Lawyers and Mediators, ChatGPT is the new Google Search

This past Monday evening, I had the opportunity to present at the 13th Annual Conflict Resolution Month speaking series hosted by Sam Houston State University’s Student Legal and Mediation Services. This important initiative, celebrated in October, is a time to promote and raise awareness of mediation and other peaceful means of resolving disputes. It was an honor to contribute to the conversation about connecting mediators to the general public looking for services that help reduce legal conflict in their lives. 

My discussion, “Marketing for ONLINE Mediators,” focused on five key principles that mediators can use to market their practices effectively in the new AI environment. For fellow mediators and legal professionals interested in marketing and technology, I wanted to share some of the core tips and takeaways from that presentation.

The AI Shift: Marketing Your Mediation Practice in 2025

The way parties in conflict now find, evaluate, and ultimately choose our services is fundamentally changing. I shared a screengrab video demo of an example AI search where a mom asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity about child support mediation and to recommend some child support mediators near her in the Houston area. 

This example showed that because of AI, search engines are no longer just information libraries; they are now decision-making engines. The example also shows how the public is adapting and using AI search for research and decision making, not just to find information. 

To stay visible and get found online in AI search, lawyers and mediators must adapt their marketing strategies too. Here are some ways to do just that:

1. Prioritize Your AI Trust

The foundation of your online visibility is your digital trustworthiness, which AI secretly scores. This score is heavily influenced by “E-E-A-T” (Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness), a helpful SEO tip shared by Google.  AI rewards authenticity, so it’s crucial the content you are publishing on the internet about your brand is information that would only come from an authentic and trustworthy mediator professional. The more Google’s AI Mode (Gemini), ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity trust your content and see it as authentic, the more likely it is to share it as reliable information for searchers. 

2. Shift from “Learning” to “Deciding”

Previously, online marketing was about targeting keywords people used for finding things on the web. It was about locating indexed information and learning from what you found. For example, people would go to Google to learn about construction mediators in their area and the services they provide. Now, AI enables users to skip several steps by helping them decide what to do. In fact, AI-powered searches are 3 to 6 times more likely to show buying intent than traditional search engine queries. Therefore, mediators and legal professionals who want to get found in 2025’s AI searches should be creating content that directly answers high-intent, decision-based questions like: “Do you need a mediator for…,” “You should go to mediation to…,” “The best time to see a mediator is when…,” and “How does mediation compare to ….” 

A short and direct blog post that says something is now more powerful than a lengthy paper filled with fluff.

3. Cultivate Backlinks to Build Authority 

Backlinks are web links published to reputable websites that point back to you. For several decades, it’s been a primary component in any SEO strategy. In the age of AI searches, backlinks are still a vital part of building your reputation, because they serve as an AI validation tool. When a reputable site like mediate.com or an industry peer in a Reddit public forum mentions you, it teaches AI to associate your name with expertise in mediation (I have my profile on  Mediate.com for this exact reason). Therefore, actively build citations back to your brand by contributing to industry publications, engaging in relevant online discussions, and getting your links published on popular domains.

4. Align Your Message

Consistency is a core factor AI uses to measure trustworthiness. The professional voice and messaging on your website should align with what you post on LinkedIn, YouTube, and other platforms. Align your messaging for your brand to be cross-platform. Contradictory posts and confusing signals can reduce your trustworthiness. So eliminate confusing messaging by sending out a consistent theme from one  brand identity on the web so that you become known for something across all of your channels. And this is another reason to find a niche and be known for it. As discussed in the presentation, I have found a comfortable niche in “child support mediation” (childsupportmediation.com).

5. Write for Humans, Format for AI 

Lastly, while your content should always be written for a human reader, it must be structured so AI can easily understand, quote, and retrieve it. AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini scrape the internet for content, but they will skip information that is hard to quote accurately. Now this whole discussion has been a controversial one. For years now, Google, the leader in search, has been pushing content creators to write for people and offer genuine value to readers instead of writing for the algorithms and bots. While writing for humans is the best practice, make sure to write clearly, use headings, sections, and clear takeaways to make your content easy to skim. If you’re a blogger, just ensuring your technical details, like your end-of-page author bio (schema markup) are accurate will let the bots find your content and lift it.

Final Thoughts

The digital landscape is evolving rapidly, but it presents incredible opportunities for mediators who are willing to adapt. By focusing on building trust, providing direct value, and engaging authentically online, you can create a powerful digital presence that will serve your practice for years to come as AI keeps scouring the web and offering up its content to help searchers decide what’s best for them.