Online Marketing

Law firm website redesigns are rarely just website projects. There’s always more under the surface. From the outside, a website project can seem straightforward: hire a web agency, pick a design, update some content, and launch the new site. Easy peasy. In reality, law firm website projects are often some of the most politically and operationally complicated initiatives a marketing team manages. And they can seem completely overwhelming because there are so many decisions and steps leading to a very public outcome. We once had a client practically in tears just thinking about the project ahead. However, like any big project, when you break it down into smaller parts, clearly define roles and responsibilities, and work with an agency team that has done this for decades, it becomes not only manageable but positive. Our previously overwhelmed client quickly fell into our project cadence and launched a very successful website. Every law firm is different, but we see similar challenges again and again: competing opinions, practice group dynamics, endless content reviews, questions about branding, business development, SEO, recruiting, intake, technology, and budget. And somewhere in the middle of all that, the marketing team is trying to keep the project moving forward without losing momentum—or their sanity. The disconnect is that attorneys and marketing teams are often looking at the website through completely different lenses. Attorneys may see the website as a branding exercise. Marketing teams are thinking about user experience, search visibility, lead generation, positioning, analytics, and long-term business development strategy. Neither perspective is wrong. But when those priorities aren’t aligned early, website projects tend to stall. Most Website Problems Start Before Design Begins Consensus Culture Risks Gridlock Without Clear Ownership Law firms are collaborative by nature, which works well in many situations, but website projects are not always one of them. As the saying goes, too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth. When every stakeholder weighs in on every design decision, progress slows. Feedback becomes contradictory, minor decisions turn into lengthy discussions, and the project can gradually become a collection of compromises rather than a strategic initiative. That’s why one of the first questions we ask during discovery is how the firm plans to make decisions and who will be involved. Some firms haven’t considered that question before, but establishing a decision-making process early is critical to keeping the project moving. The most successful website projects have clear ownership. Attorneys should absolutely provide input, but someone needs final decision-making authority. Otherwise, simple questions—like whether to have a navigation bar or hamburger menu on your homepage—can get stuck in endless discussion. The goal isn’t to limit collaboration. It’s to create a process where collaboration leads to decisions. Redesigns Can Reveal Internal Misalignment Before anyone sees a homepage concept, firms often have to answer harder questions: What are our priority practices? Who are we trying to reach? How do we describe ourselves? What actually makes us different? That process can uncover inconsistent messaging, outdated positioning, or disagreements around strategy within the firm. The website design process does not create those problems, but it can surface them. And yes, if it sounds like I am harping on the value of a thorough discovery phase in your website project, that just means you are listening. One of the most important outcomes of discovery is an approved list of project goals. Those goals become the North Star later, especially when opinions start flying, and decisions get harder. Trust Between Attorneys and Marketing is Critical Marketing teams do a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes work during a redesign. They’re coordinating stakeholders, managing approvals, balancing competing opinions, protecting timelines, and keeping the project focused on the firm’s goals. Having worked on in-house marketing teams at AmLaw 100 firms, I know firsthand how much of this work goes unnoticed. Attorneys bring the legal expertise. Marketing brings a different perspective—business development, user experience, SEO, recruiting, analytics, and positioning. Neither works particularly well without the other. That’s why trust matters. Attorneys need to trust that marketing’s recommendations are based on strategy, not personal preference. And marketing needs the credibility to guide difficult conversations when opinions inevitably differ. The same is true for the agency. Firms should do their homework before selecting a website partner, but once the project begins, trust becomes essential. The strongest website projects happen when attorneys, marketing, and the agency respect each other’s expertise and stay focused on the same goal. A Website Project Is a Business Development Project, Not Just a Design Exercise One of the biggest challenges in law firm website projects is that people often reduce the conversation to aesthetics. Do we like the homepage? Should the photos be darker? Can we make the logo bigger? But a high-impact modern law firm website has to do much more than look polished. The Website Is Often a Firm’s First Impression For many prospective clients, your website is your firm. Before someone speaks with an attorney, attends an event, or receives a proposal, they’ve probably already visited your website. In many cases, they’re making judgments about credibility within seconds. A dated website creates assumptions—fair or unfair—about the firm itself. Today’s websites function more like digital offices than digital brochures. Clients expect clear information, intuitive navigation, mobile usability, and fast answers. And increasingly, they expect all of that immediately. Marketing Teams Are Thinking About Conversion, Not Just Appearance When marketing teams evaluate a website, they’re usually thinking about questions like: What are the relevant KPIs, and are we achieving our goals? Can users quickly find the right practice area? Is the intake process clear? Does the site perform well on mobile devices? Is the content structured properly for SEO and AI search? Are we guiding visitors toward meaningful next steps? That’s a very different conversation from “Do we like this design?” A beautiful website that frustrates users or hides important information isn’t helping the firm grow. “I Don’t Like It” Is Not Strategic Feedback This is where projects often start drifting off course. Personal preferences matter, but subjective opinion is not the same as strategic decision-making. Your website partner should be able to guide you from abstract comments such as: “I don’t like that image.” “Can we make this page look more like Firm X?” “I preferred the old homepage.” Good feedback turns those instincts into informed, specific decisions based on your goals, not just your gut.” Good website decisions should be grounded in: User behavior Analytics SEO strategy Conversion goals Content structure Usability Individual feedback is critical, but it should reflect the firm’s personality and unique culture, not individual taste. As a result, projects move much more smoothly when firms separate subjective opinions from actual business objectives. Good Legal Websites Require Attorneys to Participate Marketing teams cannot build strong legal websites in isolation. Attorney participation matters. A lot. Marketing Cannot Invent Institutional Knowledge Attorneys hold the insights clients actually care about: Common client concerns Recurring misconceptions Industry nuance Practical legal guidance Marketing teams can shape and structure content strategically, but they can’t manufacture subject-matter expertise. The best law firm websites combine marketing strategy with real attorney insight. A Website Project Should Capture Attorney Knowledge, Not Consume Attorney Time Attorneys need to be involved in content, but that does not mean they are responsible for lifting that heavy load. One of the biggest misconceptions about website projects is that attorneys need to sit down and draft polished copy from scratch. That’s rarely the best approach. In many cases, the strongest content comes from carefully guided attorney interviews, recorded discussions and meetings, and review of existing materials. A good marketing team or content partner can then synthesize those insights into website copy that is valuable to both human users and search engines. Fast Responses Improve Outcomes Momentum matters during website projects. But the business of a law firm continues. Trial dates remain on the calendar, real estate closings cannot be moved, and clients need answers. Your website partner needs to understand and plan for this in your project timeline so that the project does not stall. When reviews, approvals, and feedback from attorneys and decision-makers happen promptly, timelines stay intact, costs remain predictable, and projects maintain strategic focus. Long delays create friction, increase revision cycles, and can lead to budget creep. You Get the Website You Pay For This is probably not the most fun part of the conversation, but it’s an important one. Law firm websites can be expensive. And when firms start reviewing proposals, there’s often a temptation to focus primarily on the lowest number. That’s understandable. Website projects are a significant investment, and budget pressure is real. But website