Author: Blue Seven Content

California just rolled out its biggest attorney advertising overhaul in decades with Senate Bill 37 (SB 37), signed in October 2025 and effective January 1, 2026. And this is not a small tweak to some fine print. It’s a structural shift in how legal marketing is regulated in California.

FYI – California is often a bellwether state for regulations in this country, so pay attention!

These rules apply to websites, landing pages, social media, intake funnels, and third-party lead generation. If your firm markets in California in any way, you’re in scope.

At Blue Seven Content, we track this stuff obsessively because we have to. We work with firms and agencies that operate in California every day. Our writers know. Our editors know. We stay current so you don’t have to babysit the State Bar website at midnight.

Let’s break down what changed and what it looks like in the real world. FULL DISCLOSURE: Some of the images we used here were made with AI. 

1. Mandatory Disclosures: No More Anonymous Ads

The most immediate change from SB 37 is transparency. The law forces every legal advertisement to clearly identify who is responsible and where they actually exist in the physical world.

Two key requirements:

• You must identify at least one California-licensed attorney, law firm, or certified referral service responsible for the ad.
• You must disclose a real office location or the attorney’s State Bar address of record.

This is aimed squarely at anonymous funnels and “virtual office” marketing operations.

Real-world example

Non-compliant version:

“Injured in California? Get help now. Free consultation. Call today.”

No attorney name. No firm name. No location. Just a phone number and a lead funnel.

Compliant version:

“Advertisement by Smith & Rivera LLP. Responsible Attorney: Maria Rivera, CA Bar #123456. Office: Los Angeles, CA.”

The difference is not cosmetic. It’s structural. The ad must tie back to a real, licensed human being and a real location.

What this means for your website

Your landing pages can’t float in a legal gray zone anymore. Even single-campaign pages need proper attribution. Footer disclosures are no longer optional polish. They’re compliance requirements.

2. Prohibited Content: The Death of Hype Marketing

SB 37 goes directly after the flashiest parts of legal advertising. The updated code bans several tactics that were common in aggressive personal injury and mass tort marketing.

Guarantees and promises

You cannot guarantee outcomes. Not subtly. Not creatively. Not with clever phrasing.

Non-compliant:

“We guarantee maximum compensation.”

Compliant alternative:

“We fight to pursue full and fair compensation under California law.”

The difference is intent. One promises a result. The other describes an effort.

“Fast cash” language

The law explicitly bans messaging around quick money.

Non-compliant:

“Cash in days. Settlement in 2 weeks.”

Compliant alternative:

“Every case timeline is different. We’ll guide you through the legal process step by step.”

Yes, it’s less flashy. That’s the point.

Misleading awards

If an award exists only because someone paid a membership fee, you can’t present it as an achievement.

Non-compliant:

“Top 10 Lawyers in America” badge purchased from a pay-to-play directory.

Compliant:

Awards based on real, objective criteria with transparent methodology. And even then, they should be presented carefully and truthfully.

Actor impersonations

Using actors as fake clients or lawyers without disclosure is prohibited.

Non-compliant:

A smiling “client” testimonial that is actually a stock actor with no disclaimer.

Compliant:

“Dramatization. Actor portrayal.”

Small line. Big legal difference.

3. The Expanded Definition of “Advertisement”

This is where a lot of firms get surprised.

The law now treats almost any communication intended to attract legal business as advertising. That includes things that used to feel informal or organic.

• Landing pages
• Intake forms
• Thank-you screens
• Social media posts
• Video storytelling (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.)
• Educational reels with a call to action

If the purpose is to get hired, it’s advertising. It’s safer for California law firms to assume just about every piece of material they put out falls under SB 37.

Real-world example

A TikTok video where an attorney tells a dramatic accident story and ends with:

“If this happened to you, call us today.”

That is advertising. It must meet disclosure rules just like a billboard or TV ad.

Even a “thank you for submitting your form” page can fall under scrutiny if it contains promotional language. The takeaway is simple: your entire funnel is now regulated space.

