Copy for Originals · Google Ads for law firms · Original research + calculator
This guide lists the marketing fees law firm owners reported paying for their own firms on r/LawFirm from 2024 to 2026: SEO, Google Ads management and websites, plus the quotes they turned down. Every figure was traced to the owner who wrote it and counted once per owner. Agency price lists are not included.
Law firm owners on r/LawFirm reported paying a median of $3,000 a month for SEO (14 owners, $75 to $25,000), $1,175 a month for Google Ads management with ad spend paid separately (4 owners, $500 to $2,500), and $6,500 for a website build (4 owners, $4,000 to $20,000). Quotes they turned down ran higher: the top SEO quote was $15,000 to $50,000 a month, and website quotes reached $20,000.
| Service | Owners | Median | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO | 14 | $3,000 a month | $75 to $25,000 a month |
| Google Ads management | 4 | $1,175 a month | $500 to $2,500 a month |
| Website build | 4 | $6,500 one-time | $4,000 to $20,000 one-time |
One figure per owner: where an owner reported several fees over time, the table uses the highest, which is usually their current fee.
Owners reported paying $75 to $25,000 a month for SEO, with a median of $3,000 across 14 owners. The low end was a writer or minimal maintenance; the high end was a personal injury firm paying for SEO and social media together. Several owners in the $3,000 range said SEO brought most of their new business, while others paid the same and got “trash calls.” Price didn’t predict results.
| Monthly fee | Practice | What it covered | What the owner said |
|---|---|---|---|
| $75 | family, real estate, business, bankruptcy, probate, estate planning | website maintenance and minimal SEO; 95% of SEO done in-house | Stopped PPC; relies on in-house SEO and intern articles |
| $250 | family law and criminal | SEO | Owner says good SEO should be relatively inexpensive |
| $400 | family law | local SEO package listed at $1,750, discounted while firm launches | SEO results hard to measure yet |
| $750 | civil litigation and construction law | article writing (Upwork writer) | Low search volume; stray employment articles bring some inquiries |
| $2,500 | family law | SEO; blog posts offered | ~10 clients/month, seems worth it |
| $2,500 | family law | a legal directory website + SEO subscription | dissatisfied - locked site, broken links |
| $3,000 | personal injury | website + SEO | Site now generates a decent number of leads monthly |
| $3,000 | Not stated | Not stated | nothing but trash calls, likely dropping by December |
| $3,500 | estate planning/elder law/probate/VA benefits | SEO company (monthly expense line); also overhauled site content and is adding practice areas and cities | Phone does not stop ringing; on pace to beat $1.1m gross |
| $5,000 | Not stated | Not stated | Cost is a heavy burden for a 3-year-old practice |
| $5,000 | trust/estate planning, administration and litigation | SEO expense | Website dominated local competitors; revenue then plateaued |
| $5,000 | Not stated | SEO (backlinks, content, CallRail, reporting expected) | no backlinks, CallRail or reporting in 5 months; ended |
| $6,250 | family + probate | independent SEO consultant, in addition to original vendor | leads up from ~450 to 850-900/mo; quality improved |
| $25,000 | personal injury plus other practice areas | social media + SEO; ad spend separate | ROI unknown; partner now questioning the marketing team |
Owners reported management fees of $500 to $2,500 a month, a median of $1,175 (4 owners), with the ad spend paid to Google on top. Some paid a flat monthly fee; one family law solo paid 20% of ad spend, which came to $1,600 in one month. Google’s agency policy requires any management fee to be disclosed in writing before you buy and shown on every invoice, separate from Google’s exact cost.
| Monthly fee | Practice | What it covered | What the owner said |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | estate planning | ad management, ad spend separate | Owner says fee is worth it |
| $750 | civil litigation | Google Ads management only, ad spend separate | unhappy; several agencies not great; seeking new one |
| $1,600 | family law | PPC management billed as 20% of ad spend; ad spend separate | satisfied, local ranking #1 |
| $2,500 | transactional | Google Ads management (one-man freelancer) | Owner calls the freelancer incredible |
It is common but not universal: among owners who described their fee structure, most paid a flat monthly fee and one paid 20% of ad spend. One personal injury owner was quoted 25% of ad spend to manage Local Services Ads and asked whether that was market rate. A percentage fee rises when spend rises, whether or not results do, so ask what work the fee covers and get the exact Google cost reported separately, as Google requires.