proposals are not always comparing the same thing. A lower-cost agency may be cutting corners in ways that aren’t immediately obvious during the proposal stage: Limited strategy and discovery work Templated designs Fewer rounds of design revisions Minimal SEO and AI-search planning Weak content support Limited or no content migration included Little accessibility consideration Outsourced development resulting in more issues in QA Rushed QA and testing Lack of long-term support On the surface, two proposals may look similar. In reality, the process and final product can be very different. Unfortunately, many firms don’t realize what’s missing until the project is already underway—or worse, after launch. Cheap Websites Often Become Expensive Later One of the more frustrating situations is when firms try to save money upfront, only to end up rebuilding or heavily revising the website a few years later. Sometimes the site looks dated quickly. Sometimes the backend is difficult to manage. Sometimes the SEO foundation was never properly built in the first place. Sometimes the website simply doesn’t perform. That usually leads to another redesign conversation much sooner than anyone expected. Ironically, trying to save money up front creates a greater expense in the long term. If SEO Isn’t Guiding Your Strategy, You May Be Rebuilding Your Website Later SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is still one of the most misunderstood parts of legal websites. One of the biggest mistakes firms make is treating it like something that gets added at the end. Clients Search Differently Than Attorneys Think Attorneys naturally think in legal terminology. Clients usually don’t. They often use long-form lay terms in questions in both search engines and AI-powered search to find answers to their questions: “What happens after a data breach?” “Can I sue over a noncompete?” “How do I respond to an EEOC complaint?” This matters to your website project because it should inform your content structure, your practice names, the information fields on your blog posts, your homepage messaging, and much more. Formal practice area names like Dram Shop, RICO, and ERISA may not be part of your target clients’ search terms, but if your target client is an in-house counsel, they may be searching with more nuanced legal terminology. In general, for SEO and AEO, it’s best not to rely on legal jargon. Thought Leadership Should Be Part of the Website Strategy In 2026, thought leadership isn’t separate from the website anymore. It is part of SEO and your website strategy. Your attorneys’ thought leadership includes all of the content that they disseminate, whether online or in person—blogs, videos, podcasts, speaking engagements, continuing education presentations, practice area FAQs, recent case analyses, and even firm news and press releases. All these pieces should have a footprint online and contribute to your digital presence and authority for SEO and GEO purposes. How they appear on your website affects things. Your website agency should guide the strategy regarding how your content is coded and categorized for your clients and targets—this may be topic, author, location, industry, or something else specific to the practice. When the content structure is optimized, creating human-friendly and SEO/GEO-friendly thought leadership hubs will: Help your audience find key answers to their questions Answer the question: is this firm highly knowledgeable on this topic to help me with my legal issue Support content discovery and in-depth consumption of the thought leadership Be found in search engine results to drive traffic to your website Present clients with no click answers in AI queries that build credibility and authority, and also drive traffic to your website Strong firms build resource centers, industry-focused content collections, and insight libraries to support SEO, AI search visibility, credibility, authority, and ultimately drive business development via their website content. Modern Law Firm Websites Must Balance Branding With Usability Law firms naturally care about branding because they want their brand and core differentiators to be known by their clients and prospective clients. They should. But usability matters just as much. Copying Competitors Weakens Differentiation It’s common for firms to reference competitor websites during redesigns. That can be helpful for inspiration—including ideas on what design elements to avoid! However, copying competitors creates websites that feel interchangeable, which will not support business development or branding goals. At LISI, we drill down during the discovery phase on what is unique and different about a law firm and how that benefits its clients. Next, we look at how we can communicate that in a compelling way on the website to support engagement and conversions. The goal should never be to look like everyone else. It should be to communicate your firm’s strengths clearly and effectively. Clients Care More About Clarity Than Cleverness Most users are not looking for an award-winning creative experience. Instead, they want: Clear navigation Fast answers Attorney credibility An easy way to contact the firm Overcomplicated navigation and overly clever messaging often create more friction than value. I use the example of renting a car at the airport. You want the wiper button, headlights, radio, etc., to be where you expect them to be. You don’t want to be fumbling for them while zooming down the interstate to your destination in the dark! Usability matters. Don’t make your website visitors pause and think: where do I find the blog posts—even if you think the navigational menu “Stuff We Think” is cute. The Mobile Experience Is No Longer Optional For many firms, mobile traffic now represents the majority of website visits. And yet mobile usability is still often treated as secondary during redesign discussions. A frustrating mobile experience creates intake friction immediately: Homepage imaging that does not wrap properly Forms that are hard to complete Poor navigation Unreadable bios Slow load times That directly impacts user experience and conversion. What the Most Successful Website Projects Have in Common After working on enough law firm website projects, patterns emerge. The firms that have the smoothest projects are not necessarily the largest firms or the ones with the biggest budgets. More often than not, they’re the firms that have alignment from the beginning. Leadership understands why the project matters, what success looks like, and how decisions will be made. Marketing has a seat at the table as a strategic advisor. Attorneys provide meaningful input, but there is a clear process for gathering feedback and moving forward. Those firms also tend to stay focused on outcomes rather than personal preferences. Instead of debating whether they like a particular image or headline, they ask whether the website will help attract better leads, strengthen the firm’s market position, improve recruiting, or create a better user experience. Perhaps most importantly, they understand that a website project is not just about the website. It’s about supporting the firm’s broader business goals. When everyone is working toward that shared objective, decisions become easier, timelines move faster, and the final result is almost always better. A Better Website Process, Built for Law Firms You may be thinking that law firm website projects sound complicated. That’s because they are. The good news is that most of the challenges we’ve discussed are predictable. After decades of working exclusively with law firms, we’ve seen the same obstacles emerge again and again. The difference is knowing how to navigate them before they become real project delays or even obstacles. At LISI, our perspective is shaped by real law firm experience. Members of our team have worked in-house at large law firms and understand the realities of partnership structures, attorney feedback cycles, budget approvals, and internal politics. We know that launching a successful website is not just an IT or marketing initiative. It is a firm-wide business development project. That starts with discovery. Before we talk about design, we help firms align around goals, decision-making processes, stakeholder involvement, and project expectations. Those conversations often determine the success of a project long before the first homepage concept is presented. Then we keep moving forward. We’ve built a process that creates momentum. We help clients anticipate content bottlenecks, establish accountability, keep projects moving, and stay focused on business outcomes rather than personal preferences. We apply our years of legal and digital marketing experience to design and development decisions. We know attorney bios and the homepage are the most-visited pages on a law firm’s website. We understand that clients, referral sources, and lateral hires need to easily locate attorney credentials, law schools, clerkships, and representative experience. By building strategic marketing advice into our design and development process, we can create a website that functions seamlessly and supports the firm’s goals and business development strategy. The result is a website that not only looks good on launch day but also continues to support business development, recruiting, thought leadership, SEO, and firm growth for years to come. We plan for long-term growth. Because ultimately, the goal isn’t just to build a website. It’s to build a website that helps the firm achieve its goals. 

