Almost half of Australian legal service users (47%) chose a provider partly through internet or social media searches (X-LULU Survey, 2026). Google Ads puts your firm at the top of those searches today, not in six months. But at about A$13 to A$23 a click for Queensland family law searches, a loose campaign can spend a month's budget in a week.
This guide walks through Google Ads for lawyers step by step: setting up the account, tracking enquiries, structuring campaigns, choosing keywords, writing ads within the rules, setting a budget and checking results. It's written for small family law firms in Brisbane and the Gold Coast that need enquiries soon and can answer every call. If you're still deciding, our guide to SEO or Google Ads for a small family law firm helps you choose. It's general marketing information, not legal advice.
Key takeaways
- Track enquiries before you spend. Set up call and form tracking first. Google can count calls from your ads and from your website, using free forwarding numbers that work in Australia.
- Start narrow. One campaign for your main service and the suburbs you actually serve. Queensland family law clicks cost about A$13 to A$23 each (Semrush, November 2026).
- Negative keywords save money. Block searches like "free", "legal aid", "jobs" and "forms" so you don't pay for clicks that will never become clients.
- Target where clients are, not where they're interested. Google's default location setting, "Presence or interest", can show your ads to people outside your area. Switch to "Presence".
- Ads are advertising under rule 36. No "specialists" unless a solicitor is accredited, no "no win no fee" for family law matters where it's prohibited, and no fine print that changes the headline.
- Check the search terms every month. They show what people actually typed before they clicked, and where your money went.
How does Google Ads work for a law firm?
Google Ads lets you pay to appear when someone searches for what you do, such as "property settlement lawyer brisbane". You pay only when someone clicks. Each search runs a quick auction, and Google weighs your bid alongside how relevant and useful your ad and page are. Its 1 to 10 Quality Score is a diagnostic that shows how your ad quality compares with other advertisers (Google Ads Help).
One option you won't see in Australia: Google's Local Services Ads, the pay-per-lead listings Google runs in countries such as the US, Canada and the UK, aren't offered here (Local Services Ads Help). For Australian firms, Google Ads means search campaigns.
How do you set up a Google Ads account for a law firm?
Open the account in the firm's name, complete Google's advertiser verification, and change two default settings before any ad runs. Google says "all advertisers will eventually be required to complete advertiser verification", and if you're asked and don't finish within 30 days, the account is paused (Google Ads Help).
A setup checklist:
- The firm owns the account. Create it with a firm email address and add any agency as a user. If you part ways, the account and its history stay with you.
- Complete verification when asked. You'll provide documents with the firm's legal name and location, which then appear in the ad's "About this advertiser" details (Google). Make sure they match how the firm presents itself.
- Link your Google Business Profile. This lets your address and phone number show under your ads as a location asset (Google Ads Help).
- Turn off search partners at first. Google includes them "by default" in search campaigns (Google Ads Help). Start on Google Search alone, then test partners once you know what an enquiry costs.
- Leave the Display Network off. Banner ads on other websites rarely suit someone looking for a family lawyer.
How do you track enquiries from Google Ads?
Set up conversion tracking before you spend a dollar, so Google Ads counts calls and forms, not just clicks. Google can track "Calls from ads", "Calls to a phone number on your website" and "Clicks on a number on your mobile website" (Google Ads Help).
What to track for a family law firm:
- Calls from the ad itself. A call asset puts a phone number in the ad, so people can call without visiting the site.
- Calls from your website. Google swaps your number for a forwarding number when someone arrives from an ad, "without any cost to you", and these numbers are available in Australia (Google Ads Help).
- Only real calls. You choose a minimum call length, such as 60 seconds, so wrong numbers and hang-ups don't count as enquiries.
- Form enquiries. Count a form only when it's sent, usually when the thank-you page loads, not when someone opens the contact page.
This step is the one most often missed. When we reviewed the ad tracking for MCG Legal, a boutique Gold Coast firm, the website was recording page views but not enquiries, so nobody could tell which campaigns brought in clients.
How should a law firm structure its campaigns?
Start with one search campaign for your main service and real service area, with an ad group for each matter type. A simple structure is easier to read, and a small budget isn't split so thinly that nothing gets enough clicks to learn from.
A starting structure for a Brisbane family law firm:
- Campaign: Family law, Brisbane
- Ad group 1: Property settlement
- Ad group 2: Parenting arrangements
- Ad group 3: Divorce
- Ad group 4: Your firm's own name
Each ad group gets its own keywords, its own ads and its own landing page. Add a second campaign only when there's a real reason, such as a second office with a different budget.
