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Get results in days, not monthsResults in days, not monthsMore and more frightened people put their question to a chat assistant instead of a search box. They ask what an arraignment is, whether a misdemeanor goes on a background check or how to find out if a brother has been booked. Sometimes the answer includes names of local firms, and sometimes it only explains the general process. This guide describes how those questions tend to be asked, what a criminal defense firm can do to make its own facts clear and consistent, what not to publish and why no one can be promised a mention. Buying ChatGPT ads is a separate matter: an early channel, suitable for a small measured test and no more. Organic Growth, from $1,495 a month, includes this work.
How the questions sound
People are often more candid with an assistant than with a search box. They write full sentences, include details and ask follow-ups: "my son was arrested for possession last night, what happens first, do we need a lawyer, how do we find out where he is." That behavior produces answers that read like a conversation, drawn from many sources and written in the assistant's voice. The assistant is not trying to market a firm. It is trying to give a cautious, general answer, and when it names local providers it usually draws on sources it considers reliable and consistent.
For a law firm, this has two consequences. The first is that the general explanation will come from somewhere, and your site can be one of the sources if it explains things clearly and carefully. The second is that when an assistant describes your criminal defense firm, it will rely on facts about who you are, where you practice and what you handle. If those facts disagree across your website, your profile and directories, the answer may be wrong or vague.
Question patterns
| Type of question | Example | What should exist on your site | Risk to avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process | "What happens at an arraignment?" | A neutral stage explainer that says procedures vary by court | Writing as if a rule applies everywhere. |
| Finding someone | "How do I find out if someone is in jail in [county]?" | Pointers to official lookups and a note on timing and delays | Republishing booking data or names. |
| Money | "How does bail work and can I pay it myself?" | A plain description of common bond types, labeled as general information | Promising release or specific amounts. |
| Choosing | "Do I need a private lawyer or can I use a public defender?" | A balanced comparison | Running down public defenders. |
| Charges | "Is shoplifting a felony?" | A page that explains how grading differs by place and amount, without stating a rule for every state | Stating a rule you cannot support. |
| Aftermath | "Can I get a misdemeanor sealed?" | An eligibility explainer per state you serve | Using terms loosely across states. |
| Local firms | "Criminal defense lawyers in [city] who handle drug cases" | Clear service, location and attorney facts, consistent everywhere | Overstated expertise claims. |
| Spanish | "Necesito un abogado penalista, mi hijo fue arrestado" | Real Spanish pages with the same facts | Mismatched details between languages. |
Assistants vary and change. We test with a fixed list of questions each month and note what they say, not what we hope they say.
What to publish
The most useful habit is also the simplest: state facts once, clearly, and keep them identical wherever they appear. The criminal defense firm's legal name, address, phone, hours, attorney names, bar admissions, the counties where you appear, the charge families you accept and the languages spoken should read the same on the site, the Google profile, the major directories and your attorneys' own bar listings. That consistency is a form of accuracy, and accuracy is what an assistant leans on when it has to choose what to repeat.
Beyond facts, the explainers matter. A good page on the stages of a criminal case, written by an attorney and updated when procedure changes, is the kind of content people and assistants cite. Short question-and-answer sections, headed with the actual question, make passages easy to lift. A glossary of terms like bond, hold, detainer, diversion and continuance, defined in one or two sentences each, also helps.
Structured data helps machines understand a page but does not replace clear writing. We mark up the criminal defense firm, its attorneys and its offices where appropriate and keep the markup honest and in sync with the page.
Boundaries
Information, not instructions
Explain what generally happens and say that outcomes depend on facts, the court and the law. An assistant that quotes your page as if it were advice for someone's exact situation can harm a reader and expose the criminal defense firm.
Keep sensitive text off public pages
Never publish client stories, case details or anything drawn from a matter. Even anonymized narratives can identify a person in a small community.
No promises
Hidden text, mass-produced pages and fake reviews can do real harm. Whether an assistant names any given firm is out of your hands and ours.
What we do
We create a single reference sheet of your criminal defense firm's identity: names, addresses, hours, counties, languages and charge families, reviewed by you.
The sheet is compared against your site, your profile, the main directories and attorney listings, and mismatches are corrected.
Stage explainers, comparison pages and glossaries are drafted for attorney review and dated so readers know when they were last checked.
Each month we put a fixed set of family-style questions to several assistants and record how your criminal defense firm is described, if at all.
We fix factual errors at the source and report honestly on what changed, without claiming credit for any single mention.
Keeping it in proportion
Assistants answer a small fraction of the questions that still go through Google, and their behavior changes often. The right posture for a criminal defense firm is to treat accurate AI-readable facts as part of good housekeeping, not as a separate campaign. The same work that helps a family find you in search, such as clear charge pages and consistent details, also helps an assistant describe you correctly.
For urgent demand, ads and the map remain faster, as covered in the Google Ads guide and the Google Maps guide. For the pages themselves, see the content guide.
Monthly check
| Question we ask | What we look for in the reply |
|---|---|
| A short process question, such as what happens at a first court appearance | Whether the reply is cautious and whether it cites sources that include yours. |
| A custody question for your county | Whether it points to official lookups and avoids wrong facts. |
| A charge-and-place question, such as who handles theft cases near your city | Whether your criminal defense firm is named and described accurately. |
| A direct question about your criminal defense firm by name | Whether the address, phone, attorneys and languages are correct. |
| A public defender versus private lawyer question | Whether any text from your comparison page appears, and whether it is fair. |
| The same questions in Spanish | Whether facts match the English replies. |
Replies change with the day and the wording, so we read them as a pattern, not as a ranking.
Where the facts come from
When an assistant describes a firm, it is often reading a mix of sources: the criminal defense firm's own site, directories, bar records, news items and review summaries. That means a mistaken date of admission on a directory or an old firm name on an aggregator can end up in an answer. The fix is rarely clever. It is the unglamorous work of finding the error at its source and correcting it, which is also what the citations guide describes.
Attorney pages deserve special attention. Each lawyer should have a bio that states education, bar admissions, practice areas and languages in plain sentences, with no inflated claims. An assistant that finds a modest, consistent profile is more likely to repeat it accurately than one that finds a set of conflicting superlatives.
The investment
AI search questions
We do not sell it separately. Work on how assistants describe your practice is part of Organic Growth, priced at $1,495 monthly for Silver, $2,495 for Gold and $3,495 for Platinum, without a setup fee or a term.
Nobody can promise that. Assistants change and answer differently each time. What you control is accurate, consistent facts and clear explainers.
No. Those are a paid placement, an early channel that deserves a small measured test at most. This work concerns the accuracy of unpaid answers.
We advise against it. Case descriptions can breach confidentiality or run afoul of rules about results. Explainers about process are safer and more useful.
We ask a fixed set of questions each month across several assistants and record the replies. Results vary by wording and day, so we report patterns rather than single answers.
If you serve Spanish speakers, yes. Keep the facts the same in both languages so an assistant does not report two different firms.
Assistants can say all kinds of things. Make your pages clear that content is general information and invites a consultation, and keep the language careful.
Related guides
Get in Touch
Send us your firm name, your attorneys and the counties you cover. We will ask a set of assistants the questions a worried family might ask, report what they say about you and sketch a flat monthly plan to tighten the facts. Call 610-825-4363 or write hello@getphound.com. Please keep client details out of your first message. We offer marketing guidance only, not legal advice.