Picture this: It’s Tuesday afternoon, and somewhere in your city, a potential client is sitting on their couch with a problem your law firm is perfectly positioned to solve. For the sake of this example, let’s say that their mother was recently in a car accident and needs an attorney. However, instead of opening Google, they open ChatGPT. Within seconds, they receive a thoughtful response with a list of specific recommendations, complete with practice areas, notable case results, and even office locations. Your firm has over twenty years of experience, a track record of multi-million-dollar settlements, and an office just blocks from where this person lives. You’re the perfect fit; however, you’re not on the list. Why not? Well, while ChatGPT was scanning the web for law firm websites across your city, your site was still loading, and your competitor’s site got the recommendation instead. That potential six-figure engagement? Gone before you even knew it existed. The True Cost of a Slow Law Firm Website Page speed can impact the ranking of content in AI search tools like ChatGPT indirectly, as AI prioritizes high-quality, fast-loading, and technically optimized sources. While ChatGPT and other AI search tools don’t “rank” pages in the traditional sense, their algorithms favor websites that offer a better user experience, and fast-loading pages are more likely to be deemed credible and useful sources for AI-generated answers. So, what is the cost if page speed is not addressed? Direct Revenue Loss The most immediate and quantifiable impact of slow page speed is lost revenue, real money that should be coming into your firm but instead flows to competitors. According to a 2024 Forbes Advisor survey, on average, people will wait eight seconds for a website to load, but realistically, if your website is taking longer than 3 seconds to load, that is a problem. If users aren’t getting to what they need within a few seconds, they will just move on to the next option. This is further proven by a study that found conversion rates drop by 4.42% for every second that it takes the website to load. Let’s put this into perspective. Consider a typical mid-size law firm with 5,000 monthly website visitors, a current page load time of 6 seconds, and an industry-average conversion rate of 3%. With an average client value of $5,000, this firm currently generates approximately 150 leads per month, representing $750,000 in monthly revenue potential. However, if this same firm optimized its website to load in just 2 seconds—a 4-second improvement—the mathematics of conversion loss reveal a striking opportunity. Those 4 seconds of improvement, multiplied by the 4.42% conversion penalty per second, equals a 17.68% increase in conversion rates. This would boost the firm’s conversion rate from 3% to 3.53%, generating 176.5 leads per month instead of 150. The result is a monthly revenue potential of $882,500, representing a monthly opportunity of $132,500 or an annual revenue opportunity of $1,590,000. It is important to note that the scale of this opportunity varies dramatically by firm size. Additionally, page speed is a known ranking factor for Google, so having a slow-loading website can impact your rankings and whether potential new clients can even find you online. The same goes for AI search tools such as ChatGPT or Perplexity. Overall, by not paying attention to the loading speed of your site, if it is failing, then you are ultimately leaving money on the table and missing out on new clients. Brand and Credibility Damage Beyond the measurable revenue loss, slow page speed can cause damage to your firm’s reputation and perceived credibility. Your website is often the first impression potential clients have of your firm, and when it loads slowly or not at all, it can often give people a bad impression. For example, it can suggest poor attention to detail, which is catastrophic in a profession where missing a filing deadline or overlooking a contractual clause can destroy a client’s case. Additionally, attorneys know that professional referrals are often the highest-quality lead source. But when someone wants to refer business to your firm, they frequently visit your website first to confirm you’re a good match or to get your contact information. If the referring party encounters a slow, frustrating website experience, they may reconsider the referral entirely. Lastly, brand credibility extends beyond clients to potential employees. Top legal talent researches firms before applying or accepting positions. In competitive job markets where attracting talented associates can determine a firm’s growth trajectory, this hidden cost of poor website performance affects your ability to build a strong team, which in turn affects your capacity to serve clients and grow revenue. Competitive Market Share Erosion In the emerging AI search landscape, there’s a powerful first-mover advantage that creates compounding competitive disadvantages for slow adopters. AI systems learn from success patterns. When a firm consistently appears in recommendations (because its site loads quickly), gets clicked by users, and presumably provides satisfactory outcomes, the AI develops a preference pattern. It begins to “trust” that source as reliable. Meanwhile, firms that consistently fail to load or timeout train the AI to skip them. Over time, this creates algorithmic entrenchment where even after you fix your speed issues, you’re fighting an uphill battle against established competitors who have months or years of positive reinforcement in AI systems. How to Diagnose if Your Website’s Speed is Affecting the Firm If you get to this point in the article and you are thinking to yourself, “ I don’t even know if my website’s page speed is performing poorly,” you’re probably not alone. Let’s dive into how you can diagnose if your firm’s website speed is costing you potential new clients. PageSpeed Insights Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is the best tool to help you diagnose your page speed issues, should any be prevalent. This tool will give you opportunities for improvements, and it’s something you can easily run and hand off to your developer to get fixed. To make things even better, it’s free! Core Web Vitals Core Web Vitals are a part of the PageSpeed Insights report that has grown in importance as well, which measures factors that contribute to a user’s experience. The Core Web Vitals metrics are: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)—Measures loading performance Interaction to Next Paint (INP)—Measures responsiveness Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)—Measures visual stability Google has said, “We highly recommend site owners achieve good Core Web Vitals for success with Search and to ensure a great user experience generally. This, along with other page experience aspects, aligns with what our core ranking systems seek to reward.” So, by passing Core Web Vitals, you will also be improving your traditional organic search success. Don’t Let a Slow Website Hold Your Firm Back From Generative AI Success AI-powered search isn’t a future trend to monitor; it’s today’s reality, actively shaping which firms thrive and which will slowly see the negative impacts of not paying attention sooner. Every day that passes with a slow website is another day of invisible losses, another day of a dozen potential clients who never knew you existed, another incremental advantage handed to your competitors. While AI adoption is accelerating rapidly, we’re still in the early stages of this transition. In fact, most law firms haven’t yet recognized the connection between page speed and AI recommendations, haven’t tested their load times in months or even years, and are likely losing AI-generated referrals without even realizing it’s happening. That gives you a window to get ahead of this curve before it becomes exponentially harder. Don’t let a slow website be the reason your firm gets left behind.

Most B2B law firms have a prioritization problem. Marketing teams create content, host events, and track engagement. Business development professionals cultivate relationships, respond to RFPs, and pursue target accounts. But in too many firms, these functions operate in parallel rather than in unison, leaving valuable intelligence stranded in marketing’s domain while BD makes outreach decisions based on disconnected information, rather than insight. This isn’t news to anyone who’s worked in legal marketing. Marketing handles brand, content, and events. BD supports partners in client acquisition. The two functions intersect at necessary intervals, then retreat to their respective silos. The result: marketing struggles to demonstrate ROI because it’s removed from the revenue engine, and BD operates without the engagement intelligence that could sharpen their focus. Lead scoring offers a bridge between these worlds—not by qualifying inbound leads, but by helping marketing surface which targets, clients, and prospects deserve BD attention right now. Reframing Lead Scoring for Law Firms: The B2B Reality The opportunity for B2B law firms lies in using engagement data to prioritize where BD should focus proactive outreach, not just who responded to a campaign. Think of it as turning static target lists into dynamic priority queues. Three use cases make lead scoring valuable for B2B legal marketing: prioritizing target prospect lists, identifying cross-sell opportunities with existing clients, and flagging dormant relationships ready for reactivation. In each case, marketing contributes concrete intelligence that BD can act on immediately. What Data Can Marketing Actually Access? Before building a scoring model, take inventory of the signals you can realistically track. Most firms have more data than they realize—it’s just scattered across platforms and disconnected from BD workflows. Website engagement shows who’s visiting, what pages interest them, and how often they return. Your CRM captures relationship history, past matters, and current touchpoints. Email platforms track opens, clicks, and replies across campaigns. Event management systems record attendance and session interests. And increasingly, optimized intake and CRM systems can consolidate these signals into actionable intelligence. The key isn’t having perfect data. It’s aggregating what you have into patterns that BD can act on. Building a Lead Scoring Framework for Target Prospects Start with the list of companies your firm wants to pursue—the targets BD has identified as ideal clients. Without engagement data, that list sits static because there’s no systematic way to know which targets are showing interest right now. Lead scoring transforms that static list into a dynamic priority queue by layering engagement signals on top of firmographic fit. Engagement Signals Worth Tracking Not all engagement carries equal weight. A prospect who visited your homepage once matters less than one whose team members keep returning to your Intellectual Property practice page and downloading transaction-related content. Consider weighting signals like this: Multiple website visits from the same company domain (+15 points) Practice area page views aligned with your capabilities (+10 points) Content downloads, especially bottom-funnel assets like case studies (+20 points) Webinar or event attendance (+15 points) Multiple individuals from the same company engaging (+25 points—this signals organizational interest rather than individual curiosity) Industry