Your potential clients are asking ChatGPT and Google's AI about divorce timelines, custody arrangements, and separation costs.

They're getting answers.

The question is: Are those answers citing your expertise, or are they pointing to Avvo, Nolo, and other generic legal content sites?

The answer depends on the same factor that's always determined your online visibility: your SEO.

AI search tools don't just rely on their training data. When answering legal questions, they search the web in real-time to find current, authoritative sources. The attorneys and firms they cite depend entirely on what they find in that search, and what they find depends on your SEO.

Here's why your investment in local SEO, content marketing, and online reputation just became more valuable.

AI Search Tools Evaluate Attorneys the Same Way Google Does

When someone asks Perplexity, "How long does a divorce take in [state]?" or Google's AI Overview answers, "What is the average cost of a contested custody case?" those answers come from somewhere. The AI searched the web, identified authoritative sources, extracted relevant information, and synthesized a response.

This process has a name: retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG. AI models search the internet in real-time, just like traditional search engines do.

Google confirmed this explicitly: normal SEO works for ranking in AI Overviews.

The signals that helped you outrank other family law attorneys in traditional search results are the same signals that get you cited by AI platforms.

  • Strong domain authority from years of practice-focused content.
  • Quality backlinks from state bar associations, legal directories, and local media.
  • Well-structured pages about your practice areas.
  • Client reviews and testimonials that establish trust.

AI tools evaluate these signals when deciding which attorneys to cite.

Why Generic Legal Content Sites Dominate AI Answers

Right now, when potential clients ask AI tools about divorce or custody issues, they're often getting answers that cite Nolo, Avvo, FindLaw, and Justia.

Not individual attorneys. Not local family law firms.

Why? Those sites invested heavily in SEO fundamentals years ago. They built massive content libraries, earned thousands of backlinks, and established themselves as authoritative legal resources.

But here's what's changing: AI platforms increasingly value specific, local expertise over generic information. When someone asks "How does child custody work in [city]," AI tools want to cite attorneys who practice in that jurisdiction, not a national legal content site with generic state-level information.

Your local focus, specific practice area expertise, and established online presence position you to be that cited authority. The work that drives your local rankings also helps AI tools identify you as the jurisdiction expert.

The Playing Field Expanded for Family Law Marketing

User behavior is shifting. 79% of people who use AI search believe it offers a better experience than traditional search engines. Your potential clients are asking AI tools about divorce timelines, custody factors, and separation costs before they ever visit a law firm website.

But here's what hasn't changed: AI tools need authoritative sources. They scan for credibility signals. They prioritize sites with clear expertise, relevant local information, and established trust.

Your SEO work built those signals. AI platforms reward them just like Google always has.

The shift isn't that SEO stopped working for attorney marketing. It's that your optimized content now appears in more places: traditional search results AND AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, and Google's own AI features.

When someone asks an AI tool about divorce in your area, you want your firm cited as the source.

What This Means for Your Practice

You're not starting over with a completely new marketing strategy. You're building on what already works.

Firms with strong SEO foundations get cited by AI tools when potential clients ask legal questions. Firms with weak online presence don't appear anywhere: not in traditional results, not in AI answers, nowhere.

The family law practices succeeding in this new landscape aren't abandoning content marketing and local SEO. They're doubling down on it while adapting their content structure for how AI processes information. Clear answers to specific legal questions. Structured practice area pages that help AI understand your expertise. Authority signals like bar certifications, case results, and client testimonials that establish trust.

But all of that requires a strong foundation. Without solid technical optimization, practice-focused content, and earned local authority, AI tools have nothing to find. When potential clients ask about divorce attorneys in your area, your firm won't be cited.