The 30-point audit
Find the gaps.Before you spend.
Step one of the Cube30 process. Thirty checks across your site, each graded pass, partial or fail, turned into a prioritized fix list you keep whether you hire us or not.
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Without an audit, the work is guessing
The audit is the diagnosis the rest of the work is built from. Without it, an agency is guessing what your firm needs. With it, the order of work is clear, and you can check every finding yourself.
So it comes before any new content, before any Business Profile work and before any outreach. It's the first of the five steps in the Cube30 process.
We publish the full framework for two reasons. Firms running this in-house should be able to use it. And firms hiring an agency deserve to know what a real audit looks like.
Every check. In the open.
Open a group to read its checks. These describe the framework; they are not scores for your firm.
05Architecture checks how the site hangs together
Five checks on structure. Structure problems sit underneath everything else, so they often come early in the fix list. The site structure page explains the rules behind them.
Clear sections
Are practice-area pages, local pages and articles grouped into clear sections, each with a main page at the top?
Links up and down
Does each main page link to every page beneath it, and does each of those link back up? Do links between sections sit on the right pages?
Orphans and dead ends
How many pages have no internal links pointing in, or none pointing out?
Pages competing for one search
How many pages target the same search as a sibling page, so Google has to pick between them?
Web addresses
Are URLs lowercase, hyphenated and descriptive? Do old addresses need redirects?
08On-page checks read every page like a searcher
Eight checks on what each page tells a potential client and Google. The detail is on on-page SEO.
Title tags
Is each title specific to the page, concise and useful, with the topic and firm name clear? Google may choose different wording for the displayed title. How Google chooses title links.
Meta descriptions
Written for that page, not copied across the site, and worth clicking?
Heading order
One main heading per page, section headings beneath it, and no skipped levels?
The call-to-action heading trap
Are headings like “Contact us today” taking slots that should name a real subtopic?
Attorney bios
Full bios with education, admissions and practice areas, and the right structured data?
Link text
Does the wording of internal links tell a reader where they're going, without repeating one keyword?
Images
Alt text that describes the image and descriptive filenames, with no keyword stuffing?
Practice-page depth
Do the main practice pages cover the topic fully enough to answer a potential client?
06Technical checks the base everything stands on
Six checks on the technical base. See technical SEO for how each one gets fixed.
Structured data
Is schema (code that labels the firm, attorneys, services and questions for search engines) present, valid and matching the page?
Core Web Vitals
Do real visits pass Google's thresholds for loading, responsiveness and visual stability?
Mobile use
Is click-to-call visible, are forms usable and is text readable on a phone?
Language versions
If the site runs in more than one language, are hreflang tags set up correctly?
Redirects
Does every retired address redirect to its closest match in one hop, with no chains?
Sitemap and robots
Is a valid sitemap submitted, and is robots.txt leaving important pages open?
06Local checks cover Maps, reviews and listings
Six checks on how you show up nearby. The Google Maps pages go deeper on each.
Business Profile
Do categories describe the actual firm, and are services, photos, contact details and the fields available on the current profile accurate? Google’s profile guidelines.
Reviews
A steady, recent flow of reviews, asked for in a way your bar rules allow?
Map positions
Is there a baseline of where you appear on the map, across your area, for your priority searches?
Listings match
Are listings accurate for the firm and the relevant office or practitioner, with legitimate differences documented?
Local content
Is there content on your state's procedures, and city-specific content where it fits?
Location pages
Do actual offices have useful pages, and do any city pages add distinct information for places you genuinely serve rather than repeating a template? Google’s doorway policy.
03Content checks whether the writing has a plan
Three checks on how content gets made and connected.
Content inventory
Has every page been logged, and have the topic gaps been named? See how mapping works.
Publishing rhythm
Is the firm publishing steadily, and does an attorney review what goes out?
Articles link up
Do supporting articles link up to the practice page they belong to?
02Reporting checks whether results can be counted
Two checks, and they matter more than their number suggests. If the answer to either is no, that fix tends to move up the list, because every other decision depends on it. See how reporting works.
Tracking in place
Can phone and form inquiries keep their source in the firm’s records, and are analytics events checked against real submissions? Business Profile call-button clicks alone do not establish answered calls or signed matters. What Google counts as a call.
Cost per signed case
Can the firm answer this by source, today?
Fails first, partials next, then refine
Each check gets one of three grades: pass, partial or fail. You'll see how many of the 30 pass, but the score isn't the point.
The point is the fix list. Fails come first, partials next, and then we refine what already passes. Within each group, the fixes that clear the way for others go first, which is why structure problems often lead. The order comes from your audit, not a template.
The fix list is yours. Use it with your own team, with another agency or with us.
What you get from the audit
A written report
Every check, its grade and what we found, in plain language.
Your page map
The inventory of your current pages and the topic gaps.
A structure diagram
How your sections and pages should connect.
The prioritized fix list
Fails first, partials next, then refine.
A written plan
What to fix now and what to focus on long term, with honest timelines and clear checkpoints.
Yours to keep
All of it stays with you, whether you hire Rubiks or not.
Before you make the plan.
Do we keep the audit if we don't hire you?
Yes. The report and the fix list are yours to keep, whether you hire us or not.
Can our own team run these checks?
Yes. Every check is published on this page. The harder part is grading honestly and putting the fixes in the right order.
What if we pass most of the checks?
Then the fix list is short and the work moves to refining what already works. That's worth knowing before you spend more.
Why does an SEO audit check reporting?
Because without tracking, nobody can tell which fixes led to signed cases. Signed-case figures come from your own intake records, and the audit checks whether they connect to each source.
The next useful question.
See how this work connects to the rest of your plan.
Start with your firm
Where should your first fix be?
Bring your website, practice areas and market. We’ll start with the 30-point audit and a written order of priorities that you can keep.
Book a FREE Strategy Call