trigger events like M&A announcements, leadership changes, or regulatory developments (+20 points) The specific point values matter less than the relative weighting. High-intent behaviors—actions that suggest genuine interest in hiring counsel—should count more than passive engagement. Firmographic Fit Criteria Engagement alone doesn’t make someone a good prospect. Layer firmographic fit criteria into your scoring model to ensure high scores represent genuinely valuable opportunities: Company size and revenue band matching your ideal client profile (+15 points) Industry alignment with your practice expertise (+10 points) Geographic footprint you can serve (+10 points) Known legal needs or challenges in your wheelhouse (+15 points) Negative scoring matters too. Subtract points for disqualifying factors—too small, wrong industry, known existing counsel relationship—so your hot list stays focused on realistic opportunities. Prioritizing Existing Clients for Cross-Sell Opportunities The data consistently shows that revenue concentration is both the strength and vulnerability of most law firms. As industry research indicates, 80% of revenue often comes from 20% of clients—yet most firms leave substantial cross-sell opportunities untapped. The challenge isn’t recognizing that cross-selling matters. It’s knowing which clients are ready for expanded conversations and when to initiate them. Marketing can surface these opportunities by applying the same engagement intelligence used for prospects. Signals That Indicate Cross-Sell Readiness When a client who works with your employment group starts engaging with content from your corporate practice, that’s a signal worth noticing. When new contacts from different departments at the same client organization begin visiting your website, something’s happening in that company that might require additional legal support. Watch for these cross-sell indicators: Engagement with content outside their current practice area relationship (+20 points) Website visits to practice pages they don’t currently use (+15 points) New contacts from different departments engaging with firm content (+25 points) Industry news suggesting new legal needs—regulatory changes, expansion plans, transaction activity Billing data showing matter completion, which creates natural timing for “what’s next” conversations The goal isn’t to bombard clients with cross-sell pitches. It’s to ensure that when a client has emerging needs outside their current practice area relationship, your firm is positioned to discuss solutions before they start looking elsewhere. Reactivating Dormant Relationships Former clients and old prospects represent untapped opportunities precisely because they already know your firm. The relationship may have gone quiet due to timing, budget constraints, or a shift in their legal needs—not necessarily dissatisfaction. Lead scoring can identify when dormant relationships show renewed interest, creating natural opportunities for reconnection. Reactivation Triggers to Monitor A prospect who ghosted 18 months ago, but just downloaded your data privacy and cybersecurity guide deserves fresh outreach. A former client whose successor started engaging with your content might be reconsidering their counsel relationships. Track these reactivation triggers: Website return visits after extended inactivity (+15 points) Content engagement after dormancy (+20 points) Event registration from a contact who went cold (+15 points) New stakeholders from a dormant account engaging (+20 points) Industry changes affecting their business that create new legal needs The difference between a cold call and a warm re-engagement is often just a matter of timing. Lead scoring helps you identify the right moment. Making This Work Without the Perfect Infrastructure Most law firms don’t have enterprise marketing automation platforms. Many run on disconnected systems—one CRM (often underutilized), basic email marketing, Google Analytics, and maybe an event management tool. That’s okay. Lead scoring doesn’t require sophisticated technology. It requires intentional data collection, consistency, and discipline. Start with what you have. CRM data, combined with Google Analytics and your email platform, provide meaningful engagement signals. Even a spreadsheet-based scoring model adds value if it surfaces actionable priorities that BD can act on. The goal isn’t perfect data science. It’s giving BD a weekly or monthly “hot list” of prioritized targets based on observed engagement—replacing intuition-based outreach with signal-informed prioritization. Lead Scoring for Law Firms: A Simple Implementation Path If you’re starting from scratch, take it step by step: Step 1: Define 5-7 engagement signals you can actually track today with your current tools. Step 2: Assign point values, weighting high-intent behaviors more heavily than passive engagement. Step 3: Overlay scoring on your existing target list and client roster. Step 4: Generate a prioritized report for BD on a regular cadence—weekly or biweekly works for most firms. Step 5: Track outcomes. Did BD follow up on the hot list? Did those follow-ups lead to conversations or opportunities? Then iterate based on what actually predicts success. If certain signals consistently correlate with new matters or expanded relationships, weight them more heavily. If others prove meaningless, deprioritize or eliminate them. Bridging the Marketing-BD Gap Lead scoring gives marketing something BD values immediately: prioritized intelligence that sharpens outreach decisions. That’s different from brand campaigns or thought leadership initiatives, which require longer timeframes to demonstrate impact. Regular “hot list” delivery creates a feedback loop. BD reports what worked—which targets responded, which conversations progressed—and marketing refines the model accordingly. Over time, this builds the case for deeper marketing-BD integration based on demonstrated value rather than theoretical alignment. The firms that thrive are those that move from siloed functions to shared accountability for pipeline growth. Tracking marketing ROI becomes possible when marketing contributes intelligence that directly influences revenue-generating activity. Lead scoring won’t solve every alignment challenge between marketing and BD. But it provides a concrete starting point—a deliverable that demonstrates marketing’s value to business development and creates opportunities for ongoing collaboration. Start with the data you have. Focus on the signals that matter. Deliver intelligence that BD can use. The sophistication can come later. The value starts now.

The rules of digital visibility have fundamentally changed, and most law firms are still following the old playbook. AI search engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Copilot now handle a ton of queries monthly. If your firm isn’t showing up in AI-generated answers, you’re invisible to a rapidly growing segment of your target market. The cost of ignoring AI search visibility will be detrimental to your law firm’s growth. The time is now to invest in the future of your firm by paying attention to AI and ensuring that your firm is showing up. The Search Behavior Shift Already Happened Across the legal industry, firms that spent years building their organic search presence are watching their traffic numbers drop, despite maintaining the same content quality and SEO best practices that previously delivered results. The culprit isn’t a Google algorithm update or increased competition. It’s the rise of zero-click searches and AI-powered answers that resolve queries without users ever needing to visit a website. Consider the typical client journey that law firms have relied on for years: a potential client searches “how to file for divorce in California,” clicks through to a law firm’s blog post, reads the content, and eventually contacts the firm. Today, that same searcher asks ChatGPT or uses Google’s AI Overview and receives a comprehensive answer instantly. The search ends there. No click. A Pew Research study found that when Google users don’t see an AI-generated summary, they click on conventional search result links roughly 15% of the time. In contrast, users who are shown an AI summary tend to stop there. In fact, just 8% of users continue scrolling to click on standard search results. The Competitive Window That’s Closing Right now, AI search optimization is still a frontier, and the firms that move quickly have a genuine first-mover advantage. But this window won’t stay open and is rapidly closing as time goes on. Every day, more legal marketing teams recognize the shift and start investing in AI visibility. The firms establishing themselves as authoritative sources in AI responses today are creating a competitive advantage that will be nearly impossible to overcome later. Why Early Movers Are Building Lasting Advantage AI-engines are still in their learning phase when it comes to legal queries. They are actively identifying which sources demonstrate genuine expertise, which firms provide reliable information, and which legal professionals deserve to be cited as authorities. The firms establishing themselves as trusted sources right now aren’t just capturing today’s opportunities; they’re becoming the default citations that AI models will rely on for years to come. Each time your firm appears in an AI-generated response, it reinforces your authority in the model’s understanding, creating a compounding effect that becomes increasingly difficult for competitors to disrupt as these platforms mature. Additionally, the same content strategies that build “traditional” SEO authority, such as demonstrating expertise, establishing trust signals, and creating genuinely valuable content, are exactly what Ai-engines prioritize when determining which sources to cite. This means firms that invested heavily in quality content, thought leadership, and digital authority already have a significant head start. They have the domain strength, media mentions, and content depth that AI models recognize as credible. Meanwhile, firms that neglected these strategies will need to build both traditional authority and AI visibility simultaneously. The gap between leaders and laggards will only continue to widen. Early movers are currently training AI platforms to associate their firms with specific practice areas and legal expertise. As these associations solidify and AI models refine their understanding of which sources to trust, breaking into the citation pool becomes exponentially harder. The firms acting now are locking in a lasting competitive advantage because they established authority during the critical window when AI search was still determining who the trusted voices in law actually are. What “Waiting to See” Actually Costs Every day you delay optimizing for AI visibility, your competitors’ content is being indexed, analyzed, and cited by AI platforms while yours remains invisible. Each month that passes allow early-moving firms to deepen their authority signals, accumulate more citations, and strengthen their position as the default recommendations in your practice areas. While you’re waiting for more data or clearer best practices, they’re building an AI visibility foundation that will keep you locked out. The truth is, potential clients are using ChatGPT and other Ai-engines to research legal options right now. The cost of “waiting to see” will be felt in fewer potential new client opportunities and lost revenue. Why