This page is for criminal defense and DUI lawyers in the US and Canada who want more retained clients from Google, including the calls that come in at 11 p.m. on a Saturday. Ogus Marketing Group runs Google Ads, Local Services Ads and Facebook Ads for law firms. For defense firms, we build campaigns by charge, schedule ads around the hours your phones are answered, and report what each retained client cost.
Request your free Google Ads audit or call 365-366-2524.
We’re a Google Ads Partner agency in Hamilton, Ontario, serving US and Canadian firms remotely. Our founder, Jack Ogus, has managed more than $10M in Google Ads spend and more than $1M in Facebook ad spend. We run paid advertising only; we don’t sell SEO. This page is part of our PPC for lawyers service, with platform detail on Google Ads for lawyers; we also run personal injury and family law programs.
What makes criminal defense lawyer marketing different
The demand arrives after hours. Arrests don’t follow office hours, and impaired driving is concentrated at night: NHTSA’s 2024 data found alcohol impairment among drivers in fatal crashes was “three times higher at night than during the day” (NHTSA, Traffic Safety Facts 2024: Alcohol-Impaired Driving). Clio’s 2024 secret-shopper study found only 40% of law firms answered the phone at all (Clio 2024 Legal Trends Report, as summarized by 2Civility). The firm that picks up gets the consultation.
Clicks are expensive, and they convert. LocaliQ’s legal benchmark data (256 US campaigns, April 2022 to March 2023) put criminal law’s median cost per click at $12.30, with a 9.90% conversion rate and $101.49 cost per lead (LocaliQ, Legal Search Advertising Benchmarks). Hire-now terms cost more: Keyword Planner’s top-of-page bid for “dui defense lawyer” was $114.02 in July 2026, per PPC.io, which calls such figures an asking price, not what a well-run account pays. There’s no reliable public CPC data by charge type, so we pull Keyword Planner ranges for each charge in your county before setting budgets.
Much of the traffic will never hire anyone. Mugshot, jail-roster and court-date lookups look like your keywords. And Google bars remarketing lists for criminal defense and bans bail bond ads (details below), so search keywords and negatives do most of the work.
How we run Google Ads for criminal defense attorneys
One campaign per charge you want more of
Fees, urgency, geography and who makes the call all differ by charge, so each gets its own campaign, budget, ads and landing page:
| Campaign | Who’s usually searching | Geography | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| DUI / DWI / OWI | The driver or a family member; first-offense drivers worried about their license and job | Counties whose courts you appear in | Ads lead with license and first-offense concerns; landing page explains the first steps and any deadline your state sets for challenging a suspension |
| Drug charges | Defendant or family; possession and distribution are different buyers | Same, plus any neighboring county you cover | Separate ad groups for possession and for trafficking or intent to distribute, because the fee and the caller differ |
| Domestic violence | Often the accused, sometimes a family member; a protective order may be involved | Tight, court-by-court | Careful, non-judgmental copy; heavy exclusions for victim-side searches; intake screens for a protective order hearing date |
| Federal | Defendants and families facing a federal investigation, indictment or target letter | The federal judicial district(s) where you practice, which can be much wider than your county list | Low volume and high fees; its own budget so cheaper state-court clicks don’t starve it |
| Brand | People who already know your name, including referrals | Wherever they are | Small, cheap campaign so competitors bidding on your name don’t take your referrals |
Other charges (theft, juvenile, probation violations, expungement) get campaigns once these spend well. Keyword themes for each are in our guide to criminal defense Google Ads keywords.
Ad scheduling built around your phone coverage
Campaigns run “All day” by default; ad scheduling sets hours and days and raises or lowers bids for specific times (Google Ads Help, About ad scheduling). The schedule should follow your phone coverage:
| Your after-hours coverage | What we do with the schedule |
|---|---|
| A lawyer or trained intake person answers 24/7 | Ads run around the clock; we review bids for late nights and weekends first, using your own call data to see when DUI calls cluster |
| An answering service that can book a consultation | Ads run 24/7; next-morning callback speed is worth tracking, because a booked consult that waits until noon can go cold |
| Calls go to voicemail | Bids drop sharply or ads stop outside covered hours. Paying $12 or more for a click that reaches voicemail rarely makes sense |
The worked example below shows why the middle option often wins.