4. New Enforcement Power: This Is Not Just a Slap on the Wrist

Historically, attorney advertising issues lived inside State Bar discipline. SB 37 raises the stakes.

72-hour takedown rule

If the State Bar flags a violation, you have 72 hours to pull the ad.

That clock starts ticking fast, and we hope you have control over your website or ads, or know who does. Hopefully, you can get a hold of them. 

Civil lawsuits

If the ad stays up or gets republished, consumers and competitors can sue.

This is the part firms underestimate. Your marketing is no longer just a compliance issue. It’s litigation exposure.

Statutory damages

Penalties range from $5,000 to $100,000 per violation, plus attorney’s fees.

Not per campaign. Per violation.

A single non-compliant landing page replicated across multiple ads can multiply risk quickly.

Real-world scenario

A lead-gen page promises “fast settlement cash,” stays live after notice, and continues collecting leads.

That page is now a financial liability, not just a marketing asset.

5. Third-Party Lead Generation: You Own Their Mistakes

This is one of the biggest shifts in responsibility, and why Blue Seven Content takes this law change seriously. We’re a vendor. We know our role. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t take your practice and livelihood seriously. We do.

If your marketing vendor violates SB 37, your firm is on the hook. Legally, it’s treated as if you wrote the ad yourself.

That includes:

• Lead generation companies
• Law firm SEO agencies
• Paid ad vendors
• Funnel builders
• Social media contractors

Real-world example

A lead vendor runs a non-compliant California injury funnel using banned “quick cash” language. They send you the cases.

Under SB 37, the State Bar doesn’t care that a vendor wrote it. Your name is attached to the legal work. Liability follows the lawyer.

Vendor oversight is now part of compliance.

The Part Nobody Says Out Loud: Lawyer-to-Lawyer Enforcement

There’s a reality in legal marketing that most attorneys understand but rarely say publicly.

A large portion of advertising enforcement doesn’t start with regulators hunting the internet. It starts with other lawyers.

Competitors watch each other. Firms report ads they think cross the line. Sometimes it’s about consumer protection. Sometimes it’s about leveling the playing field. Sometimes it’s just frustration with aggressive marketing that feels unfair.

SB 37 quietly raises the stakes on that dynamic.

When violations carry statutory damages and civil exposure, the incentive to report non-compliant ads increases. A questionable landing page is no longer just annoying to competitors. It can be framed as a legal advantage.

Real-world scenario

Firm A sees Firm B running ads that promise “cash in days.” Under the new rules, that language is explicitly banned.

Firm A doesn’t have to outspend Firm B. They can report the ad.

Now Firm B is facing a takedown clock, possible litigation, and reputational risk, all triggered by a competitor who was paying attention.

This isn’t paranoia. It’s the ecosystem adjusting to stricter rules.

The practical takeaway is simple: compliance isn’t just about avoiding State Bar scrutiny. It’s about avoiding becoming an easy target in a competitive market where everyone is watching everyone else.

The Bottom Line

SB 37 is not anti-marketing, but it does force us to pay close attention to the rules.

California is pushing the industry toward transparent, accountable, reality-based advertising. The firms that adapt early will be fine. The firms that cling to hype funnels and anonymous landing pages are taking on legal risk they probably don’t realize exists yet.

If your marketing touches California at all, now is the time to audit your disclosures, messaging, and vendor relationships. The era of “we’ll fix it later” advertising is over.

If you felt a disturbance in the SEO force recently, you were not imagining it. Adobe, the software giant behind everything from PDFs to giant Photoshop files, announced its intention to acquire Semrush in a 1.9 billion dollar all-cash deal, according to Adobe’s newsroom. Marketers everywhere collectively paused mid-keyword research and said, “Wait, Adobe is buying Semrush? Is that even legal?”

Well, yes. Regulators still have to approve it, but, probably. But it is also a sign of something bigger. A shift in how brands are discovered, how marketers measure success, and how search itself is evolving because of AI.

