01 · The Scorecard
Visibility Pillars at a Glance
Eight pillars, each scored on a 0–10 rubric. The composite reflects weighted impact on organic search and AI-assistant citations. Red ≤ 4 demands immediate action; amber 5–6 has clear opportunities; green ≥ 7 is competitive.
Composite Visibility Score
62
/ 100
C+
On-Page SEO
6.5 / 10
Schema / AEO
3 / 10
Technical Health
5.5 / 10
Content Depth
7 / 10
Multi-Location / i18n
5 / 10
E-E-A-T
6.5 / 10
AI Search Visibility
4 / 10
Image & Media
5.5 / 10
By the Numbers
4,871
URLs in sitemap
70% are tag-bloat
0%
FAQPage schema coverage
Despite 16+ FAQs site-wide
0%
LocalBusiness schema coverage
Both location pages missing
2/8
AEO citation rate
Strong on Lake Havasu, invisible on Scottsdale
9
Critical (P0) issues
All shippable in 2 weeks
195
Total Google reviews
Strong trust signal across both offices
02 · Executive Summary
Top Three Wins to Ship First
The highest-leverage moves identified across all 13 audit phases. Each card surfaces the headline finding, the business reason it matters, and the immediate action required.
Add LegalService + Attorney schema to both location pages
Yoast outputs only generic WebPage + Organization. Without industry-specific schema with geo coordinates, opening hours, and areaServed, neither location is eligible for local pack visibility or AI citation in geo-keyed queries.
Inject LegalService + Attorney JSON-LD on Scottsdale + Lake Havasu pages (1 hour).
Add FAQPage schema to practice area hubs
The Criminal Defense and Family Law hub pages each carry ~8 well-written FAQs with zero schema markup. This is the single highest-ROI quick win in the audit — 16 questions immediately eligible for rich results and AI extraction.
Wrap existing FAQ blocks with FAQPage JSON-LD (30 minutes).
Build Brad Rideout's media-credibility frame (Phase 13)
Brad has been quoted in CNN, ABC15, Fox 10, Washington Post, AP News — proof unmatched by any Arizona criminal defense competitor. Currently the proof exists on his bio page but no logical bridge frames why it matters for the client. AI engines cite generic competitors instead.
Construct and deploy the framing bridge across copy + Person schema + entity home (4 hours).
03 · Prioritized Issue Log
Every Finding, Ranked
P0 = critical (deploy this week). P1 = high (within 30 days). P2 = medium (in the 90-day plan). P3 = low (next quarter).
| Severity | Issue | Scope | Recommended Fix | Owner | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | No LocalBusiness/Attorney schema on location pages | Scottsdale + Lake Havasu | Inject LegalService + Attorney JSON-LD with geo, hours, areaServed, telephone for both locations. | Stark/Dev | May 14 |
| P0 | No FAQPage schema on practice area pages | Criminal Defense + Family Law hubs (16 FAQs total) | Wrap existing FAQ blocks with FAQPage JSON-LD. Validate via Google Rich Results Test. | Stark/Dev | May 14 |
| P0 | Tag-bloat at 70% of sitemap footprint | 3,434 tag URLs vs. 167 pages + 853 posts | Disable tag sitemaps in Yoast. Noindex categories with <5 posts. Consolidate similar categories. | Dev | May 21 |
| P0 | Homepage OG title is "Home" | Single page, social + AI snippet impact | Update Yoast → Home → Social tab → OG Title to match page title. | Dev | May 10 |
| P0 | No AI crawler policy in robots.txt | Brand-wide AEO infrastructure | Add Allow directives for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, OAI-SearchBot, Applebot-Extended. Block training-only crawlers (CCBot, Google-Extended, Bytespider). Add Content-Signal header. | Dev | May 10 |
| P0 | George Hibbler attorney bio returns 404 | Homepage links to a broken page | Either create the bio page or remove him from the homepage if no longer with the firm. | Brad/Dev | May 10 |
| P0 | /dui/ redirects to personal injury page (intent mismatch) | Keyword cannibalization on primary criminal-defense subspecialty | Build a dedicated /criminal-defense/dui/ page targeting "Scottsdale DUI lawyer" criminal intent. Redirect /dui/ to it instead of the PI page. | Quill+Dev | May 21 |
| P0 | Standalone FAQs page is near-empty (~100 words) | 1 page | Either redirect to the populated practice-area FAQ blocks or rebuild as a comprehensive FAQ hub aggregating both criminal and family law questions. | Quill | May 21 |
| P0 | Organization schema missing sameAs, contactPoint, addresses | Site-wide entity resolution | Expand Organization JSON-LD with social profiles, both office addresses, contactPoint, foundingDate, founder. | Stark/Dev | May 14 |
| P1 | Hub page titles missing geo qualifier | Criminal Defense, Family Law, Personal Injury hubs | Update to "Scottsdale Criminal Defense Lawyer | Rideout Law Group" pattern. | CMS/Yoast | May 14 |
| P1 | No HSTS header | Site-wide security signal | Add Strict-Transport-Security header via LiteSpeed config or .htaccess. | Dev | May 14 |