Negatives that matter most in criminal defense
The full starter list is in our keywords guide. The decisions that most affect a defense account:
| Exclude | Why | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| “records,” “mugshots,” “inmate search,” “jail roster,” “arrest lookup” | Lookups, not hiring | Add plurals and variants; negatives don’t match close variants |
| “public defender,” “court appointed” | Most want a free lawyer | Some can afford private counsel; test before blocking |
| “bail bonds,” “bondsman” | Most want a bondsman, and you can’t advertise bail bonds anyway | “Bail hearing lawyer” is legal representation; keep it |
| “restraining order forms,” “domestic violence hotline,” “how to press charges” | Victim-side searches in a DV defense campaign | Don’t let a broad negative block your protective-order defense ad group |
| “criminal justice degree,” “police jobs,” “corrections officer” | Careers and education | None |
Copy you approve, pages per charge, retained clients tracked
Your responsible attorney approves every ad before it runs. We build or brief a landing page per campaign (“Arrested for DUI in [County]?”) with the phone number up top and what happens on the first call. Calls are tracked with a minimum length, and retained clients are imported into Google Ads so bidding learns what a client looks like. Your firm owns the Google Ads account.
Google policies that affect criminal defense ads
Bail bonds are prohibited; legal representation isn’t. Google’s policy says “Promotion of bail bonds services that offer to act as surety in order to secure bail for a defendant is not allowed,” listing commercial bail bond agents, bail bondsmen, bounty hunters, and immigration and detention bail services (Google Ads Policy, Bail bond services). When Google introduced the ban, it said “Advertising for legal services or legal representation will not be affected” (Google, Bail bonds policy update, May 2018). So advertise representation at a bail or detention hearing, never bail itself. That includes immigration bail; see our immigration lawyer marketing page.
No remarketing lists or lookalikes. Google’s personalized advertising policy treats “Commission of a crime” as a sensitive interest category covering “criminal allegations, or criminal charges,” and names criminal defense lawyers as an example. Advertisers in it can’t use Customer Match, your data segments, audience expansion or lookalike segments; Google’s predefined audiences, demographics and location targeting are still allowed (Google Ads Policy, Commission of a crime in personalized advertising). You can’t follow site visitors around the web with Google ads, so the first search ad and landing page have to convert.
State bar rules for criminal defense advertising
We’re not your ethics counsel; your state’s rules (or law society’s, in Canada) govern. Rules we design around:
- No contingency fees. ABA Model Rule 1.5(d)(2) bars “a contingent fee for representing a defendant in a criminal case” (ABA Model Rule 1.5). Injury-style “no fee unless we win” copy has no place in a defense ad. Flat fees, payment plans and free consultations are fine to state if they’re true.
- “Board certified” means certified. Texas Rule 7.02 restricts claims of special competence to lawyers certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization or another accredited body, and requires every ad to name a responsible lawyer and their primary practice location (Texas Rule 7.02). “Former prosecutor” is fine if it’s accurate; “top DUI lawyer” usually isn’t provable.
- Filing. Texas requires ads to be filed no later than 10 days after first use (Rule 7.04), unless they contain only exempt basics such as practice areas, contact details and consultation fees (Rule 7.05). Florida requires internet ads other than your website to be filed 20 days before first use unless limited to presumptively valid content (Florida Bar, Advertising filing requirements).
- Past results. “Charges dismissed” and “not guilty” claims are past results. New York adopted the ABA model advertising rules on June 1, 2026, which dropped the old “Attorney Advertising” label and specific disclaimer wording but still bar misleading claims (NYSBA, Amendments Adopted to Advertising Rules; NYSBA, Understanding Changes). A past result presented without context can still mislead, so check your own state’s current rule before running one. Keeping a dated copy of every ad version is good practice.
Local Services Ads for criminal defense and DUI
Google lists both “Criminal lawyer services” and “DUI lawyer services” as Local Services Ads categories (Google Local Services Help). LSA charges per lead and rewards fast answering, which suits 24/7 defense practices. We run LSA alongside search where available and compare the two on cost per retained client. Approved advertisers show a single “Google Verified” badge, which replaced the older badges (Google, About Google Verified badge).
The format is changing. Google is moving Local Services Ads into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, starting with select home services in August 2026 and moving “all remaining business categories” in 2027; legal categories aren’t named in the 2026 phases (Google Ads Help, LSA transition to Performance Max). Historical LSA data won’t transfer, so export your reports first. Our comparison of Local Services Ads vs. search ads for lawyers covers how they differ today.
Worked example: does after-hours coverage pay?
