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Joe Ashta is a GEO / AEO consultant for law firms, based in Vancouver, BC. He measures which law firms ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Google's AI surfaces name and recommend, and fixes what keeps a firm out of those answers. He founded NearMe Marketing, the consultancy that delivers the SEO, Google Ads, and AI search visibility work.
His background is machine learning and data science. Before turning to search, he designed recommendation systems in ad tech, the algorithms that decide what gets shown, for national brands with $10–25 million annual ad budgets and the data that kind of spend throws off. AI search is a recommendation problem. He has built the machinery most people are guessing at from outside.
The BigLaw GEO Leaderboard tracks how often AI platforms cite 118 US law firms: the Am Law 100, global firms, mid-law, and elite boutiques. It refreshes monthly from Ahrefs data. His writing on AI search has appeared in BarTalk, the magazine of the Canadian Bar Association's BC Branch.
The AI Visibility Index, a measured ranking of which firms AI platforms actually name, is in build. Method details ship to members.
Related: Entity record · GEO consultant for law firms · BigLaw GEO Leaderboard · NearMe Marketing