TLDR: AI Mode is not becoming the default search experience.
Every time Google makes a major announcement, the marketing industry produces a wave of content declaring that everything has changed and that you need to act immediately. We’re going to take a different approach.
Yes, Google made significant announcements at I/O 2026. Yes, AI is playing a larger role in how people find information. And yes, there are real implications for law firms. But the picture is more nuanced than the headlines suggest, and understanding it clearly is more useful than reacting to it anxiously.
Here’s our honest read on what’s happening, what it means for your firm, and what actually makes sense to do about it.
What Google Announced at I/O 2026
Google’s I/O 2026 announcements centered on several updates to its search platform, most of them related to AI Mode – an alternative search experience powered by Gemini that generates conversational, synthesized answers rather than a traditional list of links.
The notable updates include an upgrade to the AI powering that experience (Gemini 3.5 Flash), a redesigned search input that accommodates longer and more conversational queries, and the planned rollout of “Information Agents”, background tools that can monitor topics on a user’s behalf over time.
One important clarification: AI Mode is not becoming the default search experience.
The majority of searches (particularly on mobile, where most people search) still happen through the standard Google interface and return traditional results. What changed is how capable AI Mode has become for the people who do use it, and that number is growing.
What’s Actually Changing for Law Firms
The honest answer is: it depends on what kind of search traffic you’ve been relying on and whether or not your law firm was an early mover on answer engine optimization.
Informational traffic is declining, and that trend will continue. If a significant portion of your website traffic comes from people looking up legal concepts – statute of limitations questions, general explainers about how personal injury cases work, definitions of legal terms – you’ve probably seen this decline already. AI does a serviceable job answering those questions directly, and fewer people will click through to a website to get an answer they already received. This is real, and it’s already happening.
In reality, that traffic was rarely turning into clients anyway. Someone researching the statute of limitations on a slip-and-fall is gathering information. They may or may not ever hire a lawyer. The queries that actually matter to your practice (the ones where someone has decided they need an attorney and is trying to figure out which one to call) are a different category entirely, and they are behaving differently.
Where the Real Opportunity Is
When someone has a legal problem and is ready to act, they’re not asking “what is negligence.” They’re asking “who is the best personal injury lawyer in [city]” or “which law firm should I hire for my DUI case.” These are evaluative, decision-stage queries, and they are showing up increasingly across both traditional Google search and AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.
This is where AI is genuinely changing something for law firms. Not by replacing search, but by adding another place where hiring decisions are being influenced. When a potential client asks an AI to recommend a lawyer, the AI draws on everything it can find: legal directories, review platforms, local press, bar association recognition, peer citations, and signals from the firm’s own website. The firms that show up in those recommendations have built the kind of credible, multi-platform presence that AI systems recognize as authoritative.
At the same time, most people looking for a lawyer still start on Google. Traditional search visibility hasn’t gone away; it’s just no longer the only place the decision is being shaped.
The firms that are best positioned are the ones that are visible and credible in both places.
How We’re Approaching This for Our Clients
iLawyer Marketing has been helping firms improve AI visibility since the beginning. We understand that search is evolving and have helped firms gain ground in markets all over the country. In our experience, the signals driving AI recommendations overlap with good law firm SEO. The difference, however, is that there are simply more signals to optimize for and more places where firms need to be visible.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Off-site presence and brand mentions. The majority of brand mentions in AI-generated recommendations come from sources other than the firm’s own website: legal directories, review platforms, local news, bar publications, and community organizations. We build and maintain these citation footprints for our clients systematically, because they influence AI recommendations and traditional search rankings alike.
Genuine expertise signals. AI systems, like Google’s quality evaluators, distinguish between firms that demonstrate real expertise and firms that simply claim it. Attorney credentials, documented case outcomes, peer recognition, and specific client reviews carry weight. Generic content does not.
Content structured for decision-stage queries. We focus on the questions people ask when they’re choosing a lawyer, not just researching the law. This type of content performs well in traditional search and is more likely to be surfaced by AI when someone asks for a recommendation.
Schema and structured data. Attorney schema, review schema, and local business markup help AI systems accurately understand who a firm is, where they practice, and how clients rate them. It’s foundational infrastructure that most firms still haven’t fully implemented.
Technical SEO. None of the above works if a site is slow, difficult to crawl, or poorly structured for mobile. This remains the foundation.
What Lawyers Should Actually Do
Law firms should, first and foremost, be optimizing for both Google and answer engines. Internally, that means:
Focusing on leads. If your blog traffic is dropping because AI is answering general legal questions, that’s not necessarily a crisis for your practice. As previously mentioned, informational traffic does not necessarily translate into cases – especially for personal injury law firms. Focus your energy on the traffic and visibility that drives actual client inquiries.
Investing in your reputation across platforms. Reviews, directory listings, media mentions, and professional recognition all matter more now, not because the rules have changed, but because those signals are feeding more systems than they used to.
Building on SEO fundamentals. Most people looking for a lawyer still use Google. Rankings still matter. The reality is that AEO and SEO are two important pieces to the puzzle, and the firms that will continue to win have great visibility in both.
Finding out where you stand in AI recommendations. Search your own name and practice area in ChatGPT, Gemini, or your model of choice. Ask those tools who the best attorneys in your city and practice area are. Treat the results as a barometer, not a benchmark. With so many models and variables for generating an answer, no single query or prompt tells the whole story. At iLawyer Marketing, we use proprietary software to track multiple prompts over time to get a better
Ready to Improve Your AI Visibility?
The search landscape is evolving, and AI is playing a larger role in how people find and evaluate lawyers. That’s true. But the fundamentals of what makes a law firm findable, credible, and recommended haven’t changed as dramatically as some would suggest.
What has changed is that those fundamentals now need to show up in more places. A firm with strong SEO, a solid off-site presence, and genuine authority signals is well-positioned for traditional search and for AI recommendations. A firm that has neglected those things is at a disadvantage in both.
The firms with a consistent, integrated approach to visibility are the ones that will keep pace and win as the landscape continues to evolve.
That’s what we build at iLawyer Marketing. If you’d like to know where your firm stands across both traditional search and AI platforms, we’re happy to take a look.
Schedule a free strategy session, and we’ll give you a clear picture of your current AI visibility and where the real opportunities are.
About the Authors
Brian Beltz
VP of Strategy, iLawyer Marketing
Brian Beltz is the VP of Strategy at iLawyer Marketing and has been with the agency for more than 15 years. He helps law firms across the country develop and execute marketing strategies that drive measurable growth, combining deep industry knowledge with a results-focused approach to digital marketing.
Brian DeBelle
VP of Product, iLawyer Marketing
Brian DeBelle is the VP of Product at iLawyer Marketing with more than 15 years of experience at the agency, centered heavily on SEO. He now applies that deep foundation to LLM optimization and modern SEO strategies that position law firms where today’s consumers are searching, whether in traditional search engines or AI-powered answer platforms.
iLawyer Marketing is a full-service legal marketing agency specializing in SEO and AEO strategies for law firms across the United States.