Your SEO Strategy Needs to Evolve (Not Be Replaced) While traffic may never be where it used to be because of AI and how it’s reshaping the search landscape, your lead volume and quality should be increasing with guidance from an evolved SEO strategy that takes into account AI visibility. Good SEO Is the Foundation for AI Visibility At 9Sail, we like to say good SEO is good GEO (generative engine optimization). The same fundamental principles that drive organic rankings are exactly what determine AI citations: Authoritative content Clear expertise signals Technical quality Trustworthiness If your firm ranks well in traditional search, you already have many of the building blocks AI platforms prioritize. What “AI-Ready” SEO Looks Like Ai-engines don’t crawl content the way traditional search engines do; they interpret it, synthesize it, and decide whether it’s worthy of citation. That means the structure and format of your content matter as much as its quality. With that said, AI-ready content is built for direct answers. Examples of this include FAQ formats that clearly pair questions with comprehensive responses, headers that frame issues the way potential clients actually ask them, and formatting your content in a way that makes it easy for AI models to extract and attribute specific insights (for example, bullet points and concise paragraphs). Additionally, schema has evolved from an SEO nice-to-have to an AI-visibility necessity. Implementing structured data like Legal Service, FAQ Page, Attorney, and Organization schema helps Ai-engines understand exactly what your firm does, what questions your content answers, and why you’re an authoritative source. The Measurement Gap Most Firms Don’t Know Exists Law firms have spent years perfecting their ability to track Google rankings by checking keyword positions, monitoring organic traffic, and tracking conversions. But when it comes to AI visibility, most firms are flying completely blind. You can’t simply log into a dashboard to see if ChatGPT recommended your firm, check your ranking in Perplexity’s results, or monitor how often Claude cites your content. The tracking tools and measurement systems that became standard for traditional SEO simply don’t exist yet for AI search, leaving firms to either conduct time-consuming manual research or operate without any visibility into their AI presence whatsoever. Right now, Google Analytics 4 can show you referral traffic from Ai-engines when users click through, but it tells you nothing about citation frequency, the context in which you were recommended, or the queries where you’re invisible. You’re measuring a fraction of the picture while making strategic decisions as if you see the whole landscape. While there are a handful of AI search visibility tools, many that have come out are still in testing phases or don’t necessarily have all the information needed to make true data-driven decisions. Additionally, they can be quite expensive, especially for firms with smaller marketing budgets. A trustworthy GEO partner like 9Sail can help bridge the measurement gap for law firms when it comes to AI visibility. The Decision Framework for Your Firm Before deciding whether AI visibility deserves your attention, ask yourself the following questions: Do you know if AI platforms currently recommend your firm? Is your content structured to be cited, or just to rank? Are you measuring AI visibility alongside traditional SEO metrics? If you answered “no” to any of these, you’re operating blind in a channel that’s already reshaping how clients find lawyers. The firms that will dominate AI search in 2026 and beyond are building on strong SEO and GEO foundations today, not waiting for proof that it matters.

Your Website Is the First Consultation There was a time when the client journey began with a phone call or a visit to your office. But today, that first impression happens almost entirely online—often on a screen that fits in the palm of someone’s hand. In 2026, your law firm’s website isn’t just your digital presence. It’s your receptionist, intake coordinator, and sometimes even your paralegal, all rolled into one. Clients aren’t just browsing. They’re evaluating. And they’re doing it quickly. They expect your site to load fast, work flawlessly on mobile, and tell them clearly who you are, what you do, and why they should trust you. If it doesn’t, they won’t dig for answers. They’ll move on. That’s where user experience comes in. Often shortened to UX, it refers to how easy and intuitive it is for someone to use your website. Think of it like client service, but online. Just as you’d never expect a client to find your office without directions, wait 10 minutes in a silent lobby, or fill out a 12-page intake form without help, you can’t expect online visitors to put up with clunky navigation, broken links, or unclear messaging. UX is the online equivalent of professional hospitality. A well-designed law firm website doesn’t just bring in more leads, it brings in better ones. Clear practice descriptions, straightforward forms, and transparent messaging help set expectations early. That means fewer misaligned inquiries, less strain on intake teams, and better client relationships from the first conversation. In that sense, UX isn’t just a marketing tool. It’s an operational one. If your site isn’t doing that today, it’s time to rethink your law firm’s website strategy. When Design Speaks Their Language For decades, law firm websites were built more for lawyers than for clients. The visuals were formal, the language dense, and the user journey unclear. It was all very professional, but rarely helpful to the end users: potential clients or prospective team members. People seeking legal counsel don’t want to read a law review article when they land on your homepage. They’re looking for reassurance. They want to know they’re in the right place, that someone understands their problem, and that help is just a click away. Our recent homepage study revealed that many firms still miss this mark, failing to deliver clear, client-focused messaging in those crucial first few seconds. It’s not about dumbing things down—it’s about meeting people where they are. Outdated content, broken links, or clunky design can raise red flags. On the other hand, a clean, modern layout, paired with authentic attorney bios and testimonials, makes visitors feel safe. It indicates that they’ve found professionals who know what they’re doing. And visuals matter. A warm, professional photo of your team. Testimonials from real people, not stock quotes. A clear message about what your firm stands for. These elements aren’t just decorative. They’re signals of safety and professionalism. It’s a bit like choosing where to park your car. Faced with a dim, dirty lot with no attendant or a clean, well-lit garage with someone at the desk, most people won’t think twice. They’ll go where they feel secure. Your website sends the same kind of message. If it looks neglected or unclear, visitors will keep driving. But if it feels trustworthy and welcoming, they’ll stop and take a closer look. Mobile Isn’t Just a Format—It’s the Standard Look around a courtroom, a coffee shop, or even a client’s living room. Chances are, the device they’re using to find legal help isn’t a laptop, it’s a phone. Mobile-first design isn’t a design trend anymore. It’s a baseline expectation. If your site doesn’t work beautifully on mobile, it doesn’t work. From page speed to click-to-call buttons, everything needs to be designed for smaller screens and on-the-go attention spans. It only takes a three-second delay to lose a potential case. And that’s not a hypothetical, it’s reality. A clean, responsive mobile experience makes all the difference between a site that converts and one that is abandoned before the first page even loads. If you’re not sure how your site stacks up, consider our Law Firm Website Performance Audit Checklist. Accessibility Is the Price of Admission In recent years, digital accessibility has shifted from a best practice to a business imperative, especially for law firms. Sites that aren’t inclusive leave out entire groups of potential clients and open the door to legal risk. And yet, accessibility is about more than lawsuits. It’s about the message you send. A firm that pays attention to detail, that makes sure everyone can use their website, is a firm people are more likely to trust. Think readable fonts, high-contrast color schemes, working keyboard navigation, and screen reader compatibility. It’s not glamorous, it’s essential. We break down this often-overlooked issue in our article on accessibility for your law firm website. Great Design Isn’t Just Pretty—It Converts Every design choice should help someone take the next step. Whether that’s calling your firm, booking a consultation, or simply learning more, your website should guide them there effortlessly. Additionally, this path should feel familiar to the user. In UX, there’s a principle called Jakob’s Law, which states: Users spend most of their time on other websites. In practice, this means users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know. They bring expectations shaped by experiences on other law firm websites, Amazon, CNN, and even their local dentist’s website. When your navigation, layout, or interface breaks from those familiar patterns, it doesn’t feel innovative; it feels confusing. This doesn’t mean your website has to look like everyone else’s. But it does mean that intuitive navigation, clear labeling, and conventional design patterns aren’t just safe, they’re strategic. Following Jakob’s Law ensures that users don’t have to relearn how to interact with your site. Instead, they can focus on evaluating your expertise and how to reach out. Think of it like a conversation. You want to share your message, but you don’t want to overwhelm them with too much information at once or leave them unsure of what to do next. Strong calls to action, clear forms, and thoughtfully placed buttons all work together to move visitors forward. And yes, tools like live chat or AI-assisted intake can help. As long as they’re legally and ethically compliant and respectful of the user’s time and privacy, they can make a real difference in how many leads your site turns into clients. Your Website Should Never Be Done One of the biggest mistakes law firms make is treating their website like a one-time project. But the truth is, a website is more like a living document. User needs and expectations change. Technology evolves. Search behavior shifts. Content gets outdated. If you’re not regularly checking in, updating content, testing performance, ensuring accessibility, you’re falling behind. The firms seeing the most success in 2026 are the ones treating their websites as active business assets, used every day by the people they’re trying to reach. They test. They adjust. They improve. If you’re ready to evolve your site into a conversion-driving powerhouse, our website design services for law firms can help you get there. The Bottom Line: Good UX Is Good Business Today’s clients don’t just judge your firm by your courtroom record. They judge it by your online experience. If your site feels outdated, hard to use, or unclear, it reflects on your firm, even if your legal skills are top-tier. But if your website is fast, helpful, accessible, and human? You’ve already made a strong first impression. And in a competitive legal market, that first impression is often the one that counts. 

