Proposal · 15 October 2026AI Search (AEO)

Be the answer
when owners ask
who to call.

When a business owner decides to sell, the first call is usually to a trusted adviser, and the adviser's next step is increasingly a question typed into ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google. Gibson MacNeill Lawyers already earns its work through referrals. Our baseline across 38 tracked questions shows 3% AI visibility, almost all of it from the one question that names the firm. This programme makes sure that when the question is asked, the firm is the answer, for the owner researching a sale and for the accountant deciding who to refer.

◆ The plan in one line
38 prompts. Two audiences. One authority.
A tailored set of questions for business sellers and the advisers who refer them, with a measured baseline already in hand.
See the prompts ↓
Prepared for
Gibson MacNeill Lawyers · gibsonmacneill.com.au
Prepared by
Mitchell Galvin
Account Director, Fresh Digital · Performance digital partner
Valid until
14 November 2026
30 days from issue
01 · Executive Summary

A referral firm in an answer-engine world

Gibson MacNeill Lawyers is a boutique corporate and commercial law firm. Its Brisbane office is on Adelaide Street in the CBD, with Melbourne and Gold Coast offices by appointment and Sydney listed as coming soon. The firm describes itself as providing "high-stakes M&A expertise" and discreet representation for CEOs and high-net-worth individuals, and its corporate team advises on business and share sale transactions, due diligence, shareholder arrangements, capital raising and restructures.

The firm's strongest work is for business owners selling, from SMEs to large enterprises, and that work has traditionally arrived the same way: a trusted adviser, usually the client's accountant, makes the introduction. That channel isn't going away. But the way advisers and owners check, shortlist and validate a name is shifting to AI answer engines, and those engines only recommend firms they can clearly understand and verify.

◆ What we found on the current site

Based on our review of gibsonmacneill.com.au
  • ◆
    Strong credentials, spread thin. Scott MacNeill's background includes Ashurst, Boeing Australia and Aurizon, and Special Counsel Joel Taylor lists over 25 years in corporate law, M&A and cross-border transactions. These are exactly the proof points an AI engine needs, but they sit on separate people pages.
  • ◆
    M&A sits inside one broad Corporate page. Business and share sales are one bullet among many. In the main navigation we found no page dedicated to selling a business, and no pages for the Brisbane, Gold Coast or Melbourne sale markets.
  • ◆
    Real client proof exists. A client testimonial describes a multi-national M&A transaction with multi-jurisdictional legal and international tax considerations, and others mention business purchases. That proof is not yet connected to the questions owners and advisers ask.
  • ◆
    The baseline confirms the gap. Across 38 tracked questions on four AI platforms, the firm appears for only two, and 49 of its 52 appearances come from the one question that asks about the firm by name. Detail in section 03.
  • ◆
    A good publishing habit to build on. The firm's news section has a Corporate & M&A category and plain-English guides, but it has little on business sales yet.
02 · The Angle

Win the referrer and the seller

Most AEO for law firms targets the client alone. For this firm that would miss where the work actually comes from. We build for two audiences at once, and connect them through one body of authority.

1
The referrer layer

Accountants, business brokers, wealth advisers and other trusted advisers asking "who should I refer my client to?"

✓
Give advisers clear criteria and a clear answer: who the firm acts for, how it works alongside the accountant, and what happens to their client.
✓
Make the firm easy to verify: named lawyers, real credentials and real matters (where the client agrees).
✓
Protect the referral relationship. Content is written to support the adviser, never to compete with them on tax or financial advice.
2
The seller layer

Owners researching how to sell: process, structure, warranties, earn-outs, due diligence, confidentiality and what happens to their staff.

✓
Answer each question directly in the first two sentences, then go deeper. This is the shape AI engines quote.
✓
Cover the whole sale journey, from "how do I sell my business" to completion, so the firm is the source at every stage.
✓
Speak to discretion and judgement, the qualities that matter most to high-end owners.
+
What ties it together: authority AI can verify

Answer engines recommend firms they can identify, understand and corroborate. The strategy is built on five things.

