Negative Keywords for Law Firms

When managing PPC campaigns, the precise use of negative keywords is essential to ensure your ads reach the intended audience—potential clients looking for legal services. Our extensive analysis of over 1.4 million PPC legal keyword searches, covering exact match, phrase match, and broad match settings, reveals substantial inefficiencies that law firms need to address:

Broad Match Wastage: Broad match settings can result in as much as 68% of clicks being irrelevant, leading to considerable wastage in advertising budgets. This underscores the need for law firms to refine their keyword strategies and target only those genuinely interested in legal services.

Phrase Match Inefficiencies: Even with phrase match, about 43% of clicks remain irrelevant. This level of inefficiency calls for tighter control and alignment of keyword strategies to ensure relevance and intent in the traffic attracted.

Exact Match Limitations: Surprisingly, exact match settings still allow 28% of clicks to be irrelevant. This may be due to misaligned search intents or the inclusion of generic terms, highlighting the necessity for further refinement.

Financial Implications: With a typical marketing budget of $10,000 per month, these inefficiencies could lead to a waste of between $3,500 and $6,500 monthly due to non-converting clicks. This significant financial impact necessitates the strategic use of negative keywords to block irrelevant searches effectively.

Strategic Use of Negative Keywords: 

Employing negative keywords helps refine PPC campaigns by preventing ads from displaying on searches that include specific undesired phrases or terms. This method enhances traffic relevance, increases ROI, and ensures that the ads are seen only by potential clients with a high intent to engage legal services.

By prioritizing meticulous keyword management and integrating negative keywords, law firms can significantly improve the efficiency of their PPC campaigns. This approach ensures that every advertising dollar is an investment toward attracting genuinely interested clients, making it crucial in today's competitive digital advertising landscape.

Why Are Negative Keywords Important?

Prevent Wasted Spend: Negative keywords prevent your PPC campaign budget from being wasted on irrelevant clicks and queries.

Critical for Success: Negative keywords are essential for the success of any Google Ads or Microsoft Ads campaign.

Avoid Blocking Relevant Traffic: Without careful management, a conflicting negative keyword can block relevant traffic you are targeting.

Filter Your Audience: Negative keywords help filter out who views your ad, ensuring your ads reach the right audience.

The Impact of Variant Keywords

The PPC advertising world has evolved significantly in the last 18 months with the introduction of "variant" keywords. This means that your targeted keywords can have several different meanings. 

For example, if you are targeting the keywords "car accident lawyer near me," your ads could appear for terms like:

• "car accident stats"
• "car accident pictures"
• "car accident insurance"
• "car accident appraiser"
• "car accident articles"

How to Stop Irrelevant Clicks

The only way to stop these types of clicks is to make them "negative keywords." Add these irrelevant terms to your ad campaign's negative keyword list.

Examples of Negative Keywords for Law Firms:

• Stat, Stats, Statistic, Statistics
• Pic, Pics, Pictures
• Insurance, Insurances
• Appraiser, Appraisers, Appraising
• Article, Articles

Our Negative Keyword Lists for Law Firms have more than 4,000 negative keywords that will block irrelevant clicks like these.

1. AI Generated SEO Optimized Content Pages: These pages help your firm rank on the first page of Google and Bing.

2. Negative Keywords for Law Firms: These keywords optimize your ad spend, ensuring your ads reach the right audience. These innovative strategies will help your firm achieve top search engine rankings and optimize ad spend, ensuring your ads reach the right audience and drive more client conversions.

Contact Us Today

To learn more about how these innovative strategies can benefit your law firm, contact us at 888.253.0980. Start optimizing your online presence and see the difference in your client acquisition efforts!

Feel free to reach out if you need more information or assistance with using negative keywords for your law firm's ad campaigns! 

Negative Keywords Are Like...A Humorous Look at Negative Keywords

Guard Dog Duty: Think of negative keywords as the loyal guard dogs of your PPC campaigns. They sniff out and chase away unwanted, irrelevant clicks like "free" or "how to become a real estate agent" when you're only selling homes.

