Criminal defense ads: search and Local Services, on hours you can answer

Criminal-defense ads reach people at the moment they need a lawyer, often late at night and often on behalf of someone in custody. We run search and Local Services ads by charge and county, on a schedule your phones can actually cover, with standard uploads only and no audiences, and we judge them on retained clients from your own records.

The channels, for a criminal-defense firm

Ad hours that match your phones

• Run when someone answers. Ad schedules follow your real coverage, hour by hour and by language.
• Local Services can bill some missed calls during your listed hours when the caller stays on the line more than 20 seconds (Google), so listed hours follow coverage too.
• Missed-call alerts within 5 minutes, so a callback reaches the family while they are still searching.
• Jail calls need a live person. A collect call from jail connects only when the person called accepts the charges (FCC). Any tracked number in your ads or on your site must ring through to someone who can.

Search terms to block

Criminal searches attract many people who aren’t looking for a lawyer. Search terms are screened every hour, two people review each block, and a term that led to a retained client in the last 180 days is never blocked.

Whether to block searches such as “public defender” is your firm’s choice: some callers can’t afford private counsel, others are looking for options. We show you the numbers and you decide.

What the platforms allow

• No audiences. Google treats the commission of a crime as a sensitive category for personalized ads (Google), so criminal-defense campaigns get no remarketing. We never build Customer Match or lookalike audiences from client lists, in any practice.
• Standard uploads only. Google’s customer data policy keeps conversions about the commission or alleged commission of a crime out of enhanced conversions (Google). Uploads carry a click ID, a neutral stage name, a value band and a time, and never a charge.
• No bail ads. Google doesn’t allow ads for bail bond services (Google). Ads can talk about your representation at a bond hearing; they never offer to post bail.

Values, by charge

Criminal-defense fees are usually flat by charge, and many clients retain within a day. That gives bidding a fast, clean signal. Values come from your own fees, grouped into a few bands, so a felony defense and a misdemeanor aren’t bid as if they were worth the same. Bidding moves to value once the data is clean, usually between day 31 and day 60.

Ad copy your state allows

• Required words in every ad: your responsible lawyer’s name and office city. California requires them in every California ad (§6157.2).
• No promises: no “charges dropped,” no “guaranteed,” no “expert” or “specialist” unless your state allows the exact wording.
• Filings on time. In filing states such as Florida, most ads are filed at least 20 days before they run, and a changed ad is a new ad (Florida Bar). We prepare the packets; your attorney files.
• Spanish ads carry the statements your state requires, in Spanish.

How we measure it

The Monday report shows each paid channel by charge group, county and language: spend, leads, retained clients, and cost per retained client once a line has at least 5. It shows answer rate by hour beside the ads, so you can see when a cost problem is really a coverage problem.

The organic side is on criminal defense SEO and AI search. The overview is on criminal defense. Channel detail is on Google search ads and Local Services Ads.