In short
PPC (pay per click) means ads on Google, Facebook or Instagram that bring a solicitors firm enquiries now. Click prices by practice area are in our guide to PPC costs.
Naelar runs Google Ads and Meta ads with landing pages and enquiry tracking, measured on cost per instruction.
PPC management: who is it for?
It suits firms that answer enquiries fast and know what a new matter is worth. It's paid search and social ads, aimed at people who need a solicitor.
PPC is a way of buying attention. You choose the searches or the audience, set a budget, and pay as people click or see your ads.
For most firms, ads add to referrals. They don't replace them. Referrals bring people who already trust you. Ads bring people who are comparing firms, often on a phone, often in a hurry.
So ads suit some firms and not others. The fit check further down sets out which. If you'd rather not pay per click, local SEO and AI search builds more slowly and costs nothing per click.
What we run:
- Google Ads search campaigns and Meta lead ads on Facebook and Instagram.
- A landing page for each practice area, tracked from the first click to the signed instruction.
- Every enquiry exclusive to your firm. We don't buy, sell or share leads.
How it works
How it works, step by step
Tracking comes first, then the account and the pages.
Intro call
A short call about your practice areas, how enquiries are handled today, and what a new instruction is worth to you.
Tracking and setup
Call tracking, form tracking and a source field in your CRM. Then the Google Ads and Meta accounts, campaigns and landing pages.
Your sign-off
You read every ad and landing page. Nothing runs until your firm approves it.
Launch and review
The ads go live. We then report what they bring, down to cost per instruction.
What happens first, and what do you own?
The first thing we do with a new firm is a call check. We call your firm, after hours too, and fill in its forms the way a new client would, then write down what happens.
- Ad accounts, CRM, tracking and website are set up in your firm's name, and your firm owns them.
- Nothing is built, published or sent before your firm signs it off.
Searches for legal leads usually mean buying enquiries from a seller, and we don't sell leads.
Related guides:
- Conveyancing leads and panels covers how sellers charge and what to ask them.
- Where your SRA number and badge go beside your logo shows the placement on pages your ads send people to.
- Our content marketing guide for law firms shows what is worth writing, since pages that answer clients' questions help your ads too.
Fees and terms. Ask on the intro call. We don't publish prices on this page.
Is this a fit for your firm?
It fits firms that can answer enquiries quickly and want to know what each new client cost. It doesn't fit firms with nobody free to pick up the phone.
A good fit
You take on consumer work, such as family, immigration, wills or conveyancing (see conveyancing quote software). You know roughly what a new matter is worth. Someone on your team answers new enquiries within minutes during opening hours. You can track an enquiry from the ad to a signed client.
Not a fit yet
Enquiries wait hours for a reply, or you can't say what a matter is worth. Fix intake first with intake and CRM, or start with local SEO.
The ads, the rules and the enquiry questions change by practice area. Read how for each of these:
How we measure it: cost per instruction, not cost per click
Cost per instruction is your ad spend divided by the new clients who signed up from those ads. Clicks and enquiries are steps on the way.
A cheap click can still be a bad buy. If the enquiry it brings never instructs you, the cost per click looks good on a report and means nothing in your accounts.
The diagram below uses made-up numbers to show the sum. It isn't a benchmark. Notice how cost per enquiry flatters the account next to cost per instruction.
Made-up numbers to show the sum. Not a benchmark.
- Ad spend: £2,000Google Ads and Meta ads for the month
- Clicks: 400People who reached the landing page
- Enquiries: 40Calls, forms and Meta lead forms
- Instructions: 8New clients who signed up
Cost per enquiry: £2,000 ÷ 40 = £50
Cost per instruction: £2,000 ÷ 8 = £250
Compare £250 with the fee a new matter brings in.
To get that number, every enquiry has to carry its source through to the end. We track:
- Calls from the ads and the landing page, with a tracking number
- Web forms on each landing page and across your firm's website (see law firm website design)
- Meta lead forms, sent straight to your inbox or CRM
- A source field in your CRM, so each enquiry shows the ad that brought it
- The outcome: instructed, not instructed, or still open
A note on cost data. The UK cost figures for legal ads online come mostly from agencies that sell ads management. They don't agree with each other, and each one defines a "lead" its own way. So we report on your firm's own numbers, not an industry average.
Here is the same sum on real accounts, from one conveyancing firm we work with that ran both.
| Platform | Cost per lead | Cost per instruction the CRM recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Meta ads | £14.04, as Meta counted them | £315.96 |
| Google Ads | About £30, as the firm's CRM recorded them | £379.74 |
The figures are in our conveyancing lead generation case study.
Two more details from the same Google Ads account: the main search campaign paid £2.56 a click, and 85 of the 107 conversions Google counted came from phones. Display and YouTube tests spent £303.48 and brought no conversions, so they were paused.
In that account the search ads did the work, and the pages had to suit a phone screen. It is one firm over eight weeks, and your account may behave differently.
What do the SRA rules mean for solicitor adverts?
The SRA says publicity must be accurate and not misleading, and that firms may advertise online or on social media without targeting individuals. Your firm stays responsible for ads that a third party makes for it.
