The Impact of AI Search / Generative Engine Optimisation for Law Firms

The ever-growing prominence of Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI search are inescapable topics right now. No matter the context, AI is everywhere; whether you’re asking Siri what the day's weather is like, writing a blog post for your website or asking Copilot to help draft an email to a client.

It’s only natural that you’ll likely have a whole range of questions about how to properly utilise AI.

• “How can my law firm capitalise on the rise of LLMs and that more people are now using them instead of Google/Bing?”
• “How do we ensure that we stay ahead of the curve in these uncertain times?”
• “How will LLMs affect our SEO strategy?”

We’re sure that you have more questions than ever about the relevance of AI in your marketing, and we’re here to shed some light on the topic.

What do you need to know?

• ‘AI search’ refers to the use of AI to enhance the way information is retrieved, interpreted and displayed in search engines.
• Large Language Models (LLMs) synthesise data from various sources to construct informed and context-aware responses to user enquiries.
• AI is constantly reshaping the criteria for appearing in organic search results.
• Strong SEO foundations are as essential as ever.
• We are developing a new stream of work dedicated to ‘AI-readiness’ to ensure your brand remains relevant in the changing landscape.
• There are still plenty of questions regarding AI which need to be carefully monitored before a definitive answer can be found.
• We are ready to support you in utilising AI to ensure you are at the forefront of the AI Search trend.

What exactly is “AI Search”?

Discussions around AI have been lively in recent months, particularly with regard to how it affects Google rankings and SEO. You’re probably hearing buzz around GEO and AI Search from your marketing teams and peers, all trying to determine what AI search is and how to get the best out of it.

If you take away one point from this article, let it be this: “AI isn’t replacing search, it IS search”. So now, it’s not just Google indexing your website, it’s how your brand ‘shows up’ everywhere on the internet.

Google’s new AI-generated summaries now appear at the top of the results page, often directly answering a user’s question. Data shows that around 75% of those AI answers are built from the top 12 organic search results^[1], so if your website isn’t already ranking well, you probably won’t be included.

In other research^[2], Ahrefs (a tool that we at Conscious use) analysed 17 million citations and determined that AI search prefers ‘fresher content’. On average, 25.7% newer than what ranks in traditional organic results.

The traditional methods of getting a page to rank well remain as important as ever, as in most cases, Google isn’t trawling through the deep depths of the internet to find the answers to include in the AI Overviews. It is using content that it considers to be from credible sources, which already rank well in search results.

Of course, search queries aren’t just from Google these days: people also use a variety of platforms such as Siri, ChatGPT, LinkedIn, Reddit and more for their answers. These tools all pull from a wide mix of sources that aren’t always within your control, which include:

• Your own website
• Legal directories such as Chambers and Legal 500
• Google, Trustpilot and ReviewSolicitors reviews
• Glassdoor and Indeed
• Press coverage, good and bad
• Wikipedia
• Reddit
• Your (or someone else’s!) social media

For many firms, this won’t require a dramatic change in direction. If online reviews and media mentions weren’t already on your radar, now’s the time to take them seriously. Search queries are longer^[3] (averaging 23 words instead of 4), user sessions are extending to around 6 minutes, and the answers people receive increasingly depend on the context and the source.

But, Reddit, whoa, isn’t that for geeks and nerds?  No, not since 2024 when Reddit signed a deal with OpenAI to give it easy access to all its content. So, if your firm is not being mentioned on Reddit, you might be losing out on ChatGPT visibility.

Whereas traditional search engines retrieve and rank, LLMs do much more: they retain context, make logical connections, and synthesise information from multiple sources into tailored responses. This change reshapes not just how content is surfaced, but also how it must be structured and optimised moving forward.

What are LLMs and how do they really “see” your law firm?

A big part of Generative AI comes from Large Language Models (LLMs). An LLM is a type of AI program which is fed vast amounts of text and data so it understands and can replicate human writing, enabling it to complete tasks like creative content generation or summarisation. Think ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Deepseek, Claude or Microsoft Copilot, Generative AI that is becoming practically indispensable.

LLMs base their answers on the swathes of content available on the web. And digital marketing is one area where these LLMs are changing how agencies like Conscious need to work.