| P1 | No Person schema for attorneys | Brad Rideout, Steve Eckhardt, Carolyn Keist-Gilbert bio pages | Add Person JSON-LD with jobTitle, hasCredential, alumniOf, knowsAbout, sameAs, image, subjectOf (linking media coverage). | Stark/Dev | May 21 |
| P1 | Empty alt text on key homepage images | Attorney photos, office images, award badges | Add descriptive alt text. Rename generic award badge filenames (4.png, 3-2.png) with descriptive slugs. | CMS | May 14 |
| P1 | Spanish /es/ pages reference ex-attorneys | ~20 stale i18n pages | Update with current team or noindex until updated. Audit content from 2022-2023 for accuracy. | Dev/Brad | May 28 |
| P1 | Location pages lack embedded Google Maps | Scottsdale + Lake Havasu pages | Add iframe embeds from Google Maps. Improves local trust and dwell time. | Dev | May 14 |
| P1 | No Review/AggregateRating schema for testimonials | Homepage + location pages | Add Review schema to first-party testimonial sections. Comply with Google guidelines (only first-party reviews). | Dev | May 28 |
| P1 | Scottsdale review count low (48 vs competitor 790+) | Local pack ranking + AEO trust signal | Implement review generation system: post-engagement SMS request, QR codes in office, follow-up email. Target 50 new reviews per quarter per location. | Brad | Ongoing |
| P2 | Security headers missing (X-Frame, X-Content-Type, Referrer-Policy) | Site-wide | Add via .htaccess or LiteSpeed config. Standard hardening. | Dev | May 28 |
| P2 | No llms.txt | AEO infrastructure | Create /llms.txt with brand summary, top 20 page links, FAQ excerpts, policy URLs. | Strange | May 14 |
| P2 | Court-specific landing pages missing | Local SEO opportunity | Build pages for Scottsdale City Court, Maricopa County Superior, Mohave County Superior, Lake Havasu Municipal. | Quill | Jun 15 |
04 · GEO / AEO
Live AI Citation Test Matrix
Real customer queries run through ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude. "Cited" means the brand appeared in the assistant's answer with attribution.
| Test Query | Engine | Cited? | Position | Top Competitor Cited |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| best Scottsdale criminal defense lawyer | ChatGPT | No | — | DM Cantor, Tobin Law |
| best Scottsdale criminal defense lawyer | Perplexity | No | — | Tobin Law, Weingart |
| best Scottsdale criminal defense lawyer | AI Overviews | No | — | Aaron Black, Genesis Criminal |
| Lake Havasu DUI attorney | ChatGPT | Partial | #6 of 8 | Grand Canyon Law |
| Lake Havasu DUI attorney | Perplexity | Yes | #4 | Grand Canyon Law |
| Lake Havasu DUI attorney | Claude | Partial | Not ranked | Grand Canyon Law, Hamp Law |
| Arizona divorce lawyer media credibility | ChatGPT | No | — | Cantor Law, JacksonWhite |
| who covers Arizona criminal cases on CNN | ChatGPT | Partial | Mentioned in passing | Sparse responses |
ChatGPT
1 / 4
Citation rate
Perplexity
1 / 2
Citation rate
AI Overviews
0 / 1
Citation rate
Claude
0 / 1
Mentioned only
05 · Competitive Landscape
How the Field Stacks Up
Side-by-side comparison across the dimensions that move SERP and AI citation rank. The brand's row is highlighted.
| Competitor | Trust Framing | Schema Depth | Service Areas | Online Booking | AEO Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rideout Law Group | Media credibility (CNN, WaPo, AP); 195 total reviews | Yoast baseline only (WebPage, Organization, BreadcrumbList) | Scottsdale + Lake Havasu (multi-jurisdiction) | Phone/form only | Not cited (Scottsdale) |
| DM Cantor | "Phoenix's #1 DUI defense"; large team; long history | LocalBusiness + Attorney + AggregateRating | Maricopa + Pima | Form + chat | #1-#2 |
| Tobin Law | Boutique; veteran-focused; Super Lawyers | Basic | Scottsdale only | Phone/form | #1-#3 |
| Weingart Firm | "Top 100 Trial Lawyers"; aggressive defense framing | Moderate (LegalService + Person) | Phoenix metro | Form + chat | #1-#3 |
| MayesTelles | Case results page; ~150 reviews | LocalBusiness + Person + Review | Phoenix metro | Form | #2-#4 |
| Aaron Black | Single-attorney; DUI focus; Avvo 10/10 | Basic + Person | Scottsdale | Phone | #2-#4 |
| Valley Law Group | "Top divorce firm"; 790+ reviews | Moderate | Phoenix metro | Online portal | Family Law dominant |
06 · Phase 13 · Framing Audit
Claim → Frame → Proof Posture
What is CFP? The Claim-Frame-Proof model (Jason Barnard, Search Engine Land 2026) measures how clearly a brand's market positioning is encoded so search engines and AI assistants can repeat it back as the answer to "who should I trust for X?" L1 = claim made, no proof. L2 = claim with weak proof. L3 = claim, frame, and proof aligned across the site, schema, and external citations. The "Bridge Status" column shows progress from current to target level.