Picture this: It’s Tuesday afternoon, and somewhere in your city, a potential client is sitting on their couch with a problem your law firm is perfectly positioned to solve. For the sake of this example, let’s say that their mother was recently in a car accident and needs an attorney. However, instead of opening Google, they open ChatGPT. Within seconds, they receive a thoughtful response with a list of specific recommendations, complete with practice areas, notable case results, and even office locations. Your firm has over twenty years of experience, a track record of multi-million-dollar settlements, and an office just blocks from where this person lives. You’re the perfect fit; however, you’re not on the list. Why not? Well, while ChatGPT was scanning the web for law firm websites across your city, your site was still loading and your competitor’s site got the recommendation instead. That potential six-figure engagement? Gone before you even knew it existed. The True Cost of a Slow Law Firm Website Page speed can impact the ranking of content in AI search tools like ChatGPT indirectly, as AI prioritizes high-quality, fast-loading, and technically optimized sources. While ChatGPT and other AI search tools don’t “rank” pages in the traditional sense, their algorithms favor websites that offer a better user experience, and fast-loading pages are more likely to be deemed credible and useful sources for AI-generated answers. So, what is the cost if page speed is not addressed? Direct Revenue Loss The most immediate and quantifiable impact of slow page speed is lost revenue, real money that should be coming into your firm but instead flows to competitors. According to a 2024 Forbes Advisor survey, people will wait an average of 8 seconds for a website to load, but realistically, if your website takes longer than 3 seconds to load, that is a problem. If users aren’t getting to what they need within a few seconds, they will just move on to the next option. This is further supported by a study that found conversion rates drop by 4.42% for every additional second it takes the website to load. Let’s put this into perspective. Consider a typical mid-size law firm with 5,000 monthly website visitors, a current page load time of 6 seconds, and an industry-average conversion rate of 3%. With an average client value of $5,000, this firm currently generates approximately 150 leads per month, representing $750,000 in monthly revenue potential. However, if this same firm optimized its website to load in just 2 seconds—a 4-second improvement—the mathematics of conversion loss reveal a striking opportunity. Those 4 seconds of improvement, multiplied by the 4.42% conversion penalty per second, equals a 17.68% increase in conversion rates. This would boost the firm’s conversion rate from 3% to 3.53%, generating 176.5 leads per month instead of 150. The result is a monthly revenue potential of $882,500, representing a monthly opportunity of $132,500 or an annual revenue opportunity of $1,590,000. It is important to note that the scale of this opportunity varies dramatically by firm size. Additionally, page speed is a known ranking factor for Google, so having a slow-loading website can impact your rankings and whether potential new clients can even find you online. The same goes for AI search tools such as ChatGPT or Perplexity. Overall, by not paying attention to the loading speed of your site, if it is failing, then you are ultimately leaving money on the table and missing out on new clients. Brand and Credibility Damage Beyond the measurable revenue loss, slow page speed can cause damage to your firm’s reputation and perceived credibility. Your website is often the first impression potential clients have of your firm, and when it loads slowly or not at all, it can often give people a bad impression. For example, it can suggest poor attention to detail, which is catastrophic in a profession were missing a filing deadline or overlooking a contractual clause can destroy a client’s case. Additionally, attorneys know that professional referrals are often the highest-quality lead source. But when someone wants to refer business to your firm, they frequently visit your website first to confirm you’re a good match or to get your contact information. If the referring party encounters a slow, frustrating website experience, they may reconsider the referral entirely. Lastly, brand credibility extends beyond clients to potential employees. Top legal talent researches firms before applying or accepting positions. In competitive job markets where attracting talented associates can determine a firm’s growth trajectory, this hidden cost of poor website performance affects your ability to build a strong team, which in turn affects your capacity to serve clients and grow revenue. Competitive Market Share Erosion In the emerging AI search landscape, there’s a powerful first-mover advantage that creates compounding competitive disadvantages for slow adopters. AI systems learn from success patterns. When a firm consistently appears in recommendations (because its site loads quickly), gets clicked by users, and presumably provides satisfactory outcomes, the AI develops a preference pattern. It begins to “trust” that source as reliable. Meanwhile, firms that consistently fail to load or timeout train the AI to skip them. Over time, this creates algorithmic entrenchment where even after you fix your speed issues, you’re fighting an uphill battle against established competitors who have months or years of positive reinforcement in AI systems. How to Diagnose If Your Website’s Speed is Affecting the Firm If you get to this point in the article and you are thinking to yourself, “I don’t even know if my website’s page speed is performing poorly,” you’re probably not alone. Let’s dive into how you can diagnose if your firm’s website speed is costing you potential new clients. PageSpeed Insights Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool is the best tool to help you diagnose your page speed issues, should any be prevalent. This tool will give you opportunities for improvements, and it’s something you can easily run and hand off to your developer to get fixed. To make things even better, it’s free! Core Web Vitals Core Web Vitals are a part of the PageSpeed Insights report that has grown in importance as well, which measures factors that contribute to a user’s experience. The Core Web Vitals metrics are: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) –Measures loading performance Interaction to Next Paint (INP) –Measures responsiveness Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) –Measures visual stability Google has said, “We highly recommend site owners achieve good Core Web Vitals for success with Search and to ensure a great user experience generally. This, along with other page experience aspects, aligns with what our core ranking systems seek to reward.” So, by passing Core Web Vitals, you will also be improving your traditional organic search success. Don’t Let a Slow Website Hold Your Firm Back From Generative AI Success AI-powered search isn’t a future trend to monitor; it’s today’s reality, actively shaping which firms thrive and which will slowly see the negative impacts of not paying attention sooner. Every day that passes with a slow website is another day of invisible losses, another dozen potential clients who never knew you existed, another incremental advantage handed to your competitors. While AI adoption is accelerating rapidly, we’re still in the early stages of this transition. In fact, most law firms haven’t yet recognized the connection between page speed and AI recommendations, haven’t tested their load times in months or even years, and are likely losing AI-generated referrals without even realizing it’s happening. That gives you a window to get ahead of this curve before it becomes exponentially harder. Don’t let a slow website be the reason your firm gets left behind.