Owners reported paying $4,000 to $20,000 for a website build, a median of $6,500 (4 owners); the top figure was a full rebrand with a new domain. Quotes owners turned down ran from $1,500 to $20,000. Separately, some paid monthly for hosted sites from directory publishers, and one owner said that hosted site was locked so they couldn’t add what they needed.
| One-time price | Practice | What it covered | What the owner said |
|---|---|---|---|
| $4,000 | family law | website (logo also done by same company) | Proud of site; ranking 1-2 for many key local searches |
| $6,000 | transactional | website build | Not stated |
| $7,000 | Not stated | custom website build | Not stated |
| $20,000 | trust/estate planning, administration and litigation | rebrand: new domain and new website at par with old | Not stated |
20 quotes owners reported but didn’t take ranged from a $650 a month SEO package to $15,000 to $50,000 a month to rank a personal injury firm in a major metro. One owner called the quotes “all over the place,” another was “floored” by an $8,000 to $12,000 a month SEO proposal, and a criminal defense lawyer called the range “borderline insane.” Compare quotes on the same written scope.
| Quote | Service | What it covered | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| $21,000 | full service | website, content, social (other agencies' lowest first-year quote) | OP asks if too much |
| 5-15k | full service | rebranding before advertising (quoted, not hired) | Quoted by several local agencies; not hired |
| $15k per month | full service | lead generation plus YouTube/brand, all-in-one (quoted, not hired) | Average quote from six agencies; out of budget, not hired |
| 25% fee of my ad spend | lsa | LSA management (targeting, disputes), percent of ad spend | owner asks if market rate |
| at least $5k budget | seo | SEO | SEO firm's stated minimum to compete |
| $650/month | seo | ten-keyword SEO package | offered package; OP asks if it is a good deal |
| like 10k | seo | worst-case total under 1-year pay-for-performance contract | commenters warn of black-hat risk |
| 1kish fee a month | seo | pay-for-performance SEO, only when top 10 for state keywords; plus setup fee; 1-year contract | considering offer |
| $1,500/month | seo | SEO | quotes all over the place |
| $7K+ a month | seo | SEO | quotes all over the place |
| $5-10k/mo | seo | SEO | owner calls the price insane |
| $8k-$12k per month | seo | SEO proposals, starting with website overhaul (quoted, not hired) | owner floored by price, still deciding |
| 15-50k/month | seo | SEO to rank in major metro | concluded SEO not possible |
| $199 | social | content + social media help after site launch | commenters flag as AI content red flag |
| $1,500 | website | website build | low-end quote |
| $2500 | website | Not stated | commenters call it low/basic |
| 5k-7k | website | template-based website | seemed high |
| 7k | website | fully custom website | Not hired |
| $5K to $20K | website | website upgrade | Not hired |
| $20k | website | website build | 'borderline insane' quote |
There is no single right number. Owners in the threads spent from a few hundred dollars a month to $50,000 or more, and what mattered was cost per signed case, not the total. For paid search, start from the cost of a lead in your market: our budget guide sets the minimum monthly budget at 3 × expected cost per lead, so a few leads a month can tell signal from luck. Then use the calculator below on your own numbers.
Owners reported Local Services Ads leads from about $30 (family law) to $300 (personal injury and criminal defense), Google Search ads leads from $80 to $1,000, and bought leads from $40 to $150. Many said a large share of cheap leads were junk. The Local Services Ads vs Google Ads guide explains which junk leads Google credits.