✓
Entity clarity. One consistent description of the firm, its M&A practice and its named lawyers, repeated across the site, directories and profiles.
✓
Answer content. A dedicated page or guide for each prompt, with the answer first and plain English throughout. All reviewed by the firm's lawyers before publishing.
✓
Structured data. FAQ, LegalService, Organization and Person schema, so the firm and its people are machine readable. Schema is a signal that helps, not a guarantee.
✓
Third-party corroboration. Real legal directory listings, professional profiles, adviser-facing publications and genuine client reviews. We only pursue listings and rankings the firm has earned or can legitimately enter.
✓
Monitoring. The same prompts re-run every month across the major AI platforms, so we can see what is working and adjust.
◆

Who else appears. A web search we ran on 15 October 2026 for Brisbane M&A and business sale lawyers surfaced Rouse Lawyers, Sierra Legal, McBratney Law, Walker Pender and Queensland Business and Property Lawyers. Several of them publish dedicated "selling a business" pages. This was one search, not a ranking study, and AI answers vary by platform and by day. Our baseline run measures it properly.

03 · Current AI Search Visibility

The baseline: 3% visibility

We tracked the 38 prompts in this proposal for gibsonmacneill.com.au across Google AI Overviews, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT and Gemini (Australia, English). Here is exactly where the firm stands today.

Appearances
52
Across 4 AI platforms
Mentions
28
Firm named in AI answers
Links
24
Average 1.4 links per answer
AI visibility
3%
AIO, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini
PlatformAppear.MentionsLinksVisibility
Google AI Overviews1361.03%
Google AI Mode821.03%
ChatGPT1291.03%
Gemini19112.05%

◆ What the report tells us

38 prompts, 4 platforms
  • ◆
    The firm is found when it is named. "What does Gibson MacNeill Lawyers do and who are its M&A lawyers?" shows the firm on all four platforms (13 on AI Overviews, 8 on AI Mode, 12 on ChatGPT, 16 on Gemini), for 49 of the 52 appearances and 100% visibility on that prompt.
  • ◆
    One unbranded question breaks through. "Corporate lawyer Brisbane for selling a private company" appears on Gemini only, with 3 appearances and 25% visibility. It is the only prompt without the firm's name where the firm appears at all.
  • ◆
    36 prompts return nothing. Every seller, process, tax, due diligence, referrer and other local question shows 0 appearances on every platform, including "Who are the best business sale lawyers in Brisbane?" and "Which lawyer should I refer my client to when they want to sell their business?".
◆

What the report doesn't show. It records where the firm appears, not which firms or websites AI engines cite instead. That comparison is not in the supplied data, so we have not named competitors or source domains here. Every prompt's result is shown in the next section.

04 · The Prompt Set

38 questions the firm should be found for

Grouped by who is asking and what they need. Each one is a tracked prompt, shown with today's AI visibility, and becomes a page or guide designed to answer it. The spreadsheet version, with intent, rationale and the target page for each, is supplied with this proposal.

Owner and seller questions 8 prompts

01How do I sell my business in Australia?SellerAI visibility 0%
02When should I speak to a lawyer before selling my business?SellerAI visibility 0%
03How long does it take to sell a business in Australia?SellerAI visibility 0%
04How do I prepare my business for sale so a buyer doesn't find problems?SellerAI visibility 0%
05What can go wrong when selling a business?SellerAI visibility 0%
06Do I need a lawyer to sell my business?SellerAI visibility 0%
07How do I sell my business confidentially without staff or customers finding out?SellerAI visibility 0%
08What happens to my staff when I sell my business?SellerAI visibility 0%

Process and legal questions 7 prompts

09What is the process for selling a business in Queensland?SellerAI visibility 0%
10What is a heads of agreement in a business sale and is it binding?SellerAI visibility 0%
11What are warranties and indemnities in a sale of business agreement?SellerAI visibility 0%
12What is an earn-out and how do I protect myself as the seller?SellerAI visibility 0%
13What is a restraint of trade when you sell a business and how long can it last?SellerAI visibility 0%
14What conditions precedent are in a business sale contract?Seller and buyerAI visibility 0%
15What happens at completion when you sell a business?SellerAI visibility 0%

Tax and structure questions 6 prompts

16What is the difference between a share sale and an asset sale?SellerAI visibility 0%
17Should I sell my business through a share sale or an asset sale for tax purposes?SellerAI visibility 0%
18What are the small business CGT concessions when selling a business?SellerAI visibility 0%
19How is the purchase price allocated in an asset sale?SellerAI visibility 0%
20How do I sell a business that sits in a family trust or holding company structure?SellerAI visibility 0%
21How does a management buyout or succession sale work?SellerAI visibility 0%

