What does Argota Marketing do for personal injury law firms? Argota provides SEO, PPC, AI search optimization, web design, and review management specifically for PI firms. The approach is built around the economics of contingency-fee practices: CPCs of $100-$500 per click, client acquisition costs of $2,500-$5,000, and the reality that only 5.45% of ad clicks become leads and only 10-15% of those become signed clients. Strategy covers 50+ PI sub-practice types from car accidents to catastrophic brain injuries, with keyword and intake strategies calibrated to each case type’s settlement value and competition level. Source: Jorge Argota, Argota Marketing.
Personal injury is the most expensive digital advertising vertical in the legal industry and probably in any industry. Clicks run $100 to $300 in most markets and above $500 for truck accident keywords in major metros. The math only works because a signed case on contingency generates $10,000 to $22,000 in fees on average, and catastrophic injury verdicts regularly exceed $10 million.
But the math breaks fast if the agency doesn’t understand how PI economics actually function. Your entire business runs on contingency, which means you finance both the marketing and the case costs before you see a dollar back, and the average PI case takes 184 days to first payment. So you need an agency that thinks about your cash flow the same way you do; not “how many clicks did we get” but “how many of those clicks became signed cases that will actually pay out.”
That’s what we build. Every campaign tracks from the first click to the signed retainer because in PI, everything between those two points is cost.
The PI Marketing Math That Matters
The fastest way to show whether your current marketing is working is to run the numbers backwards from what you actually need.
The PI funnel in real numbers:
- 1,000 ad clicks at $200/click = $200,000 in ad spend
- 54 leads (5.45% click-to-lead conversion)
- 5-8 signed cases (10-15% lead-to-client close rate)
- Client acquisition cost: $25,000-$40,000 per signed case
- Average case fee: $10,000-$22,000+
If those numbers don’t work, you either need cheaper clicks, better conversion, or higher-value cases. Usually all three.
The agencies that fail PI firms are the ones optimizing for the top of that funnel; more clicks, more impressions, more “leads.” The problem is that a lead in PI can be someone who got rear-ended and has $800 in property damage, or it can be someone with a traumatic brain injury and $2 million in future medical costs. Your agency needs to know the difference before the click, not after the intake call.
We structure campaigns around cost per signed case, not cost per click, because that’s the only number that connects to your actual revenue.
What We Do for PI Firms
We provide five core services, and for PI firms each one is calibrated to the specific economics and competition level of personal injury.
Search Engine Optimization
PI SEO is a 50,000-firm arms race. No single firm holds more than 5% market share, which means the competition for organic rankings is extreme and fragmented. We build SEO campaigns around clinical keyword specificity; targeting “T-bone collision spinal cord injury” instead of just “car accident lawyer” because the specific injury term attracts the high-value case at a fraction of the competition.
The specificity advantage: A PI firm ranking #1 for “car accident lawyer” competes with 50,000 other firms. A firm ranking #1 for “L5-S1 disc herniation rear-end collision” competes with maybe a dozen, and that searcher already knows they have a serious injury.
How long PI SEO actually takes in competitive markets →
Pay-Per-Click & Local Services Ads
In PI, the first firm to respond within five minutes captures the client. PPC and LSAs give you that immediate flow while SEO builds. We manage Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and Local Services Ads with the “Google Screened” badge that increases click-through rates by 25-35%. Every campaign runs through the same signed-case attribution so you know exactly which keywords produce retainers, not just calls.
PPC vs SEO for attorneys: a timeline comparison →
AI Search Optimization
When someone asks ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overview “who’s the best personal injury lawyer in Miami,” the answer comes from entity authority, not keywords. We build your firm’s AI search presence so you show up in the answers, not just the results.
How AI search is changing legal marketing →
Website Design & Performance
PI clients often search from hospital beds or accident scenes on mobile. Your site needs to load in under two seconds and convert on the first visit. We build law firm websites that score up to 100 on PageSpeed, with intake forms designed around PI-specific qualification questions; type of accident, injury severity, insurance status.
