Digital
marketing
is
one
of
those
exciting-yet-frustrating
fields
in
which
any
technique
you
master
is
virtually
guaranteed
to
need
an
update
as
soon
as
you
have
gotten
comfortable
with
it.
The
upside
for
those
of
us
working
in
the
industry
is
that
we
never
have
a
chance
to
get
bored!
The
challenge
for
our
clients
is
that,
no
matter
how
recently
we
have
answered
a
question
about
the
“best”
way
to
get
views
and
clicks
online,
we
are
probably
going
to
find
ourselves
answering
again
almost
before
we
have
a
chance
to
catch
our
breath.
For
the
past
several
months,
many
of
the
most
pressing
questions
I
have
been
hearing
from
clients
have
come
from
GEO:
What
is
it,
should
I
be
worried
about
it,
how
can
I
make
sure
my
law
firm
is
actually
visible
in
all
these
AI
answers?
Here’s
what
your
law
firm
needs
to
know
to
stay
relevant
as
the
search
landscape
evolves.
What
Is
GEO,
Anyway?
GEO
stands
for
Generative
Engine
Optimization,
and
the
term
is
one
of
several
competing
names
for
the
set
of
techniques
that,
depending
on
whom
you
ask,
may
be
thought
of
as
a
successor
to
SEO
(search
engine
optimization)
or
its
natural
continuation.
GEO
builds
on
many
of
the
same
principles
as
SEO,
but
adapts
their
implementation
to
account
for
differences
in
the
ways
“answer
engines”
leverage
generative
AI
access
and
present
information
when
compared
to
the
familiar
operations
of
established
search
engines
(e.g.,
Google).
How
Do
AI
Search
Tools
Source
Information?
The
first
thing
you
probably
need
to
know,
if
you
are
developing
a
law
firm
GEO
strategy,
is
that
AI
search
tools
(at
least
for
now)
overwhelmingly
source
their
information
from
“traditional”
search
engines.
The
dominant
player
in
the
search
engine
space
is
still
Google,
but
ChatGPT
has
been
known
to
prioritize
results
from
Bing.
Even
accounting
for
the
differences
between
the
various
search
engines
currently
managing
a
share
of
total
search
traffic,
these
tools
operate
on
essentially
similar
principles.
This
means
they
also
tend
to
use
closely
related
criteria
for
evaluating
topical
relevance
when
determining
which
sources
to
return
in
response
to
a
query.
Longevity
of
SEO
People
sometimes
lose
sight
of
one
of
the
“big
picture”
implications
of
the
information-sourcing
behavior
used
by
answer
engines.
If
the
AI
search
tools
are
getting
the
information
they
compile
and
synthesize
to
provide
their
users
with
concise
answers
to
direct
questions
(rather
than
lists
of
relevant
links
for
the
users
to
review
on
their
own)
by
running
searches
themselves,
then
SEO
cannot
logically
go
anywhere
if
you
want
your
law
firm
website
to
show
up
in
those
answers.
It
doesn’t
matter
whether
the
search
is
initiated
by
a
human
being
or
a
large
language
model
(LLM):
If
your
page
is
not
in
the
search
results,
nobody
will
be
seeing
it,
much
less
visiting
it.
Multi-Query
Search
That
does
not
mean
that
there
are
no
differences
between
an
AI
tool’s
search
behavior
and
what
you
or
I
would
do
if
we
sat
down
to
enter
a
Google
query.
The
exact
protocols
tend
to
be
closely
guarded
secrets,
but
one
common
theme
across
all
of
the
generative
engine
search
tools
currently
in
widespread
consumer
use
is
that
they
use
a
technique
similar
to
what
Google
calls
the
“query
fan-out”
method.
You
can
find
several
detailed
explanations
of
how
query
fan-out
works
online,
but
for
the
sake
of
simplifying
a
complex
topic
with
a
lot
of
caveats,
let’s
just
say
that
the
way
LLMs
handle
requests
for
search-based
answers
is
that
they
take
the
question
the
user
has
asked,
and
then
they
generate
a
set
of
additional
questions
that
are
intended
to
be
subsidiary
to
the
original
query.
When
the
method
works
well,
these
sub-queries
are
one
or
both
of
the
following:
-
Questions
the
user
would
need
the
answers
to
in
order
to
understand
the
answer
to
their
original
query -
Questions
from
whose
answers
a
reasonable
person
could
infer
the
answer
to
the
original
query
Some
tools,
like
Perplexity,
will
be
so
obliging
as
to
show
the
sub-queries
generated
in
order
to
locate
the
information
they
will
use
to
answer
the
original
user
query.
Implications
for
Law
Firm
GEO
Strategy
At
this
point,
we
can
begin
to
draw
some
inferences
of
our
own.
Let’s
walk
them
out
together.
#1.
Content
Pillars
Are
More
Important
Than
Ever
If
you
are
familiar
with
the
structure
and
function
of
content
pillars,
you
know
that
these
treasure
troves
of
content
work
by
creating
a
large
set
of
interrelated
articles/pages,
each
rich
in
keywords,
and
cross-linking
them.
Usually
you
will
find
that
pillars
follow
something
of
a
pyramidal
structure:
A
very
long
central
“pillar”
that
aims
to
provide
comprehensive
coverage
of
a
topic,
3-4
somewhat
shorter
pages
covering
different
aspects
of
that
topic
in
greater
detail,
and
then
3-4
smaller
articles
for
each
of
these
“subtopic”
pages.