Imagine this scenario: A potential client types a legal question into ChatGPT, and within moments, an answer appears, sourced from the writings of expert lawyers. In this scenario, why does the AI repeatedly quote the work of some lawyers, while others remain practically invisible? The difference isn’t luck. It’s market positioning. AI Rewards Specificity In the era of AI, a narrowly focused attorney bio isn’t just clever branding; it’s the key to visibility. Bios that position a lawyer broadly, for example, as a “defense litigator” or “corporate lawyer,” get ignored. On the other hand, bios that are clearly focused on a precise niche (e.g., a securities lawyer serving venture-backed startups) are magnets for attention from the AI answer engines. Why? Because AI rewards specificity. Attorneys who have carved out a niche naturally include language that is more precise and more likely to mirror client queries. So, when someone asks AI about “the pros and cons of a SPAC versus a traditional IPO,” the SPAC-focused lawyer has a massive advantage over a generic securities lawyer. Topical Authority Matters And it’s not just about keywords—topical authority matters. When an attorney consistently publishes focused, high-quality content on a specific subject, it signals to AI engines that the lawyer is a true expert. This credibility is what prompts AI to surface their name and insights in its answers. “Bios that are clearly focused on a precise niche are magnets for attention from the AI answer engines.” Three Steps to Achieve Narrow Positioning Narrow positioning isn’t just about improving visibility in AI searches; it has the potential to change the economics of your practice. For example, niche-focused attorneys: Know precisely what clients to target, which makes marketing and business development much simpler. Are more memorable and authoritative, allowing them to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Command higher fees by attracting premium clients from around the world. With every step an attorney takes toward narrowing their focus, they reduce the number of competitors clients perceive as viable alternatives. So, how does an attorney reshape their bio to be niche-focused? It starts with these three steps. Pick a niche. Ideally, a single service for a single client type. The narrower, the better. State it clearly. The first sentence of a bio should function like a positioning statement. Skip the puffery. Clients, and AI, reward you for being clear and direct. Substantiate your claim of expertise. It’s not enough to simply state that you’re an authority; you need to demonstrate it. For your bio to serve as a living portfolio of reputation-building content, it should feature articles, blog posts, case studies, presentations, videos, and testimonials. The aim is to elevate it from a static resumé into a dynamic hub of authority that proves your credibility at a glance. “When it comes to AI optimization, the fundamentals of SEO remain the foundation. When your site is technically sound, your content clear, and your authority signals strong, you are well positioned for AI.” The Website Infrastructure Behind AI Visibility Of course, positioning alone isn’t enough. Your bio has to live on a website that can support AI visibility. As our friend and SEO expert Joe Giovonoli says, “When it comes to AI optimization, the fundamentals of SEO remain the foundation. When your site is technically sound, your content clear, and your authority signals strong, you are already preparing for GEO, AEO, and AIO.” To achieve this: Ensure that the site is “Google-ready.” This means having a website that is easily accessible by Google. For example, fast page loading is essential, and technologies like React.js can help achieve it. Canonical URLs prevent duplicate content penalties, and semantic HTML enables AI engines to understand what matters most. Also, an XML sitemap makes content easier for search bots to discover and prioritize. And strong SEO controls over page titles, slugs, and meta descriptions directly influence what both Google and AI search results display. Schema.org markup is critical. Schema markup structures data in a way that Google (or AI) can understand it. For example, Schema markup will make clear that a particular attorney authored an article. This added precision yields much greater visibility in Google and AI answer engines. Engaging content formats are helpful. As always, clear, authoritative, and well-structured content is the key to SEO success. To enable this, your site should seamlessly support a mix of engaging formats, from FAQs and information graphics to videos, that reinforce and amplify their subject-matter authority. Embrace content teasing. A well-optimized website should include strategic content-teasing tools on the bios (among other places). These tools spotlight your most current and compelling pieces, such as articles, blog posts, and case studies, that reinforce an attorney’s niche expertise, positioning them as a trusted authority in the eyes of both potential clients and AI-driven search engines. In short, positioning plus a proper website infrastructure equals visibility. Firms that invest in both are far better positioned to stand out and get found. The Bottom Line In today’s AI-driven marketplace, being broadly positioned is a recipe for invisibility. However, attorneys who stake their claim on narrow ground and support their market positioning with thought leadership and success stories are more likely to be noticed and achieve success with marketing. Combine that focus with a technically sound, AI-friendly website, and you’ll do more than build a presence; you’ll become discoverable. 

Monitoring and analyzing what people with big followings post on LinkedIn can elevate your LinkedIn game. Receiving notifications when certain people post on LinkedIn has changed the way I create content on the platform for the better, and can likely help you do the same.(You can activate this feature by clicking the yellow bell on the upper right-hand corner of someone’s profile.) Those “certain people” I’m referring to are regular people with relatively large LinkedIn followings. They’re not celebrities, business leaders, or other A-listers. I’m talking about people with generally between 7,500 and 20,000 followers. I want to see what they’re posting, when they post, how often they post, and how their posts do so that I can improve the quality of my posts and their reach. Remember, LinkedIn’s algorithm doesn’t serve every one of your posts to every one of your connections or followers. So, to see every post someone publishes, you’ll need to click the yellow bell on their profile so you’ll know when they’ve posted something. Here are the four ways that tracking these people’s posts has helped me improve my LinkedIn content game—and could help you improve yours. The Opportunity To Reverse Engineer By seeing what these people say each time they post, I can try to reverse-engineer their content. For their posts that received a fair amount of engagement, I can try to uncover what they did that seemed to win people over and got them to like, comment on, or share the post. On the other hand, for their posts that underperformed, I can try to identify what went wrong. Why didn’t these posts connect with their audience? Are there changes they could have made to a post that might have improved its performance? Substantive Inspiration Reviewing these individuals’ posts gives me inspiration for my posts from a substantive perspective. If there are topics that tend to perform well in their posts that I feel comfortable discussing, I can work those topics into my posts. By getting notified whenever they post, I can see the full range of topics they cover in their posts. Do they often talk about themselves, such as discussing successes, failures, their family life, etc.? Do they frequently discuss best practices related to their work? Do they often talk about current events, pop culture, or other similarly timely topics? Structural Inspiration Aside from substance, reviewing these people’s posts gives me inspiration for my posts from a structural perspective. Do they often write text-only posts? Do they ever post videos? Are they posting carousels? When they post photos, do they post cringe glamour selfies? Are they posting photos of their kids? I’d also consider the “when” and the frequency of their posts to fall into this category. Do they tend to post at the same time every day? What time is that? How frequently do they post? Do they post more than once a day? Though I don’t do this personally, you could keep detailed statistics regarding the post types and times of the people whose posts you’re tracking and deduce, or use AI to help you deduce, patterns in their post type, time, and frequency. The Knowledge That Not Every Post Is Going To Be A Winner Perhaps most importantly, reviewing these individuals’ posts lets me see that not every post they produce is a home run. Their large following does not guarantee a ton of likes, comments, and shares on each of their posts. Yes, even people with large followings publish duds. It’s also a good reminder that you only tend to see people’s best posts because of LinkedIn’s algorithm. The algorithm tends to serve up posts that receive a fair amount of interactions soon after they were published. Thus, we rarely see posts that fall flat. But when you or I choose to be notified about someone’s posts, we get to see those duds. We see that everyone, including people with large followings, struggles to consistently produce top-notch and/or viral LinkedIn content. This makes me feel better—and may also make you feel better. These people are only humans. They don’t have a cheat code for LinkedIn success. Yet, they’ve grown their social media followings, and you and I can too. Review Posts, Improve Your LinkedIn Game The one wrinkle here is that you’ll need to set aside time to analyze the posts you’re tracking. That’s a good reason to limit the number of people you choose to receive notifications about. This way, you can keep the number of posts you need to review to a manageable number. I’ve been reviewing posts daily, but a weekly review could also work, provided you have some time on a weekend to devote to reviewing these posts. When you analyze these posts, actually analyze them. Take notes. Reverse engineer them. See what lessons you can learn from them. And, see if you can draw inspiration from the substance and structure of the posts. You could experiment with running the posts through AI and seeing if it can find patterns or themes. However, you’ll need to devote time to actually reading and reflecting on these posts. If you breeze through them when working your way through notifications and don’t think more about them, you’re not going to get value from this exercise. But if you thoughtfully analyze these posts and learn something from them, there’s a good chance those lessons will help you produce better content on LinkedIn. At the very least, you’ll walk away feeling better that even people with large LinkedIn followings do not always hit every post out of the park.