This article breaks down what is actually happening, why Adobe wants Semrush, how it affects Adobe’s expanding empire (Adobe, I mean, Adobe?!), and what it means for you and the future of digital marketing.

What We Know So Far

On November 19th, Adobe announced its plan to acquire Semrush for roughly 12 dollars per share according to The Verge. That represents about a 77 percent premium over Semrush’s November 18th closing price. Semrush’s stock immediately rocketed because that is what happens when a software giant shows up with a suitcase full of cash.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approvals and a shareholder vote. Semrush’s founders and key shareholders, representing over 75 percent of voting power, already agreed to support the deal according to Reuters. That makes the vote largely a formality.

If approved, Semrush will join Adobe’s Digital Experience segment and become part of Adobe Experience Cloud.

This is not a random acquisition. It is a strategic move.

Why Did Adobe Buy Semrush?

The short answer is visibility, data, and the future of search.

The longer answer is that Adobe wants to own the full customer journey. It’s not surprising to see more big companies work hard to get people and businesses into their exclusive networks. That’s where the money is. 

In 2025, that journey often doesn’t begin on a homepage or even a Google search. It begins with AI. People are asking questions through AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Alexa. They rely on agentic systems to make decisions for them. Agentic AI is in it’s infancy, and as that grows, legal marketing will shift into another phase of online credibility.

Adobe has been positioning itself as a customer experience powerhouse, but it did not have a dedicated search visibility intelligence platform. Especially one tuned for how AI affects discovery.

Semrush gives Adobe competitive search intelligence, backlink and authority data, keyword research capabilities, SERP insights, and developing tools for generative engine optimization. Adobe explains this vision directly in its announcement. Adobe specifically wants Semrush to help brands understand how they appear across search engines and AI-generated surfaces.

Which brings us to the next part.

An Adaptation to AI and Agentic Search

Adobe cited that traffic from generative AI surfaces to retail websites has increased more than 1200 percent year over year according to the Adobe press release. Consumers are no longer typing long-tail queries. They are asking AI assistants for recommendations.

Instead of “best running shoes for flat feet,” people are saying:

“Pick a shoe I can run a 5K in this weekend. Make sure it does not destroy my arches. Also, size 11.”

This is agentic AI. Search is becoming automated decision assistance. Search is becoming part of your everyday discussions. Your AI assistant is here, you just have to learn to use it gradually over time. 

The GEO debate

Now let us address GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization. The term is controversial, especially if you peruse the writing and SEO communities on LinkedIn. Some marketers argue that GEO is a distinct discipline. Others say calling GEO new is like calling a hot dog a taco. You can try, but you are going to upset people.

Here is the real answer. AI-generated answers are becoming part of the discovery funnel. Whether it is a brand recommendation, a product summary, or your competitor being name-dropped by an LLM, AI placements matter.

Semrush has been building tools to measure that. Adobe wants it. And this acquisition means:

• GEO and SEO intelligence in one place (I still argue they’re very similar)
• Adobe reporting backed by Semrush visibility data
• Unified tracking across search engines and AI answer surfaces

The future of visibility is not just SERPs. It is SERPs, feeds, AI assistants, and background recommendation systems. It’s your social media presence and your video presence. SEO is everything is what we used to say, and we mean it. On and offline marketing efforts are all SEO in their own way.

What This Means for Digital Marketers

SEO, content marketing, PPC, and social teams are all feeling pressure to adapt to AI-driven discovery. Adobe buying Semrush reshapes how visibility is measured and how people think about search. I wouldn’t even be surprised if we see some more acquisitions coming in the SEO space, but we’ll see.

This is what it means for your day-to-day work.

