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Sponsored links on Google for large firms : Ineffective and possibility embarrassing

Large law firm Google sponsored linksA large law firm marketing professional asked me last week about the possibility of the firm’s buying sponsored links on Google for one of their practice groups. They were interested in ‘paid for links’ on the first page of Google for relevant legal searches in a particular metro market.

I advised that doing so would be ineffective in achieving the goals of the practice group and could possibly damage the firm’s brand.

Generally, sponsored links are purchased by lawyers addressing personal plight legal issues for consumers. Divorce, bankruptcy, DUI, personal injury, and the like. The type of lawyers who routinely advertised for clients in the yellow pages.

With Google to some extent becoming the yellow pages of today, sponsored links may be worthwhile if a consumer lawyer is unable to achieve high search rankings in the organic results (not paid for).

Larger law firms are typically hired by in-house counsel, execs, business people, and very discriminating consumers with a significant net worth. Historically, this group of clients did not select their lawyer from yellow page ads.

So buying sponsored links is not going to attract the large law firm client. Clicking on sponsored links is not how large law firm clients select lawyers.

Just as important is protection of the firm’s brand. What if an in-house counsel or exec saw your large law firm advertising right along side consumer lawyers in Google’s sponsored links? To them it may look like your firm is competing for consumer clients with other consumer lawyers. Nothing against consumer lawyers, but large law firm clients may think your firm has fallen on hard times and is expanding into what they may describe as ‘lower end’ legal services.

I understand large law firms wanting to achieve an Internet presence for its practice areas. I can also understand the interest in getting on the Internet fast for selected search terms and locales. But you must make certain that your Internet presence is in harmony with the firm’s brand and the traditional way it has gotten clients.

Though client development on the Internet may seem new and confusing, client development on the Internet is based on age old principals. It’s about building relationships with existing and prospective clients. It’s about networking with them. It’s about further enhancing the reputation of your firm’s lawyers as thought leaders in niches and markets. It’s about being proactive in reaching out to the influencers of clients and prospective clients so they view your firm’s lawyers as reliable and trusted authorities.

All of these things can be done on the Internet. But it’s done via blogging, social networking, and the effective use of social media – through which you’ll achieve high organic search engine rankings at the end of the day.

  • http://www.paperstreet.com Peter

    More importantly, the organic/natural/free links are viewed at eight times higher than paid links. Search engine optimization is where firms should spend their money in comparison to pay-per-click. Sadly, overall most businesses (probably law firms too) spend 85% of their SEM budget on PPC, than SEO.
    However, pay-per-click can generate revenue if you build the campaign correctly, target very specifically, track, track, and more track, and finally analyze the campaign daily/weekly.

  • http://www.webcounsel.com Mark

    In this market PPC can be part of an overall marketing strategy for large law firms, but it has to be done right. Buying general words is just desperate and no large firm should do that, but paid search does have its place in targeted fields. For example if your has a great article about the new economic stimulus bill buying related words might be worthwhile. Everyone uses search engines today including CEOs and GCs so if the link would be seen as helpful and reflect prestige on your firm it can work as part of an integrated PR, speaking and print advertising campaign.
    SEO for big firms is over rated because most lawyers aren’t going to let you change their bios, practice area descriptions etc and as pointed out this isn’t the principal way law firms are selected, but if it is hot, current and likely to be lost in web clutter PPC can be useful. BTW: Yahoo tends to be more cost effective than Google whose PPC has turned into a monster of complexity.

  • chalmers

    Everyone makes good points. I think PPC can also help firms that are looking to make an immediate impact for a certain reason.
    A prime example is a major “litigation event” such as a large accident or a pharma recall. In these cases, you might not have the time to build up natural results via SEO or reputation through a blog.
    Another example might be after a firm breakup. If Smith and Jones is the biggest PI firm in town and Jones leaves, PPC might be the best way to get the word out.

  • Stan

    I respectfully disagree with your position that adwords for large law firms are ineffective and damaging to a firms brand. I beleive that adwords can be complimentary to a firms Internet presence when used the right way just like effective SEO can be beneficial to the overall view of a firms brand.
    It is hard for me to pin exactly what you are getting at when no specifics are given. In certain scenarios I could see how certain uses of adwords could cause embarassment however your assumption that the consumers or potential clients view adwords the same way you do as a lesser form of visibility may not be the case. Thanks for letting me comment.

  • http://www.toxictortlitigationblog.com/ Bill Ruskin

    Before paying Google to sponsor your law firm’s link, take note of a recent lawsuit filed against Google in CT state court by the prominent plaintiff firm, Stratton & Faxon. According to the article in the CT Law Tribune, Michael Stratton performed a google seach on his own firm and, surprise!, a competing law firm’s name popped up at the top of the search results. Stratton alleges, in sum or substance, that Google accepted money from the competing firm and wired the system to have their firm’s name (rather than his) pop up in a search for Stratton & Faxon.

  • http://www.lawyersontv.com A. Clark

    Full disclosure – my company is an advertising agency that specializes in high quality, unique commercials for entrepreneurs, SMBs, and large companies, with an emphasis on getting the most out of clients’ advertising dollars. As a component of our general advertising business, we do a great number of TV commercials for attorneys and their firms, so we are sensitive to the impact of branding legal services, the legal disclaimers required, etc. Our law-related clients often tell us that their online campaigns have been expensive and less than effective for many of the reasons given above. In fact, some of the most expensive AdWords keywords relate to legal services. A well-designed commercial, aired on television, allows the firm to control the message and present it in a less noisy environment. For law firms and legal services, we recommend traditional advertising forms, which enable the advertiser to position their message in its best light.