Law Firm AI Visibility Checklist: 22 Things to Fix Today

Short answer: AI engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity now recommend specific law firms when asked. Whether they recommend yours depends on crawler access, content structure, schema markup, review signals and entity consistency. Here's the 22-point checklist.

Crawler access (4 checks)

AI engines can't cite what they can't read. Check your robots.txt:

• OAI-SearchBot allowed - ChatGPT's search crawler
• ChatGPT-User allowed - ChatGPT's on-demand fetcher
• PerplexityBot allowed - Perplexity's crawler
• Claude-SearchBot allowed - Anthropic's crawler

How to check: Visit yoursite.com/robots.txt and look for these user agents. If they're blocked (or "AI bots" are blocked), you're invisible.

Schema markup (4 checks)

Schema tells AI engines who you are and what you do:

• LegalService schema - Identifies you as a law firm
• Person schema - For each attorney
• sameAs links - LinkedIn, Avvo, state bar, Google Business
• FAQ schema - On every practice area page

How to check: Use Google's Rich Results Test on your homepage and practice area pages.

Content structure (6 checks)

AI engines quote answer-first content:

• First paragraph answers the question - Not "Welcome to our firm"
• 40-60 word direct answer - Before any other content
• H2s are questions - "How much does divorce cost?" not "Our services"
• Specific numbers - Costs, timelines, percentages
• No "we fight for you" language - Doesn't answer anything
• Updated dates visible - Shows content is current

How to check: Read your top 5 practice area pages. Do they answer questions or describe services?

Review signals (4 checks)

AI engines weight reviews heavily:

• Google reviews > 4.5 stars - Lower scores hurt citations
• 4-8 new reviews monthly - Velocity over volume
• Response to every review - Shows engagement
• Consistent NAP across platforms - Name, address, phone match everywhere

How to check: Check your Google Business Profile. When was your last review?

Entity consistency (4 checks)

AI engines build "entity models" of law firms:

• Firm name consistent everywhere - Same spelling, same format
• Address consistent everywhere - Same format across all listings
• Phone consistent everywhere - One main number
• Practice areas consistent - Same list on all profiles

How to check: Search your firm name. Do all listings match exactly?

Quick wins

If you fail crawler checks

Add this to your robots.txt:

User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Allow: /

If you fail content checks

Rewrite your top practice area page's first paragraph to directly answer the most common client question:

Before: "At Smith Law, we have been serving families in the greater Los Angeles area for over 25 years with compassionate legal representation..."

After: "Divorce in California typically costs $5,000-$15,000 with attorneys, or $500-$1,500 if uncontested. The process takes 6 months minimum due to California's mandatory waiting period. Here's what affects your specific situation..."

If you fail review checks

This week:

1. Send a review request to your last 10 satisfied clients
2. Respond to all reviews you haven't responded to
3. Add a review request step to your case closure process

How to test your AI visibility

ChatGPT test

Ask: "Who is the best [practice area] lawyer in [your city]?"

If you're not mentioned, you have work to do.

Perplexity test

Ask the same question on perplexity.ai

Check if you're cited in the sources.

Google AI Overview test

Search "[practice area] lawyer [your city]" on Google

If an AI Overview appears, are you cited?

What to do next

1. Run through this checklist and note failures
2. Fix crawler issues first (immediate impact)
3. Fix schema issues second (technical foundation)
4. Fix content issues third (ongoing work)
5. Build review velocity (continuous process)

Free tool

Use our AI Visibility Score tool for a full audit. Twenty-two checks, no email required, results in 30 seconds.

The bottom line

AI visibility isn't optional anymore. 41.9% of consumers would use ChatGPT to research which lawyer to hire. If AI engines can't read your site, can't understand your entity, and don't see fresh review signals, they'll recommend your competitors instead.