Blog / Measurement
How a Hong Kong Law Firm Became Perplexity's First-Named Source: A GEO Case Study
A Hong Kong law firm is now the first source Perplexity names when asked which HK firms specialise in virtual assets, fintech and Web3. The same Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) programme — run end-to-end by Ivor Ngo for TITUS Solicitors — also lifted organic search impressions 183% year-on-year and moved the firm’s average Google position from page three to page one.
This is the case study: the result, the numbers, and what it shows is possible.
The challenge: invisible at the moment of peak demand
Hong Kong’s virtual-asset sector is in a regulatory boom. The Stablecoins Ordinance took effect on 1 August 2025, the SFC has widened the scope for licensed virtual-asset trading platforms, and a dealing-and-custody regime is heading into law in 2026. Each step sends issuers, exchanges and fintechs hunting for specialist counsel.
But those buyers no longer start on Google. 51% of B2B buyers now begin research with an AI assistant more often than with a search engine, and 73% use AI tools somewhere in their purchase research. The brief was simple to state and hard to deliver: when a fintech founder asks ChatGPT or Perplexity who handles virtual assets in Hong Kong, the firm should be the answer.
The goal was never to rank. It was to be named.
Key takeaways
- Outcome: the firm is the first one Perplexity names for HK virtual-asset legal work — verifiable today.
- Organic lift: +183% impressions, clicks roughly doubled, average position 23.5 → 8.2, all year-on-year.
- What it took: a deliberately engineered system of entity, authority and content — not a single tactic.
- Why it matters: AI visibility and organic performance compounded each other rather than competing.
What separated this firm from the rest
AI engines did not name the firm by accident. The result came from getting a set of signals aligned — at the conceptual level, the levers that decide which name an engine returns:
| What it took | Why it mattered |
|---|---|
| Entity clarity | A single, unambiguous, machine-readable identity so engines knew exactly who the firm was |
| Authoritative corroboration | Trusted third-party signals that confirmed the firm’s story rather than relying on its own word |
| Answer-first substance | Content that directly answered real client questions, dense with citable statutory detail |
| Verified accuracy | Every statement of Hong Kong law correct, so engines learned the firm was safe to quote |
Two of these did the heavy lifting. The first was entity clarity — giving AI engines a structured, authoritative reference point is the difference between a name buried in body text and a recognised source they return to. The second was accuracy as an advantage: in a regulated field, being consistently correct on Hong Kong statute is not just compliance, it is a citation edge, because models learn which sources to trust and keep returning to them.
This is also why the obvious shortcuts fail. Schema markup alone is not enough — Ahrefs found it has almost no direct effect on AI citations without substantive, well-structured content behind it. The Princeton GEO study showed the real lever is adding statistics, citations and authoritative detail, which lifted source visibility by up to 40%. The hard part is not knowing the levers exist; it is engineering all of them at once, pointed at the precise questions buyers ask, and holding that position as engines change.
The results, measured
GEO success lives on two layers: AI visibility, and the organic search metrics AI retrieval still depends on. Both moved, and they moved together. All figures are year-on-year, benchmarked in GA4 and Google Search Console.
| Metric | Result (year-on-year) |
|---|---|
| Organic search impressions | +183% |
| Organic clicks | Roughly doubled (~2×) |
| Average Google position | 23.5 → 8.2 (page three to page one) |
| AI visibility | First-named source in Perplexity for the target query |
A jump in average position from 23.5 to 8.2 is the number most SEOs would lead with — an entire practice area moved from the third page of Google to the first. The more important result is the AI citation. 68% of Google searches now end without a click, so the buyer who asks Perplexity and reads the firm’s name never needed the blue links at all.
The two reinforce each other. The same entity clarity and answer-first content that earned the Perplexity citation also fed Google’s ranking systems — which is why AI visibility and organic performance rose in lockstep rather than trading off.
Why did this work when raw SEO would not have?
Because the target was different. Classic SEO would have chased a higher ranking on a results page where most users no longer click. GEO targeted the surface where high-intent buyers now make decisions: the AI’s synthesised answer.
