Practice Development for Expert Witnesses
Beryl Vaughan, Consultant

go@forensicexpertpro.com

(415) 302-9589

Does Google Impact Your Practice?

By Beryl Vaughan

There are more than 5 trillion Google searches globally every year.1

26.9% are in the U.S.2

Don’t underestimate how many attorneys are using Google as a tool to research and locate services.

 

Google search
Find what attorneys find.

The results will guide you to a more prominent position on Google.

Google yourself.

  • Type in your area of expertise with different combinations, e.g. terms like “[your area of expertise] expert witness” or “Med-legal [your area of expertise.]”
  • Now do the same, but add your name.

Take note of the results.

Google is telling you how to expand. Take what is working for you or anyone and build on it with informative and interesting content.

That’s how you break Google’s control of the public face of your practice.

90% of searches worldwide are on Google. The remaining 10% is divided among Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo (Firefox), Yandex (Russia,) and Baidu (Asia).
—Stat-Counter

The Attorney’s Google-Fueled Journey

It’s hard to find the right medical specialist for a case where the medical issues are not self-evident or symptoms are confusing–because the searcher is an attorney, and not a doctor.

Google’s Commitment of Resources to Generative Results

In Spring 2025, Google announced it will direct significant resources to its Generative AI to maximize what is now a 60% share of all Google results. That means massive computing power, based on exponentially growing data points, and the hardware / server farms to support it.

Reference Librarian, Not a Data Dump

The goal of Generative Results is to answer user queries. This has been Google’s guiding principle since it formed in 1998.

“Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”3

Competing

The odds are that of the thousands of doctors who serve as expert witnesses in their field, very few will get into that coveted and minute AI space.

  • They have to have a website
  • It has to clearly state useful answers to the type of questions attorneys ask.

Further, Generative AI is query-based. In other words, it displays answers to questions, even if no question has been asked!

The searcher who is looking for a person, not an answer, will move past the AI answers.

For example, a search for “depression expert witness” might produce Google’s answer to “what is a depression expert witness?” Two things can happen:

1. Your site content answers “what is a depression expert witness,” or the more nuanced variation “what is depression” and “how I serve as an expert witness about depression;” and

2.  Google skips the AI–since there isn’t a great answer to the flat non-query search. It goes straight to the olden days of SERP–top down listing of websites. One of which can be yours.

The Best Method to Get Real Estate in an AI Universe

Use your website to pose and answer questions. The more you frame your content in this way, the more likely you are to acquire query-based attention on Google.

Smart answers associated with smart people are the ideal mix to find an expert witness.

Google’s own overlords have determined it will be the deliverer of information from authorities.

But AI is not yet intelligent enough to determine what constitutes an authority. Questions for a medical expert witness was answered by lawyers. Lots and lots of lawyers.

Google filters the internet for answers but doesn’t always “know” when the answer is right or, more importantly, coming from someone qualified to give the answer.

In that sense it is a bouncer more than an overlord.

ATP: Answer The Public, Replaces SEO

How Not to Get 86’d

Write about what you know, in a manner authoritative, readable, and scientifically sound. Explain why you are a credible source. Defend your statements with reliable sources. Use footnotes. Cite sources with links to other authoritative sources.

Answer both unspoken and oft-spoken questions.

Nouns vs. Questions

“Expert witness about PTSD” is a search a lawyer might use instead of “can you get PTSD after a car accident?”

To rank with Google where a query is not the format, position your content so demonstrate you are the smartest noun in the room. The “Expert Witness About X.”

When the search emphasizes an unusual specialization, Google results revert again to a list of websites without a Generative AI response, and the SEO we all know and love becomes important.

To determine what will be that “quality content,” begin by addressing the person who is searching and their assumptions.

Bear in Mind Who’s Looking

  1. An attorney in solo practice.
  2. In a larger firm, these may be a junior/associate attorney (not the lead trial attorney or name partner.)
  3. Non-attorney staff like a paralegal, legal assistant or summer intern.

All of these are laypeople.

That’s why you can’t be 100% sure they will use a ‘nounish’ search or a query search.

They may not be familiar with the distinctions among specialists or what is relevant to the case.

Do they need a fact witness or damages expert?

Who is qualified? E.g. Surgical nurse or orthopedic surgeon? Psychiatrist or Psychologist? Physiatrist or Physical Therapist?