Treasure Hunters: Just like adventurers discard irrelevant maps, negative keywords help discard searches that aren't looking for the 'treasure' you offer. They ensure only the most interested treasure hunters reach your ad treasure chest!

Bouncer at the Club: Like a strict bouncer at a club, negative keywords check each search term at the door. If the term isn't on the guest list because it's irrelevant, it’s not getting into the party that is your PPC campaign.

Fussy Chef: Imagine your PPC campaign as a meticulous chef who refuses to let ingredients that don't blend well into his dish. Negative keywords keep the unwanted spices out, ensuring only the best flavors attract your customers.

Mismatched Dates: Negative keywords prevent awkward dates by filtering out searchers who aren’t a good match for your business. No more spending money on clicks from people looking for "rental homes" when you’re selling luxury estates.

The Great Sieve: Like a sieve that only keeps the good stuff, negative keywords filter out the less relevant queries, ensuring your ad spend only goes towards queries that count.

Socks and Sandals: They keep the "socks and sandals" fashion faux pas out of your stylish shoe store campaigns. If your ad is about high fashion, negative keywords will block searches like "cheap flip flops" to keep the focus on style.

Detective on Duty: Negative keywords work like detectives removing red herrings, making sure only the clues that lead to a potential customer are followed. This keeps your campaign on track and more efficient.

Noisy Library Patrons: Just like a librarian who shushes noisy patrons, negative keywords quiet down irrelevant search terms. They ensure that your library (campaign) is filled only with serious readers (clickers) who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

Picky Eater at a Buffet: Think of your campaign as a buffet and negative keywords as the picky eater. They will skip over the dishes that don't appeal, like "DIY home selling," making sure to fill their plate only with what suits their taste, aligning perfectly with your targeted offerings.

Each of these examples showcases how creatively using negative keywords can block irrelevant searches and focus your PPC efforts on the audience that truly matters for your business.

1. What are Negative Keywords and How Do They Affect My Law Firm's PPC Campaigns?

Answer: Negative keywords are specific terms or phrases that prevent your ads from being triggered by a particular word or phrase. For a law firm, this means your ads will not appear for searches that include these negative keywords. This helps to avoid irrelevant traffic, ensuring your ads are only shown to potential clients who are looking for the services you offer. For example, if your firm does not handle pro bono cases, adding "pro bono" as a negative keyword will prevent your ads from showing up for searches related to free legal services.

2. Why are Negative Keywords Important for My Law Firm?

Answer: Negative keywords are crucial because they help optimize your PPC campaigns by filtering out unwanted traffic. This ensures that your budget is spent on clicks that are more likely to convert into clients. By avoiding irrelevant clicks, you can increase your return on investment (ROI) and improve the overall performance of your ad campaigns.

3. How Do I Identify Negative Keywords for My Law Firm?

Answer: To identify negative keywords, start by reviewing the search terms report in your PPC platform. Look for terms that are generating clicks but not leading to conversions. Consider the services your law firm does not offer and add those related terms as negative keywords. For example, if your firm does not handle immigration law, you might add "immigration lawyer" as a negative keyword.

4. Can You Give Me an Example of a Negative Keyword for My Law Firm?

Answer: Certainly! If your law firm specializes in personal injury cases but does not handle employment law, you could use "employment lawyer" as a negative keyword. This will prevent your ads from showing up for searches related to employment law, ensuring your budget is spent on more relevant searches.

5. How Much Money Can I Save Using Negative Keywords?

Answer: The amount of money you can save using negative keywords depends on the extent of irrelevant traffic your ads are receiving. By filtering out non-relevant searches, you can significantly reduce wasted spend. For example, if 30% of your clicks are from irrelevant searches, implementing negative keywords can save that portion of your budget, which can be redirected towards more relevant traffic.

6. What are the Advantages of Using Negative Keywords?

Answer: The advantages of using negative keywords include:

Cost Savings: Reduces wasted ad spend by avoiding irrelevant clicks.