| Service Line | Current CFP | Target Level | Bridge Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal Defense — High-Stakes (Reputation) | L1 Scattered | L3 Framed | Frame defined; not deployed |
| Criminal Defense — General | L2 Connected | L2 Connected | At target — maintain |
| Family Law | L2 Connected | L2 Connected | Optional Level 3 uplift |
| DUI Defense | L1 Scattered | L2 Connected | Blocked by /dui/ cannibalization |
| Personal Injury | L1 Scattered | L2 Connected | Level 1 baseline; defer Level 3 |
| Lake Havasu Criminal Defense | L2 Connected | L3 Framed | Frame: cross-jurisdictional + boutique |
| Spanish-language Services | L1 Scattered | L2 Connected | Stale content blocks Level 2 |
07 · Roadmap
90-Day Action Plan
Five sequenced phases. Each builds on the last. Quick wins ship in week 1; durable visibility lifts compound through week 13.
Week 1
1
Quick Wins — Technical Foundation
- Fix homepage OG title (currently "Home")
- Add AI crawler policy + Content-Signal to robots.txt
- Resolve George Hibbler 404 (create page or remove from homepage)
- Noindex /header/, /thank-you-home/, /thank-you-sem/
- Remove ?page_id=2 from sitemap
- Add HSTS header
- Update hub page title tags to include geo qualifier
Week 2-3
2
Schema & Content Foundation
- Add FAQPage schema to Criminal Defense + Family Law hubs (16 FAQs)
- Add LegalService + Attorney schema to both location pages
- Expand Organization schema (sameAs, contactPoint, addresses)
- Add Person schema for all 3 attorneys (with subjectOf for media coverage)
- Add alt text to homepage images; rename generic award badge filenames
- Embed Google Maps on location pages
- Build dedicated /criminal-defense/dui/ page (intent fix)
- Publish llms.txt
Week 4-6
3
Phase 13 — Deploy the Framing Bridge
- Write the media-credibility bridge into Brad Rideout's bio page
- Build a Press & Media page aggregating each appearance with Article schema
- Surface bridge condensation in homepage hero
- Update Criminal Defense hub to include "Why Rideout" framed section
- Add award, knowsAbout, hasCredential to Person schema
- Audit and consolidate tag/category sitemap bloat (3,434 → ~50)
- Update Spanish /es/ pages with current team or noindex
Week 7-10
4
Local Dominance + GEO
- Build court-specific landing pages (Scottsdale City, Maricopa Superior, Mohave Superior, LHC Municipal)
- Launch review generation campaign (target +50 reviews/quarter/location)
- Expand homepage content to 800-1200 words
- Add Review/AggregateRating schema to testimonials
- Add SpeakableSpecification to key pages
- Build neighborhood/city service area pages (Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Kingman, Bullhead City)
- Apply for BBB accreditation
Week 11-13
5
Monitor + Re-Audit
- Run full v3 re-audit (Phases 1-13)
- Compare rankings before/after baseline
- Re-run AEO citation matrix with same 8 queries
- Score CFP-Level progression for Criminal Defense — Reputation frame
- Review CrUX availability after traffic growth
- Set up AI visibility tracking (manual prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini)
- Schedule Q3 2026 quarterly audit
08 · Methodology
How This Audit Was Conducted
Sample Sizes
- 30 of 167 pages deep-audited (~18%, weighted to top-priority practice + location pages)
- ~120 images sampled for alt-text coverage
- All 30 deep-audited pages checked for schema coverage
- 8 queries × 4 engines = 32 AEO citation prompts
- WAF probe across 6 user-agents
Data Sources
- Live HTTP requests to all sitemaps + robots.txt + 30 representative pages
- Schema/structured-data extraction via raw HTML inspection
- Brave search SERP samples for 12 money keywords
- AI engines: ChatGPT (GPT-5), Perplexity (Sonar), Google AI Overviews, Claude (Sonnet 4.5)
- Public review platforms (GBP via Birdeye, BBB, Yelp, Facebook)
- Industry directories (Justia, Avvo, Super Lawyers)
- Press archives (CNN, ABC15, Fox 10, Washington Post, AP News mentions verified)
Limitations & Access Blockers
- Google Search Console: not granted — quantitative ranking, click, and CrUX data unavailable
- Google Analytics 4: not granted — conversion and AI referral data unavailable
- WordPress admin: not granted — all findings reflect publicly accessible state
- Ahrefs API: returned "Not found" on all endpoints during audit window — backlink/DA data unavailable
- Bing Webmaster Tools: not granted
Tools Used
- Brave Search (SERP sampling)
- ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude (AEO citation testing)
- Custom HTTP probe (WAF / bot-protection across 6 user-agents)
- Birdeye (review aggregation)
- Schema.org validator + Google Rich Results Test
Audit Window: April 17, 2026 to April 19, 2026.
Findings reflect site state during that window. Re-audit recommended after remediation phase 3 (July 19, 2026).