Do not assume your Google seeker knows precisely what you do or how you title yourself.

From there, dive into your topic and answer as many questions as you can think of. Clarify, don’t patronize.

The paralegal or attorney who gets the information they need increases the likelihood Google’s Generative AI will too.

Anticipate a Searcher Who Uses the Wrong Terms

Quite often the attorney or staff person makes a diagnosis or a guess when they phrase a search. “Car accident PTSD;” “Depression caused by a divorce;” “bone cancer orthopedist malpractice.”

Let’s take a closer look at the “guessed diagnosis” scenario because that is where you start, with the searcher’s assumptions, not yours.

Examples

“Proving emotional distress after surgery” In a medical malpractice case, surgeons testify about standard of care and/or causation.

A psychiatrist or psychologist can testify about whether a distressing mental health diagnosis exists and if it is linked to the alleged surgical malpractice.

How will Google parse this the search for such experts?

“Can you get bone cancer from eating junk food?” See how the question suggests it is a “civilian” (i.e. not an attorney) who is doing the searching? It’s also so specialized that Google’s Generative AI

The question might be best evaluated by an oncologist and medical researcher. If co-occurring diseases muddy the waters, another specialist might be added to the mix. Google’s AI is unequal to this degree of subtlety.

 

Google search results

The smartest person in the room is a machine.

Browser search results can skew what an attorney thinks is relevant. Google has failed the searcher through no fault of its own. Forgive me for anthropomorphizing Google but it does seem to have its own intelligence, (albeit Artificial.)

Ultimately, Google plays favorites, and sends the wallflowers out of the room.

We have to crack the code or there is no marketing strategy for you online.

What’s an algorithm?

An algorithm is a sequence of instructions that create a logic-structure. It is a shortcut to filter billions of bits of information.

The goal is to determine what the searcher “really” wants to know and where the “true” answers lie.

Your practice must play well with the Algorithm or, like the wallflower, end up on page 102.

Results follow a pattern.

What drives search results?

At the top of page 1 is paid advertising, identified as “Sponsored” purchased through Google Adwords. Generative AI responses follow with links to sources.

  • Soon, scholarly articles and information follow as Google, appropriately, gives greater credence to serious information over what it has defined as “fluff.” 4
  • Exception: Listings in expert directories may appear early because they have a large budget for SEO which they apply to aggressive strategies. (See companion article 2026 Guide to Directories and Referral Services).
  • At some point, you will see sites of experts, but their experience may or may not be on point.
  • The attorney now picks up the phone to call that Nurse Practitioner who claims expertise in summarizing neurologist records because s/he popped up early in the “real people” results.Is the person the right choice?Perhaps. If not, the attorney is not informed about what they should be seeking. This is your job.Google results reflect quality answers to common questions. The question is deduced from the search term and intent derived from data and user behavior.Google’s generative AI results may pick up on your knowledgeable response. (Assuming you have a website where the answers are described.)

Education Is a Marketing Strategy. Summary.

  • Google results are often the last stop–or only stop–for an attorney before calling you.
  • Attorneys must understand you’re speaking directly to them.
  • Medical damages or factors are now clearer to the attorney.
  • Google has provided them with an option (your site) where none existed.

 

1. Google Q1 2025 Earnings Report. https://abc.xyz/2025-q1-earnings-call/

2. Google does not release data about U.S.  Google searches. Companies that track such data are Statista and SemRush. Statista states it is considered “the most reliable source of data by more than 2,000 universities” including Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Cambridge.”  They likely deconstruct Google’s larger reporting, and adjust based on geographic reporting.

“Google Statistics and Facts” Statista, Bianchi, May 5, 2025. https://www.statista.com/topics/1001/google/

26.94% of  U.S. Google searches, “Regional distribution of desktop traffic to Google.com as of March 2024, by country,” Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/276737/distribution-of-visitors-to-googlecom-by-co

https://www.digitalsilk.com/digital-trends/top-google-statistics/ Dec. 2024

3. Google’s Mission Statement.https://www.google.com/intl/en_us/search/howsearchworks/our-approach/

Common query: “Can a person get PTSD from a car accident?” “Yes ” is the winner from the top results: 16 law firms and NIH research and treaters. An answer from an expert witness does not seem to appear high. I gave up after reviewing Google for 9 pages of mostly law firms.