How do bankruptcy firms get cited by AI?

Access comes first

Google says a page must be indexed and eligible to be shown in Search with a snippet to appear as a supporting link in AI Overviews or AI Mode, with no special optimization required beyond that. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot are not shown in ChatGPT search answers. Check your robots.txt and any security settings that block bots before writing anything new. Our answer on which AI crawlers a firm should allow covers each setting.

Federal procedure, stated exactly

Much of a bankruptcy page can be precise because the rules are federal. The U.S. Courts chapter 7 overview says an individual generally must receive credit counseling from an approved agency within 180 days before filing, a rule found in 11 U.S.C. 109(h)(1) with listed exceptions, and that the meeting of creditors is held between 21 and 40 days after the petition is filed. For chapter 13, U.S. Courts says the plan runs three years when income is below the state median unless the court approves longer, generally five years when it is above, and never more than five. Those are sentences an assistant can lift and a reader can check.

Exemptions are where state law decides

U.S. Courts notes that whether property is exempt is often a question of state law, and that some jurisdictions let debtors choose between the federal exemptions and the state's. North Carolina does not offer that choice: G.S. 1C-1601(f) says the federal exemptions in 11 U.S.C. 522(d) are not applicable to residents of the state. A page that lists the federal exemptions for a North Carolina reader hands an AI answer the wrong rule. The North Carolina guide shows how state detail runs through a firm's pages.

The disclosure that travels with your pages

Under 11 U.S.C. 528(a)(4), a debt relief agency must clearly and conspicuously use the statement "We are a debt relief agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code," or a substantially similar one, in advertisements of bankruptcy assistance. Section 528(b)(2) extends that to advertisements about foreclosures, debt collection pressure, and similar problems. In Milavetz, Gallop & Milavetz v. United States (2010), the Supreme Court held that attorneys who provide bankruptcy assistance are debt relief agencies and upheld the disclosure requirements as applied. Decide with your own ethics counsel where the statement sits on your site, and keep lines like "wipe out all your debt" out of answer blocks.

Go deeper

The bankruptcy practice guide lists the pages these firms need. For section structure, read what an answer-first practice page looks like.

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