Buyer and due diligence questions 4 prompts

22What is vendor due diligence and should I do it before selling my business?SellerAI visibility 0%
23What does a buyer look for in legal due diligence when buying a business?Seller and buyerAI visibility 0%
24What is a data room and what documents go in it for a business sale?SellerAI visibility 0%
25What do I need to know before buying a business in Australia?BuyerAI visibility 0%

Referrer and adviser questions 6 prompts

26Which lawyer should I refer my client to when they want to sell their business?ReferrerAI visibility 0%
27What should an accountant look for when choosing a lawyer for a client's business sale?ReferrerAI visibility 0%
28How do lawyers and accountants work together on a business sale?ReferrerAI visibility 0%
29Do boutique law firms or large law firms handle mid-market business sales better?Referrer and sellerAI visibility 0%
30Who handles confidential business sales for high-net-worth owners in Australia?Referrer and sellerAI visibility 0%
31What legal steps should a client take 12 months before selling their business?ReferrerAI visibility 0%

Local and firm-specific questions 7 prompts

32Who are the best business sale lawyers in Brisbane?SellerAI visibility 0%
33Best M&A lawyers in Brisbane for mid-market dealsSeller and buyerAI visibility 0%
34Corporate lawyer Brisbane for selling a private companySellerAI visibility 25% · Gemini only
35Business sale lawyer Gold CoastSellerAI visibility 0%
36Business sale lawyer MelbourneSellerAI visibility 0%
37What does Gibson MacNeill Lawyers do and who are its M&A lawyers?BrandAI visibility 100% · all 4
38How much does a business sale lawyer cost in Australia?SellerAI visibility 0%
◆

Where we start. The visibility shown against each question comes from the AI search report in section 03. We refine the list with your team, then track the same prompts every month.

05 · Case Studies

AEO that moves the numbers

Fresh Digital is already measuring and growing AI visibility for Australian businesses. Two current examples, using the figures published on our case study page.

Clear Credit Solutions

Credit repair · Coffs Harbour NSW

34 questions tracked across Google AI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT and Gemini, counting how often the answer names the business. Measured against a Day 0 benchmark taken before the work went live, to 30 September 2026.

Named in AI answers
146
41 at Day 0
AI visibility
25.00%
12.12% at Day 0
Questions returning it
13 of 34
Tracked questions

By platform, Google AI Overviews went from 10 to 53, AI Mode from 7 to 38, ChatGPT from 2 to 21 and Gemini from 24 to 34. The business was also named 37 times on 8 broad broker and credit questions that never mention it, a close parallel to the referrer prompts in this proposal.

Push Creative

Real estate branding, websites and marketing

49 questions a real estate principal might ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google when looking for an agency, measured against the August 2026 benchmark set when the new site went live, to September 2026.

Named in AI answers
218
132 at the benchmark, up 65%
AI visibility
24.0%
14.0% at the benchmark
Google AI Overviews
2 to 52
Appearances

Google AI Mode went from 26 to 50 and Gemini from 41 to 59, while ChatGPT moved from 63 to 57, down 6. Google's two AI surfaces together went from 28 appearances to 102.

More examples

The case study page also lists target themes and example questions for Combined Crane & High Risk Work Training, One Pot Catering and Pestle & Mortar restaurant consultancy, all in Sydney. It doesn't publish results figures for those three. None of the current examples is a law firm.

View all case studies ↗

06 · Scope of Work

What we'd build

One focused AEO programme, built around business sales, delivered in stages and reviewed by the firm's lawyers at every step.

1
Benchmark and strategy
Month 1

Start from the measured baseline, and agree what to win first.

✓
Baseline in hand. The supplied AI search report (38 prompts, four platforms) is the benchmark that every monthly report is measured against.
✓
Prompt refinement. Prompt list agreed with your team, including any sectors or deal sizes you most want.
✓
Entity and site audit. How the firm, its M&A practice and its lawyers are described across the site and the web.
2
Answer content
Ongoing

A dedicated, answer-first page or guide for the prompts that matter.

✓
Business sale hub. A core "selling your business" page, with the sale journey linked out to detailed guides.
✓
Guides and explainers. Share vs asset sale, heads of agreement, warranties and indemnities, earn-outs, restraints, due diligence, data rooms and completion.
✓
Referrer pages. A section for accountants and advisers: how to refer, how we work together, what clients can expect.
✓
Location pages. Business sale lawyers for Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Melbourne, matched to the firm's offices.
✓
Existing content. Current Corporate and M&A pages and articles restructured so AI engines can quote them.
3
Authority and structure
Ongoing

Make the firm easy for machines to verify and for people to trust.

