Our piece on how ChatGPT picks which lawyers to recommend covers one engine. Your clients use more than one. This companion covers Google's AI features (AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini) and Perplexity: how each one finds its sources, what we have seen when we test them, and what a firm can do about each.
The short answer: all of them search the web and then name the firms they can verify in what they read. What differs is where they search and which sources they trust. A firm that is well covered for one engine can be missing from another, so it pays to look at them one at a time.
At a glance
| Google AI Overviews and AI Mode | Gemini | Perplexity | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where answers come from | Google's search index, often with several related searches behind one question | Google Search, when it searches | A live web search for each question |
| What it shows | A summary with supporting links. AI Overviews appear on some searches, not all. | An answer with source links | An answer with numbered citations |
| What we have seen | One AI Overview, pulled three ways, gave the same answer and the same nine sources | Legal directories and video alongside agency blogs | The same sources in every run, mostly legal-specific guides |
| First thing to fix | Google basics and your Business Profile | Your directory profiles | One clear page for each question clients ask |
Google AI Overviews and AI Mode
Google's own guidance for site owners is unusually plain. It says "there are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode." To be shown as a supporting link, a page has to be indexed and eligible to appear in Google Search with a snippet. Both features may use what Google calls "query fan-out": running several related searches across subtopics, then linking a wider set of pages than a classic results page would. AI Overviews only appear when Google decides they add something, so many searches won't show one. Google's list of fundamentals also includes keeping your Business Profile up to date.
What that means for a firm:
- The entry ticket is ordinary Google health. Your pages need to be indexed, open to Googlebot in robots.txt, free of nosnippet tags, and written in text rather than locked inside images or PDFs.
- Fan-out rewards depth. A question like "do I need a lawyer after a rear-end crash in Riverside" can fan out into sub-questions about fault, deadlines and fees. A firm with a clear page on each of those gives Google more to link to than a firm with one general practice-area page.
- Keep your Google Business Profile current. Practice areas, service area, hours and phone should match your website and your directory listings.
- Skip the "AI files". Google says you don't need new machine-readable files, AI text files or special schema to appear in these features.
What we saw. On October 4, 2026 we pulled the Google AI Overview for "best GEO agencies for law firms" three ways: desktop, mobile, and desktop from Irvine, California. All three showed the same answer and the same nine sources, and every source was a list published by an agency. We count that as one answer, not three. We have not yet run this test on consumer searches such as "car accident lawyer near me", but if those behave the same way, one AI Overview can show the same short list to many people, and the pages that feed it matter more than any single ranking.
Gemini
Gemini draws on Google Search when it looks things up, but it is a separate product from AI Overviews. Google notes that even AI Overviews and AI Mode use different models and techniques and show different links, so we measure Gemini on its own.
What we saw. On October 12, 2026 we asked Gemini 2.5 Pro three times how a law firm gets recommended by AI assistants. Its sources mixed legal directories (Martindale-Avvo and Best Lawyers) with agency blogs, a Medium article and YouTube. On October 7, asked how a firm should choose a GEO agency, Gemini used one of our pages to define the term and then named other agencies. Being read is not the same as being recommended.
What that means for a firm:
- Treat directory profiles as source material. Your Martindale-Avvo profile, your state bar profile and any directory you are listed in should be complete and match your website.
- Make each page easy to attribute. State your firm name, practice area and city on the page itself, so a page that gets read is clearly tied to your firm.
- Consider short video. YouTube showed up as a source. A few plain-language answers to common client questions can give Gemini one more place to find you.
Perplexity
Perplexity's help center says it searches the web in real time for each question, and every answer includes numbered citations that link to the original sources.
What we saw. Perplexity is the most consistent engine we test. On October 9, 2026, three answers to the same question used the same ten sources. On October 11 we asked it three times how a law firm gets recommended by AI assistants, and all three answers cited our ChatGPT piece, each time as the third of ten sources. (Disclosure: that page is ours.) Its other sources were guides written for law firms. ChatGPT, asked the same question on October 10, leaned on general local-business guides instead.
What that means for a firm:
- Write one page per question, titled in the words your clients use, and specific to your practice and your area.
- Expect consistency to cut both ways. Once a page is in Perplexity's source set for a question, it tends to stay there. So does a competitor's.
- Read the citations. Perplexity shows its sources, so it is the easiest engine for seeing which pages it trusts for your practice.
What all three have in common
Every engine reads a small set of pages and names firms it can confirm across them. The same groundwork helps everywhere: one consistent description of your firm across your website, Google Business Profile, Bing Places, legal directories and your bar profile; pages that answer specific client questions; and restrained, factual language.
That last point is a compliance issue as well as a visibility one. AI answers repeat what your pages say. Under ABA Model Rule 7.1 and your state's version, a claim that is misleading on your website stays misleading when an AI assistant repeats it to a prospective client. Plain, verifiable statements are the safer material for any engine to quote.
A 15-minute check, one engine at a time
- Write down the question a new client would ask, with your city. For example: "Who handles probate in Orange County, and how do I choose?"
- Search it on Google and note whether an AI Overview appears, which firms it names and which pages it links.
- Ask Gemini and Perplexity the same question, three times each. Answers vary from run to run, more on some engines than others.
- List every source cited. The directories and pages that appear on more than one engine are the ones to get right first.
The honest caveats
Our tests so far ask these engines about law-firm visibility and about choosing an agency, not consumer searches for a lawyer. Each finding is three answers on one engine on one day, so treat it as directional. The engines also change often; the behavior above is a snapshot from October 2026, and we will update this page as our tracker shows changes. For how we run these tests, see how we measure AI visibility.
Bottom line
Google's AI features reward ordinary Google health plus depth. Gemini leans on directories and other places your firm is described. Perplexity rewards a specific page for a specific question, and it keeps citing what it trusts. Visibility on each can be measured and improved, but no one can guarantee it. If you want a starting picture for your firm, the free AI Visibility Audit is the quickest way to see where you stand.
Companion piece: How ChatGPT picks which lawyers to recommend.