What about Performance Max? It's Google's automated campaign type that runs across "all Google Ads inventory", from Search to YouTube (Google Ads Help). It can generate leads, but gives you less control over where ads appear and what they say, so start with search.
Which keywords should a family law firm bid on?
Bid on searches that name a service and a place, because they come from people ready to call. The busiest terms are also the most expensive, so a small budget often goes further on specific services and suburbs.
| Search | Searches a month (AU) | Estimated cost per click |
|---|---|---|
| family lawyers brisbane | 2,400 | A$15.93 |
| family lawyer near me | 1,600 | A$13.42 |
| family lawyers gold coast | 1,300 | A$22.93 |
| family lawyer sunshine coast | 1,300 | A$22.96 |
| family lawyer ipswich | 170 | A$10.79 |
Source: Semrush, Australian database, November 2026. Estimates only; your actual costs depend on your ads, pages and competition.
Match types decide how closely a search must fit your keyword. Google's definitions:
- Exact match: ads may show on searches with "the same meaning or same intent as the keyword".
- Phrase match: ads may show on searches that "include the meaning of your keyword".
- Broad match: ads may show on searches "related to your keyword" (Google Ads Help).
Start with exact and phrase match on your core terms. Broad match reaches more searches, but on a small budget it can drift into searches you'd never choose.
Which negative keywords should you add?
Negative keywords "let you exclude search terms from your campaigns" (Google Ads Help). For a family law firm, a starting list might include:
- Free help: free, legal aid, pro bono (unless you do this work)
- Jobs: jobs, careers, salary, graduate, paralegal
- Study: course, degree, university, textbook
- Do it yourself: forms, template, kit, "how to file"
- Other areas you don't handle: criminal, conveyancing, wills, immigration
Add to the list every month from your search terms report.
Can you bid on a competitor firm's name?
Google doesn't restrict trade marks as keywords, but a trade mark owner can complain about their name in your ad text, and Google "may restrict use of the trademark" (Google Ads Policies). Rule 36 still applies, so an ad must never suggest you are the other firm. Check with your solicitor before trying it.
Which locations and hours should you target?
Target people who are actually in your service area, at the hours someone can answer the phone. Google's default location setting is "Presence or interest", which can include people outside your area who are merely interested in it. The "Presence" option targets people "in or regularly in your targeted locations" (Google Ads Help).
For a family law firm:
- Choose "Presence". You want people who live or work nearby, not someone in another state reading about Brisbane.
- Draw the area you really serve. Suburbs or a radius around each office, not all of Queensland.
- Set an ad schedule. Ad scheduling lets you "specify certain hours or days of the week when you want your ads to show" (Google Ads Help). If nobody answers after 6pm, either pause the ads or point evening clicks to a form with a clear callback promise.
- Watch the late-night searches. Family law enquiries often come outside office hours. If you can respond first thing next morning, evening ads may be worth keeping.
What can a law firm's Google Ads say?
Anything true that isn't misleading. Under rule 36 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules, a law practice's advertising must not be "false; misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive; offensive; or prohibited by law" (QLS). A 30-character headline is still advertising.
Watch for these in ad text:
- "Specialists". QLS says a claim to specialise "is likely to be seen to be a claim to expertise" (QLS). Use it only if a solicitor is a QLS Accredited Specialist in Family Law, and name them.
- "No win no fee". QLS says firms "should not advertise 'no win no fee' for criminal law and some family law matters", because those agreements are prohibited (QLS).
- Prices. "Fixed fee" or "free first consultation" must be true, with conditions clear. QLS says "a bare statement such as 'conditions apply'" is unlikely to be enough.
- Fine print. The ACCC says qualifications "must not conflict with the overall message of the advertisement", and it "makes no difference whether a business intends to mislead or not" (ACCC).
- "Best", "leading" and outcomes. Hard to prove, and a promised result can mislead.
How do you write the ads?
Google's responsive search ads take "up to 15 headlines and 4 descriptions", with headlines up to 30 characters and descriptions up to 90 (Google Ads Help). Google mixes them, so every headline must make sense next to any other.
A compliant set for a property settlement ad group might include headlines like:
- Property Settlement Lawyers
- Family Lawyers in Brisbane
- Book a First Consultation
- Clear Fees Explained Upfront
- Talk to a Family Lawyer Today
Pin your most important headline, such as the service and city, to position 1 if you need it to show every time; Google says pinning "causes it to show only in that specific position". Add a call asset and a location asset, and use sitelinks for your fees page and team page. Our family law advertising rules guide has the full compliance checklist.