This
structure
is
absolutely
phenomenal
for
creating
the
sub-query
relevance
that
helps
to
place
a
page
within
a
generative
answer
engine’s
list
of
reviewed
sources.
#2.
Keyword
Gap
Strategy
Still
Works
Traditional
content
pillars
are
often
based
on
the
concept
of
“keyword
gap”
coverage.
Keyword
gap
analysis
is
a
mainstay
of
SEO
strategy
that
works
by
identifying
keywords
for
which
your
competitors
are
ranking
well
in
search
results,
but
your
site
is
not.
One
of
the
main
functions
of
content
pillars
is
to
“plug”
the
keyword
gap,
to
make
sure
that
your
website
is
effectively
covering
high-value
keywords
for
which
your
competitors
are
consistently
out-performing
you.
The
kind
of
coverage
this
exercise
creates
lends
itself
naturally
to
a
spread
that
captures
a
wide
range
of
possible
subqueries
for
the
pillar’s
“core”
keyword.
A
content
pillar
is
usually
a
single,
massive
project
(that
may
sometimes
get
updates,
as
needed),
so
to
build
on
the
foundation
it
establishes
many
SEOs
will
also
use
keyword
gap
analysis
in
establishing
a
set
of
content
“buckets”
that
will
be
used
to
define
topics
you
want
to
target
going
forward.
This
same
technique
can
be
deployed
very
effectively
in
modern
GEO:
Adjust
your
“buckets”
to
align
with
questions
and
their
likely
subqueries
related
to
your
practice
area(s).
#3.
Comprehensiveness
Is
Key
The
bad
news,
for
law
firms
seeking
to
upgrade
their
GEO
strategy,
is
that
the
subquery
generation
technique
used
by
LLMs,
in
all
their
multiple
variations,
strongly
privileges
comprehensive
topical
coverage.
If
you
want
your
individual
pages
to
stay
“on-topic”
(a
key
factor
in
demonstrating
page
relevance
for
the
search
engines
on
whose
results
the
answer
tools
will
be
drawing),
then
the
need
to
cover
any
topic
you
want
to
“rank”
for
(”list”
might
be
a
better
word
than
“rank”
when
it
comes
to
GEO)
will
likely
mean
that
you
need
to
increase
the
number
of
individual
pieces
of
content
on
your
law
firm
website,
and
in
some
cases
the
rate
at
which
you
are
adding
to
your
website
content
(the
current
frequency
of
your
website
updates
will
obviously
matter
here).
The
good
news,
if
you
are
worried
about
how
to
adapt
your
law
firm
content
marketing
strategy
for
the
new
era
of
GEO,
is
that
almost
any
legal
topic
can
be
covered
from
many
different
angles.
The
fact
that
LLM-based
answer
engines
will
be
examining
several
of
them
every
time
they
review
sources
to
generate
an
answer
in
response
to
a
user’s
request
means
that
these
AI
search
tools
actually
give
your
law
firm
more,
not
fewer,
chances
to
be
recognized
as
relevant
and
therefore
show
up
in
the
results
eventually
displayed
to
users.
To
take
advantage
of
the
multiplying
opportunities,
what
you
will
want
to
do
is
work
with
a
digital
marketing
professional
(or
agency)
who
can
help
you
round
out
a
truly
comprehensive
GEO
content
creation
strategy
that
starts
with
the
keyword
“classics”
familiar
from
SEO
and
builds
outward
to
answer
an
ever
wider
set
of
thematically-related
questions.
Take
GEO
as
an
Opportunity,
Not
Just
a
Challenge
Generative
answer
engines’
use
of
traditional
search
engines
to
source
information
in
response
to
user
requests
will
continue
to
keep
SEO
relevant,
even
as
the
digital
marketing
industry
continues
to
evolve
alongside
customers’
behavior.
If
your
law
firm
has
an
effective
SEO
strategy
already:
Build
on
it!
If
your
law
firm’s
SEO
game
has
been
weak,
now
is
the
time
to
address
the
underlying
issues
that
are
keeping
your
site
from
ranking.
In
either
case,
rather
than
moving
away
from
SEO
toward
GEO
you
will
want
to
look
at
ways
to
enhance
your
total
content
strategy
based
on
the
way
answer
engines
select
their
sources
and
present
their
responses.
Work
with
an
experienced
digital
marketing
specialist
to
identify
high-value
topics
and
subqueries
in
your
practice
area,
and
start
working
to
build
your
comprehensive
suite
of
answers
to
the
real
questions
people
really
ask
about
the
type
of
cases
your
firm
handles.
Annette
Choti,
Esq.,
has
over
two
decades
of
legal
experience
and
is
the
Founder
&
CEO
of Law
Quill,
a
concierge
legal
marketing
agency
for
law
firms.
Annette
authored
the
bestselling
book
Click
Magnet:
The
Ultimate
Guide
To
Digital
Marketing
For
Law
Firms,
hosts
the
popular
Legal
Marketing
Lounge
podcast,
and
founded
Click
Magnet
Academy
where
she
teaches
professionals
to
leverage
the
powerful
LinkedIn
platform.
As
a
sought
after
speaker
for
Bar
Associations,
Legal
Associations,
and
Marketing
Conferences,
Annette
provides
legal
marketing
insight
along
with
an
entertaining
twist.
Annette
used
to
do
theatre
and
professional
comedy,
which
is
not
so
different
from
the
legal
field
if
we
are
all
being
honest.
Annette
can
be
found
on LinkedIn or
directly
through
email
at
A[email protected]