How Clients Find Law Firms in the Age of AI Search

Google, AI Search, and the New Visibility Layer

By Dave Taillefer, Business Director / ICONA

Not long ago, a law firm’s digital strategy revolved around one premise: attract visitors to the website, and the rest would follow. Content calendars, SEO plans, and branding exercises were built around the idea that discovery started on owned property.

That assumption no longer holds.

Across dozens of engagements at ICONA, we’re seeing the same pattern: clients often discover a firm long before they arrive on its website—and increasingly, they discover it somewhere other than Google.

This shift doesn’t diminish the importance of the website. It reframes it. If the website is no longer the starting point, where does modern legal discovery actually begin?

And just as importantly: how can a firm strengthen its presence across these new surfaces while remaining fully compliant with Law Society advertising rules?

The New Discovery Landscape: Distributed, Conversational, and Off-Site

In 2025 and beyond, people do not discover law firms through one surface. They move through a constellation of touchpoints, many of which never appear in analytics.

A typical journey looks like this:

1. Someone asks an AI tool a legal question.
2. The AI provides an explanation, cites sources, and lists key considerations.
3. The user asks for options in their jurisdiction.
4. The AI includes your firm’s name in a comparative answer—without sending a click.
5. The user performs a branded or category search on Google.
6. They land on a practice-area page or the homepage to verify credibility.
7. They book a consultation.

Only one step in that journey—the Google search—is captured by traditional analytics. Everything else happens upstream.

This is why impressions and clicks fluctuate while real conversions hold steady. The demand hasn’t changed; the pathway has.

AI Systems Depend on External Signals—Not Just Your Website

As explained in The Hidden Architecture of AI Search, large language models organize the world through entities, reputation, and corroboration. They synthesize answers by referencing:

• government and court websites
• public legal education portals
• legal information sites
• news organizations
• law society directories
• structured profiles and business listings
• case law databases

Visibility now depends on your external footprint just as much as your website.

AI search doesn’t reward self-promotion. It rewards coherence—consistent, verifiable signals across credible sources.

Google Still Matters—But It Is No Longer the Entire Story

Google remains critical for high-intent queries such as:

• “family lawyer Calgary”
• “criminal defence lawyer Edmonton”
• “estate litigation Vancouver”

These queries generate real consultations. But they’re no longer the first step in discovery—they are the validation stage. Clients arrive already halfway through their evaluation.

The Ethical Parasite Visibility Framework (ICONA’s Model)

At ICONA, we use a model we call the Ethical Parasite Visibility Framework—a deliberately unglamorous name for a pragmatic idea:

Your firm must “live” on the authoritative surfaces that AI tools already trust.

This doesn’t involve boasting, exaggeration, or claims of superiority. It involves:

• clear entity definition
• unambiguous practice areas
• consistent jurisdiction references
• third-party corroboration

Accuracy, clarity, and structured truth form the bedrock of modern visibility.

Three Layers of External Visibility That Matter Most

1. Institutional and Government-Level References

LLMs heavily privilege:

• court and tribunal websites
• provincial and federal legal resources
• public legal education portals
• law society directories

Alignment between these sources and your firm’s identity strengthens your visibility everywhere.

2. High-Authority Third-Party Platforms

Structured, reputable directory listings provide the corroboration AI tools rely on:

• law society profiles
• recognized legal directories
• structured business listings
• news citations or press releases

The focus is accuracy—not promotion.

3. External Content That Explains Legal Concepts Clearly

Clarity remains the strongest signal in a noisy ecosystem. When trusted third-party sites discuss legal topics, your firm benefits from accurate association—even indirectly.

• provincial legal education resources
• news coverage of legislative updates
• Bar association guidance pages

Models learn from consistency, not volume.

Why This Matters for Canadian Law Firms Specifically

Canadian advertising rules restrict:

• claims of specialization
• promises of results
• comparative statements
• emotional manipulation
• exploiting vulnerable clients

These restrictions align with what AI systems reward: neutral facts, verifiable data, and consistent entities. Ethical firms are already positioned for AI visibility—they simply need stronger scaffolding around their digital identity.

The Website Still Matters—But in a New Way

After the off-site discovery process, clients still land on your website. But the role of the site has shifted.

Old Role:

Attract visitors.

New Role:

Confirm trust and support a decision already in motion.

Key performance signals now include:

• strong practice-area pages
• a confident, modern homepage
• clear service descriptions
• accurate jurisdiction references
• fast load times
• frictionless contact paths

The Firms That Win Are Those That Accept the New Landscape

1. They stop equating traffic declines with market declines.

Traffic is a relic metric.

2. They invest in entity clarity, not content volume.

AI visibility rewards precision.

3. They view their site as a decision asset, not a broad net.

AI introduces the firm long before the homepage does.

A Strategic Shift, Not a Tactical One

We are not witnessing a tactical SEO update. We are witnessing a strategic evolution in how legal demand expresses itself.

Firms measuring success through pageviews are using last decade’s playbook. Firms measuring:

• branded search
• high-intent entry points
• consultations
• off-site visibility

are reading today’s landscape.

The Path Forward for Canadian Law Firms

The firms that succeed will be those that:

• define themselves clearly and consistently
• build a trustworthy external footprint
• maintain strong technical SEO
• align marketing with Law Society expectations
• treat the website as a late-stage decision tool

The firms that adapt will see something counterintuitive but increasingly common:
less traffic, more clients.

References

Note: Research findings may evolve as AI systems continue to change.