How to Improve Your Law Firm’s Local Service Ads

Local service ads offer a lot of value, especially to a law firm. They are easy to set up, easy to manage, and the leads are very trackable. This is all fortunate for a law firm looking to make a dent and get some more leads. Unfortunately, it’s also easy for your competitors to do the same thing. What can you do to improve your law firm’s local service ads and get out ahead of the competition? Civille has a few ideas that you should consider implementing.

Nailing the Basics

Before you can optimize, you have to get the setup right. This sounds simple, but it’s where many firms falter. Your LSA profile pulls information directly from your linked Google Business Profile (GBP) and other setup details. It is absolutely critical to ensure a proper setup from the beginning. Double-check that your firm’s name, phone number, website, and address are all accurate and consistent across your GBP, LSA account, and website. Any discrepancy can cause delays in approval. This initial data integrity is the bedrock of a successful LSA campaign.

Choose Your Targets Wisely

A common mistake is aiming your marketing at everyone. You will stretch your budget further and find better leads by being strategic. Pinpoint who you want to reach and what specific services you are offering them.

Pinpointing Your Service Areas

Don’t just set your service area to your entire state or a massive metro area unless you are truly willing and able to serve clients effectively everywhere within it. Make sure you are targeting communities that truly need and can access your services. A lead from two hours away might be valid, but if your firm isn’t structured to handle that distance, it’s a wasted lead. Review your service area settings regularly and align them with where your most profitable clients actually come from.

Selecting the Right Job Types

You cannot create custom service categories in LSAs. You can only use the presets Google provides for law firms. This means you need to select the job types that most accurately reflect the cases you want. You may be a general practice, but you may not want to run LSAs for every practice area that you handle. Focus your budget on your most valuable services. 

Finding the Right Budget and Bidding Strategy

Your LSA budget directly impacts lead volume. While it’s true that a larger budget generally means more leads, it can also mean a higher cost per lead as Google pushes to spend your daily or weekly cap. It will take time to find the right balance for your firm. Start with a budget you’re comfortable with, analyze the lead quality, and scale up as you find a comfortable cost-per-acquisition.

For your bidding strategy, you generally have two main choices: “Maximize Leads” or “Max Per Lead.” Choosing “Maximize Leads” tells Google to get you the most leads possible for your budget. This can sometimes increase the cost for each lead. Setting a “Max Per Lead” bid gives you more cost control, but you might get fewer leads if your bid is too low for your market. A good tip is starting with “Maximize Leads” to see what a lead really costs, then switching to a “Max Per Lead” strategy if needed.

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Law Firm Local Service Ads: How Much Should I Invest?

Optimizing Your Profile for Maximum Impact

Once your targeting is set, you need to make your ad itself as appealing as possible.

The Power of a Professional Photo

You want potential clients to see you as trustworthy and professional from their very first click. Your headshot is how you do that. It is more than a picture. It is a business tool. Be sure to add more photos to your profile, and make sure your main headshot is perfect. A photo that meets Google’s guidelines should be a good quality shot of you and only you, looking ahead.

Building Trust with Client Reviews

Ever wonder how Google decides your LSA ranking? It really comes down to which business it trusts most. It measures that trust by looking at the reviews on your linked Google Business Profile. When you get a steady stream of recent, positive reviews, you are sending a clear signal. You are telling Google that customers are actively choosing you and are happy. Google rewards this by placing your ads higher, getting you more leads.

Utilize Your Business Hours

Be sure to set your LSA business hours only for times when you can actually answer phone calls. If you list your hours as 24/7, customers will expect an immediate response around the clock. When calls go to voicemail, you create a bad client experience. You also might waste money on leads you cannot help right away. Be honest about your hours or use a 24/7 answering service.

Turning Calls into Conversions

The phone ringing is just an opportunity. Whether you win a new client or they call your competition depends entirely on how you handle that call.

Answering the Phone (and Managing Costs)

First and foremost, answer the phone. A missed call is a missed opportunity. This is where you can be strategic. Google generally charges for a lead after 30 seconds. This gives you a brief window to vet the call. If you can vet the call with a few quick questions and determine it’s not a valid lead (e.g., a solicitor or someone seeking a service you don’t offer) and get off the phone before that threshold, you can avoid a charge for that lead.

Why Voicemails Don’t Cut It

Voicemails are nice, but ensuring you have a real person answering and handling the intake is much better. Preferably, this person is knowledgeable enough to do a first round of vetting. A live, empathetic, and professional conversation builds immediate trust. Answering the phone promptly also sends a strong signal to Google that people get an answer when they call you, and they may not for your competitors. This can positively influence your ad ranking over time.

Read More: Optimizing Your Law Firm’s Intake Process

Understanding the New AI-Powered Call Review System

The old method of manually disputing individual LSA calls is gone. Google has replaced that system with one that is monitored by an AI. This new process was fully implemented through 2024 and, as of mid-2025, is now the standard.

What this means for you is that Google’s AI now listens to and analyzes your recorded LSA calls. It determines if they are valid leads by listening for conversation about the professional services you offer. The initial moments of your calls are now more important than ever. Your intake staff must be trained to quickly identify the caller’s needs to ensure the AI categorizes the call correctly. There is no longer a “dispute” button. The AI makes the final determination on charges.

However, this doesn’t mean you have no recourse or input. While the direct dispute is gone, Google has provided a different way for you to provide feedback: the lead rating system. After a call comes in, you have the option in your LSA dashboard to rate the lead. Providing this feedback is critical for two reasons.

First, while it’s not a guarantee, rating a clearly invalid lead (like a spam call or a query for a service you don’t offer) can sometimes still result in a credit. The AI may use your rating as a data point to re-evaluate the charge. More importantly, rating your leads consistently helps train Google’s system to understand what a quality lead looks like for your specific firm. By marking good leads as “booked” and bad leads appropriately, you are actively teaching the algorithm to send you better, more relevant calls in the future. This makes regularly reviewing and rating your calls a vital, ongoing task for optimizing your campaign performance.

Gaining a Competitive Edge

A few final strategies can set you apart.

Perform Smart Market Research

This may feel sneaky, but it’s just good business intelligence. Call your top competitors just to see what their intake process is like. Have a friend or service do it for you. Do they answer the phone? How quickly? Is the person on the other end knowledgeable? Does your call go straight to voicemail? Understanding their client experience will reveal gaps and opportunities for you to excel where they fall short.

Review and Rate Your Calls Regularly

Even though you can’t dispute calls in the same way, you should still listen to your recorded leads regularly within the LSA dashboard. This is an invaluable tool for quality control and training your intake staff. You can also provide feedback on the lead quality, which may help tune the AI over time.

Any Additional Settings to Be Aware Of?

While the main settings have been covered, always keep an eye on your LSA dashboard for new features. Google frequently tests new options, such as different ad formats or additional profile information fields, that could give you an edge. Staying active and engaged with your LSA profile is key.

GBP and LSA Management From Civille

Google Business Profile and LSA are easy on the surface. The difficulties come when problems arise. And problems will arise. When they do, you will find that Google support is nothing short of a labyrinth, and while you are waiting for another unhelpful response your ads may not be running or your GBP information may be wrong. At Civille, we cannot guarantee no downtime, but we work hard to avoid issues that will require support and when support is needed, we can get the matter resolved as quickly as possible so that you can get back to taking calls and getting cases. If you would like to learn more about our GBP and LSA management, please reach out to us today.