Let’s cut to the chase: AI-powered search has fundamentally changed the game, and if you’re still optimizing like it’s 2022, you’re already behind. Unlike traditional SEO where firms have spent decades building dominance, GEO is only 18 months old. Nobody owns this space yet. Translation: You still have time to stake your claim. Here are ten critical insights every law firm needs to understand about Generative Engine Optimization—starting yesterday. 1. Generative Engine Optimization’s Golden Rule: Answer First, Elaborate Later ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews consume content differently. They want the answer in the first two sentences, then the supporting detail. Think of it like Business Insider‘s approach—bullets up top, depth below. Your readers can scroll if they want more, but AI tools need that immediate answer to cite you as a source. Action item: Audit your top 10 practice area pages. Does each one answer the core question “what do we do?” within the first two sentences? If not, restructure immediately. 2. Structured Data Is Your Generative Engine Optimization Best Friend If you’ve been investing thoughtfully in SEO for the past 5-10 years, congratulations—you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. But you do need to get obsessive about structured data. LLMs are crawling sites and making recommendations based on how well they can parse your structured data. If yours is incomplete or messy, you’re invisible. Action item: Review your site’s schema markup, metadata for images, heading hierarchies—this is how LLMs read and index your site. It’s not sexy work, but it’s the foundation that determines whether AI tools can even find your content, let alone recommend it. 3. Mentions Matter Now (Even Without Links) Here’s something that would’ve sounded crazy three years ago: unlinked mentions now carry weight. Previously, if a publication mentioned your firm without including a hyperlink or used a “nofollow” tag, SEO experts dismissed it as worthless. AI has changed that equation. When authoritative industry publications mention your firm—even without links—AI tools recognize this as a trust signal. Action item: Review your firm’s brand presence and digital PR strategy. Generic firm names create attribution problems. If there are multiple firms with similar names, AI can get confused about which firm deserves credit. 4. Attribution Beats Anonymity Every Single Time Please, for Pete’s sake, attribute content to individual attorneys. I get it—some managing partners prefer the institutional voice. But when someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity “Who is the best patent litigation attorney in New York City?”, these tools provide a list of individual attorneys first, then firms second. The firm didn’t write the article. An attorney or attorneys at your firm wrote it, reviewed it, or at minimum put their expertise behind it. That person is your expert. Claim it. Own it. Build their authority. What happens when attorneys leave? Have clear employment agreements stating all work product belongs to the firm. When someone departs, assign their content to another attorney who reviews and refreshes it. This is also an excellent opportunity to audit which pages still drive traffic and which can be retired. 5. Industry-Specific PR Trumps Vanity Publications for Generative Engine Visibility Stop chasing the Wall Street Journal if you’re an intellectual property firm. Start chasing IP-focused publications that AI tools recognize as authoritative in your specific domain. Quotes in the WSJ or NYT? Still great, of course, but they’re not what will get you found in AI search. There’s a crucial distinction here between traditional PR (building mainstream brand recognition) and digital PR (building your online reputation). Both matter, but for GEO purposes, appearing in niche, authoritative industry publications carries more weight than generic mainstream coverage. Why? Because when AI tools evaluate expertise, they look for signals from sources they recognize as authoritative within that specific practice area. A mention in an IP industry publication signals subject matter expertise more clearly than a quote in a general business publication. Action item: Again, this is where having a strong Digital PR Strategy comes in. Building authority online is not the same as building top-of-funnel brand awareness through national publications. If you don’t have a digital PR strategy, get one. 6. Zero-Click Searches Are the New Normal (And That’s Okay) Yes, you probably lost 10-30% of your site traffic in the last nine months. Yes, AI-powered answers mean people don’t always click through to your site. But here’s what you’re probably not tracking: branded search is skyrocketing. People are using ChatGPT or Perplexity to get a list of recommended firms, then typing those firm names directly into Google. This means: More branded search traffic Higher-intent visitors Better conversion rates Action item: Implement proper intake processes. Leverage a marketing platform like HubSpot to track multi-touch attribution. Ask every new client “How did you find us?” You’d be shocked how many are discovering firms through AI tools. If you’re not tracking this, you’re missing massive attribution insights that should inform your entire strategy. 7. Technology Investments Should Make Your Team More Efficient First With the avalanche of AI marketing tools flooding your inbox, here’s my hierarchy for where to invest: First: Technology that makes your marketing team more effective and efficient at their jobs. AI tools for content creation, research, competitive analysis, and workflow optimization. Second: A strategic decision about whether your firm will compete for non-branded search traffic or focus on validation (ensuring you look authoritative when people research you after getting a referral). Third: Website health and user experience. If your site hasn’t been a priority until now, it needs to become one. Period. Bonus fourth: A robust CRM (I’m looking at you, HubSpot skeptics). Understanding how prospects interact with your content and site is no longer optional. 8. Understand the Three Ways People Actually Use AI Search Not all AI searches are created equal. Understanding user intent helps you position content strategically: Quick answer mode: Someone needs fast information they’d previously get from calling an attorney or colleague. They ask ChatGPT and move on. Savvy users check the sources—which means you want to be cited. This is why answering questions in those first two sentences matters so much. Search engine alternative: Users treating AI tools like Google, asking them to “syndicate information and come back to me.” While ChatGPT explicitly said they’re not trying to be a search engine, people use them this way regardless. These tools pull from traditional search engines, so your SEO fundamentals still matter. Validation tool: This is the big one. Someone got a referral or saw your firm name somewhere. Now they’re asking ChatGPT or Perplexity: “Is this firm specifically known for the challenge I’m facing?” If AI can’t confirm your expertise openly, it hedges: “While they probably could handle this based on their website, this is what they’re known for.” Action item: You need content that serves all three use cases. Create quick, citable answers for the first group. Comprehensive topic coverage for the second. And clear, demonstrable expertise markers for the third. 9. Master These Technical Fundamentals (They’re Not Optional) While everyone’s obsessing over AI prompts and content strategy, the boring technical stuff is quietly determining who wins: The two-click rule: Users should reach any page on your site within two clicks. If they land on your homepage and want to contact your employment law practice, that shouldn’t require navigating through three dropdown menus and a practice area index page. Strong CTAs with proper structure: Make it stupidly easy for people to do what you want them to do. And for clickable elements, follow best practices. Phone numbers need proper “tel:” formatting. Contact forms should be accessible from every page. Don’t make people hunt. P age speed and core web vitals: Google didn’t introduce these metrics for fun. Fast-loading sites with good user experience signal quality to both search engines and AI tools. High bounce rates from slow loading? You’re telling algorithms your content isn’t worth waiting for. Experience wins everything: There’s a reason Google added that extra “E” to E-A-T (making it E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). They put “Experience” first deliberately. User experience isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s the foundation everything else builds on. 10. Structure Your Content Like You’re Building a Reference Library Long-form content still matters, but structure matters more. Here’s your blueprint: 5-7 strategic subheadings: Each article should address one main topic with 5-7 related subtopics. These aren’t random—they’re distinct questions people actually search for. Each subheading should be a question someone asks. Answer each subquestion immediately: Just like your main topic, every subsection should answer its question in the opening sentence or two, then elaborate. This allows AI to extract exactly what it needs and snap users to the relevant section. Strategic internal linking: Citations and hyperlinks in your first two paragraphs carry the most weight. Link to authoritative sources (government sites, bar associations, subject matter experts—not competing firms). Create a “spiderweb” of internal links connecting related content. This strengthens your entire site’s authority. Bullet points for key facts: AI tools love scannable content. Use bullets to highlight critical information, key points, and takeaways. This makes your content easier for both humans and LLMs to parse. Plain language always: Write so a smart non-lawyer can understand it. AI tools need to translate your content for end users. If you’re drowning in legalese, you’re making their job harder—and they’ll cite someone else instead. Wide breadth on each topic: Don’t just answer the narrow question. Provide comprehensive coverage that demonstrates expertise. While a user might only need one section, AI evaluates the full article to determine if you’re truly an authority worth citing The Bottom Line Generative Engine Optimization isn’t some distant future concern—it’s the present reality. Your 90-year-old grandmother is asking ChatGPT questions. The least tech-savvy person you know is using Google’s AI mode nine times a day. The firms that win in this new landscape won’t necessarily be the biggest or oldest. They’ll be the ones that understood the shift early, structured their content properly, built individual attorney authority, and tracked the right metrics. The question isn’t whether to invest in GEO. The question is whether you’ll do it now while the playing field is still relatively level, or wait until your competitors have already staked their claim. Your move. Want to understand how your firm currently shows up in AI-powered search results? Try searching for your practice areas on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI mode. The results might surprise you—or motivate you to act. Joe Giovannoli is the Founder & CEO of 9Sail, a digital marketing firm he launched in 2015 to deliver data-driven SEO, PPC, digital PR, and content services tailored for law firms. Learn more at www.9Sail.com.