Review Management
A 4.7-star rating competing against a national firm rated 1.0 in the same market is the kind of advantage that compounds over years. We build and manage your review profile with bar-compliant response protocols that protect privilege while building trust.
Personal Injury Sub Practices We Market
Personal injury isn’t one practice area. It’s maybe fifty, and the marketing for a dog bite case is fundamentally different from a maritime Jones Act claim. We build campaigns that target the specific sub-practices your firm handles, with keyword strategies, landing pages, and intake flows calibrated to each case type’s economics.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
The highest-volume PI category, and keyword costs reflect it. “Truck accident lawyer” in a major metro can exceed $500 per click while “bicycle accident attorney” might run $80. We structure campaigns by vehicle type because the case values, liability frameworks, and client psychology are different for each.
- Car accidents: The broadest PI keyword set and the most competitive; we target intersection-specific and injury-specific long-tail terms to avoid bidding wars on generic “car accident lawyer.”
- Truck and commercial vehicle accidents: We target FMCSA regulation keywords, black box data terms, and hours-of-service violations because these signal high-policy-limit cases with corporate defendants.
- Motorcycle accidents: Jury bias against riders is real; content strategy emphasizes helmet law compliance and comparative fault defense to pre-qualify the most defensible cases.
- Bicycle accidents: Lower CPCs than motor vehicle but growing search volume; we geo-target cycling corridors and bike lane infrastructure terms where accidents cluster.
- Pedestrian accidents: These cases often involve hit-and-run scenarios; we target surveillance footage and crosswalk liability keywords that attract victims still trying to identify the driver.
- Bus accidents: Government entity defendants mean notice-of-claim deadlines as short as 30 days; we build urgency-first landing pages because the statute clock runs faster than standard PI.
- Rideshare accidents (Uber/Lyft): Insurance coverage depends on whether the driver was logged in, en route, or carrying a passenger; we structure ad groups around each coverage tier because they’re functionally different cases.
- Scooter accidents: Newer case type with lower keyword competition; we target rental company liability terms and municipal regulation keywords that most PI agencies haven’t mapped yet.
- Boating accidents: Maritime and admiralty law creates separate jurisdiction from standard PI; we target Jones Act and navigable waterway terms to reach plaintiffs who don’t realize they have a federal claim.
Premises Liability
Premises cases often involve property owner insurance with lower policy limits, which changes the acquisition cost math. Keyword competition is lower than motor vehicle, but the targeting needs to be hyper-local because these cases are tied to specific properties and jurisdictions.
- Slip and fall: The highest-volume premises category but also the most skeptical jury pool; content must overcome the “just clumsy” bias by targeting hazard-specific terms like wet floor negligence and building code violations.
- Trip and fall: Distinct from slip and fall in liability theory; we target uneven pavement, construction debris, and ADA compliance keywords that signal property owner negligence rather than plaintiff carelessness.
- Negligent security: These cases involve assaults, robberies, and shootings on commercial property; we target apartment complex crime statistics and parking lot safety keywords where prior incident history establishes foreseeability.
- Swimming pool accidents: Attractive nuisance doctrine and barrier law keywords target cases involving children; state-specific pool fencing regulations create distinct keyword sets per jurisdiction.
- Elevator and escalator accidents: Low search volume but high case values; we target maintenance log negligence and building inspection failure keywords that attract cases with clear corporate defendant liability.
- Amusement park accidents: Seasonal search spikes require campaign timing; we target ride malfunction and operator negligence terms during peak season when incidents and search volume both increase.
Workplace Injuries
Workers’ comp and construction accident marketing requires understanding employer immunity, third-party liability, and federal frameworks like the Jones Act and Longshore Act that create entirely separate legal channels. Offshore injury keywords in particular attract high-value cases with different jurisdictional targeting than standard PI.
