AI SEO Statistics: Legal (2026-07 edition)

Reading the 120 answers model by model shows how differently the three assistants treat the same legal questions. On the most consequential behavior — whether to send the buyer to a professional at all — the rate ranged from 92.5% (ChatGPT) down to 35% (Gemini), a 58-point gap on an identical question set.

Across the 40 legal answers it produced, ChatGPT recommended hiring a professional in 92.5% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 50% of the time. It named a specific provider in 7.5% of answers (about 0.3 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 25% of the time. ChatGPT asked a clarifying question before answering in 92.5% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 2.5%, averaging 583 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 2.5%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 7.5%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 72.5%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 22.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 5%.

Across the 40 legal answers it produced, Claude recommended hiring a professional in 87.5% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 40% of the time. It named a specific provider in 7.5% of answers (about 0.2 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 47.5% of the time. Claude asked a clarifying question before answering in 85% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 7.5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 2.5%, averaging 314 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 2.5%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 2.5%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 50%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 17.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 5%.

Across the 40 legal answers it produced, Gemini recommended hiring a professional in 35% of them and suggested a DIY approach first 15% of the time. It named a specific provider in 5% of answers (about 0.2 distinct providers per answer) and included price or cost information 22.5% of the time. Gemini asked a clarifying question before answering in 5% of cases, warned about red flags or scams in 2.5%, and told the buyer to verify credentials in 0%, averaging 270 words per answer. On the remaining cues it told the buyer to check reviews in 0%, pointed to case studies or a portfolio in 0%, and framed the choice around local proximity in 22.5%; a selection-criteria checklist appeared in 7.5% of its answers and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 0%.

Taken together, ChatGPT is the assistant most likely to route a legal buyer to a professional (92.5%) and Gemini the least (35%). ChatGPT produced the longest answers, at 583 words on average. Specific providers were named most often by ChatGPT (7.5%) — even there, roughly one answer in 13 carried a name.

On other behaviors the three models move almost in lockstep — the points of near-consensus for legal, where all three landed within a few points of each other:

• Names a specific provider: 5%–7.5% across all three (a 3-point spread).
• Tells the buyer to check reviews: 0%–2.5% across all three (a 3-point spread).
• Tells the buyer to verify credentials: 0%–2.5% across all three (a 3-point spread).
• Warns about red flags or scams: 2.5%–7.5% across all three (a 5-point spread).

Measured question by question, the three assistants coded a response the same way most consistently on "names a specific provider" (identical coding in 97.5% of questions) and least consistently on "asks a clarifying question" (7.5%).

Beyond whether to hire, the rubric codes how carefully each assistant protects the legal buyer once a decision is made. Telling the buyer to check reviews or ratings appeared in 1.7% of answers on average. Verifying credentials or certifications appeared in 1.7%. Warning about red flags or scams appeared in 5%.

On structuring the decision, a selection-criteria checklist showed up in 15.8% of answers on average and a recommendation to gather multiple quotes in 3.3%. The single least-reproduced protective signal for legal is "tells the buyer to check reviews" at 1.7% on average — the clearest opening for content that supplies it, since the models are not yet reliably surfacing that guidance on their own.

The 40 questions behind every percentage on this page were drawn from real legal services (law firms, attorneys, practice areas) buyer journeys, expanded from 5 seed prompts. Each was put to all 3 models once, with identical wording, so the rates above describe how the assistants handled this exact legal question set — not a general prior or a hand-picked subset. The full list is shown earlier on this page; the coded percentages are what those specific questions produced.