“AI is taking over search.”
“SEO is dead.”
“Your website traffic is about to disappear.”
If you’ve been in the legal marketing space lately, you’ve probably heard one or all of these doomsday predictions. And sure — AI Overviews have taken over the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page), and in many cases, they’re also creeping into the middle funnel. But here’s what the panic-posts don’t tell you: AI Overviews aren’t stealing the clicks that matter most.
They’re shaving off the “curious but not serious” top-of-funnel users. The people who might skim your site but never fill out a form, schedule a consult, or even make it past your homepage. Meanwhile, the qualified bottom-funnel users — the ones searching for “lawyer near me” or “attorney for contract dispute in Charleston” — are still clicking through.
And that makes a big difference.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Let’s get specific. One of our legal clients pulls in 18,000–20,000 organic sessions every month. When we dug into GA4 to isolate traffic from AI Overviews, we found exactly four users total in August who came in from this new source. Four.
That’s not even one percent of their monthly organic traffic. It’s not even a rounding error.
Yes, AI Overviews may dominate more screen real estate. But from a performance perspective? They’re not stealing the clicks that actually drive leads and revenue. The real traffic — the high-intent, branded, and bottom-funnel visitors — is still going straight to the site.
So, instead of fearing AI Overviews, legal marketers should be asking a different question: How do we adapt our mix to make GEO, Paid, and Programmatic work harder together?
What AI Overviews Are Actually Taking
AI Overviews tend to serve up broad, generalist information. They answer questions like “how does probate court work” or “what’s the difference between civil and criminal cases.” Helpful? Sure. But are these searchers likely to hire an attorney today? Not usually.
In other words, AI Overviews are siphoning top- and mid-funnel researchers who may never have converted in the first place. And that’s not a loss worth crying over.
In fact, some firms are finding their qualified lead ratio is improving because the tire-kickers aren’t landing on their site anymore. The site traffic that remains is more intentional, which is exactly what you want if you’re serious about turning organic into a primary sales channel.
How Legal Firms Should Adapt Their Mix
This is where marketers get it wrong: they treat SEO, GEO, Paid Ads, and Programmatic as separate silos. The firms that thrive are the ones that treat them as parts of the same growth engine.
- SEO & GEO Foundations: Keep building authority with high-quality, E-E-A-T content (think well-researched legal blogs, FAQs, and resources). Make sure your technical SEO is rock-solid so crawlers and generative engines can trust your site. This is the groundwork for visibility everywhere. (Tip: tie this into Local SEO services for maximum impact in your market.)
- Paid Ads: If AI Overviews are covering the top of funnel, meet your audience there with search and display campaigns. Paid gives you immediate visibility where organic can’t, and it catches those broader queries that still have value. (Explore how Paid Ads can complement your organic strategy.)
- Programmatic: For legal firms targeting niche audiences — like business owners, contractors, or individuals in specific regions — programmatic advertising is the secret weapon. It keeps your brand visible across the web, reinforcing credibility even when users don’t click through directly. (Our Programmatic solutions help bridge that gap.)
By aligning these channels, you create a layered approach: SEO and GEO capture the bottom-funnel intent, Paid fills in where organic visibility is shrinking, and Programmatic keeps your brand top-of-mind until the moment of need.
Why GEO Still Rewards SEO
Here’s the kicker: AI Overviews don’t bypass SEO. They amplify it.
Generative engines rely on structured, trustworthy sources to populate their answers. If your firm isn’t already optimized with clean metadata, clear H1s, and authoritative signals, you won’t show up in those summaries. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) is just the new acronym for what great SEO has always been.
For legal marketers, that means the same fundamentals still apply:
- Publish high-quality, intent-aligned content.
- Earn credible, high-authority backlinks (no spammy link farms).
- Maintain technical health so your site is crawlable and indexable.
- Keep your local visibility sharp, especially for “near me” searches.
In short: good SEO = good GEO.
The Bottom Line
AI Overviews may look intimidating at the top of the page, but they aren’t the traffic killer many in legal marketing fear. They’re pulling in fewer than 1% of site visitors for firms that are already driving 18–20K organic sessions a month. And the traffic they do absorb? It’s largely low-intent users who were unlikely to convert anyway.
The real opportunity lies in adapting your marketing mix. GEO, SEO, Paid Ads, and Programmatic aren’t separate battles — they’re complementary levers. Pull them together, and your firm will not only survive AI Overviews, but thrive in this new search landscape.
Because at the end of the day, AI Overviews aren’t killing legal SEO. They’re forcing us to get sharper, smarter, and more strategic.
And frankly? That’s long overdue. Ready to amplify your law firm’s marketing strategy?