For law firms
How solicitors get recommended by ChatGPT
“Recommend a trustworthy solicitor in Leeds” is a regulated-profession question. On 3 October 2026, Whito asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode that prompt in six cities. In the five English cities, 89 of 93 named firms matched an SRA-regulated practice — but almost none of the answers linked the register. The SRA proves you can practise. The site is how you get recommended for conveyancing, family or immigration. launchAEO is the tool for that: matter pages a crawler can read, a badge that matches the listing, and on Growth a record of who was named on those prompts.
Questions customers already ask AI
These are the prompts, not keywords. An assistant that cannot match them to a page on your site will name someone else.
- Recommend a trustworthy solicitor in Leeds for a first-time buyer.
- Who should I use for a no-fault divorce in Manchester?
- Immigration solicitor in London for a spouse visa, not a volume factory.
- Employment solicitor in Birmingham for a settlement agreement this week.
- Can you find a solicitor in Edinburgh for a straightforward will and lasting power of attorney?
Why someone else gets named
The engine names SRA firms, then forgets to send people to the register
89 of 93 English names matched. One answer in fifteen linked the SRA. If your site also forgets the clickable digital badge, the client has no official check after the chat. A competitor who displays it becomes the safer-looking choice in the follow-up.
Conveyancing, family, immigration and employment are different jobs
A “trustworthy solicitor in Leeds” prompt will not save a firm that only publishes a generic “full service” paragraph. The high-intent questions name the matter. Pages that name the matter get quoted.
Scotland is not the SRA
The Law Society of Scotland holds the register north of the border. A UK-wide brochure that links only the SRA will mis-serve an Edinburgh wills prompt. Engines already split the geography. The site should too.
What launchAEO checks
Whether matter pages are in the HTML
First-time buyer, no-fault divorce, spouse visa, settlement agreement, lasting power of attorney. launchAEO’s crawl check is whether those pages exist as text, not as a PDF terms pack.
Whether the SRA identity matches the site
Trading name, badge, and find-a-solicitor listing. The listings view is for that match. We do not inspect client files, and we do not file the SRA update for you.
Who is named on each matter, not a blended “legal” score
Growth stores the prompt, the engine, and who was recommended. Conveyancing wins stay apart from immigration misses, and a blended “legal” score would hide that.
What to change
Same shape as the action plan in the product: what’s wrong, why it matters, how to fix it.
What’s wrong
No SRA (or Law Society of Scotland) badge, or it sits in an image with no link.
Why it matters
Regulated firms must display the clickable badge. Whito found engines almost never linked the register themselves, so your page is the check.
How to fix it
Put the official badge on the site, linked, under the same name as the register.
What’s wrong
One “our services” paragraph covering every department.
Why it matters
Clients name the matter. A blended paragraph matches none of the prompts above.
How to fix it
Give each department a page with who it is for, typical timescales, and a starting fee where you can. The action plan will keep those separate.
What’s wrong
The find-a-solicitor listing uses a name the site retired.
Why it matters
89 of 93 matches still left room for trading-name confusion. A retired name is how a real firm looks unverified.
How to fix it
Align the Law Society find-a-solicitor profile, the badge and the homepage. launchAEO will flag identity drift; it will not file the update for you.
Where assistants look
SRA Solicitors Register
The England and Wales record. Most AI-named firms matched it; almost none of the answers linked it.
Law Society find a solicitor
The public listing ChatGPT can treat as a professional directory when someone asks who to instruct.
Law Society of Scotland
The register to use for Edinburgh and Glasgow prompts — not the SRA.
Questions about this
How can solicitors get recommended by ChatGPT?
Stay on the SRA or Law Society of Scotland register under the live trading name, display the badge, and publish matter pages a crawler can read. launchAEO is how those pages get ready to be recommended, and on Growth it records who was named.
Are the firms ChatGPT names actually solicitors?
In Whito’s October 2026 run, 89 of 93 English names matched an SRA-regulated firm. Use that as a shortlist, then search the register yourself. Only one of those answers linked it.
Should we write for “best solicitor in [city]” or for the matter?
The matter. First-time buyer, settlement agreement, spouse visa. City-wide “best” prompts produce a blended list that a specialist page will not win on its own — and will not serve the client either.
What does a free launchAEO check tell a law firm?
Whether assistants can read the homepage, which issues are in the way, and whether the site looks like one firm. Who is named on a Leeds conveyancing prompt is Growth.
Where these facts come from
Independent studies, not launchAEO scores. We summarise them; we do not pretend we ran them.
Other businesses
Accountants
Limited companies, IR35, year-end. ChatGPT currently names Xero more often than it names a practice.
Dentists
NHS lists, Invisalign, a broken tooth. Confirm the practice on the CQC and the dentist on the GDC.
Small businesses
A shop, a practice, a local firm. launchAEO gets the site ready so ChatGPT names you, not only the chains.
The full playbook sits in the 2026 guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT.
Get onto the recommendation
Free is a homepage check, not a trial. launchAEO shows whether AI can read the site, what to fix, and — on Growth — whether the answers name you. Prefer us to handle it? Managed services are quoted separately.