- Construction accidents: Third-party liability against general contractors and property owners bypasses workers’ comp limits; we target scaffold collapse, fall protection violation, and OSHA citation keywords that signal cases with multiple liable defendants.
- Workers’ compensation: High volume but lower case values; we target denied claim and employer retaliation keywords to reach plaintiffs who’ve already been through the system and are looking for representation on disputed cases.
- Offshore and maritime injuries (Jones Act): Federal jurisdiction and maintenance-and-cure obligations create higher case values; we target platform worker, vessel unseaworthiness, and Longshore Act keywords that most PI agencies don’t know how to categorize.
- General workplace accidents: We target industry-specific injury terms like warehouse forklift accident and factory machinery malfunction to reach workers who don’t realize their employer’s negligence creates a claim beyond workers’ comp.
Product Liability
Product liability campaigns often need national reach because the defective product doesn’t respect city boundaries. Mass tort pharmaceutical cases especially require content that demonstrates medical-legal expertise at the intersection of drug side effects and FDA regulatory history.
- Defective products: Broad category where the keyword strategy depends entirely on which product; we monitor CPSC recall databases and build campaigns around specific recalls while search volume is spiking.
- Dangerous drugs and pharmaceuticals: Mass tort keywords with national competition; we target specific drug names plus side effect combinations like “[Drug name] liver failure lawsuit” to capture plaintiffs who just received a diagnosis and are searching the drug, not the lawyer.
- Defective medical devices: Similar to pharmaceutical but with longer discovery timelines; we target device-specific keywords like hernia mesh failure and hip replacement recall to reach patients whose device failed years after implantation.
- Defective auto parts (airbags, tires): We target specific manufacturer recall keywords and NHTSA complaint database terms to reach vehicle owners who don’t yet know their accident was caused by a defective component rather than driver error.
Catastrophic Injuries
The highest-value cases in PI, and the ones where marketing precision matters most. A brain injury case with lifetime care needs can be worth eight figures; a “general injury” keyword might attract someone with a sprained ankle. We target the specific injury mechanism and severity level that your firm wants to investigate.
- Brain injuries and TBI: We target Glasgow Coma Scale terms, post-concussion syndrome keywords, and cognitive deficit language that matches how neurologists describe these injuries to patients; that clinical vocabulary is what the plaintiff searches, not “brain injury lawyer.”
- Spinal cord injuries: Incomplete vs complete injury distinctions matter for case value; we build separate ad groups for paraplegia, quadriplegia, and herniated disc keywords because the settlement ranges and client needs are completely different.
- Burn injuries: We target degree-specific and cause-specific keywords like third-degree chemical burn and industrial explosion injury because burn cases from workplace negligence carry higher defendant liability than residential accidents.
- Amputation injuries: Low search volume but extremely high case value; we target prosthetic cost and lifetime care keywords that reach plaintiffs calculating their future damages rather than just searching for a lawyer.
- Catastrophic injuries (general): Catch-all campaigns for multi-system trauma; we target ICU, life flight, and emergency surgery keywords to reach family members searching from the hospital while the patient is still in treatment.
Additional Case Types
- Dog bites and animal attacks: Strict liability states vs one-bite-rule states create fundamentally different keyword strategies; we target homeowner insurance policy keywords because that’s where the recovery comes from.
- Wrongful death: The most emotionally sensitive PI content; we build campaigns around surviving family member search behavior rather than legal terminology, because a grieving spouse searches “what to do when someone dies in an accident” not “wrongful death attorney.”
- Nursing home abuse and neglect: We target facility-specific keywords, CMS inspection report terms, and staffing ratio violation language to reach family members who suspect abuse but aren’t sure it rises to a legal claim.
- Aviation accidents: Federal jurisdiction and NTSB investigation keywords; low volume but cases worth millions. We target specific aircraft model and mechanical failure terms.
