Family lawyers in Seattle: AI search visibility ranking (2026)
How AI search engines rank family lawyers in seattle by visibility and citations. 6 providers measured monthly across Google AI Mode: which providers the AI names in answers, which domains it cites as sources, and how the leaders compare. Seattle family law firms handling divorce, custody, support, mediation, and complex domestic matters for local clients. Composite score: 70% visibility (% of AI answers naming the brand) + 30% citation rate (% citing the brand's domain). Full methodology →
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When AI engines like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity answer questions about family lawyers in Seattle, Dellino Family Law Group comes up most often, appearing in 62.5% of AI-generated responses across major platforms. Elise Buie Family Law and McKinley Irvin round out the top three, but Dellino holds a clear lead in how consistently AI engines recommend it to people searching for family law help in Seattle.
The rankings reflect where AI engines find their information. The most cited sources include google.com, justia.com (a legal aggregator with attorney profiles and case data), and the firms' own websites, particularly dellinolaw.com and mckinleyirvin.com. Firms with strong presences on aggregator platforms and well-structured, content-rich websites earn more citations, which directly drives how often AI engines name them in recommendations.
For buyers using this list, pay attention to third-party validation rather than just name recognition. AI engines weight firms that appear consistently across review platforms, legal directories, and independent sources. If your situation involves a specific subcategory like high-asset divorce or child custody, check whether the firm has published detailed content on that topic, since topical authority on your exact issue is a signal AI engines use when surfacing recommendations.
At a glance
What we observed in this category
Dellino Family Law Group leads this category with a visibility score of 62.5%, which is 2.7 times the category average of 22.9%. The gap between first and second place (Elise Buie Family Law at 50.0%) is meaningful, but the real cliff is between rank 3 and rank 4: McKinley Irvin holds 25.0% visibility while Goldberg Jones, Wechsler Becker, and Pacific Northwest Family Law all score 0.0%, meaning half the tracked brands have no AI presence at all in this category.
McKinley Irvin presents the clearest divergence between visibility and citation in this dataset. Its visibility sits at just 25.0%, below the category average, yet its citation rate matches Dellino's at 37.5%. This means Google AI Mode references McKinley Irvin's domain as a trusted source more often than it surfaces the brand in direct answers. Elise Buie Family Law shows the opposite pattern: 50.0% visibility but only 25.0% citation, indicating it is named frequently but not anchored as a primary source.
Google AI Mode is the dominant engine across all six tracked brands, with every brand listing it as their top engine. The cited sources list confirms the AI is anchoring heavily on directory and review platforms such as justia.com and doylesguide.com alongside firm-owned domains. Notably, dellinolaw.com and mckinleyirvin.com appear directly in the cited sources list, which aligns with their above-average citation rates. lasher.com and attorneyatlawmagazine.com also appear, despite neither being a tracked brand, suggesting third-party editorial and directory content carries significant weight.
Movers & shakers since last refresh
Biggest visibility risers
-
Elise Buie Family Law 25% → 50% · rank #3 → #2+25pp
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Dellino Family Law Group 50% → 62% · rank #1 → #1+12pp
Biggest visibility fallers
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McKinley Irvin 38% → 25% · rank #2 → #3-12pp
The ranking
| # | Brand | Visibility | Citation | Top engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
dellinolaw.com
|
62% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
Dellino leads with 62.5% visibility and 37.5% citation, both above category averages, and its domain appears directly in the AI cited sources list. |
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| 2 |
elisebuiefamilylaw.com
|
50% | 25% | Google AI Mode |
Elise Buie reached 50.0% visibility after a 25-point gain, but its citation rate of 25.0% lags its visibility, suggesting AI names it without consistently linking to its domain. |
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| 3 |
mckinleyirvin.com
|
25% | 38% | Google AI Mode |
McKinley Irvin's citation rate of 37.5% equals the category leader despite visibility of only 25.0%, a 12.5-point drop from its previous 37.5%, signalling falling narrative presence but retained source trust. |
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| 4 |
goldbergjones-wa.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Goldberg Jones scores 0.0% on both visibility and citation, placing it entirely outside Google AI Mode's current responses for Seattle family law queries. |
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| 5 |
wechslerbecker.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Wechsler Becker holds a 0.0% composite score, identical to ranks 4 and 6, with no recorded appearance across any tracked AI visibility or citation metric. |
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| 6 |
pnwfamilylaw.com
|
0% | 0% | Google AI Mode |
Sources AI engines trust in this category
Across the 8 buyer-intent queries we ran on family lawyers in seattle, these are the domains Google AI Mode cited most often. If you're not on this list — or if your competitors are — that's a concrete PR / linkbuilding target.
How to read this ranking
Four things worth knowing before you act on the numbers above. These are the same definitions across every industry page — for category-specific observations, see the What we observed section above (where available) and the per-brand insights inline in the ranking.
Visibility = being named
A brand's visibility % is the share of AI answers that mention it by name in the response prose. This is who AI engines actively recommend to the buyer. More on visibility →
Citation rate = being trusted
Citation rate is the share of AI answers that include the brand's domain as a clickable source link. This is what the AI treats as authoritative evidence, different from being named. More on citation rate →
Top engine differs by brand
The "top engine" column shows which AI surface each brand performs best on. Big gaps between a brand's score across engines usually points to specific content or schema gaps. How AI engines pick sources →
Rankings move month to month
AI engines re-crawl and re-rank on shorter cycles than classical search. We re-audit every brand on this list at least every 30 days and refresh this page automatically. How AI search ranking works →
Get your own family lawyers in seattle brand audited
The brands above were curated from public market-leader lists. Want the same measurement against your own brand — including the queries you appear on, which competitors get named instead, and a prioritised fix list? Run a free preview.
Frequently asked about family lawyers in seattle AI visibility
Who leads AI visibility among family lawyers in Seattle?
Dellino Family Law Group leads with a visibility score of 62.5% and a composite score of 55.0, both the highest in the category. Its domain also appears directly in the AI cited sources list, reinforcing its top position.
How concentrated is AI visibility in this category?
Visibility is heavily concentrated at the top: three of six tracked brands score 0.0%, and only two brands exceed the category average of 22.9%. The effective AI-visible market is limited to three firms.
Which brand shows the biggest gap between being named and being cited as a source?
Elise Buie Family Law shows the largest positive gap, with 50.0% visibility but only 25.0% citation. McKinley Irvin shows the reverse, with citation at 37.5% outpacing visibility at 25.0%.
What sources does Google AI Mode anchor on for Seattle family law research?
The cited sources list includes firm domains (dellinolaw.com, mckinleyirvin.com), legal directories (justia.com, doylesguide.com), and editorial outlets (attorneyatlawmagazine.com), alongside google.com and youtube.com. Third-party directory and editorial content carries notable weight alongside firm-owned domains.
Which brand has risen fastest in AI visibility recently?
Elise Buie Family Law recorded the largest visibility gain, rising 25 percentage points from 25.0% to 50.0% and moving from rank 3 to rank 2. Its citation rate also increased by 25 points in the same period.
Which engine drives AI visibility for family lawyers in Seattle?
Google AI Mode is listed as the top engine for all six tracked brands without exception, indicating it is the sole AI engine generating measurable visibility in this category based on current audit data.