AEO by industry · Professional services
Get recommended when clients ask AI.
When people ask AI for a lawyer, accountant, or advisor, it checks your license before it recommends you. Here is the plain-English playbook for licensed professionals, plus a guide for each field.
When someone asks AI for a lawyer, accountant, or financial advisor, the engine looks for something products never need: proof you are licensed. It pulls from bar records, CPA boards, and FINRA before it recommends anyone. Our research shows most of what AI quotes comes from sites other than your own: industry directories, licensing boards, and review platforms. This is the shared playbook for licensed professionals, plus a guide for each field. It is part of answer engine optimization.
01
Common ground
Four things that are true for every profession.
No matter your field, these four things decide whether AI recommends you. Get them right first. The field-specific guides further down the page build on them.
Trust is built on credentials
For a lawyer, accountant, or advisor, AI checks the license: bar admission, CPA status, FINRA registration. It pulls from licensing boards and directories to confirm you are who you say.
Rules limit what you can claim
You cannot promise outcomes or call yourself the best. But you can publish educational content, and since most competitors do not bother, that is exactly where you stand out.
People search by specialty, not just place
'Tax attorney for small business' beats 'law firm near me'. AI looks for the location, the specialty, the credential, and the reviews all at once. A generic page answers only one.
Each expert is judged on their own
AI matches a question to an individual, not just a firm. Six attorneys should have six pages, each focused on what that person actually does.
Key takeaway
Verifiable credentials, specialty-specific pages, and plain educational content matter for every licensed profession. The directories and rules change by field; these do not.
02
Where AI looks
How each engine recommends a professional.
AI search engines do not keep their own list of providers. They search the web, then build a recommendation from what they find, and each one reads a different set of sites. Being strong on Google alone does not cover you.
| Engine | Where it looks | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini | Google Search + Business Profile | Good for 'near me' queries. Rank on Google and you show up here. |
| ChatGPT | Mostly Bing, plus directories | Often checks Avvo, FINRA, and CPA boards when naming a provider. |
| Perplexity | Its own search, likes fresh pages | Leans on authoritative directories and recent educational content. |
| Grok | Reddit and X | Quotes 'who do you recommend' threads in local and industry subreddits. |
| Claude | Brave Search | The toughest one. Wants verifiable credentials and claim-free, educational pages. |
In our lawyer recommendation experiment, AI did not just list the firms with the most reviews. It looked for proof from several places at once: directory presence, verified credentials, specialization pages, and reviews across several sites.
03
Playbook
The moves that work everywhere.
These moves work for any licensed professional, and most competitors are not doing them, even though they already have the basics in place.
Build a complete credentials page
List every license number, certification, and membership as clean, scannable data, and say your record is clean if it is. AI checks it against the licensing board.
Publish a page per specialization
'Estate planning for blended families', not 'Practice Areas'. Explain what it involves, who needs it, and what it costs.
Be open about fees
Publish ranges, flat-fee options, and what drives cost. 'How much does a CPA charge' is a question most competitors refuse to answer.
Claim your industry directories
Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, FINRA BrokerCheck, the AICPA directory: the three to five that matter for your field, fully completed. These outrank a Google Business Profile for AI.
Spread reviews across platforms
Google, your main industry directory, and one more. Reviews in several places are more convincing than a pile on one.
Answer client questions in plain words
'What happens if I die without a will in Texas' beats 'Intestacy Laws'. Use the words clients use, not the jargon.
Key takeaway
A Google Business Profile helps with Gemini and little else. The other four engines want your industry directories claimed, credentials that match the public record, and plain educational content.
04
Your business
Find the guide for your field.
The playbook above works for every licensed professional. The directories, credentials, and client questions do not. Each guide below covers the sites that matter, the credential AI checks, and the content that gets you named in your field.
Law firms
Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, Super Lawyers, and state bar records, with jurisdiction-specific legal education getting named in AI answers.
Accounting firms
State CPA board, IRS PTIN, and the AICPA directory, with tax-season timing and industry tax guides.
Financial advisors
FINRA BrokerCheck, SEC IAPD, and the CFP Board, with fiduciary status and fee content as the key signals.
Insurance
AM Best, NAIC, and state license records, with state-specific coverage and quote-comparison content.
Recruiting agencies
Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Indeed, with industry specialization and salary guides as the highest-impact content.
Real estate
Zillow, Realtor.com, and Google, with the state license and neighborhood market guides getting named in AI answers.
Questions
Frequently asked questions.
Part of the AEO by Industry guide. See also how each AI engine recommends differently and the full AEO guide.