Claude AI Now Pulls From Live Web Search – We Tested it with Legal Search Examples

A New Contender in AI Search

Anthropic isn’t a household name like OpenAI or Google—yet. But with major backing from Amazon and Google, and a founding team made up of former OpenAI researchers, the company is quickly becoming a force in artificial intelligence. Its flagship product, Claude, is a conversational AI chatbot designed to be helpful, honest, and harmless. Until recently, it operated entirely on pre-existing training data, meaning it couldn’t access anything beyond what it had been taught.

That just changed.

Claude can now browse the internet in real time. The feature, available to Claude Pro users, allows the AI to pull current information from live web pages and use it to answer user questions. And unlike some AI tools that paraphrase sources without attribution, Claude includes clickable citations—something that matters a lot if you’re a law firm trying to show up in more places online.

This is a different kind of visibility than what firms are used to. When Claude uses your content in a response, it doesn’t just mention your firm—it links directly to your site. That’s a big deal. It means law firms now have to think about how their content performs inside various AI chatbot responses, not just on a Google results page.

What Claude’s Web Results Look Like

Claude’s new search feature does more than just pull in fresh data. It presents that data in a way that creates real opportunities for websites to be discovered. When you ask Claude a question, it provides a conversational answer, sometimes asking follow-up questions, and includes citations with links to the pages it used. That means a user doesn’t have to take Claude’s word for it—they can click through to read the source directly.

To test out Claude’s new search feature we tried broad and specific legal topic searches:

“Best personal injury lawyers in Lexington, Kentucky”
Claude responds with a brief summary and several linked sources—including Avvo, Justia and law firm websites. The chatbot ran a search that included “top rated 2025” at the end of the query to ensure that the results are up-to-date. The links appear clearly at the end of the response, making it easy for a user to click through and explore.

“Recommend a good criminal defense law firm in McKinney, TX in 2025”
Claude responds letting us know that it’s knowledge does not include 2025 information and needs to search the internet to get better results, then asks if we want Claude to run the search for us. Rosenthal, Kalabus & Therrian comes up first, with its recognition as “McKinney’s Best Law Firm/Attorney” along with other credible recognitions. This result is then followed by a link to the law firm’s homepage.

“Which San Diego law firms have a good track record for dog bite lawsuits?”
Using past victories and settlements is a common tactic for legal marketing, especially on law firm websites. It is a helpful tool that gives people confidence that your law firm is experienced in winning cases and can back it up with real numbers. Claude reworded our prompt to search for “top san diego injury law firms for dog bite cases” which brought up a list of law firms with different accomplishments such as compensation numbers, prestigious recognitions, and how many years the law firm has been in business.

“Is a DUI blood test after two hours legal in Milwaukee?”
This search is less about the law firm and more about the legal issue, localized to Milwaukee, that a person may be facing and wanting to research. Claude responds with an in-depth answer, citing Hart Powell, S.C. six times in a single answer. This response highlights how specific content on legal websites that answer questions directly can significantly increase the chances of your website being cited in search tools outside of Google. Clicking on the cited link opens a blog post about this specific topic, showing how AI chat bots tend to link to deep-content, which we wrote about in a recent blog post.

In each of these cases, Claude could pull content directly from law firm blogs, practice area pages, or attorney directory profiles—if the information is current, relevant, and easy to understand. Better yet, if your content is used, it doesn’t just inform—it can generate a visit to your website that could then convert to a client.

This is where Claude stands apart. Instead of serving a dead-end answer, it acts more like a tour guide—pointing users toward the original sources. And if your firm’s content is one of them, that’s a direct line from search to site visit.

What This Means for Law Firm Content Strategy

Claude’s real-time search puts fresh pressure on law firm websites to do more than just rank on Google. Now your content has another job: being good enough to get quoted and cited by an AI.

Claude isn’t pulling from everything on the internet. It favors well-structured, readable pages that answer specific questions clearly. That means FAQ sections that directly address common client concerns, blog posts that explain timely legal topics, and practice area pages that clearly outline your services and who you help are now more valuable than ever.

It also appears to prioritize recency. Unlike ChatGPT’s free version, which cuts off at 2023, Claude is actively searching the web at the time of the query. So if your last blog update was two years ago, you’re probably not making the cut.

This creates a clear opportunity: Firms that maintain timely, relevant content have a shot at showing up in AI responses—responses that don’t just summarize legal issues but link readers straight to your site.

If you want to be cited, your content has to check a few boxes:

1. It answers the exact question being asked

2. It uses plain, understandable language (no legalese overload)

3. It loads fast and is accessible to Claude’s crawler

4. It’s recent enough to be considered current

You’re no longer just writing for Google users. You’re writing for a reader who might first meet your firm through a chatbot—and click through based on what it quotes from your site.

Search Is Changing Fast—And TSEG Keeps You Ahead

The way people search for legal help is expanding beyond Google, and Claude is proof. This isn’t a hypothetical trend—it’s already happening. AI tools like Claude are being used by researchers, journalists, business owners, and consumers to ask questions that used to be typed into a search engine. If someone asks Claude about wrongful termination laws in their state or how to file a car accident claim, there’s now a chance that your website is what the AI will show—and link to.

At TSEG, we’re building content with this exact future in mind. We write and structure content so it’s discoverable by AI systems like Claude. That means faster answers for users, more chances to be cited, and better visibility where it counts. Our team knows what AI is looking for and how to position your firm to meet it.

Search behavior is changing. Your strategy should be, too. Let’s make sure your firm doesn’t just show up—but gets chosen. Contact us today.