Negative keywords for law firms (Google Ads list)

Law firm campaigns have the highest cost-per-click in the small-business Google Ads world. A wasted lead is not five dollars; it is fifty. The negatives below catch the universal junk; the practice-area filters are where firms differ.

The pattern

Legal search behavior splits unusually:

1. Ready buyers: "personal injury lawyer near me," "divorce attorney [city]," "criminal defense [city]"
2. Information seekers: "what is the statute of limitations," "how much do lawyers cost," "do i need a lawyer"
3. Career and education seekers: "law school requirements," "lawyer salary," "associate hours"
4. Pro se researchers: "represent yourself in court," "file divorce without lawyer," "diy will"
5. Wrong jurisdiction: queries from states or countries the firm does not practice in

For high-CPC areas like personal injury, the cost of a wasted click is large. The negatives matter more here than in any other small-business category.

The list

Negative keyword set

Law firms (general)

5 groups · 34 terms

Job and education seekers8

• ·lawyer salary
• ·law school
• ·lsat
• ·bar exam
• ·paralegal salary
• ·law firm jobs
• ·associate hours
• ·law clerk

Pro se / DIY7

• ·represent myself
• ·without a lawyer
• ·without an attorney
• ·diy
• ·do it yourself
• ·pro se
• ·file my own

Information seekers9

• ·wikipedia
• ·reddit
• ·what is
• ·definition of
• ·how much does
• ·cost of a lawyer
• ·average cost
• ·average fee
• ·vs

Free / bargain5

• ·free legal aid
• ·pro bono
• ·free consultation only
• ·cheap lawyer
• ·lowest price

Templates and forms5

• ·template
• ·form download
• ·free form
• ·legal form
• ·sample agreement

Practice-area-specific blocks

Personal injury firms:

• Block career terms ("paralegal," "legal assistant")
• Block research patterns ("statute of limitations," "average settlement amount")
• Phrase-block other practice areas if you only do PI ("divorce lawyer," "criminal defense")

Family law firms:

• Block "mediation only" if you only do litigation
• Phrase-block "child support calculator" (a researcher rather than a buyer)
• Phrase-block "court forms" (pro se signal)

Criminal defense firms:

• Block "public defender" (people seeking the public option)
• Phrase-block "sentencing guidelines" (researcher signal)
• Phrase-block academic terms ("law review article")

Estate planning firms:

• Block "diy will," "free will template"
• Phrase-block "online will service" (competing with consumer SaaS)
• Block "law school estate planning class"

Jurisdiction filters

If you only practice in one state, geographic targeting catches most of this, but search queries can name jurisdictions you do not serve. Add as exact-match negatives:

• Out-of-state names: city and state names where you do not practice
• Wrong country: queries naming Canada, UK, or other jurisdictions

For multi-state firms, exclude only the states explicitly outside your practice.

Insurance and adjuster patterns

Personal injury specifically: queries from insurance adjusters or claim researchers occasionally appear. Patterns:

• "claims adjuster training"
• "how to deny a claim"
• "adjuster vs lawyer"

These are research from the other side of the table. Block them.

What good looks like

A personal injury firm with a $30 CPC and 0.5% conversion rate is paying $6,000 per lead. A 30% reduction in low-quality click volume from a thorough negative sweep moves cost-per-lead to $4,200. On a $50,000-per-month spend, that is a $50K-per-year improvement from one good sweep plus monthly maintenance.

The math is bigger in legal than in any other vertical. Sweep weekly during the first month, bi-weekly thereafter.

Try Sensei Ads for legal-specific recommendations tuned to your practice area, jurisdictions, and intake criteria. The per-term reasoning is especially useful here because legal terminology (statute, case, claim, court) appears in both buyer and non-buyer queries.