesothelioma lawyer” and “mesothelioma attorney.” Let your competitors throw their money down that pit. You don’t have to outspend them if you can outthink them.
Estimating Traffic for Mesothelioma Keywords
Most search engine optimizers (including those at Optimized Attorney) use a website called Wordtracker for keyword research, but it costs $69 a month. If you’re just researching keywords for your own site, Google offers a free tool that’s good enough: Google AdWords Traffic Estimator.
I ran 13 mesothelioma keywords through the Traffic Estimator and copied the results to the chart below.
The first column shows the keywords I used. The second column shows how much you’d pay for Google to show your ad. The third column shows the monthly searches in the U.S. for each keyword.[1] The fourth column shows what you get when you divide the third column by the second column (I’ve called this “Search/CPC”).
Keyword | Estimated Avg. CPC | Local Monthly Searches | Search/CPC |
Attorneys mesothelioma | $110.48 | 22,200 | 200.94 |
Attorney mesothelioma | $90.82 | 27,100 | 298.39 |
Mesothelioma attorneys | $77.81 | 22,200 | 285.31 |
Lawyer mesothelioma | $76.82 | 27,100 | 352.77 |
Mesothelioma attorney | $65.33 | 27,100 | 414.82 |
Lawyers mesothelioma | $58.99 | 22,200 | 376.33 |
Mesothelioma lawyers | $58.85 | 22,200 | 377.23 |
Mesothelioma lawyer | $55.37 | 27,100 | 489.43 |
Mesothelioma lawsuits | $52.81 | 1,300 | 24.62 |
Mesothelioma lawsuit | $31.85 | 4,400 | 138.15 |
Lawsuit mesothelioma | $24.97 | 4,400 | 176.21 |
Mesothelioma | $20.81 | 135,000 | 6487.27 |
Lawsuits mesothelioma | $0.00 | 1,300 | Undefined |
Search/CPC is not a widely used metric, but I like it because it goes up as search volume increases and down as competitiveness (measured by how much people are willing to pay[2]) increases. The higher this number, the more people I can reach with less difficulty.
Refining the Keyword List
Keyword selection is a science and an art, so although I could just put my list in descending order based on Search/CPC, I’m going to make a few refinements based on my experience.
Using Local Variants
Search/CPC is very low for all of these keywords (except “mesothelioma” and “lawsuits mesothelioma”). To give you some perspective, “car accident lawyer” has a Search/CPC of 5849.02, and “injury lawyer” has a Search/CPC of 29595.43. This confirms what I already knew: that mesothelioma keywords are especially competitive.
Therefore, I’m not going to go after the generic version of any of these keywords, Instead, I’m going to preface each with the name of my city (“Irvine”).[3]
Minimizing Irrelevant Traffic
Next, I’ll demote any keywords that are likely to get mostly irrelevant traffic. Someone searching for “mesothelioma” might want a list of mesothelioma symptoms, a doctor that treats mesothelioma, or a mesothelioma charity to donate to. I’m not going to waste my limited resources on these searchers.
Keywords including the word “lawsuit” are more relevant, but I have a feeling that a lot of people searching for “lawsuits mesothelioma” are looking for news about mesothelioma lawsuits, wondering why there are so many mesothelioma lawsuits, etc.
The national search volume is pretty low for these “lawsuit” keywords, so the number of people searching for the local variant (“Irvine lawsuits mesothelioma”) is probably also low. I’ll bump these keywords to the bottom of the list, but I’ll still put them above “mesothelioma.”[4]
Suggested Mesothelioma Keywords
From favorite to least favorite, here are the 13 mesothelioma keywords I’d suggest. Replace “Irvine” with the name of your city.
- Irvine mesothelioma lawyer
- Irvine mesothelioma attorney
- Irvine mesothelioma lawyers
- Irvine lawyers mesothelioma
- Irvine lawyer mesothelioma
- Irvine attorney mesothelioma
- Irvine mesothelioma attorneys
- Irvine attorneys mesothelioma
- Irvine lawsuits mesothelioma
- Irvine lawsuit mesothelioma
- Irvine mesothelioma lawsuit
- Irvine mesothelioma lawsuits
- Irvine mesothelioma
Searches Without “Mesothelioma”
Internet users have a seemingly limitless ability to phrase things in different ways. In fact, about 15 percent of Google searches are totally unique.
This makes sense if you think about it. If I were looking for a mesothelioma lawyer near me, I could conceivably search for “Orange County mesothelioma lawyer,” “injury lawyer Orange County mesothelioma,” or “attorney Orange County mesothelioma lawsuit,” to name a few. (I could come up with 100 similar searches without breaking a sweat.)
Some people search for mesothelioma lawyers without using the word “mesothelioma” at all. I can’t anticipate every possible search phrase, but maybe I can better serve these people by expanding my keywording focus.
I don’t know much about mesothelioma—just that it’s a type of cancer caused by asbestos and that there’s a related disease called “asbestosis.” But this information alone gives me 15 new keywords to investigate:
Keyword | Estimated Avg. CPC | Local Monthly Searches | Searches/CPC |
Asbestosis attorneys | $103.70 | 0 | 0 |
Asbestosis lawyers | $79.42 | 210 | 2.64 |
Asbestosis lawyer | $66.55 | 480 | 7.21 |
Asbestosis attorney | $66.43 | 170 | 2.55 |
Asbestos cancer attorney | $60.80 | 720 | 11.84 |
Asbestos attorneys | $55.83 | 8,100 | 145.08 |
Asbestos cancer attorneys | $54.97 | 590 | 10.73 |
Asbestos lawyers | $52.55 | 8,100 | 154.14 |
Asbestos attorney | $45.02 | 9,900 | 219.90 |
Asbestos cancer lawyer | $40.67 | 880 | 21.64 |
Asbestos lawyer | $35.30 | 9,900 | 280.45 |
Asbestos cancer lawyers | $20.64 | 590 | 28.59 |
Lawyer asbestos | $17.78 | 9,900 | 556.81 |
Attorney asbestos | $14.49 | 9,900 | 638.23 |
Lawyers asbestos | $0.00 | 8,100 | Undefined |
Looking at this chart, I notice a few things:
- “Asbestosis” keywords are as competitive as “mesothelioma” ones and have about 1/100 the number of searches. Dump them.