Improved CTR: Ensures your ads are shown to a more targeted audience, improving your click-through rate (CTR).

Higher Conversion Rates: Increases the likelihood of clicks converting into clients.

Better Quality Score: Improves your ad relevance, which can lead to lower cost-per-click (CPC) and better ad positions.

7. How Do Negative Keywords Improve My Ad Campaign Performance?

Answer: Negative keywords improve ad campaign performance by ensuring your ads are only shown to users who are more likely to need your services. This leads to a higher CTR, better conversion rates, and an improved Quality Score. With a better Quality Score, your ads can achieve higher positions at a lower cost, maximizing your ad spend efficiency.

8. How Often Should I Update My Negative Keywords List?

Answer: Regularly updating your negative keywords list is essential to maintain optimal campaign performance. Review your search terms report at least once a month to identify new negative keywords. Additionally, consider seasonal trends and changes in your law firm's services that might require adjustments to your negative keyword list.

9. Can Negative Keywords Conflict with Positive Keywords in My Campaign?

Answer: Yes, if not managed carefully, negative keywords can conflict with your positive keywords. For example, if you add "free consultation" as a negative keyword but also advertise "free consultation for personal injury cases," it might block relevant traffic. To avoid conflicts, use phrase match or exact match types for negative keywords where necessary, and regularly review your negative keywords list to ensure it aligns with your campaign goals

.

10. What Tools Can Help Manage Negative Keywords for My Law Firm?

Answer: Several tools can help manage negative keywords effectively:

Google Ads Search Terms Report: Provides insights into which search queries triggered your ads, helping you identify negative keywords.

Negative Keyword Lists: Allows you to create and apply lists of negative keywords across multiple campaigns.

Keyword Research Tools: Tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs can help identify irrelevant terms that you may want to add as negative keywords.

Automated Rules: Set up automated rules in your PPC platform to automatically add certain terms as negative keywords based on performance metrics.

By effectively using and managing negative keywords, your law firm can optimize its PPC campaigns, ensuring that your ads reach the right audience while minimizing wasted spend.

Bonus Negative Keyword Stats:

WordStream found that using negative keywords can improve CTR by up to 30% and reduce CPC by up to 15%.

Google Ads reports that advertisers who use a strategic list of negative keywords can see an increase in Quality Score and ad rank

. 

Lead Tracking Neglected by Many Firms

About 26% of law firms do not track their leads at all, missing out on crucial data for optimizing their marketing efforts and client acquisition.

Sources: Onward Justia

 1. Identify Irrelevant Searches

Identify and exclude keywords that are not relevant to your legal services. For example, if you specialize in personal injury law, exclude keywords related to "criminal defense" or "estate planning."

Source: WordStream - The Importance of Negative Keywords in PPC

2. Use Broad Match and Phrase Match Negative Keywords

Use broad match and phrase match negative keywords to prevent your ads from appearing for variations of unwanted search terms. This can help avoid irrelevant clicks and save budget.

Source: SEMrush - How to Use Negative Keywords Effectively

3. Regularly Update Negative Keyword Lists

Regularly review and update your negative keyword lists to adapt to changing search behaviors and new trends in the legal industry. This ensures your ads remain relevant.

Source: Google Ads Help - About Negative Keywords

4. Exclude Competitor Names

Exclude competitor names and brands from your keyword lists to avoid wasting budget on searches that are unlikely to convert into clients for your law firm.

Source: Search Engine Journal - How to Use Negative Keywords to Save Your PPC Budget

5. Filter Out Job Seekers

Add negative keywords related to job searches, such as "jobs," "careers," or "employment," to avoid clicks from individuals looking for employment rather than legal services.

Source: WordStream - How to Use Negative Keywords to Increase ROI

6. Avoid Geographic Mismatches

Exclude geographic terms that do not align with your service area to ensure your ads are shown only to users within your target location.

Source: Google Ads Help - Excluding Locations

7. Eliminate Informational Queries

Exclude informational keywords that indicate research rather than purchasing intent, such as "how to" or "what is," to focus on high-intent searches.

