Conduct this diagnostic to see if AI recommends your firm

Recently, I opened Anthropic's AI assistant Claude and typed in: "Recommend a financial advisor for someone with $5 million or more in investable assets in St. Louis." 

The chatbot offered up four advisory practices — none of which had broad name recognition,  active ads or enormous social followings. What they had in common was a feature the vast majority of firms currently lack: They were visible to AI. 

Increasingly, Americans looking for a financial advisor don't type straightforward queries into Google. Instead, they're opening ChatGPT, Claude and other large language model chatbots and having conversations loaded with context.

Increasingly, Americans looking for a financial advisor don't type straightforward queries into Google. Instead, they're opening ChatGPT, Claude and other large language model chatbots and having conversations loaded with context. They may ask questions like:

• What should I look for in a financial advisor if I have $5 million in assets?
• I have concentrated stock from a recent IPO. What questions should I ask when interviewing an advisor?
• Compare fee-only RIAs versus multifamily offices for my situation.
  

AI chatbots answer such questions directly — not with a list of links or a blog posted a few years ago, but with specific advisor recommendations. Your firm's name could appear on a short list, perhaps even in the form of a comparison table. Those advisors seen and named by AI have won the research phase of the client recruiting race before they ever speak to that prospect.

But for that to happen, you need to be on AI's radar. If you're not, you probably don't even know it, and that's the problem. Searching for solutions to this dilemma, I found three characteristics that advisory practices recommended by chatbots consistently share.

READ MORE: 5 strategies for advisors to beat the web search 'visibility crisis'

1. Recent, credible proof of expertise

A great-looking advisor website alone won't do it. AI searches for evidence of expertise on the sites it pulls from, including press mentions, podcast appearances and published articles in reputable outlets.

Keep in mind that AI has a recency bias. The blog post you published three years ago is good, but last month's podcast where you offered in-depth insights about tax planning for executives is even better. Recency signals active, current expertise.

2. Social proof from actual clients

AI tools are programmed to give the searcher the best possible answer, so they look to find recommendations from real humans who have also used that product or service. That means Google reviews and testimonials on your website and third-party directory listings with verified feedback are weighed heavily. 

Think of it this way — AI cares more about what others say about you than what you say about yourself. The significance of client reviews cannot be overstated. Before the SEC's updated marketing rule went into effect, it didn't matter so much. Now that about 10% of firms use client testimonials, according to Andrew Johnson writing in Nerd's Eye View, the game has completely changed. 

READ MORE: AI for advisor marketing — without alienating clients

3. A focused, AI-compatible digital presence

That means a digital presence that clearly states the kind of clients you help, with content formatted in a way AI can find. 

This trips up a lot of advisors with polished, but vague, websites. "We help clients achieve their financial goals" tells AI nothing. On the other hand, "We specialize in tax-efficient wealth strategies for tech executives with equity compensation in the San Francisco Bay Area" gives AI something it can match to a specific prospect's query — and specificity gets you recommended. 

How you put this information on your site matters. FAQs, summaries at the top of your pages, using questions as the title and headers of your content and adding schema markup — formatting strategies that make it easy for AI to find you — all make it easier to recommend you to the specific types of clients you help. 

Conduct this AI diagnostic

Before adjusting your online presence, run this test first. The results will tell you exactly where to focus next.

Open ChatGPT or Claude and paste in a prompt like this one: "I am a [describe your ideal client – e.g., physician with $2 million in investable assets] in [your city and state]. I am looking for a financial advisor who specializes in [your niche — e.g., retirement planning for medical professionals]. Who would you recommend and why?"

Pay attention to what happens next:

• If a competitor shows up and you don't, follow up by asking the AI why it recommended them. The explanation will often point directly at what's missing from your own presence.
• If no specific businesses are recommended (rare, but it happens), ask the AI what it would need to see from a firm in your category before it could confidently make a recommendation.
• If your firm does show up but the accompanying description doesn't match how you'd describe your practice, outdated or vague content is shaping prospects' first impression before you even get the chance to.

AI visibility works the way great organic marketing always has. It builds slowly through consistent credibility signals accumulated over time. The firms showing up in AI recommendations today often started building those signals a year or more ago. The advisors who start now will be the ones showing up when best prospects open a chat window instead of a search bar.