1. SEO and GEO will start to merge, whether I like the term or not

Teams will not maintain two separate mindsets forever. It is far more likely that:

• SEO becomes structured optimization for search engines
  
• GEO becomes optimization for AI answer models
  

Together, they will form a broader idea of visibility optimization. I hope we just call it something like “Intent Optimization” to blend the two. Adobe buying Semrush is the first major step toward that unified visibility stack.

2. New KPIs are coming for your screens

Get ready for metrics like:

• Share of AI answers
• LLM recommendation visibility
• Assistant-driven conversion paths
• Multi-surface visibility scores
• “Where does my brand appear when someone talks to ChatGPT? CoPilot?”

Adobe already owns analytics, personalization, audience data, creative tools, and journey orchestration. Adding Semrush lets them extend measurement to AI-generated surfaces, too.

3. Pricing, bundles, and lock-in are coming

This acquisition will absolutely bring:

• New Adobe bundles
• Higher pricing tiers (we’ll have some holdovers for a bit)
• Pressure for enterprise teams to standardize on Adobe
• More long-term vendor lock-in

Semrush will likely remain available as a standalone tool at first. But Adobe did not spend nearly 2 billion dollars just to leave it alone. Expect deeper integration over the next two to three years.

4. Independent SEO tools will respond

Ahrefs (my current one to watch), Moz, Sistrix, Similarweb, and others will watch closely. Expect them to double down on:

• Transparency
• Technical depth
• Independence from enterprise ecosystems
• Flexible pricing (and hopefully more AI insight access at lower tiers)
• More emphasis on raw data access

This is not the end of independent SEO tools, but it is the beginning of a more divided market. In fact, I personally think Ahrefs has some room to run here. 

What Agencies Should Be Thinking About Right Now

1. Prepare clients for reporting changes

Reports focusing only on rankings and backlinks are going to feel outdated fast. Start introducing GEO concepts now so clients are ready.

2. Evaluate which clients are already in Adobe ecosystems

If a client uses Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Marketo, or Experience Manager, adopting Semrush as their visibility engine becomes very likely.

3. Start building AI-conscious content frameworks

This is where Blue Seven shines. We write the hell out of some legal pages. Our legal SEO writers are some of the best in the business. They can write content that focuses on clarity, usefulness, and structure.

Content briefs will need:

• Direct answers
• Clear brand authority signals
• Structured formatting
• Data-backed claims
• Schema where relevant
• Language that AI models recognize as authoritative (which, right now, lends itself to be tricked by “best” language)

However, it’s pretty evident that LLMs tend to cite brands that communicate value clearly, consistently, and confidently.

What In-House Marketing Leaders Should Expect

Leadership may become very interested in AI visibility. In fact, if you’re a law firm marketing director or a FCMO for law firms, you already spend a lot of time talking about this with leadership. Reporting will expand. Tool budgets may shift toward integrated stacks. KPIs will change. CMOs will ask questions like:

“Where do we appear in ChatGPT?”

“How does AI discovery affect our pipeline?”

This is an opportunity to reset how your organization models visibility and measures success.

So Is This Good or Bad for Marketers

Like most big acquisitions, the answer is yes. It is both. It depends. Yeah, something along those lines. 

Good

• Unified data
• Better visibility tracking
• Stronger AI search intelligence
• Cross-channel measurement
• Less tool chaos for enterprise teams

Bad

• Prices will rise, if not right away, over time
• Vendor lock-in will increase
• Semrush may lose some scrappy independence
• Smaller competitors may be squeezed (unless they merge)
• Marketers must adapt to AI-driven search faster than expected

Adobe is signaling that the future of brand visibility will live at the intersection of SEO, GEO, content, analytics, and AI assistants. Oh, something we’ve been talking about with out idea of an SEO Ecosystem.

Final Take – A New Era of Brand Visibility

Adobe did not buy Semrush for old-school SEO. The company bought it because the idea of search is shifting, as most of you reading this already know. Everything about how brands get discovered and remembered is changing.