For example, if a prospective client asks ChatGPT for the best divorce solicitor in your local area, it’s your (or our) responsibility to ensure that your name is top billing in the answer it provides. I say “or our” as if you are a law firm where we manage SEO activities for you, it’s our responsibility. Searches like this are what we call AI Search and others call Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).

While it might be tempting to think of LLMs like ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude as giving you a simple answer box, what’s happening behind the scenes is extremely complex. These tools aren’t scanning the web like a traditional search engine. Instead, they’re synthesising data from various sources to construct an informed and context-aware response.

So, what do they actually “see” when they look at your firm?

The short answer is everything they can get their hands on.

As we've previously mentioned, LLMs rely heavily on publicly available data at a baseline level - but each tool draws from slightly different places.

For example, ChatGPT-5 now has no ‘training cut-off’ and can pull live data from the internet; Copilot taps into Microsoft's ecosystem; Siri often surfaces short, fact-based answers from high-authority sites; while Reddit and LinkedIn let users compare firms directly in discussion threads.

The result is a patchwork of impressions, ranging from topical and accurate to outdated and completely beyond your control.

Here’s the real blind spot: while some of these sources are public knowledge, there’s a great deal the platforms don’t disclose. LLMs may quietly draw on news articles, comments, and online profiles, piecing together links between your firm, your people, and even your clients - without you ever seeing the full picture.

It’s also important to note that LLMs are tailored to both users’ wants and their semantics. The context in which a user asks a question is important^[4]: searching for ‘best conveyancing solicitors for a family farm’ will deliver a response tailored to specialist needs such as agricultural estate planning. This means your content needs to clearly communicate the particular expertise that you want to be found for.

What we’re observing in SEO and organic visibility

The landscape of organic visibility is shifting at a frantic pace. As AI continues to reshape the way people search and receive information, we’re noticing a few clear patterns already taking shape.

One of the most notable developments is the direct impact AI overviews are having on the way organic search results are being presented to users. AI overviews (AI-generated snapshots for Google Search results) take up a significant portion of search engine results pages (SERPs), which means organic search results are being pushed out of immediate view. In fact, sites that appear in traditional search results are estimated to see up to 140% less visibility due to the presence of AI overviews.^[5]

Freshness is also a major factor. AI tools appear to prioritise recency in their outputs, especially when it comes to news coverage. Content that’s more topical and up to date is given preference, which means visibility now depends on keeping your content pipeline active and current.

But even if you are featured in an AI overview, there’s a new challenge to contend with: the click-through dilemma. More and more, AI tools serve complete answers within their summaries. That means a user might get everything they need without ever clicking through to your website, even if your content was the original source. It’s somewhat of a paradox, as your content may work harder than ever, while your site traffic doesn’t reflect it.

For law firms in particular, we’re seeing stronger weighting given to third-party sources^[6] – which could include legal directories, client reviews and trusted industry publications. AI systems don’t just look at your website; they scan how others talk about you. That makes platforms like ReviewSolicitors, Chambers, Legal 500, and even Glassdoor even more influential in shaping the perception AI tools present.

Right now, we estimate that firms control only around 50% of their online footprint – the part they own (like their website, blogs, and social posts). The rest is determined by external sources: reviews, press, directories, forums, and more.

If your Glassdoor profile suggests poor culture, if your news mentions are out of date, or if your ReviewSolicitors page is gathering dust, with no new reviews for a few months, these are the kinds of things tools like ChatGPT or Copilot will take note of and likely penalise you for.

This is where PR, directory strategy, and review management come into play. Don’t treat these as vanity metrics: instead, they’re your visibility in an AI-powered search environment.

It’s also worth noting that:

• Over 95% of content cited by AI tools is earned rather than paid
• 27% of that is journalism, which further reinforces the power of earned media
• ChatGPT in particular, favours journalistic sources for credibility
• There are significant differences between AI models, some favour newer pages and topical news, others lean toward evergreen citations^[7]

Your brand must be as authoritative online as your team are in person^[8]. If your content is cited in AI-generated answers, this will boost rankings no end. In short: to stay visible, you must be current, credible, and cited across every channel that search tools might reach.

