Local Services Ads (LSAs) Verification and Its Effect on Law Firm Advertising
What are Local Services Ads?
Local Services Ads are a type of Search ad offered by Google that help businesses connect with local customers who are searching for services you offer. These ads appear at the top of search results, allowing potential customers to easily contact you directly. For more information on what LSAs are, check out our blog post “Everything You Need To Know About LSAs”.
The New LSAs Verification Landscape
The Challenge: New LSAs Regulations
In September 2024, new LSAs regulations were introduced, requiring all featured attorneys to undergo a two-step identity verification process, which includes both license verification and background checks. The mandate was introduced to enhance the credibility and trustworthiness of attorneys listed in LSAs. As a result, every attorney has to complete a verification process to maintain eligibility for advertising on the platform.
The Focus: LSAs Verification Journey
This case study explores how the verification process was carried out, the challenges encountered, and the subsequent effects of verification on advertising in the LSAs program.
On September 16, 2024, each individual attorney received an email prompting them to complete their identity verification via Evident, the designated platform for the verification process.
Increase in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
In our case study, we looked at the performance of two LSAs accounts. We found that, throughout the process of verifying each attorney, Local Services Ads’ KPIs dropped to abnormal lows. Impressions, charged leads, and, consequently, spend were at their lowest volume for all periods in which at least one attorney was not verified. Only once every attorney in the business was verified through LSAs did performance return to normal.
Budget Utilization
After verifying all attorneys, budget utilization returned to a nearly complete use of the daily budget, with the two accounts in this study experiencing 192% and 360% increases in average daily budget utilization compared to periods with unverified attorneys. Similarly, charged leads had returned to their typical volume from before the implementation of attorney verification.
Impressions
Impressions were the metric most directly impacted by complete attorney verification. The two clients from this case study saw 184% and 247% increases in average daily impressions following full verification compared to periods when one or more attorneys were unverified.
Key Insights and Takeaways
The Big Picture
Overall, once all attorneys were verified, we saw notable improvement across performance metrics. LSAs began utilizing a higher percentage of the allocated budget, and charged leads and impressions returned to pre-verification levels. We did not observe significant changes in KPIs for either client when individual attorneys were verified. Additionally, although it is mandatory to have at least one business owner verified in LSAs at all times, we did not observe a substantial impact on performance when business owners became verified.
What Worked and What to Avoid in the LSAs Verification Process
Contacting LSAs Support: Calling LSAs support directly by phone significantly improved our efficiency in getting answers and resolving issues. Don't hesitate to call as many times as needed – persistence pays off!
Follow-Up Contact: It may be necessary to reach out multiple times for a specific issue or question, as LSAs representatives sometimes provide different answers, and their knowledge levels can vary.
LSAs Profile Accuracy: Ensure the name listed on the LSAs profile matches the name found on the state courts website for the attorney license to prevent any issues with verification.
Ready to optimize your law firm’s Local Services Ads and drive better results? Contact Élan today, and let our team of experts guide you through the verification process and beyond to ensure your ads perform at their best!