For brands, visibility is no longer limited to page one. It includes:

• AI citations
• Assistant recommendations
• Conversational visibility
• AI-driven shopping and decision flows (where applicable)

For marketers, it means speaking both SEO and GEO fluently, whether we love the term GEO or not. If we hate it, be ready to explain why you don’t like the term in a calm manner. GEO is what people are hearing, and when they come to you for advice, they don’t want to be treated like idiots. 

If you want help navigating the shift or building content that performs in an AI-first world, Blue Seven has your back.

OpenAI has instituted some new rules for ChatGPT regarding legal and medical advice. On October 29, 2025, it was announced that the world’s most well-known LLM will no longer offer tailored legal, medical, or financial advice. 

If you’re anything like us and have been around search for a while, you probably thought, “Yeah, YMYL,” harkening back to Google’s treatment of topics dealing with a person’s money or life (Your Money, Your Life). We’ll walk through what changed, what searchers will notice, how this shapes law-firm operations, and how all of it connects to the ongoing YMYL (Your Money Your Life) standards that guide Google’s understanding of trustworthy content.

What the OpenAI Policy Changes Are and What They Actually Mean

OpenAI reorganized and clarified its usage policies for models like ChatGPT. The most important section for law firms is the explicit guidance around legal and health topics. The company states that AI systems can provide general information but cannot deliver tailored advice that substitutes for a licensed professional.

For the legal world, this is not new, but it is now spelled out in a way that removes ambiguity for users, developers, and businesses that wrap services around AI models.

Here are the practical takeaways:

• AI can educate but cannot instruct someone on what they personally should do in a legal dispute, estate matter, custody issue, criminal charge, or any situation where outcomes have real legal consequences.
• Any platform using OpenAI’s models for legal services must include licensed attorney review for personalized guidance.
• OpenAI will continue to allow legal summaries, explanations of law, definitions, and general knowledge about legal processes.
• Models will be more likely to add disclaimers or redirect users to attorneys for anything that requires professional judgment (we sense a strong opportunity for ads coming).

For law firms and legal marketers, this is not a barrier. It is clarity, and clarity creates opportunity. Firms that expect transparency in AI tools can build workflows that comply with these rules while still benefiting from AI’s efficiency.

What Searchers Will Experience When Asking Legal or Health Questions

People using AI for legal questions will notice a few shifts in how answers appear and how far the model is willing to go. These include:

More explicit disclaimers

Users will see more prefaces that clarify the model is not a lawyer or medical provider. This is now part of the expected pattern and signals higher safety standards.

Steering toward education instead of direction

Questions like “What should I do if my landlord violated the lease?” will produce responses that outline general steps, legal principles, or typical processes rather than a prescriptive action plan.

Encouragement to involve a professional

Searchers may see referrals to attorneys, legal aid clinics, or government resources for individualized guidance. Here comes the ads we sensed.

More accuracy checks in responses

The model is more conservative with confidence, reducing subtle errors or speculative content in areas where the stakes are high.

Less room for loopholes

Attempts to bypass limitations by rephrasing questions tend to lead back to general guidance. This creates a more consistent safety layer for users.

Overall, the user experience becomes more aligned with how legal content is supposed to work (and what we’ve done for years with SEO content): helpful, broad, clear, and pointing toward qualified professionals for anything case-specific.

How These Updates Influence Law Firm Operations and the Role of Attorneys

Law firms using AI internally will need to demonstrate attorney involvement in any client-facing output. This does not mean AI becomes less useful. In fact, the updates formalize how firms should use AI:

• AI drafts, the attorney reviews.
• AI summarizes, the attorney validates.
• AI assists with communication, the attorney signs off.

This supports ethical rules that already require lawyer review of work performed by nonlawyers. AI tools simply become part of the remote support staff. Firms that embrace this approach gain speed and reduce administrative overhead without sacrificing compliance.

On the client side, law firms may see more questions about AI-generated information. Clients often bring AI summaries to consultations. These summaries improve attorney efficiency because they shorten the path toward understanding the client’s concerns. Well, that and they may also be a pain in the ass sometimes. 