What can you do now to address AI Search, GEO and LLMs?

Your digital footprint is being interpreted, reassembled and redistributed by systems that aren’t always transparent about how they work. The pressing question here is, what can you control?

There’s no single switch to guarantee inclusion, but here at Conscious, we can help you stack the odds.

Since tools like Google’s AI Overview still lean on top organic results, traditional SEO remains the first priority. Your website must be technically sound, well-structured, and focused on answering real questions. Include clear FAQs, carefully research keywords upfront summary sentences, and signpost trustworthy stats (e.g. “According to the SRA…”). Strong SEO foundations are as essential as ever.

So what are we doing to help your law firm in this AI search world?

At Conscious, we’re developing a new stream of work dedicated to ‘AI-readiness’. This won’t be a short-term fix, it will be baked into our existing SEO and content work, so your site (and brand) stays relevant in a changing landscape. We recommend:

• Structuring pages clearly with helpful subheadings and summaries
• Using language that identifies intent and audience (e.g. “If you're a landlord managing tenants…”)
• Avoiding robotic keyword stuffing and prioritising clarity
• Adding schema markup and structured data where appropriate
• Digital PR to improve visibility (this might be a major change for you if we are not doing this as part of your existing SEO project)
• Audit content to review its GEO-friendliness

Some of your best-performing pages from recent years might still be relevant in this new world order, but not without a refresh. That could mean tweaking just a few lines to add ‘AI-ready’ structure, or completely overhauling a page to meet the expectations of new models. As AI often draws on blogs and journalistic content^[9], these are especially crucial in verifying your expertise in niche legal areas.

More importantly, your website is only one piece of the puzzle. LLMs make a decision about whether to reference your firm based on reviews, legal rankings, news features, employer scores and more.

The wider digital perception of your brand, across platforms you don’t own, can be just as important as what’s on your homepage.

Law firms that win in AI Search will go beyond brand analysis and provide the framework to act: generating real-time campaigns, optimising for model memory, and iterating daily, as LLM behaviour shifts.

That unlocks a much broader opportunity than visibility. If AI Search is how a brand ensures it’s referenced in AI responses, it also manages its ongoing relationship with the AI platform itself.

AI Search becomes the system of record for interacting with LLMs, allowing brands to track presence, performance, and outcomes across generative platforms. If you own that layer, you own the budget behind it.

What we don’t (yet) know, and what we’re watching

AI Search is moving fast, and we’re still in the early stages of understanding how it works in practice. We’re fortunate to have some of the brightest minds working on answering some key questions surrounding AI search, including:

• How far will LLMs crawl? Will they keep relying heavily on ‘page one’ content, or start surfacing deeper, less visible sources?
• Which platforms will dominate for legal queries? While tools like ChatGPT and Copilot are leading now, niche platforms or legal-specific models may yet emerge.
• What will users do next? Will people click through, copy and paste, or trust the answer at face value? User behaviour could change how value is measured.

Just like in the early days of what we call ‘SEO’, this is a time of experimentation and adjustment. Each model update (like the ChatGPT-5 launch last week) may shift the rules on what gets cited and why. While some AI Search methodologies are becoming clearer, like prioritising citation-worthy, high-authority content, others are still evolving. For example, we don’t yet know how much weight is given to journalistic content vs. social media, or how models trained on different datasets rank legal authority.

Rest assured, though: we’re watching it closely so you don’t have to.

Where should your law firm go from here?

Don’t worry if things seem uncertain. AI Search is an opportunity, something to be capitalised on ever more as it evolves. By no means is it a silver bullet: at Conscious, we think that AI Search is a fantastic opportunity to propel your law firm forward and truly establish yourselves as thought leaders.

Our team is at the forefront of AI developments in legal marketing and is perfectly positioned to be a trusted partner to your firm. We aim to offer consistent audits, alerts, reviews, and quarterly AI-SEO check-ins to ensure your content is at the forefront of AI Search trends, whatever form they may take.

To schedule an AI Search reality check for your firm today, email us at sales@conscious.co.uk or call 0117 325 0200 to speak to our legal marketing specialists. We can provide a detailed overview of your firm’s AI Search prospects and build you a strategy that’s built to last. Contact us today!