Board weighs exemption for sponsored search engine ads under lawyer advertising rules
The Board of Governors is weighing a proposed amendment to lawyer advertising rules that sponsors say is necessary to address “SEO,” or sponsored search engine results.
The proposed amendment to Rule 4-7.20 (Exemptions from the Filing and Review Requirement) would add a subdivision (i).
The subdivision would exempt “sponsored search engine results that do not include images, audio, or video other than the presumptively valid content in Rule 4-7.16.”
The Board Review Committee on Professional Ethics approved the proposal in January. The proposal appeared on first reading on the Board of Governors March agenda.
The proposed rule change was prompted by a recent influx of SEO submissions to the Ethics and Advertising Department. Sponsored search engine results are paid advertisements that are displayed in search engine results pages.
In virtually all instances, these ‘advertisements’ are incomplete pursuant to Rule 4-7.19 of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar and the [Board of Governors] advertisement filing policies.
“Essentially, they give a search engine, such as Google, a series of up to 15 ‘headlines’ and four or five ‘descriptions,’ and then the search engine compiles them into an ad at random using three of the headlines and two of the descriptions,” said Bar Ethics Counsel Jonathan Grabb.
Grabb said one submission involving a proposed Southwest Florida ad campaign had the potential to generate more than 65,520 “distinct final” combinations.
“If one ad campaign can generate tens of thousands of ads and each ad file is $150 for the review, the total cost to run the campaign will likely be prohibitive,” Grabb said.
Even if the filer paid the fee, “it would be extremely difficult for Bar staff to review all of the advertisements within the 15 days,” allotted by the current policy, Grabb said.
The Board of Governors could take final action on the proposed amendment as early as May 16, when it meets next in Key West.
The Supreme Court would make a final determination.
