For years, law firms focused on one main digital marketing goal: showing up on Google.
Now, however, the way people search for lawyers is changing quickly. Potential clients can ask ChatGPT, Claude, Google AI Mode, and other AI-powered search platforms questions like, “Who is the best personal injury lawyer near me?” or “Can you recommend an estate planning attorney in my city?”
However, these platforms can recommend very different firms, creating a more complicated search-visibility landscape for law firms.
AI Platforms Rarely Recommend the Same Firms
A recent study compared 3,200 identical lawyer-related searches across ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Mode, covering 100 U.S. metropolitan areas and 32 legal practice areas. The study recorded more than 107,000 citations across the three platforms.
Of those, 71,701 pointed to law firm websites, identifying 19,692 distinct law firms.
Only 578 firms appeared across all three platforms, representing about 2.9% of the firms identified in the study.
Even more striking, ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Mode agreed on the first law firm recommended in only 0.9% of the 2,566 searches in which all three platforms named at least one law firm.
The key takeaway is that a firm can be recommended by one AI platform without appearing in the others. The study found substantial differences in the firms selected by each platform, even when all three were answering the same question.
Google AI Mode alone recommended 9,778 law firms that neither ChatGPT nor Claude mentioned in the study.
As a result, firms seeking visibility across AI-powered search platforms are competing for exposure across several different recommendation systems rather than a single set of results.
Different AI Platforms Use Different Sources
The study also found major differences in the sources each AI platform cited.
For example, Avvo appeared in 87.1% of Claude’s answers but only 5.4% of Google AI Mode’s answers.
Additionally, Super Lawyers appeared in 62.8% of Google AI Mode’s answers but did not appear in Claude’s results.
Martindale appeared in 55.5% of Claude’s answers but only 0.1% of Google AI Mode’s answers. Google AI Mode also cited sources such as Yelp and Reddit in the study, while those sources did not appear in the ChatGPT or Claude results.
These differences help explain why the platforms can produce different recommendations from the same search query. The platforms do not rely on exactly the same collection of sources. For firms seeking visibility across multiple AI platforms, this suggests that a broader digital presence may be useful. That can include accurate attorney profiles, legal directories, local listings, reviews, news coverage, and other credible third-party mentions.
A broader digital presence can give AI systems additional sources of information about a firm while creating more opportunities for the firm to appear in the sources different platforms rely on.
SEO Is Still Important, but It Is No Longer Enough by Itself
Law firms still need traditional SEO, including strong websites, useful practice-area pages, local optimization, quality content, and clear attorney information. However, for firms seeking visibility across AI-powered search, traditional Google rankings are only one part of the broader search-visibility picture.
Premier Legal Marketing combines traditional SEO with newer strategies such as answer engine optimization (AEO). Law firms that work with Premier Legal Marketing can combine traditional SEO with efforts to make firm information accessible to generative and answer-based search systems while addressing the questions prospective clients actually ask.
Law Firms Need a Broader Search Strategy
The study demonstrates that AI platforms do not consistently recommend the same law firms, even when they receive identical questions. It also shows that the platforms rely on different directories and other sources at significantly different rates. For firms seeking visibility across multiple AI platforms, that makes it important to think beyond a single search engine or AI system.
Contact our team at Premier Legal Marketing today for a complimentary website audit, and learn how your law firm can improve its visibility across both traditional and AI-powered search. Call 856-320-2016 or complete our online form. We serve law firms nationwide.