No one plans an estate in a panic. They plan it with someone they trust.
Wills, trusts, and probate are a planned purchase, not an emergency — the client comparing estate attorneys today may not call for another two months, and when they do, they call the firm that looked most credible the whole time. Competitive estate-planning clicks run $30–$45+ in major metros; the return comes from authority and content, not speed.
Estate planning rewards patience. Authority closes the engagement.
Estate planning is the calmest vertical in legal marketing, and the cheapest — competitive wills, trusts, and probate terms run $30 to $45 or more a click in major metros, well below criminal, family, or injury law. The client is often older, financially established, and in no hurry: they've been meaning to update a will for years, or a spouse's death finally makes probate unavoidable, and either way they research for weeks before calling anyone. The threat isn't a competing firm answering faster — it's LegalZoom and Trust & Will convincing that client a $200 DIY document is good enough.
The firms that win treat estate-planning acquisition as an authority-building production line: Local Services Ads and the Google Screened badge providing a quiet third-party trust signal, Search and content matched to matter type — wills, trusts, probate, elder law, asset protection — that explains what a DIY service can't handle, and a website built to make a 60-to-90-day consideration window work in your favor instead of a competitor's. Every stage is measured against one number: cost per signed engagement, weighed against the fee that engagement produces.
The searches that become signed cases.
High-intent estate planning searches we target — and the budget-drainers we strike before they cost you a dollar.
| Search term | Est. CPC (competitive metros) | Intent |
|---|---|---|
| estate planning attorney near me | $45 | Signed-case intent |
| probate attorney near me | $42 | High-value, time-sensitive |
| wills and trusts lawyer | $38 | Head term |
| trust attorney | $34 | Case-type |
| elder law attorney | $30 | Case-type |
| living trust lawyer | $27 | Planning intent |
| estate planning attorney free consultation | $23 | Ready to call |
| power of attorney lawyer | $17 | Lower-value, informational-adjacent |
Just as important as the searches we buy are the ones we block. These are negative keywords — searches we tell Google to never show your ad for — so job-seekers, students, and DIY researchers never spend a dollar of your budget:
From click to signed case.
$320 × 3 = $960 per signed client
Benchmark estimates for competitive metros; smaller markets run meaningfully lower. Illustrative math — prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
We track revenue, not clicks.
Most agencies report clicks and cost-per-lead. We report signed cases and cost-per-signed-case — and we feed real case value back into Google so the algorithm bids toward the clients who actually retain and pay.
Ad spend in
Every dollar deployed against a specific keyword
Call tracked
CallRail ties each call & form to its exact search
Lead tagged
Signed · qualified · unqualified · spam — real names, not "conversions"
Case signed
Fee value recorded per matter in WhatConverts
Value fed back
Offline conversion import teaches Google to bid toward retainers
Every call tracked to the keyword
Dynamic call tracking ties every phone call to the exact search, campaign, ad, and keyword that produced it — recorded and scored.
Real names, not "conversions"
Calls and forms captured with the caller's real name and details, routed to your intake team in minutes — not an anonymous number on a dashboard.
Real ROAS, reported monthly
Ad spend in, case value out, cost-per-signed-case — the only numbers that decide whether marketing works. No vanity metrics.
How we fill an estate planning caseload.
Local Services Ads
Google Screened LSAs sit above every ad and every organic result for wills, trusts, and probate searches, and you pay per lead — not per $45 click. We run license verification and optimize the profile for matter-type coverage, giving an older, careful searcher a trust signal before they ever open your website.
Search and content, matched by matter
Exact and phrase match on matter-type terms only — wills, trusts, probate, elder law, asset protection — each with its own authority-building landing page and its own negative list, so budget never funds someone looking for a free template.
The authority test
A prospect comparing estate attorneys is quietly deciding whether you're worth $2,000–$3,000 more than a $200 DIY document. Landing pages explain the tax, family-conflict, and asset-protection risk a DIY service can't handle, in plain English, with credentials that build trust over a long read, not a fast scroll.
Nurture as a ranking factor
Nobody signs on the first visit. We wire retargeting, email follow-up, and a consultation-booking flow built for a 60-to-90-day decision window — because the firm still visible in month two is the firm that gets the call in month three.
Built for estate planning, not adapted to it.
Optimized to cost-per-signed-client
Not clicks, not calls — signed engagements. Client value imported back into Google Ads so the algorithm learns which keywords produce fees, not just forms.
Google Screened, managed weekly
Verification handled, profile optimized by matter type. The quiet trust signal that matters most to a careful, older searcher.
Bar-compliant by default
No outcome guarantees, no promised tax results, required prior-results disclaimers wherever results are mentioned. Your ads never expose the firm.
Content built to beat the DIY alternative
Educational content explains the tax, probate, and family-conflict risk a $200 online document can't handle — justifying your fee instead of apologizing for it.
Matter-type campaign architecture
Wills, trusts, probate, and elder law each get dedicated content and landing pages — because a probate searcher and a 40-year-old writing a first will want completely different reassurance.
Month to month, you own it all
Your ad account, your data, your landing pages, your call records. We keep firms by performance — not by contract.
Advertising estate planning, the way the bar requires.
The Compliance Brief
No guarantees, ever
No promised tax outcomes or asset-protection results in ads. We write demand generation that survives bar review.
No 'specialist' claims without certification
Unless your firm holds board certification in wills, trusts & estates, we use compliant language: 'focuses on,' 'concentrates in,' 'experienced in.'
Prior-results disclaimers, built in
Wherever outcomes or results are referenced, the required 'prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome' disclaimer runs conspicuously, sized and placed per your state's rules.
Client privacy handled with care
Estate matters are private and often involve grief. We build credibility through attorney credentials and consented reviews — never by exposing a client's family or financial details.
Built for firm growth, priced for case value.
Management fees below; your ad budget is separate and set to your market. Month to month — you own everything.
Solo & Small Firm
- Google Business Profile optimization
- One Google Search campaign or Local Services Ads
- Professional, bar-compliant landing page
- Call & form tracking with real names
- Monthly reporting
Growth Firm
- Everything in Solo, plus:
- Google Search + Local Services Ads
- SEO + research-backed practice content
- WhatConverts revenue & real-ROAS tracking
- Clio / Filevine / Lawmatics integration
- Bi-weekly strategy
Market Leader
- Full paid + organic + LSA program
- Multi-location & multi-practice
- Dedicated legal strategist
- Offline-conversion ROAS bidding
- Creative & landing-page testing
Management fee is separate from your advertising budget. As your investment grows, your percentage drops. Month to month — you own your ad accounts, website, content, data, and call records.
Estate Planning marketing, counsel to counsel.
Explore the other worlds.
Let's talk about your next signed estate plan.
A 30-minute case-strategy call: your market, your numbers, and exactly where the next signed estate planning cases come from. No obligation.