Scenario (assumptions for illustration): a two-lawyer DUI and drug defense firm in one county with $5,000 a month in ad spend. We plan with $124 per lead, the figure implied by LocaliQ’s $12.30 CPC and 9.90% conversion rate, which is more conservative than its reported $101.49 median. Everything else is an assumption: 35% of leads arrive outside weekday business hours; 30% of business-hours leads retain the firm; after-hours leads retain at 25% if an answering service books them and 5% if they reach voicemail; an answering service costs $400 a month; the average fee is $4,000.
| A: ads 24/7, voicemail after hours | B: ads in business hours only | C: ads 24/7 + answering service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ad spend | $5,000 | $3,250 (business-hours share) | $5,000 |
| Answering service | $0 | $0 | $400 |
| Leads | 40.3 | 26.2 | 40.3 |
| Retained clients | 7.9 + 0.7 = 8.6 | 7.9 | 7.9 + 3.5 = 11.4 |
| Cost per retained client | $583 | $413 | $474 (incl. service) |
| Fees earned | $34,300 | $31,500 | $45,600 |
| Fees minus ad and service cost | $29,300 | $28,200 | $40,200 |
Option B has the lowest cost per client, which is where firms judging by cost per lead stop. Option C earns the most because it turns the after-hours demand into clients instead of voicemails. Option A is the worst of both: it pays for after-hours clicks and wastes most of them.
Two cautions. After-hours clicks may cost more or less than daytime ones, so we check your hour-of-day report rather than assume. And because defense fees are often paid up front or on a plan, unlike PI, about 60 days of hourly data usually shows which column you’re in. For setting the overall number, see how much a law firm should spend on Google Ads. Our sister program, Law Firm PPC Pros, works from a $1,000 USD/month minimum ad spend; at criminal defense click prices, that’s enough for one charge in one county, not a full practice.
Proof
We don’t yet publish a criminal defense case study. Our closest law firm proof is Brown Law (Lorie Brown), a nursing-law practice: 141 leads at $81.39 each over 10 months, 86 of them calls, with more than 20% becoming clients. Lorie Brown said she was “thrilled with the results.” Different practice area, same method. Read the Brown Law case study or see all case studies.
Your first 90 days
Month 1: Audit, coverage and launch. A free audit of your account: wasted spend on lookups and bail searches, location settings, and whether after-hours calls get answered. We agree charge campaigns, counties, schedule and budget split; set up call tracking and retained-client import; get your approval on every ad and page; and launch on exact and phrase match. LSA verification starts in parallel.
Month 2: Hours and search terms. Weekly search-term reviews, bid changes by hour, day and county, and the first review of call outcomes with whoever answers your phones: retained, declined (and why), or junk.
Month 3: Reallocate by charge and hour. With 60 to 90 days of data, we report cost per retained client by charge and by time of day, and recommend where to move budget, including whether after-hours coverage is paying for itself.
Frequently asked questions
What does criminal defense marketing include at Ogus?
Google Ads campaigns split by charge (DUI, drug, domestic violence, federal), ad schedules matched to your phone coverage, criminal-specific negatives, Local Services Ads alongside search, a landing page per campaign, retained clients imported into Google Ads, and reporting by cost per retained client.
How much do Google Ads cost for criminal defense attorneys?
LocaliQ’s legal benchmark data put criminal law’s median cost per click at $12.30, with a 9.90% conversion rate and $101.49 cost per lead. Hire-now terms cost more: Google Keyword Planner’s top-of-page bid for “dui defense lawyer” was $114.02 in July 2026, per PPC.io. Your county and the charges you target decide your actual cost.
Should criminal defense ads run 24 hours a day?
Only if someone can answer and book a consultation 24 hours a day. Many arrests happen at night and on weekends, so round-the-clock ads with an answering service often produce the most retained clients. If after-hours calls go to voicemail, cut bids or pause ads outside covered hours.
Can criminal defense lawyers advertise bail on Google?
No. Google prohibits ads for bail bond services, including bondsmen and bail bond financing. Google said legal representation is not affected, so a lawyer can advertise representation at bail and detention hearings, but not bail bonds.
Can criminal defense lawyers use remarketing on Google Ads?
Not with their own audience lists. Google names criminal defense lawyers under its “Commission of a crime” sensitive category, so Customer Match, your data segments, audience expansion and lookalikes aren’t allowed. Predefined Google audiences and location targeting still are.
Is DUI lawyer marketing different from general criminal defense marketing?
Yes. DUI demand follows impaired driving, which NHTSA data shows is concentrated at night, and many DUI callers are worried first about their driver’s license and job. That’s why DUI gets its own campaign, budget, schedule and landing page, and why “DUI lawyer services” is a separate Local Services Ads category.
Get a free Google Ads audit for your criminal defense firm
If you’re paying for criminal defense clicks and don’t know which charges, hours and searches bring in retained clients, we’ll review your account for free and show you where the budget is going.
Call 365-366-2524 or fill in the form below to request your free Google Ads audit.
Ogus Marketing Group is a Google Ads Partner agency based in Hamilton, Ontario, running Google Ads and Facebook Ads for law firms and accounting firms across the US and Canada.