A referral gets you checked out. What they find decides whether they call.
In Hinge Research’s 2015 survey of 523 professional services firms, 51.9% of respondents had ruled out a referred firm before speaking to it. The most common reason was that they couldn’t tell what the firm did.
Free. No call attached, and no card.
Real Free Search Checks on 12 firms, none named. Measured September 2026. Below means the firm does not appear in Google’s first 15 results for a search about its own practice, in its own market.
Measured across 115 practice-area searches on 12 firms, September 2026. One observation per query.
Easy to find by name. Harder to find by what you do.
Not one of the 12 had a problem on its own name. The gap opens on searches for what the firm does, which are the searches a referred buyer runs before they call you.
Outside the first 15 results on every search we ran for its own practice in its own market. Measured September 2026.
We measured 817 Google AI Overview queries against one website we run, outside legal. Where it ranked in the top 15, it was cited on 14 of 34. Where it ranked 16 to 100, it was cited on 0 of 346.
Three steps. The first is free, and the second is credited against the third.
The Free Search Check
Where your firm sits on searches for your practice in your market, and whether each one is inside Google’s top 15. Which of the 7 directories carry you, and whether what they say is right. Free.
The Source Fix
One new page, built for one term that is sending clients to a competitor and that you have not covered. Built within 48 hours of your go-ahead, and hosted by us. $300, credited in full against step 3.
Referred and Found
Query triage across your practice, off-site authority, and one referrer channel built and run each quarter. $6,500 a month.
The Free Search Check
You get a private web page, and you can check every line of it.
- Your own rank on every search we run for your practice in your market, marked inside or outside Google’s top 15.
- Each query marked winnable or not winnable, with the reason.
- Which of the 7 directories carry you, and what those profiles say about you.
- A calculator you drive with your own average fee and close rate.
- One fix you can make yourself this week.
No call, card or agency relationship is required.
See where your firm ranksSome gaps are not worth chasing, and we say so on the page. On one Minnesota query we measured, ranks 1 and 2 were the state Department of Labor and the Attorney General. A private firm will not outrank a state agency on a statutory question. A report that tells you to chase that is a sales document.
Referred and Found
For firms that want the gaps closed, then held.
Referred and Found
The gaps closed, then held
Single firm, one practice focus at a time
Month to month, no minimum term.
- Query triage across your practice, re-measured on a rolling window rather than one reading.
- Off-site authority work, which is where the evidence actually points.
- One upstream referrer channel built and run each quarter, with every introduction recorded.
- A compliance screen against your own state bar’s advertising rules on everything we produce.
In a 2015 survey, Hinge Research found 81.5% of professional services firms have had a referral from someone who was never a client. A channel that produces no named introductions in 2 quarters gets replaced.
The questions managing partners ask
Do your clients use ChatGPT to find a lawyer?
We do not know, and we have found no survey that asks business buyers. The ones that exist asked consumers, and they disagree with each other.
What has been measured is what happens after somebody refers you. In Hinge Research’s 2015 survey of 523 professional services firms, 51.9% of respondents had ruled out a referred firm before speaking to it.
Will we get cited?
Nobody can guarantee an AI citation, and you should not believe anyone who says otherwise.
Semrush tracked 81 pages that nobody changed. Their citations in Google AI Mode peaked at 56% on day 7 and fell to 26% by day 30. Measure on day 7 and you report one thing. Measure on day 30 and you report another. The page did not change.
What we guarantee is the work: the profiles, the page and the entity data. If the deliverables do not ship, you get a refund.
Is this written with AI?
Our work is AI-assisted, and reviewed by a person before anything reaches you or goes live.
The measurement is automated. Every rank and every directory check is machine-collected, which is what keeps it repeatable at this volume. The writing is drafted with AI assistance and edited by a person. Nothing is published without human review against your bar’s advertising rules.
We do not use prompts that invent sources. Some published optimisation prompts instruct the model to fabricate plausible-sounding citations. For a law firm that is a professional conduct problem.
We already pay for Chambers and Super Lawyers, and it does nothing.
You are rating paid badges and sponsored placement. That is a fair complaint and a different thing.
What we work on is whether the record is there and whether it is correct.
We cannot buy, correct or accelerate a directory ranking, and nobody can. Those are annual editorial decisions. Profile data is a different matter, and it is fixable.
What does it cost to find out?
Nothing. There is no fee and no call attached to the Free Search Check.
Find out where your firm actually sits.
Free. No call attached, and no card.
See where your firm ranks