Everything You Need to Know about Google Expanded Text Ads for Your Law Firm

New Google expanded text ads means big opportunity for Law Firms to maximize their return on investment in PPC.

As an attorney, you should be aware of how these new Google expanded text ads changes can affect your law firm.

In the past, AdWords has limited the flexibility of its ads with limited word counts that weren’t conducive to featuring law firms. Fitting all the needed text to showcase your firm was difficult. Divorce Attorney or Auto Accident Attorney barely fitting into a headline without some creative writing. Manipulating AdWords required specific tactics like building up the title or using exclamation points. Even these tricks had their limits. However, Google recently announced changes to allow for greater flexibility.

 

Google decided to make text changes in response to changing search patterns online. Reportedly, voice and mobile searches are at an all-time high in recent years. Google no longer saw the value in ads on the right side of the search engine results page (SERPs). It was far easier to have the ads appear in the same position on both mobile and desktop searches. It streamlines the ad process.

This change means that Google now has more to offer law firms and other businesses.

 

What is different from the traditional ads in AdWords?

The new “expanded text ads” allow for more control over what Google users see. It also provides the account with the ability to include more in the text. Before, you were only allowed a 25-character title, with a 35-character description. You can use that up very quickly.

As a law firm seeking to reach out to new clients, this allows more room to plead your case to potential clients.

The revamped AdWords allows accounts to use two titles (at 30 words each) and an 80-character limit for the description section. This especially helpful in law firm marketing, because frequently we have long title needs. More space – means more creativity.

The URL on the new format has changed, as well. You are still able to customize the URL to an extent. Google takes the URL from your law firm’s URL. Then, you are able to customize it with specific links up to two different paths. As an example you can display your child custody page in your custody ads without displaying it in your ads for Child Support. You can show an un-contested divorce page, specifically highlighting that practice area!

 

What impact can my firm expect?

Expectations are tricky. Like Google itself, success can be a mystery. Educated guesses are the best anyone can hope for in these situations. The Beta version of the Google expanded text ads program produced favorable results, according to Google. So far, this change is only available to certain accounts and certain partners. By the end of the year, Google plans to make this change permanent and available to all accounts.

That said, an increase in quality score means low cost per click, so being compliant and adopting these changes early should have some immediate impact on your campaign.

 

What your firm needs to consider moving forward

Moving forward, there are several key tips to keep in mind about expanded text ads. As with every new Google update, users need to be aware that updates do not always mean good things for everyone.

For instance, Google’s once powerful PageRank ended with a slow death recently. PageRank was the reason for all those links dropped all over the comment sections. These links were a way to manipulate the popular ranking system. It was the only visible way to judge a page’s success. With PageRank gone it means fewer links and more uncertainty.

Likewise, Google expanded text ads do not mean automatic success for your law firm – especially if not used in the proper way. Make sure your new headline is attention grabbing and doesn’t violate any ethics rules in your state.

Placing keyword text in these new headlines is a great way to have success. Google judges the keywords in your ads, on your website and compares them to searches being down around your ads to establish a quality score. While there is certainly more to it, this is a sure fire way to see some improvement if your firm is struggling with your own AdWords accounts.

Consider your audience and make purposeful use out of extensions. Extensions are an added way to ensure that potential clients find your website. With the additional characters of extended text ads, extensions work in conjunction to reach new clients.