is changing and Google’s AI Overview is changing the way people search for information online. This new search feature offers AI-generated summaries at the top of search results can be seen as a challenge as well as an opportunity for law firms. Let’s dig into the impacts for your law firm.
What are AI Overviews?
AI Overviews—formerly known as Search Generative Experience (SGE)—is Google’s way of providing users with quick, concise answers to their queries in the search results. Written by advanced AI models, these overviews aim to capture the main ideas of various sources on the web and present them in a form that does not require the user to visit other websites.
When a user enters a query, Google’s AI may decide that an AI Overview would be particularly valuable. If so, the AI will receive the query, collect information relevant to the query, and generate a summary of the information to be displayed prominently in the search results. These summaries include links to the original sources from which the information was obtained so that the user can go into more detail about the topic if they so desire.
Why Do AI Overviews Matter for Law Firms?
The use of AI Overviews has major implications for law firms which will affect the way that clients find legal information and, in the long run, choose a lawyer.
Lower Click Through Rates to the Websites
AI Overview shows the information that users are looking for on the search results page which can lead to a decrease in clicks through to the individual websites, including your law firm’s websites. This could possibly reduce the organic website traffic. To guarantee that you are still coming up in front of people, you’ll have to embrace AI Overviews.
Increased Competition for Visibility
AI Overviews are located at the top of search results, thus pushing the traditional organic listings down the page. This means that law firms will have even more competition in visibility and will have to adjust their SEO strategies.
Focus on High-Quality Content
AI Overviews were created to use information from reputable sources in order to create summaries. Law firms that provide valuable, informative content that covers what users may want to know will be in a good position to appear in these overviews.
Shift in User Behaviour
As more people use these AI Overviews in the course of their searches, the search queries are likely to change. They may depend more on these summaries and may not navigate through several websites. Only time will tell for sure, but the shift is already evident for certain searches and types of keywords.
Biggest Challenges for Law Firms in 2025
How Can Law Firms Adapt to and Take Advantage of AI Overviews?
Although AI Overviews are a challenge, there are ways for law firms that are willing to change for them to benefit. Here are some strategies to consider:
1. Focus on Creating Comprehensive, Question-Answering Content:
- Identify Key Questions: Determine the questions that your clients may want to know about your practice areas and write content that directly answers those questions. You can get these questions from your clients, from sites like Reddit, and from Google’s “People Also Ask” section.
- Provide In-Depth Answers: Avoid the surface, provide detailed and well-researched information that shows your expertise and will be beneficial for the reader.
- Structure Content for AI: Some of the practices to employ include using appropriate headings, paragraph formats, bullet points, and other formatting that helps AI to understand the content of your post.
2. Optimize for Featured Snippets and Other Rich Results:
- Target Featured Snippets: Featured snippets are another kind of rich result that is displayed directly in the search results, in the form of a paragraph, list, or table. Optimizing your content for featured snippets can help you rank in AI Overviews as well. We expect to see featured snippets disappear entirely to be replaced by these AI Overviews.
- Use Schema Markup: Schema markup is a kind of code that assists search engines to understand the content of your web page. Using schema markup on your website will increase your chances of ranking in the rich results including AI Overviews.
3. Build a Strong Brand Reputation and Authority:
- Establish Expertise: Continue to create high quality content that is related to your firm’s practice areas.
- Encourage Reviews: Positive online reviews can help to increase your firm’s credibility and trustworthiness in the eyes of potential clients and search engines.
- Build Backlinks: Getting backlinks from other reputable websites is a signal to Google that your firm is an authority in your industry.
4. Embrace Long Tail Keywords and Conversational Search:
- Target Long-Tail Keywords: Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific search terms that are closer to how people actually talk and search for information. Targeting long-tail keywords can assist you in targeting the audience that is looking for particular details about your practice areas. You should also try to include some long-tail keywords that may be used in an AI Overview.
- Optimize for Voice Search: With more people using voice search, it is crucial to optimize your content for conversational language. AI Overviews are often triggered by voice search queries.
5. Monitor and Analyze Performance:
- Track Your Rankings: Make sure to keep a close eye on the rankings of your website for the relevant keywords especially if there is any change in the rankings due to AI Overviews.
- Analyze Website Traffic: Check your website traffic to see if there is any change in organic traffic that can be associated with AI Overviews.
- Adapt Your Strategy: Based on your findings, make changes to your SEO and content strategy.
Use this opportunity for your firm with the help of AI Overviews
The use of AI Overviews is undoubtedly changing the way that people look for things on the Internet and law firms have to respond to this change. By concentrating on the quality of the content, user experience, keyword optimization, and building a good brand reputation, your firm can use this new search engine feature to its advantage.
At Civille, we are not just website designers. We are your partners in understanding the shift in the digital landscape. We know the concept of AI Overviews and how to help you develop a proper strategy. Let’s join hands and make sure your firm continues to be visible and relevant and eventually successful in this new age of AI search.
How Civille Can Help
At Civille, we can assist you in developing a content marketing plan based on producing extensive, question-and-answer content for both humans and AI. Contact us today and find out how we can assist your firm to grow.