Where should your ads send people?
Send each ad group to the page for that service, not the homepage. Someone who searched "property settlement lawyer brisbane" should land on your property settlement page, with a tap-to-call number and a short form in view.
Google's Quality Score includes "landing page experience", so a relevant, fast page helps your ads compete as well as lifting enquiries (Google Ads Help). Before you launch, check each landing page:
- Matches the search. The headline names the service in the ad.
- Works on a phone. The call button is easy to tap and the form is short.
- Answers the next question. How it works, how fees work, who will help.
Our family law website checklist covers what each page needs, and our guide to law firm website design covers how service pages should be laid out. If your ads already get clicks but no calls, read why Google Ads get clicks but no enquiries.
How much should a law firm spend on Google Ads?
Enough to get a steady flow of clicks on your main service, usually for at least three months before judging it. At A$13 to A$23 a click, A$3,000 a month buys roughly 130 to 230 clicks. Set the budget from what a new client is worth to the firm, not from a percentage.
How Google spends it: you set an average daily budget, and "on a given day, your campaign might spend up to twice your average daily budget". Across the month, you'll spend "no more than 30.4 times your average daily budget" (Google Ads Help). So A$100 a day means up to about A$3,040 a month.
To stretch a small budget, cut waste first with tight locations, an ad schedule and negative keywords, and fund one service fully rather than four thinly.
Which bid strategy should you use?
Start with Maximise conversions once tracking works. It "uses Google's AI to set bids to help get the most conversions" within your budget (Google Ads Help). If tracking isn't set up yet, don't use it: Google will chase whatever it's counting, even page views.
Once the campaign has a steady record of enquiries, you can set a target cost per enquiry (Target CPA). Google says you can start it with no conversion history, but recommends judging results over 30 days with "at least 30 conversions" (Google Ads Help). Many small firms take a few months to reach that.
Our guide to family law firm marketing costs shows how ad spend fits alongside your website and SEO, and what agencies typically charge to manage it.
What should you check every month?
Check what you paid for, what it brought in and what to change.
- Search terms. What people actually typed before clicking. Add irrelevant ones as negative keywords, and good ones as keywords.
- Enquiries and cost per enquiry. Calls and forms by ad group, not just clicks. Compare with what a client is worth.
- Real calls. Ask whoever answers the phone whether calls from ads were genuine family law enquiries.
- Impression share. How often your ads showed when they could have. A low figure on a profitable ad group may mean the budget is too tight.
- Ad wording. Recheck any new headlines against rule 36, especially anything Google suggests automatically.
- Landing pages. Test the form and the call button on a phone.
If an agency manages your ads, ask for these in plain English. Our guide to reading a Google Ads report explains each number and what to ask.
Frequently asked questions
Clicks on Queensland family law searches cost about A$13 to A$23 each (Semrush, November 2026), so A$3,000 a month buys roughly 130 to 230 clicks. Agency management is usually extra. Start with one service and your real service area, and judge it on cost per enquiry after about three months.
No legal-specific certification applies to Australian family law firms. Google asks advertisers to complete advertiser verification, and an account is paused if you don't finish within 30 days of being asked (Google Ads Help). Your ads must still follow rule 36 and the Australian Consumer Law.
Usually not. QLS says firms "should not advertise 'no win no fee' for criminal law and some family law matters", because those agreements are prohibited under Queensland law. Check with QLS before using any fee claim, and never rely on "conditions apply" alone.
Not at first. Performance Max runs across all of Google's ad inventory, which gives you less control over where ads appear and what they say. A search campaign with exact and phrase match keywords is easier to keep within budget and within the rules. Google also prioritises exact match search keywords over Performance Max.
Ads can bring calls in the first week, but it usually takes a few months to learn which searches and ads bring real clients. Google recommends judging a target cost per enquiry on at least 30 conversions over 30 days, which many small firms take a while to reach.
Start small and track everything
Google Ads works for family law firms that keep it narrow, tracked and honest. Track calls and forms before you spend, run one campaign for your main service and real area, block the searches that will never become clients, and keep every ad within rule 36.
Then check the search terms every month and grow what works. Our SEO for lawyers guide covers the slower work that reduces your reliance on paid clicks.
Want a second opinion on your firm's Google Ads? We'll check your tracking, keywords and ad wording, and tell you where the budget is leaking. Book a free marketing review.