Change under way, checked October 13, 2026. Google is phasing out the separate Local Services Ads platform. Existing campaigns are being moved automatically into Google Ads as “Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals.” Google’s schedule puts professional services in late 2026 on one page and 2027 on another, and does not name lawyers. Firms still pay per valid lead, so the lead prices owners reported here still describe the same ads. See what changes for law firms.
| Channel | Cost per lead | Practice | What the owner said |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search ads | $80 | criminal | Mostly garbage calls, advice seekers |
| Google Search ads | $150 | family law | agency-reported June CPL; closes ~1/3 of consults |
| Google Search ads | $500 | litigation | $10,000-deposit cases likely bringing $50,000+; more spend, more cases |
| Google Search ads | $300-$1000 | family law | Google Ads leads costlier but drive most revenue |
| Lead seller | $50/lead | criminal defense | successful; ROI usually well above 2x |
| Lead seller | $40-$100 per lead | family law | Low quality but palatable versus Google Ads cost |
| Lead seller | $100/lead | family law | Leads absolute garbage |
| Lead seller | $150/lead | consumer bankruptcy | converted 6 of 20 but too expensive for budget |
| Local Services Ads | ~$30 per-call | family law | Mostly free-advice seekers |
| Local Services Ads | About $70 in Iowa | small business transactional / IP | Loves LSA with narrowed categories |
| Local Services Ads | $80/lead | transactional | Converts 20-30%; works because client LTV is a couple thousand |
| Local Services Ads | $100 | criminal defense | Charged for directions call |
| Local Services Ads | $150 | civil litigation / employment | out-of-state junk lead; dispute denied |
| Local Services Ads | $150-200 per call | criminal defense | Acceptable while leads relevant; quality fell after disputes ended; stopped |
| Local Services Ads | $220 cost per lead | personal injury | April 2025: leads mostly did not sign |
| Local Services Ads | $250-300 | criminal defense | still very much worth it |
| Local Services Ads | $300 | Not stated | Caller about an already-paid traffic ticket; category not enabled |
| Local Services Ads | like $300 | personal injury | charged for irrelevant callers, no dispute allowed |
| Meta ads | about $115/lead | personal injury | one client so far, a prior acquaintance; keeps running |
Add the agency fee and the ad spend, then divide by the cases that marketing signed that month. That is the number to compare across agencies and channels, because a cheap fee on a campaign that signs nobody costs more than an expensive one that works. Enter your own numbers.
Enter all four numbers.
Worked example, with made-up numbers. A $2,500 agency fee plus $7,500 ad spend is $10,000 a month. If marketing signs 5 cases at an average fee of $6,000, cost per signed case is $2,000, the agency fee is 25% of marketing cost, every $1 brings in $3 in fees, and break-even is 1.7 signed cases a month.
Ask what the fee covers in hours or deliverables, whether ad spend is billed separately and at Google’s exact cost, whether the fee is flat or a percentage of spend, how long the contract runs and what you keep if you leave, and whether reports will show signed cases and cost per signed case. The law firm Google Ads agency scorecard turns these into 12 checks you can run yourself.
Not by what owners report: $3,000 a month is close to the median SEO fee owners on r/LawFirm said they paid. Whether it is too much depends on what it brings in; several owners at that level said SEO was most of their new business, and one said it brought “nothing but trash calls.”
Because scope, market and practice area vary. Owners reported SEO quotes from $650 to $15,000 to $50,000 a month and website quotes from $1,500 to $20,000, often for what sounded like the same job. Compare quotes on the same written scope and on reporting of signed cases.
Few owners reported it. One personal injury owner was quoted 25% of ad spend to manage Local Services Ads, covering targeting and disputes, and asked whether that was market rate. Local Services Ads charge per lead and Google now credits leads automatically, so ask what work the fee would cover beyond setup.
Opinions split. Some owners called their SEO firm the best money they spend; others paid similar fees and got junk leads or nothing. The pattern in the threads: owners who were happy could name the cases or share of business the agency brought in.
We read 312 r/LawFirm threads about marketing vendors, paid leads and marketing costs, collected through the Arctic Shift Reddit archive. 188 had a law firm owner, lawyer or firm staff member describing their own firm. A figure was recorded only when that person stated it about their own firm, with the exact words checked against the thread; agencies, vendors, consultants, people describing “my clients,” and suspected promotional accounts were excluded. Each figure was traced to its author so one owner’s repeated posts count once, and quotes owners didn’t take are kept separate from fees they paid. Agency and vendor promotion appeared in 155 of the 312 threads, which is why only owner-stated figures count (see the agency scorecard). Coding was done with AI assistance against a written codebook. Limits: one forum, small samples per service, firms of different sizes and markets, and most posts don’t give a location. The data is open (CC BY 4.0) with thread IDs and no usernames.
Change log: version 1, October 6, 2026, first publication.