Source: SEMrush - How to Use Negative Keywords Effectively

8. Exclude Low-Intent Keywords

Identify and exclude low-intent keywords that are unlikely to convert into leads or clients, such as "free advice" or "pro bono."

Source: Crazy Egg - Using Negative Keywords to Improve Conversions

9. Monitor Search Query Reports

Regularly check your search query reports to identify new negative keywords that can be added to your list to refine targeting and improve ad performance.

Source: WordStream - How to Use Negative Keywords in Google Ads

10. Use Negative Keywords for Ad Groups and Campaigns

Apply negative keywords at both the ad group and campaign levels to ensure comprehensive coverage and prevent unwanted clicks across different ad segments.

Source: Google Ads Help - Add Negative Keywords to Campaigns

By implementing these strategies, law firms can optimize their PPC campaigns, reduce wasted ad spend, and attract more relevant leads, ultimately increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

 Why Negative Keywords Matter:

• Save Money: Proper use of negative keywords can save you significant ad spend.
• Drive Relevant Traffic: Ensure your ads reach the right audience, leading to more conversions.
• Ensure Relevant Ads: Negative keywords make sure your ads only appear for relevant searches.
• Control Ad Visibility: Choose which keywords to exclude, enhancing ad effectiveness.
• Highly Targeted Campaigns: The key to a targeted campaign is knowing what keywords NOT to target.

Campaign vs. Ad Group Level Negative Keywords:

Campaign Level Negative Keywords:

• Broad Impact: These keywords block ads across the entire campaign.
• Example for Law Firms: If you don’t handle certain types of law, add those as campaign-level negative keywords to avoid irrelevant clicks.

Ad Group Level Negative Keywords:

• Specific Control: Control which ad groups within your campaign do not show for certain keywords.
• 
  
• Prevent Conflict: Ensure ad groups don’t compete against each other, directing impressions to the right ads.

• Recommendation: Use shared negative keyword lists in Phrase Match and Exact Match campaigns to avoid partial conflicts.
• 
  

Optimize Your Ad Spend: By strategically using both campaign and ad group level negative keywords, you can:

• Improve click-through rates (CTR).
• Ensure your ads reach the right audience.
• Maximize your ad spend efficiency.

Contact Us: To learn more about optimizing your PPC campaigns with effective negative keyword strategies, contact us today!

Humorous Examples of How Negative Keywords Work:

Guard Dogs: Negative keywords are like guard dogs for your PPC campaigns, fiercely blocking any irrelevant keywords that try to sneak in and waste your budget.

Spam Filters: Negative keywords are the spam filters of your PPC campaigns, ensuring that unwanted clicks and irrelevant searches get caught in their net and don't mess with your ROI.

Keyword Ninjas: Negative keywords are like ninja warriors in your PPC strategy, silently taking down any irrelevant keywords before they can do any damage to your campaign.

Party Bouncers: Negative keywords are the bouncers at the door of your PPC party, making sure only the right guests (keywords) get in, while turning away the riff-raff.

PPC Lifeguards: Negative keywords are the lifeguards of your PPC campaigns, constantly scanning the waters for any dangerous or unwanted keywords and keeping your campaign safe and sound.

Pest Control: Negative keywords are like pest control for your PPC ads, keeping all the annoying and unwanted critters (keywords) from invading your campaign and ruining your results.

Traffic Cops: Negative keywords act like traffic cops for your PPC efforts, directing the wrong traffic away and making sure only the right visitors get through to your ads.

Email Spam Guards: Negative keywords are like the spam guards for your PPC emails, ensuring that only the relevant and desired messages get through while blocking all the junk.

Airport Security: Negative keywords are like airport security for your PPC flights, ensuring that only the ticketed passengers (relevant keywords) make it through the gate, while keeping the potential troublemakers (irrelevant keywords) out.

Museum Curators: Negative keywords are like museum curators, carefully selecting which pieces (keywords) are worthy of being displayed in your campaign and keeping the rest out of sight to maintain the quality and relevance of your exhibit (PPC campaign).