What the notice says
The SRA warning notice on marketing to the public, dated 19 December 2024, quotes two lines of the Code of Conduct. Paragraph 8.8 says your publicity must be accurate and not misleading.[1] Paragraph 8.9 bars approaches to members of the public who haven't asked to hear from you, other than current or former clients.[1]
Advertising itself is fine. The SRA guidance on approaches to the public, dated 16 December 2019, says you may place an advert "online or on a social media platform".[2] The problem it describes is "a targeted approach to specific members of the public which may feel intrusive".[2]
The same warning notice covers the people you work with:
- It says the standard includes marketing material used by third parties that you work with.[1]
- It applies the ban on unwanted approaches to clients referred by a lead generator too.[1]
- If an advert highlights "no win, no fee", the SRA says it should clearly explain what that means.[1]
Run no win no fee ads, or buy from lead generators? Our claims marketing due diligence guide lists the questions to ask any lead source before you sign.
The notice also asks firms to be cautious about "re-marketing" where a third party tries to re-engage people "who initially inquired with them".[1] It says contacting those people again may still count as the kind of approach paragraph 8.9 bars.[1] That bears on retargeting ads, so we plan any retargeting with your firm before it runs.
What it means for how we run ads
Here's what that means for how we write and target ads, read against the SRA notice:
- No audiences built from lists of named people, such as people recently in an accident
- No promises about outcomes, awards or the chances of winning
- No success rates or claims we can't back up
- "No win, no fee" explained on the page, including when a client could still pay costs
- Your firm reads and approves every ad and landing page before it runs
Naelar is not a law firm and doesn't give legal advice. We don't tell you an ad meets the rules. Your firm decides that, so check every campaign with your compliance officer (COLP) before it goes live. That's the person who answers to the SRA for your firm's compliance.
How does Meta advertising fit a solicitors firm?
Meta ads reach people before they search, so they can suit consumer work where the need is already known, such as wills or family matters. We judge them on cost per instruction, the same as Google Ads.
| Google Ads | Meta ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Who you reach | People searching for a solicitor right now | People scrolling Facebook or Instagram |
| What they want | Help with a problem today | Not looking yet, but the need is there |
| Usual format | Search ad to a landing page or a call | Lead form inside Facebook or Instagram |
Meta lead forms are quick to fill in, so some enquiries go nowhere. Fast follow-up matters even more.
Targeting stays broad: areas, ages and interests, never a list of named people. The SRA guidance on approaches to the public is the line we work to.
Why do ads fail when the phone isn't answered?
Because an enquiry answered late is often lost, and the ad spend that brought it goes with it. Answering speed is the part of the funnel your firm controls, so we build enquiry follow-up and CRM tracking alongside the ads.
In Hennessey Digital's 2025 test of 1,333 US law firms, 26% hadn't replied to a web form within seven days.[3] Hennessey is a US law firm marketing agency, and it sent every test enquiry between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. local time.[3]
That's US data from an agency, not a UK study. We didn't find a UK equivalent. An enquiry that waits often goes to the next firm on the list.
The other waste is inside the account. These are the first things we check in any account review:
- Search terms with weak negative keywords (words that stop an ad showing), so ads show for jobs, free advice or other firms' names
- Ads showing in places the firm can't serve
- Search Partners left on without anyone checking what it brings
- Ads running at hours when nobody can take the call
If you want people found without paying per click, our local SEO and AI search service covers that side, including map listings. How it works for a firm that wants steady enquiries is in our guide to SEO for solicitors. The rest of what we offer is on our legal marketing services page.
Who runs it
Ads planned from the intake side
Rishabh Goria set up Naelar after building and running ads, intake and CRM inside law firms. So an ad plan here starts with a plain question: who answers the enquiry when it lands?
What should I ask any agency before hiring one?
Ask who owns the ad account, how cost per instruction is tracked, and how ads are checked before they run. A good agency answers plainly, and that includes us.
The full list, with our own answers, is in our list of questions for legal marketing agencies.
The SRA warning notice says its publicity standards include marketing material used by third parties you work with. Loose ad copy from an agency is still the firm's problem.
Questions firms ask
Do Google Ads work for solicitors?
They can, when every enquiry is tracked through to a signed instruction. Without that tracking you can't tell what worked. Nobody can promise a result before an account has run.
How much should a solicitor spend on Google Ads?
There's no single figure: start from what one new instruction is worth in fees. Click prices by practice area and a worked budget example are in our PPC guide.
Should we choose Google Ads or SEO?
Ads bring enquiries while you pay for them; SEO builds more slowly. The trade-off is set out in our PPC guide.
Can solicitors advertise on Facebook?
The SRA's guidance says firms may advertise online or on a social media platform. What it treats as a problem is a targeted approach to specific people that may feel intrusive. Check your plans with your compliance officer.
Who is responsible if an agency's ads break SRA rules?
The SRA's warning notice says its rules on publicity cover marketing material used by third parties you work with. In practice the firm carries it, which is why your firm signs off every ad before it runs.
Can you promise a number of enquiries?
No. We report what the ads actually bring, down to cost per instruction, and we say early if the numbers don't add up.
Who owns the ad account?
Your firm. Ad accounts are set up in your firm's name and your firm owns them.
Read next
Sources
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, "Marketing your services to members of the public", warning notice, 19 December 2024, sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/marketing-public. Checked 8 October 2026. Regulator.
- Solicitors Regulation Authority, "Unsolicited approaches (advertising) to members of the public", guidance, 16 December 2019, sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/unsolicited-approaches-advertising. Checked 8 October 2026. Regulator.
- Hennessey Digital, "2025 Lead Form Response Time Study", 24 June 2025, hennessey.com/2025-lead-form-response-time-study. Checked 8 October 2026. Agency study with US data (Hennessey Digital is a law firm marketing agency).