Google Ads or SEO: where should your firm start?

Choose a service and define a suitable enquiry before comparing channels. If one report counts every form submission and the other counts accepted matters, the apparent cost difference is not meaningful.

Check whether the firm can respond to additional demand and whether the landing page explains the offer. Buying traffic to a confusing page does not solve the underlying content problem.

For each channel, record the relevant cost and the same outcome definition over a comparable period. Cost per qualified enquiry is total included channel cost divided by intake-reviewed qualified enquiries.

Illustrative example: £1,800 of media and management cost divided by 12 qualified enquiries is £150 per qualified enquiry. £1,800 of SEO work divided by six qualified enquiries is £300 for that period. Those figures alone do not account for earlier investment, later enquiries or differences in matter value.

The example is a calculation method, not a forecast or claim about typical legal campaigns. Use the firm’s own evidence and account for the time between enquiry, instruction and payment.

A firm with a clear service page and an agreed budget may use Ads to test messages and enquiry fit while improving organic pages. Another firm may need to fix the website and tracking before either channel can be judged fairly.

Keep the results separate enough to inspect. A paid campaign can increase branded searches, so a simultaneous rise in organic visits is not automatically proof of an SEO change.

If social activity is also competing for your team’s time, compare SEO and social media for solicitors before dividing the workload. That guide considers how search pages and professional networks can support the same service.

Explore Google Ads management, SEO delivery and the budgeting guide to compare concrete scopes.

Once paid search fits the brief, decide who will operate it. Our in-house versus agency Google Ads guide compares responsibilities, costs and reporting.

• Is the service page ready to receive the target visitor?
• Are media spend and management fees separated?
• Who classifies enquiries and records accepted matters?
• What is the review period, and what decision will it support?
• Which content or technical dependencies must be resolved first?