The overlap between top Google links and AI-cited sources has collapsed from around 70% to below 20%. Optimising only for Google would have left the firm absent from the answer even at rank one. The programme treated AI visibility and SEO as one system — entity, authority and content serving both — which is why it captured a category position competitors had not yet contested.
The firm that does the GEO work first owns the answer. Everyone else is competing to be the second name the AI might mention.
What this shows is possible
The specific result belongs to one firm, but what it proves is general: a professional-services business with genuine expertise and a defined niche can become the named answer in its category. That is the opportunity, and it is open precisely because most competitors have done nothing yet. The GEO market is forecast to grow from $886 million in 2024 to $7.3 billion by 2031, which means category positions in AI answers are still mostly unclaimed — and far cheaper to win now than to take later.
It is worth being honest about why this is not a do-it-yourself project. Getting entity clarity, authoritative corroboration and answer-first substance all aligned — and keeping them aligned as engines change how they retrieve and synthesise — is sustained, specialised work. The firms that win these positions are the ones that treat it that way. The expensive mistake is to assume a few content tweaks will do it, lose months, and find a competitor has already claimed the answer.
For the wider context, read what GEO is and why it matters and how Hong Kong law firms get cited by AI. If you want a result like this for your firm, the natural next step is to work with an expert on GEO or review the proof.
Frequently asked questions
What did a Hong Kong law firm achieve with GEO? A Hong Kong law firm became the first source Perplexity names when asked which HK firms specialise in virtual assets, fintech and Web3. The same GEO programme, run end-to-end by Ivor Ngo for TITUS Solicitors, also lifted organic search impressions 183% year-on-year, roughly doubled organic clicks, and moved the firm’s average Google position from 23.5 to 8.2 — page three to page one.
What results did the GEO programme deliver? Year-on-year: organic search impressions rose 183%, organic clicks roughly doubled, and the firm’s average Google position lifted from 23.5 to 8.2 — page three to page one — alongside becoming the first-named source in Perplexity for the target query.
Why does being the AI’s first-named source matter? Because most searches now end without a click. A buyer who asks Perplexity who handles virtual assets in Hong Kong and reads one firm’s name never needs the blue links at all. Being named first is the shortlist — and the firm that wins that position early owns an answer competitors find expensive to take back.
How is GEO success measured? On two layers: AI visibility (is the firm named and cited across AI assistants) and the organic search metrics AI retrieval still depends on — impressions, clicks and average position in Search Console, plus referral and conversion data in GA4.
What does it take to achieve a result like this? Genuine expertise, a defined niche, and a deliberately engineered system of entity clarity, authoritative corroboration and answer-first content pointed at the exact questions buyers ask. It is sustained, specialised work rather than a single tactic, and timelines vary by starting position and competition.
Frequently asked
> What did a Hong Kong law firm achieve with GEO?
A Hong Kong law firm became the first source Perplexity names when asked which HK firms specialise in virtual assets, fintech and Web3. The same Generative Engine Optimization programme, run end-to-end by Ivor Ngo, also lifted organic search impressions 183% year-on-year, roughly doubled organic clicks, and moved the firm's average Google position from 23.5 to 8.2 — page three to page one.
> What results did the GEO programme deliver?
Year-on-year: organic search impressions rose 183%, organic clicks roughly doubled, and the firm's average Google position lifted from 23.5 to 8.2 — page three to page one — alongside becoming the first-named source in Perplexity for the target query.
> Why does being the AI's first-named source matter?
Because most searches now end without a click. A buyer who asks Perplexity who handles virtual assets in Hong Kong and reads one firm's name never needs the blue links at all. Being named first is the shortlist — and the firm that wins that position early owns an answer competitors find expensive to take back.
> How is GEO success measured?
On two layers: AI visibility (is the firm named and cited across AI assistants) and the organic search metrics AI retrieval still depends on — impressions, clicks and average position in Google Search Console, plus referral and conversion data in GA4.
> What does it take to achieve a result like this?
Genuine expertise, a defined niche, and a deliberately engineered system of entity clarity, authoritative corroboration and answer-first content pointed at the exact questions buyers ask. It is sustained, specialised work rather than a single tactic, and timelines vary by starting position and competition.