Risks of Ignoring AI Search for Law Firms
Artificial intelligence is increasingly changing how people search for information online. This impact is noticeable for law firms that have structured their marketing around tried-and-true principles such as local search engine optimization (SEO) and robust website content. These techniques aim to show a law firm is relevant to a particular search query.
Relevance still matters, but law firms have a new gatekeeper between themselves and their potential clients: AI-driven search. While strong SEO principles and online authority still help raise search ranking, AI now does the work of sifting through results for many people.
Your potential clients might ask ChatGPT or Perplexity to find out about legal services. Even if they go to Google, the AI overview can tell them in a second who to call. To stay relevant and reach clients, modern law firms must meet this new challenge of online marketing head-on by appealing directly to the AI.
Is your firm accurately represented online by AI?
AI uses algorithms and data points to determine how to summarize information and make recommendations. But this technology can only respond to information available in the online world. If you don’t have a visible internet presence, AI can’t know you’re there.
Even if your site ranks on search engines, if you’re behind on your digital marketing, vital credibility signals might be absent. Credibility signals demonstrate you have an established place in the legal industry and are a trustworthy professional worthy of recommendation.
Without the right online presence, the AI might not pay attention to you. It will fail to recommend your services, even if you’re the best attorney for a potential client.
The need to adapt: Lessons from past innovation
Some attorneys might resist the need to tweak their digital marketing in the face of AI search. Adapting is necessary, however, to keep thriving in the competitive online market. AI might seem new, but it’s already resulted in fundamental shifts in search behavior.
People are already searching for general information on platforms like ChatGPT that don’t provide standard search results. Even when they go to Google out of habit, the AI overview is often all they look at. There’s no need to scroll deeper into individual search results.
This trend isn’t moving backwards. Law firms that want to stay visible have to adapt to the technology.
Think back to when smartphones became the primary device for online searches. Mobile responsiveness on websites became critical, and those who failed to update their designs saw their search rank fall and their traffic plummet.
Peer reviews and profile validation impact AI visibility: Here’s why
AI search pools information from a range of sources but puts greater emphasis on credible sites. The AI forms a narrative about a business based on its reputation.
AI tools search for external evidence of a law firm’s reputation among peers and former clients. If those signals are absent, the AI can’t make a judgment on its relevance to the search query.
So a law firm that has few or no online reviews or validated external profiles has no online reputation and might as well be invisible to the AI.
Reviewed vs. non-reviewed attorneys: The possible results
Let’s say you and a colleague have the same amount of experience and education. Perhaps you work in the same geographic region and same practice area.
However, your colleague has recent reviews on Google, while you don’t. The AI might opt to recommend your colleague’s firm over yours because of the reputational evidence.
5 things firms should do now to increase visibility
Successfully adapting means taking steps to increase your law firm’s visibility in the age of online search:
- Ask clients to post reviews on Google as part of your final billing or wrap-up email
- Partner with legal directories for listings that show your practice area and locations
- Contact local media outlets to add your name to an expert list for journalists to consult
- Review inclusion criteria for “best of” lists in legal directories and submit your firm for consideration
- Work with a marketing company to upgrade your digital presence for the age of AI search
How a marketing partnership sustains your growth
Digital marketing remains a vital tool for growing and building your practice. Not keeping up to date with your marketing strategy now can mean losing out on the next wave of advertising innovation. Contact Martindale-Avvo today to learn more about meeting the moment in AI search.
