AI systems have already formed a belief about your law firm. Most of the time, it's incomplete.

AI visibility is how often your law firm gets cited or recommended by AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews when users ask relevant legal questions. Unlike traditional SEO — which optimizes for search ranking positions — GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) optimizes for being referenced in AI-generated answers.

Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of structuring your law firm's online presence so that AI systems — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — cite and recommend you when users ask relevant legal questions. Research published at KDD '24 by Columbia and Princeton University researchers identified GEO as a distinct discipline from SEO, with its own set of signals: entity clarity, structured data, sourced statistics, and direct-answer content formatting.

Traditional SEO gets you ranked in a list of blue links. GEO gets you named in an AI answer. The KDD '24 research found that keyword stuffing — a core SEO tactic — has no meaningful effect on AI citation rates and can actually decrease them. The signals that drive AI citation are different: cited statistics, entity disambiguation, and content structured to answer questions directly. Most law firms have invested in SEO and have zero AI visibility.

AI systems cite law firms that have three things in place: a clearly defined entity (Google Business Profile, schema markup, consistent NAP across directories), content that answers legal questions with sourced statistics, and technical access for AI crawlers. Per KDD '24 research, embedding statistics and citations into your content improves AI citation rates by 30–40%. The MAKIF-46 Audit identifies exactly which of these signals your firm is missing.

Open ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI and type the queries your clients actually use — 'best DUI attorney in Towson' or 'recommend a personal injury lawyer near Baltimore.' If your firm isn't named in the response, you're invisible to that platform. This takes about ten minutes and gives you an immediate baseline. The MAKIF-46 Audit then scores the specific reasons why and ranks fixes by impact.

A scored assessment of 46 signals across five layers — Trust, Entity, Retrieval, Citation, and Measurement. You receive a 0–100 score per layer, a composite AI visibility score, a competitor comparison showing which firms are outranking you in AI responses, a prioritized action list, and a 30-minute walkthrough call.

Technical fixes — schema markup, AI crawler access, entity disambiguation — can produce measurable improvements within 30–60 days as AI systems re-index. Content-layer improvements (adding sourced statistics, FAQ schema, BLUF formatting) typically show citation movement in 60–90 days. GEO is not instant, but it compounds: a firm that establishes strong entity and citation signals owns that recommendation real estate persistently.

No. Many law firms with strong SEO still score zero on AI visibility — the two systems are built on different signals. The audit tells you exactly where you stand regardless of your current SEO setup.

You'll have a clear picture of your AI visibility score and a prioritized action plan. Implementation is a separate engagement — we offer monthly retainers for firms that want MAKIF to execute the strategy. There's no obligation after the audit.

Contact us for pricing. Visit our contact page to start the conversation. The audit includes a scored assessment of 46 signals, a competitor comparison, a prioritized action plan, and a 30-minute walkthrough call. Pricing varies based on firm size and scope.