When I get on calls with managing partners, the conversation almost always turns to AI.

Some version of:

“We’re seeing clients use ChatGPT. How do we get our firm to show up there?”

It’s a fair question. If a potential client types a legal question into an AI tool and gets an answer with links underneath, you want to be one of those links.

But here’s the part most people miss:
ChatGPT is not running a secret, separate ranking system.

It’s leaning on the same public web you’re already competing on.

When someone asks ChatGPT a legal question and it checks the web, it doesn’t pull from a secret database of “top law firms.” It looks at the public web, grabs a handful of relevant pages, writes an answer, and then shows some of those pages as references.

In that process, law firms tend to appear in four ways, all of them based on the web presence you already have.

Sometimes your website is used directly as a source, and your page appears as one of the links under the answer. 

Sometimes your firm is mentioned by name in the text because ChatGPT is paraphrasing something from your site or from coverage about you. 

Sometimes, when a user asks for lawyers in a particular city or practice area, your firm shows up as one of several options in a short list. 

And sometimes you’re there indirectly, because the model is citing a directory, “top firms” article, bar profile, or news story where your firm is featured.

You don’t control which of those formats ChatGPT chooses in a given answer. 

What you do control is how often you show up at all—by being visible, specific, and credible everywhere that model is looking.

And that’s why, when attorneys ask me how to get ranked on ChatGPT, I advise them to focus on these 3 key factors.

Focus on Google.
Focus on your website.
Focus on putting out the right information and content.

If you’re consistently present in search, you give AI something to work with.

If you’re not, you’re invisible no matter what interface the client uses.

AI gets treated like it has rewritten all the rules, but when you look at traffic, rankings, and signed cases across firms, the pattern is straightforward: AI didn’t change what wins; it just made how well you’re winning a lot easier to see.

Why the Real Work Is Still Google, Your Site, and Your Content

Consider a simple query like, “What happens after a first DUI in Arizona?” 

When someone types that into ChatGPT with web access enabled, the model does something highly predictable. 

It runs a search, pulls a small set of pages that appear relevant and authoritative, extracts the key ideas, and rewrites them in straightforward language with a few of those pages shown as sources.

The pages that make that cut tend to share several traits that Google has valued for years:

• They have clear, specific titles and an obvious state and issue focus (“First-Time DUI in Arizona: Penalties and Process”). 
• They also contain substantive, structured explanations of consequences, procedure, and license issues, rather than vague marketing copy.

If your DUI content is three generic paragraphs from 2018, buried on page three of the results, you are effectively absent from that ecosystem. 

There is nothing compelling to rank, nothing useful for journalists or directories to reference, and nothing an AI system would reasonably treat as a primary source.

If, instead, you’ve invested in a page like “First-Time DUI in Arizona: Penalties, License Suspension, and Court Process,” with real statute references, local court details, and plain-English guidance, you suddenly look like a serious reference point. 

Search engines can match you to high-intent queries. Directories and bar sites have something worth linking to. Reporters and bloggers can use your content as background when they cover the subject. 

And now, ChatGPT has a page it is comfortable citing under an answer.

That same logic applies whether the question is about DUI, custody, workers’ comp, shareholder buyouts, or premises liability: strong, specific, jurisdiction-aware content wins in all of those arenas.

This also holds true for businesses beyond the field of law.

Which leads to the uncomfortable but accurate conclusion:

If you’re strong on Google, you have a real shot in AI.
If you’re weak on Google, you’re weak everywhere.

Being ranked and having genuine SEO strength is at least as important today as it was five years ago, because the same underlying signals now feed conventional search results, local visibility, and AI-driven answers.

The firms that win over the next five years will be the ones that finally take the basics seriously and execute them consistently well.

How to Do the Basics Consistently Well

In practical terms, those basics look like this:

1. Your website has to work like a real resource, not a brochure.
When someone lands on your site from Google or from a ChatGPT link, they should be able to get real answers. That means:

• Your practice pages answer specific questions.
• Your content is clearly tied to your state and your courts.
• The pages are laid out in a way that’s easy to scan and understand so both people and search engines can follow what you’re saying.

2. Everywhere else you appear online should tell the same story.
Google and AI tools don’t just pull from your website; they draw on many sources that mention your firm across the web. You want that picture to be consistent and clear:

• Your Google Business Profile, legal directory listings, bar profiles, and local mentions use the same firm name, address, phone number, practice areas, and locations as your site.
• Reviews, bios, and summaries highlight the same kinds of cases and the same geography you’re trying to attract.
• On the technical side, your site loads quickly, works well on mobile, and is set up so search engines and AI crawlers can reach your pages and read them without running into errors or dead ends.

Invest in assets that get better over time. 

Make sure those assets are tightly focused on the types of matters and markets you actually want. 

And make it as easy as possible for any smart system to recognize your firm as a strong answer for those problems in that location.

Do that consistently and you don’t have to chase every new AI announcement. You’re building the thing every AI system depends on: clear, trustworthy, well-structured information about your area of law in your part of the country.

That is what gets you ranked on Google. That is what makes you worth citing in AI. 

So the next time someone at your firm says, “We need an AI strategy,” remember: you already know what it is.

Focus on Google.
Focus on your website.
Focus on putting out the right information and content.

Do that well, and it won’t matter which tool your clients use when they look for help—your firm will be easy to find.

Our agency, Law Firm Sites, specializes in supporting firm owners in law and beyond, through this exact process. For more than two decades, we’ve helped hundreds of professional service practices all over the country become easier to find. 

If this is a focus for you in 2026, my team and I would love to help you too!