Generative engine optimization (GEO) for law firms in 2026
When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude which law firm to use, the answer is a short list of names. GEO is the work of getting your firm onto that list. This is what we have measured about how the list is made.
Generative engine optimization, also called GEO, AI SEO or answer engine optimization, is the work of getting your firm named when someone asks an AI assistant who to instruct.
SEO earns you a place in a page of links. GEO earns you a place in a short list of names, and the person asking often never looks further. If your firm is not on the list, that client may never reach your website at all.
So the first step is not to change anything. It is to measure which questions your firm is named on today, on which assistant, and who is named instead.
How 8eyed measures it, in 49 seconds, silent. The opening answers are real; every figure after them is a sample, and marked as one.
What our data shows
1. The assistants disagree
Ask two assistants the same question and you can get two different lists of firms.
One question, put to two AI assistants on the same day
“A supplier owes my business £200,000 and won't pay, which London litigation firm should I use?”
ChatGPT 3 firms
Johnson May Solicitorsa London-area boutique specialising in debt recovery and dispute resolution
Judge & Priestleya larger practice with a specialist debt-recovery capability
Enyo Law LLPa litigation boutique experienced in commercial disputes
Gemini 5 firms
Alius Lawhigh-value, complex commercial disputes and contentious insolvency
Clarke Willmott LLPa tier-1 debt recovery practice
Duncan Lewis Solicitorshighly regarded for its work with SMEs and corporations
Blake-Turner LLPdecisive commercial debt recovery
Harper Jamesa structured, escalating approach to debt recovery
Eight firms named. Not one appears in both answers.
Asked on 18 September 2026. Each assistant was told to name real firms and give a reason for each. Firms are in the order named; the reasons are the assistants' own words, shortened.
2. Each assistant has to be measured on its own
Across 50 questions about London legal services, the same firm could be named far more often on one assistant than the other. One overall score hides that.
The same firm, counted on each assistant
Firm
ChatGPT, of 50
Gemini, of 50
Farrer & Co
11
19
Mishcon de Reya
14
6
Blake Morgan
3
11
Withers
9
5
Clifford Chance
8
3
Osbornes Law
1
8
Source: 8eyed. 100 answers to 50 questions about London legal services, put to ChatGPT and Gemini on 18 September 2026. Counts are minimums.
3. ChatGPT leans on the legal directories
When ChatGPT has to back up the firms it names, it mostly reaches for Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500. A ranking there is earned through the directories' own research. It cannot be bought, and no amount of website work changes it. Know that before you judge any GEO work on ChatGPT alone.
ChatGPT answers linking to Chambers and Partners or the Legal 500
Questions about
Answers, of 50
London law firms
38
Barristers' chambers
36
Source: 8eyed. 50 questions about London law firms, put to ChatGPT on 18 September 2026, and 50 about barristers across England, on 8 October 2026. Each question asked the assistant to back every firm it named with a linked source.
4. Gemini follows Google
Gemini builds its answers from Google search. In our weekly tracking we have seen a firm's own pages drop out of Google's results for a town-wide search, and Gemini stop naming that firm within the week, while ChatGPT's answers did not change. Ranking on Google still matters for GEO.
5. The answers move
Ask the same question again and the list can change. A screenshot of one answer proves very little. We ask each question several times, and judge a change across weeks of readings, not on one.
What moves it, and what does not
This is what our own audits show so far. It is evidence, not a guarantee.
Let AI read your site
If your robots.txt or your firewall turns away GPTBot, ClaudeBot or Google's AI crawlers, nothing else matters. Check yours with our free AI crawler check.
A page for every practice area
Every time we have measured a business at zero for a service, it had no page for that service. If a practice area earns you money, give it its own page.
Say the service and the place plainly
Put the service and the place you serve in the page address and the main heading. It is the clearest pattern we see on ChatGPT.
Be named by others
The firms AI names are usually mentioned on other sites too: the legal directories, and the "best firms in" lists that AI cites in your own results.
Keep your Google listing right
Your Google Business Profile and consistent name and address details feed Gemini.
And what we have found no return on:
More words. Across 22 service pages from firms we have never worked with, we found no link between how long a page was and how often AI named the firm. In one town, for the same service, a page of about 1,100 words was named about ten times as often as one of 2,600.
A blog. Across seven audits, only 33 of the 2,034 pages AI cited were blog, news or guide pages. That is 1.6%.
Refreshing dates. We have found no evidence that updating a page's date or wording makes AI name a firm more often.
How to measure GEO for a law firm
Real client questions
Written around your practice areas and the places you serve, the way a client or a referrer would ask them.
Each assistant on its own
ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, each scored separately, because they disagree.
Asked more than once
Each question is asked several times, then tracked every week, so one lucky answer does not count as a win.
Against your rivals
Which firms are named instead of you, and how often, counted from the answers themselves.
Whoever you choose, ask them these five questions:
Will you show me the actual AI answers behind every number? A score you cannot check is a guess.
Is each assistant measured separately? One blended figure hides where you are missing.
How many times is each question asked? Once is not enough, because the answers move.
Are the questions written for my practice areas and the places I serve? Generic questions measure someone else's market.
What will you not be able to change? An honest answer names the directory rankings that cannot be bought.
And be wary of guarantees. Nobody controls what an AI assistant says.
Questions law firms ask about GEO
What is generative engine optimization (GEO) for a law firm?
It is the work of getting your firm named when someone asks an AI assistant such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude which law firm to use. The assistant usually names a handful of firms, so the question is whether yours is one of them.
Is GEO different from SEO?
They overlap. Gemini builds its answers from Google search, so a page that ranks well on Google helps there. ChatGPT leans on the words on your own pages and on the legal directories that mention you. SEO is judged on where a link ranks; GEO is judged on whether your firm is named at all.
Which AI assistants matter for a law firm?
We measure ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, and score each one separately. They often name different firms for the same question, so a firm can do well on one and be missing from another.
How long does GEO take to work?
Nobody can honestly promise a timescale, because no one controls what an AI assistant says. What you can do is measure every week, so you can see whether a change moved anything and on which assistant.
Can you guarantee my firm will be recommended by ChatGPT?
No, and you should be wary of anyone who does. Part of what ChatGPT relies on for law firms is the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners rankings, which cannot be bought and which website work does not change.
Do you work with law firms outside the UK?
Yes. Most of our work is for firms in the UK, and we are open to firms elsewhere. Apply and tell us where your clients are.
Who wrote this
Ezra Woodman founded 8eyed in July 2026, when he realised that AI search is becoming the new Google. Businesses need to know where they stand on it, and how to become more visible. He is a First Class Law graduate from the University of Exeter.
Published 21 October 2026. Every figure on this page is counted from the AI answers 8eyed has stored, and dated. Most of our work is for firms in the UK, and we are open to firms elsewhere.
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