- “Asbestos cancer” keywords are less competitive than “asbestosis” ones and have more searches. They’re expensive, meaning it might be difficult to rank organically, but local variants will be easier. Keep them.
- “Asbestos” keywords are cheap and have a high search volume. In fact, they’re better than some of the 13 mesothelioma keywords I already chose. Better still, they all include some variation of “attorney” or “lawyer,” so I know they’ll draw relevant traffic. Definitely keep.
“Mesothelioma” Misspellings
Your website is your business card for the 21st century. It will be your first contact with many potential clients, and you’ll want to make a good impression.
A site that’s riddled with typos reflects poorly on you, but what about intentional misspellings? You may be able to draw more searches this way, but you do so at the expense of appearing unprofessional.
It’s really a matter of preference. I want my personal site to be flawless, but for a lead-generating site that doesn’t have my name on it, I’m not opposed to using misspellings if they’ll get traffic.
There are six misspellings with any measurable search volume:[1]
Keyword | Estimated Avg. CPC | Local Monthly Searches | Searches/CPC |
Mesotheloma | $60.04 | 390 | 6.50 |
Mesotheleoma | $58.90 | 320 | 5.43 |
Mestothelioma | $55.26 | <10 | 0.18 |
Mesolioma | $55.18 | <10 | 0.18 |
Mezothelioma | $36.10 | 16 | 0.44 |
Mesothalioma | $21.77 | <10 | 0.46 |
Because the last four have so few searches overall, they’re unlikely to attract someone looking for a lawyer in my area.
The first two have 710 searches between them—a respectable number. They’re expensive, though, so it might be hard to rank.
I’ll write a page focusing on “Orange County mesotheloma” [sic] and one focusing on “Orange County mesotheleoma” [sic]. If they get some traffic, great. If not, no big deal.[2]
New Mesothelioma Keywords
From favorite to least favorite, here are 13 new mesothelioma keywords to add to your list. Replace “Orange County” with the name of your city.[3]
- Orange County lawyers asbestos
- Orange County attorney asbestos
- Orange County lawyer asbestos
- Orange County asbestos lawyer
- Orange County asbestos attorney
- Orange County asbestos lawyers
- Orange County asbestos attorneys
- Orange County asbestos cancer lawyers
- Orange County asbestos cancer lawyer
- Orange County asbestos cancer attorney
- Orange County asbestos cancer attorneys
- Orange County mesotheloma lawyer [sic]
- Orange County mesotheleoma lawyer [sic]
Endnotes
[1] If you search for “mesotheloma ” [sic] or “mesotheleoma” [sic] on Google or Bing, it will actually show you the results for “mesothelioma.” This is another reason I’m not too enthusiastic about misspelling keywords. Back to text.
[2] The national firm whose site comes up first in a search for “mesothelioma” has 67 pages devoted to different misspellings, so some successful Internet marketers are less cavalier about this than I am. Back to text.
[3] I used “Orange County” this time instead of “Irvine” because I’m already ranking for my “Irvine” keywords. It’s better to start small and expand your geographic focus than to overreach at first and not rank for anything. Back to text.
Simple SEO Tips for Personal Injury Lawyers
Maintaining and improving Google page position requires regular effort. The most effective ways to move your website up in position fall into these three categories: (1) inbound links, (2) keyworded content, and (3) website architecture.
Here are a few tips to get you started. These are big topics, so I will be sending you additional suggestions over the next few months.
1. Inbound links
Your goal is to obtain links to your website and its key pages using popular search phrases in the link (called anchor text). If for example “Houston truck accident lawyer” is one of your targeted search phrases, then you want other websites to use that phrase as their link to your site. Here are several ways to obtain those links:
a. Ask your friends, family, and contacts with websites to give you a link using your recommended anchor text. You will receive higher value (“link juice”) when (1) you do not provide a reciprocal link and (2) the linking website has a higher Page Rank than your site does.
b. Ask your friends and top clients to link to your site from their Facebook and Twitter pages. Search engines are beginning to crawl the social media sites.
c. Write articles for others that link back to your site using your targeted anchor text.
2. Keyworded content
a. Ask your staff and your clients which phrases they use to search for lawyers like you. Visit www.googlekeywordtool.com and click Keyword Tool to check the monthly search volume for these phrases. Then search for your website on Google using the more popular phrases. If you do not appear on Google page one or two for an important phrase, you have some writing to do.
b. The best search phrases, or keywords, to target with your writing are ones that have high search volume and weak competition, and for which your website does not rank well on Google. Write 300- word or longer articles using the keywords three times — in the headline, in the first few sentences, and in the last few sentences.
c. Try to write add one article a week to your website. You should begin seeing improved Google page position within a few weeks after your writing program begins. If not, you may have problems with:
3. Website architecture
You are likely dependent upon others for this work, so it is probably hard for you to judge the quality of your website’s construction. Most site designers spend a lot of time making sites pleasing to the human eye, but your folder structure, site map, and HTML readability are far more important.
We Can Handle Your Personal Injury Lawyer Advertising
If you need more guidance, we are happy to help. Schedule an appointment with us today to learn more about how we can help you with your PPC efforts.
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