The short answer
Start with what you can measure, then fix what leaks, then build. Week one sets up tracking and cuts wasted searches. Week two fixes your Google Business Profile and how calls are answered. Week three adds the pages people read just before they call, in English and Spanish. Week four sends signed clients back to the ad platforms and reviews how the ads bid. The order matters more than the speed.
Most firms start marketing in the wrong order: a new website first, more ads second, and tracking last, if ever. This playbook reverses it. In four weeks you measure what you have, stop what leaks, build the pages people read before they call, and then teach your ads which inquiries became clients.
Why does the order matter?
Each week depends on the one before. New pages bring calls you cannot count without tracking. More calls are wasted if nobody answers. And an ad platform cannot learn which inquiries become clients until you tell it. Doing the steps in order means every change you make can be seen, measured and kept or undone.
Week one: what do you set up for tracking and wasted searches?
Start by making every inquiry countable, then stop paying for searches that never become clients.
- Give each source its own phone number (Google Business Profile, ads, website) with call tracking, so every call has a source.
- Keep the ad click ID with every form and call on the intake record, so a signed client can be traced to the ad. Our signal-health check lists what to look for.
- Record signed clients by source in your own system, counted once.
- Add a negative keyword list. Google says negative keywords let you exclude search terms from your campaigns. Start with job seekers, free forms, schools and the wrong practice; our negative keywords tool has a starter list for each practice.
- Read the search terms report every week this month. Google’s advice is plain: If a search term isn’t relevant enough to the products or services you offer, add it as a negative keyword.
Week two: what do you fix on your Google profile and intake?
Fix where people find you on maps, then make sure they reach a person when they call.
Your Google Business Profile. Check the name, hours, phone number and website, then the categories. Google asks businesses to Choose the fewest number of categories it takes to describe your overall core business, so pick the one that best matches your main practice and add others only where they fit. Our Google Business Profile guide walks through photos, reviews and questions.
Your intake. Call your own firm as a stranger would, during the day, at lunch and after hours, and write down what happens. The secret-shop worksheet has the script and the score sheet. Fix the biggest gap first: often a missed call with no callback, or a voicemail at night.
Week three: which pages do you build first?
Write the pages people read just before they call, for your main practice: what it costs and whether they need a lawyer. These decision pages answer the question first, explain how your fees work, and end with one next step.
Where your callers speak Spanish, write the Spanish versions for them, not through a translator, and say who on your team speaks Spanish. Link each new page to your practice page and back. If you run ads, point question-style searches at the matching page rather than your home page.
Week four: how do you teach your ads which inquiries became clients?
Send signed clients back to the ad platforms, then review how the ads bid.
Offline conversions. Google says importing offline conversions lets you measure what happens in the offline world after your ad results in a click. Enhanced conversions for leads is an upgraded version of offline conversion import that uses user-provided data, such as email addresses. Either way, upload signed clients from your records with the time they signed. Our guide to tracking signed cases in Google Ads shows the steps.
The bidding review. Look at which campaigns, searches and hours produced signed clients, not just inquiries. Lower bids where calls go unanswered, and only move a campaign to bid on signed clients once it has enough of them to learn from. Keep a short written log of every change and the date.
What changes for each practice?
The four weeks stay the same for every practice. The table lists the one thing that most often needs extra attention in each.
| Practice | The extra focus in the first month |
|---|---|
| Personal injury | Night and weekend answering in week two; accident-scene and injury images checked against state ad rules |
| Employment | Screening questions that separate employees from employers, and job-seeker searches cut in week one |
| Immigration | Spanish and other language pages in week three; searches for government forms cut in week one |
| Family | Consultation no-shows: confirmations and reminders added to intake in week two |
| Criminal defense | Arrest-night answering, and ad targeting limits on sensitive categories checked before week four |
| Estate planning | Seminar and consultation sign-ups tracked by source in week one |
| Workers’ compensation | Calls from injured workers about employer forms routed to the right person in week two |
| Lemon law | A “what records to keep” page in week three; dealer and car-shopping searches cut in week one |
| Bankruptcy | Ad policy limits on debt services checked in week one, before spend grows |
| Business law | Conflict checks built into intake in week two, and form-filing and template searches cut |
| SSDI | Callers screened for where their claim stands, and benefit-amount questions answered on a page |
| VA disability | A plain fee page in week three, and searches for the government’s own forms cut |
| Medical malpractice | A short screen for time limits and records on the first call, and a senior callback rule |
| Mass torts | Qualifying questions on the first call, and drug and device names in ads checked against platform policy |
What does the end of the month look like?
A good first month does not end with a promise of more clients. It ends with a firm that counts signed clients by source, has stopped the obvious leaks in ads and intake, has the first decision pages live, and has ad accounts that can see which inquiries signed. From there, each month is a short review of what worked and one change at a time.
What this means for your firm
- Do the four weeks in order; tracking first, building last.
- Measure everything in signed clients by source, from your own records.
- Change one thing at a time, and write down what you changed and when.
The fastest way to see where your firm should start is an outside look. Get my free review and we will send a short video of what potential clients see when they search for you.
Marketing information, not legal advice. Last reviewed by our editor.
Questions about this guide
Why start with tracking instead of new ads or a new website?
Because every later decision depends on it. Until calls, forms and signed clients are counted by source, you cannot tell which change helped. Tracking also shows wasted spend you can stop right away, which often pays for the rest of the month.
Can a firm do this month without an agency?
Much of it, yes. Tracking, negative keywords, the Google profile, a secret-shop call and the first decision page are all within reach of an organized office manager. The signed-case upload and bidding review in week four usually need someone who knows the ad platforms well.
What if we do not run ads yet?
Skip the ad steps and keep the order. Week one becomes call and form tracking, week two the Google profile and intake, week three the pages, and week four a monthly count of signed clients by source. Add ads when that count is reliable.
Does the playbook change by practice?
The order stays the same; the details change. An injury firm worries most about after-hours calls, a bankruptcy firm about ad policy limits, an estate planning firm about seminar no-shows. The table in this guide lists the main change for each practice.
When should we expect more signed clients?
We do not promise a date or a number. Fixing tracking and intake can stop losses quickly, while pages and search rankings build over months. The point of the first month is a firm that can see what works and has stopped the obvious leaks.
Sources
- Google Ads Help: about negative keywordsAccessed October 28, 2026
- Google Ads Help: about the search terms reportAccessed October 28, 2026
- Google Ads Help: about offline conversion importsAccessed October 28, 2026
- Google Ads Help: about enhanced conversions for leadsAccessed October 28, 2026
- Google Business Profile Help: guidelines for choosing business categoriesAccessed October 28, 2026