PPC is an integral part of any digital marketing campaign. By bidding on keywords related to your area of law on Google, Yahoo, and Bing, your firm will be able to drive traffic to your website and (hopefully) sign more clients. Unfortunately, law is one of the most expensive industries for paid ads. WordStream found that the average CPC for “lawyer” was $54. That’s a lot of money to spend to just get a user to your firm’s website. So how do you know if you’re spending too much on a single keyword?
Consider Your Area of Law
Some areas of law are simply way more competitive than others, and to have any hope of getting traffic to your landing pages, you’ll need to bid more. Personal injury is one of the most competitive areas of law in the country. A personal injury attorney can expect to pay at least triple what a Social Security disability attorney may need to pay for a keyword.
The good news for personal injury attorneys is that there’s so much search volume for PI keywords, you don’t necessarily need to bid high enough to rank at position 1. It could be more profitable to consistently stay at positions 3 or 4, or even rank on the bottom of the page for Google.
Consider Volume, Competition, and Intent
These three factors determine how much a bid costs, and of course how much you’re willing to budget for a single click. Volume is how many searches Google expects within a month. A very popular search, like “personal injury attorney,” will of course have much higher volume than something long tail like “auto accident lawyer in Boston MA”. Competition is how many neighboring firms are bidding on the same keywords as you. The more competition, the higher you can expect to pay for traffic to your site.
The final component that determines how much you should be willing to spend on a click is user intent. Some keywords may have a lot of volume and a very high recommended bid, but won’t yield a great client for your firm. Continuing with our personal injury firm example, let’s say you’re deciding between bidding on the keywords “auto accident lawyer Massachusetts” vs. “auto accident law Massachusetts.” It’s almost certain that the former keyword has the higher cost, but this still may be the more profitable option for your firm due to intent. Users who are searching for personal injury laws are less likely to convert than those directly looking for legal assistance.
Focus on Conversion Rate
At the end of the day, your conversion rate is more important than your click through rate or the amount you’re bidding per click. Your conversion rate is the percentage of users who end up completing a goal (in this case calling your firm) after clicking through an ad and landing on your firm’s website. It doesn’t matter if you’re only spending 5 cents on one click if none of your traffic converts to leads.
We have an entire PPC team dedicated to generating the highest quality personal injury leads possible. We also offer Social Security disability, workers’ compensation, and employment law leads. To learn more about our lead pricing and availability in your area, give us a call today at (617) 800-0089.
Sources Via: wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/06/27/most-expensive-keywords