Google Ads for Family Law vs Commercial Law: Why One Campaign Doesn't Fit a Multi-Practice Firm
Most multi-practice firms build one Google Ads campaign, throw every practice area's keywords into it, and then wonder why the cost-per-lead bounces around like nothing makes sense. We get why — one campaign is easier to manage and one budget line is easier to explain on the partner P&L. But "easier to manage" and "actually working" are two very different things, and treating a divorce search and a commercial litigation search as the same intent is exactly where budget quietly leaks. 💖 A firm running family law, commercial law, wills and conveyancing under one roof is really running several different businesses with several different buyers — your Google Ads account should reflect that, not flatten it.
What most multi-practice firms get wrong
The most common set-up we see is one campaign, a handful of shared ad groups, one landing page (usually the homepage or a generic "Contact Us" page), and a budget split roughly by partner headcount rather than by what's actually converting. That means an urgent, high-intent family law searcher lands on the same page as a commercial client doing due diligence three weeks before they'll ever call — and neither gets what they actually need. It also means the account-level "average cost-per-click" is a meaningless number: it's blending a $9 family law click with a $45 commercial litigation click and telling you nothing useful about either.
- One campaign per practice area, minimum — never share ad groups across practice areas, even inside the same account.
- A dedicated landing page per practice area that answers the specific search, not a firm-wide "About Us" page.
- A practice-area-specific negative keyword list, rebuilt monthly from the actual search terms report.
- Budget allocated by conversion rate and average matter value per practice area — not split evenly by partner headcount.
- Urgency-matched ad formats: call extensions and "available now" messaging for urgent practice areas; case studies and guides for considered ones.
- Separate conversion tracking per practice area so you see true cost-per-retained-matter, not one blended average.
How to actually split campaigns and budgets
- Pull your current search terms report and tag every query by practice area — you'll usually find more overlap and waste than you expect.
- Rebuild as separate campaigns (not just ad groups) so budgets, bidding strategies and negative keyword lists are fully independent per practice area.
- Write practice-specific ad copy and send traffic to a matching landing page, not a shared homepage.
- Add cross-practice negative keywords — your family law campaign should actively exclude "commercial," "shareholder" and "business dispute," and vice versa.
- Set up conversion tracking that reports cost-per-lead and cost-per-retained-matter by practice area, never as one blended figure.
- Rebalance budget quarterly based on retained-matter value and conversion rate, not click volume or partner preference.
Mistakes to avoid
- Running one shared "law firm" campaign across every practice area.
- Reusing the same tone and ad copy for an emotional, urgent search and a considered, research-driven one.
- Skipping negative keywords, letting cheap unrelated clicks from one practice area eat budget meant for another.
- Sending every practice area's traffic to the same generic contact page.
- Comparing cost-per-click across practice areas as if it means the same thing everywhere — it doesn't.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a completely separate Google Ads account for each practice area?
Usually not. Separate campaigns within one account, each with its own budget, bidding strategy and negative keyword list, is enough for most multi-practice firms. A fully separate account only starts to make sense at real scale, or when different partners need their own billing and access.
How much of the budget should go to family law versus commercial law?
There's no universal ratio, and it depends on your firm's mix, local competition and average matter value in each area. Start with even coverage for each practice area's core keywords, then let three to six months of cost-per-retained-matter data tell you where to shift spend.
What if one practice area is too small to justify its own campaign?
Honest answer: if search volume for a practice area is genuinely tiny, a full dedicated campaign may not be worth the management overhead. In that case, group closely related low-volume practice areas into one campaign with tightly matched ad groups and negatives, rather than folding them into an unrelated high-volume practice area's campaign.
Can I just reuse one landing page and change the headline for each practice area?
You can reuse the page's structure, but the content genuinely needs to change — different proof points, different urgency cues, different next step. A generic funnel with a swapped headline usually still underperforms a page built around that specific search intent.
Keep reading 🤍
I help Gold Coast and Brisbane businesses grow with branding, websites and marketing that actually works.
Work with me ✦