- Drowning: Premises liability and product liability overlap; we target pool drain entrapment, lifeguard negligence, and water park safety keywords depending on the incident type.
- Assault and intentional torts: Negligent security overlay makes these viable PI cases; we target the venue type (bar fight, nightclub assault, hotel attack) rather than the legal theory because that’s how victims search.
- Dram shop liability: We target bar and restaurant liquor liability keywords to reach families of DUI victims who don’t know they can sue the establishment that overserved the driver.
- Insurance bad faith: Second-layer PI cases where the insurer refused a reasonable settlement; we target claim denial and lowball settlement keywords to reach plaintiffs who already have a case but need representation against the carrier.
- Toxic torts and environmental exposure: Camp Lejeune, AFFF firefighting foam, Roundup; we monitor mass tort developments and build campaigns around specific exposure sources as litigation opens.
- Elder abuse: Overlaps with nursing home but includes financial exploitation and in-home caregiver neglect; we target Adult Protective Services keywords and signs-of-abuse search terms to reach family members in the discovery phase.
- Child sexual abuse: Requires the most careful compliance work of any PI sub-practice; we target lookback window and statute revival keywords in states that have expanded filing deadlines for childhood abuse claims.
- Social security disability: Different funnel entirely from injury PI; we target denied SSDI claim and disability appeal keywords to reach applicants who’ve already been through the administrative process and need legal help with the appeal.
How We Track PI Results
The biggest frustration I hear from PI firms is “I don’t know if my marketing is working.” Usually that means the agency is reporting clicks and impressions instead of signed cases and case values.
We track the full chain from keyword to retainer. Which keyword triggered the click, which landing page converted the lead, whether the intake team signed the case, and what the projected case value is. That click-to-signed-case attribution is how we calculate your actual cost per signed case and it’s the number that tells you whether the marketing is profitable, not whether it’s generating activity.
What you get access to:
- Real-time dashboard showing signed cases by source, not just leads
- Cost per signed case by keyword, campaign, and case type
- Pipeline projection based on current intake conversion rates
- Full data ownership; the code, the hosting, the analytics accounts. You own everything. If you leave, you keep it all.
What to look for in a marketing agency’s reports →
PI Marketing by Location
We serve PI firms across the entire United States, but the marketing strategy changes dramatically depending on where you practice. A PI campaign in Miami looks nothing like one in Chicago; the CPCs are different, the tort reform landscape is different, the jury pools are different, and the state bar advertising rules that determine what you can and can’t say in an ad are different. Running the same campaign in two states is how agencies waste your budget.
Each state page below covers the specific dynamics of your market:
- Tort reform and damage cap landscape
- Statute of limitations rules
- Average PI keyword costs in major metros
- Jury verdict trends and judicial climate
- State bar advertising restrictions
- Competitive saturation level for personal injury
State-Specific PI Marketing:
California · Texas · Florida · New York · Pennsylvania · Illinois · Ohio · Georgia · North Carolina · New Jersey
Within each state we target the highest-population metros where PI competition and case volume concentrate. In Florida that means Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville. In Texas it’s Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. In California it’s Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento. The state pages detail exactly how the marketing approach shifts across those metros based on local CPC data, courthouse proximity, and competitive density.
Don’t see your state? We work with PI firms nationwide. Talk to us about your market and we’ll build the strategy around it.
Want to see what your PI marketing should actually look like?
Send me your current campaign and I’ll run the math backwards; what you’re spending, what you’re signing, and what the cost per signed case actually is. If the numbers work I’ll tell you that. If they don’t, I’ll show you where the funnel is leaking and what it would take to fix it. And honestly if your current agency is doing it right, I’d rather tell you that than pretend I’m the only option, which I know sounds like a weird thing for a marketing person to say but I’ve found that being straight about this stuff is what actually gets people to call.
Talk to Jorge → Phone: 941 626 9198