OpenAI’s clarifications help attorneys position themselves as vital decision-makers rather than just providers of information. In other words, this should help bolster YOU as the experienced legal mind someone should seek.

What These Changes Mean for Law Firm Marketing Strategies

This is where the biggest practical shift will happen. As AI becomes both more cautious and more central to how people consume information online, attorney-led marketing becomes even more valuable.

Educational content will outperform generic content

Since AI will avoid giving case-specific instructions, searchers will still look to law firm websites for local, detailed, jurisdiction-specific explanations.

Google rewards this with higher rankings because it meets YMYL content standards.

Authority signals matter more

Because AI is increasingly careful, users place more trust in:

• Named authors who are licensed attorneys
• Clear citations to statutes and government resources
• Local knowledge
• Practical explanations grounded in real experience

This raises the bar for law-firm blogs, practice area pages, and FAQ content. In fact, many of our clients have taken advantage of Focal Points, which is a step above basic SEO. If you’re interested, go check them out. —–> Focal Points.

Marketing language needs to match user expectations

Searchers may arrive with partial understanding shaped by AI summaries. That means law firm content must:

• Validate what the searcher already knows
• Clarify what applies specifically in your location
• Provide safe, accurate, and actionable next steps within ethical rules
• Emphasize the importance of human review

Firms that explain responsible AI use will win trust

A growing number of clients want to know whether their attorney leverages AI. Firms that publicly outline how AI assists with efficiency, but not judgment, gain a competitive advantage. My vet’s office uses AI to record the conversations and fill out the pet’s charts. They explained how they use AI to me and made it clear how it helps them treat the animals with higher quality care. I’m fine with it, especially because they explained it to me.

This is powerful content for newsletters, blog posts, and “About the Firm” pages. Embrace AI by acknowledging clients’ doubts and explaining why and how you use it. 

AI will reshape the SEO moonscape

Because “general information” is easier for AI to generate, the pages that rank will be those with:

• Location-specific depth
• Attorney involvement
• Real examples
• Unique frameworks or insights
• Clear statements of professional oversight

In other words, AI pushes law firms toward higher-quality publishing. That is good for SEO and good for clients. It should also send signals that using AI only to generate content is a bad idea.

How All of This Connects to Google’s YMYL Standards

Google’s YMYL framework has governed legal SEO for years, even before AI became mainstream. Legal content is part of the Your Money Your Life category because it affects a person’s rights, safety, finances, and future.

Under YMYL:

• Content must demonstrate clear expertise
• Authors must be credible
• Claims must be accurate and sourced
• The site must be trustworthy
• Any advice must be safe

OpenAI’s new rules mirror that philosophy. Both systems now prioritize safety and credibility in high-impact domains.

The overlap between OpenAI’s policy and Google’s YMYL standards means that:

• Law firms that emphasize attorney review will gain more visibility
• Content grounded in state law (like Illinois statute citations) will outrank vague summaries
• Well-structured legal explanations will become even more valuable
• Trust signals, such as attorney bios and experience, matter more than ever

Lawyers who understand this dynamic will be able to connect with searchers in a way AI cannot. The result is stronger authority, better rankings, and more qualified leads.

The Bottom Line (for now?)

OpenAI’s policy updates did not remove legal information from AI tools. They clarified the boundaries that always existed and aligned them with ethical and safety standards in law. Searchers will still use AI to educate themselves, but they will rely on law firms to interpret laws, apply judgment, and make decisions.

For law firms, the moment calls for:

• Transparent use of AI
• High-quality educational content
• Clear demonstration of attorney involvement (find you some really good legal writers)
• Strong alignment with Google’s YMYL standards

Firms that adapt early (hopefully you already have been) will gain visibility, trust, and clients in a moonscape where AI shapes expectations but cannot replace licensed professionals.

Written by Blue Seven Content Co-Founders – Allen Watson and Victoria Lozano, Esq.