✓
Schema. FAQ, LegalService, Organization and Person markup across the new and existing pages.
✓
Lawyer profiles. Stronger M&A profiles for the named lawyers, with qualifications, experience and matter types (with client consent).
✓
Third-party presence. Legal directories, professional bodies, adviser-facing publications and review profiles, where the firm genuinely qualifies.
4
Monitoring and reporting
Monthly

See what's changing and why.

✓
Monthly prompt tracking. The full prompt set re-run and compared with the baseline.
✓
Plain-English report. Where the firm appears, who it appears alongside, and what we're publishing next.
◆

Lawyer-reviewed, always. Nothing goes live without the firm's sign-off. For a law firm that is not optional, and tax-related answers are written to defer to the client's accountant. AI answers change by platform and over time, so results and rankings can't be guaranteed.

07 · How It Works

Our process. Simple, transparent, effective

No black box. From the first call to ongoing growth, you always know what we're doing, why, and what it's returning.

01
Discovery
A deep dive into your goals, your customers and the competitive landscape, so the strategy is built on what's true for your business.
02
Strategy
A custom roadmap built around your specific goals and budget, never a one-size-fits-all package.
03
Execute
Our in-house team gets to work, on time, on budget, and to spec, with the Month-1 build setting the foundation.
04
Optimise
Continuous iteration using real data, so results compound month on month rather than plateauing.
05
Report
Clear monthly reports in plain English, the rankings, traffic and enquiries that matter, with no jargon.
06
Scale
Double down on what works and expand into new channels as the results give us room to grow.
08 · Why Fresh Digital

Straight talking. Data driven. Results first.

We're a team of digital experts on the Gold Coast, genuinely passionate about helping businesses grow online. With 40+ years of combined director-level experience and 14 years established across the APAC digital arena, we've helped thousands of businesses solve their online marketing challenges.

The Fresh Digital team in session
Your strategy, our team
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Founder and driving force. 20+ years in digital strategy across Australia and APAC.
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Leads web development and infrastructure. Expert in performance and custom builds.
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Ads Marketing Manager
Manages paid advertising across Google and Meta with a data-driven approach to ROI.
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09 · Investment

Investment, in plain numbers

A one-off setup and implementation fee, then a monthly management and reporting fee on a 30-day rolling basis with no lock-in contract.

One-off setup and implementation
$2,800+ GST
Strategy, audit and build
Monthly management and reporting
$1,250/mo + GST
30-day rolling, no lock-in contract
One-off · setup and implementationInclusion
Benchmark review and priority promptsIncluded
Prompt refinement with your teamIncluded
Entity and site auditIncluded
Monthly · management and reportingInclusion
Answer content and authority workIncluded
Schema and lawyer profilesIncluded
Monthly prompt trackingIncluded
Plain-English monthly reportIncluded
◆

The bottom line. $2,800 + GST one-off, then $1,250 + GST per month on a 30-day rolling basis.

All fees are quoted in Australian Dollars and are exclusive of GST. The one-off setup and implementation fee is $2,800 + GST. The monthly management and reporting fee is $1,250 + GST, invoiced on the same date each month on a 30-day rolling basis with no lock-in contract. AI visibility depends on Google and third-party AI platforms and is not guaranteed. Baseline figures come from the AI search report supplied with this proposal. This proposal is dated 15 October 2026 and is valid for 30 days from issue, until 14 November 2026.

10 · Next Steps

Ready to get started

01
Talk it through
Review the angle and prompt set with Mitchell and confirm the scope.
02
Sign below
Accept with your digital signature. Setup is $2,800 + GST, then $1,250 + GST per month.
03
Benchmark and priorities
We start from the baseline report, agree the priority prompts and begin building.
04
Build and report
Answer content, structure and authority rolled out in priority order, with monthly reporting.

Accept & sign this proposal

Sign below to accept the scope and investment set out above. A copy is sent to both parties on signing.

✕
✓

Proposal accepted

Mitchell Galvin, Account Director at Fresh Digital
Your key contact
Mitchell Galvin
Account Director, Fresh Digital

Your direct line into Fresh for this engagement. Anything on scope, numbers or timing comes straight to me, and I keep the work joined up from the brief through to handover.

Fresh Digital · Australia's digital partner · 14 years of search & digital
mitch.g@freshdigital.com.au  ·  +61 7 3186 2165  ·  freshdigital.com.au
Suite 5/492 Christine Avenue, Robina, Gold Coast QLD 4226