Before You Rewrite for GEO, Make Sure You Own Your Firm’s Website

Becky Livingston’s recent piece, “From SEO to GEO: The Next Evolution of Search for Accounting Firms,” gives firms a clear assignment: rewrite an important service page around the questions clients actually ask. She also reminds readers that “firms still need accessible websites, helpful content, and reliable information.” It is good advice, and a firm can start on it this week.

There is one assumption built into it, though. To rewrite a service page, add headings and restructure content, you need control of the site. Many firms run on a locked template or a vendor site builder that limits what they can change. If that describes your firm, the first step toward GEO is making sure you own the website you are about to rewrite.

This article is a practical checklist for that step: a quick test of ownership, an inventory to take before any move, and a launch-day list a firm administrator can run.

Step 1: Do you own it?

Answer these four questions. If any answer is no, fix that before you start rewriting.

Can you change page structure and URLs? Not just the words on a page, but headings, sections, new pages and page addresses.
Can you export your content? Pages, blog posts, images and files, in a form you could move somewhere else.
Do you control the domain and DNS? The domain registrar account should be in the firm’s name, with login details the firm holds, not only a vendor.
Do you own your analytics and search accounts? Your analytics property and Google Search Console should belong to a firm account, with vendors added as users.

A firm that can say yes to all four can go straight to the GEO rewrite. A firm that can’t should plan a move to a site it owns, and the rest of this checklist keeps that move from costing anything that already works.

Step 2: The pre-move inventory

Most problems after a website move come from something nobody wrote down beforehand. Before anything changes, build a simple spreadsheet with these lists.

Every live URL. Export the sitemap or run a crawl of the current site, so you have every page address, including old blog posts and landing pages that still get visits.
Client portal and payment links. List every place the site links clients to a portal, file exchange, e-signature, scheduling or payment page, and where each link points.
Intake, contact and engagement forms. For each form, note which page it lives on, what fields it collects, and who receives the submission or where it is stored.
Google Business Profile and directory listings. Record every profile and listing that links to your site, and the exact URL it points to. Office location pages matter most here.
Analytics and tags. Note the analytics property, any tag manager container, and any tracking codes for advertising or call tracking.
Top pages by traffic. Pull the pages that bring in the most visits and inquiries from your analytics. These are the pages to protect first.

This inventory doubles as the brief for whoever builds the new site, whether that is your own staff or an outside team.

Step 3: The launch-day checklist

Plan the switch for a quiet time, and keep the current site live until the new one has been reviewed and approved. On launch day, work through this list.

Redirect every old URL. Any page address that changes needs a 301 redirect from the old URL to its new equivalent. Check them against your inventory, not from memory.
Test every form end to end. Submit each one and confirm the message arrives where it should, with all fields intact.
Click every portal and payment link. Confirm each one opens the right destination.
Update listing URLs if they changed. Fix Google Business Profile and directory links so they point to the right pages.
Confirm analytics is recording. Check that visits are being recorded on the new site.
Check page speed and mobile. Load your top pages on a phone and run them through a speed test.
Resubmit your sitemap. Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console (https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7451001) so search engines find the new structure.

Then check again over the following weeks, looking for errors in Search Console and for any drop in form submissions.

Step 4: Now do the GEO rewrite

With a site you control, Livingston’s advice is yours to act on. Pick one important service page and rebuild it around client questions: what the service includes, who it is for, when someone needs it and how the process works, with clear headings and direct answers. Then repeat for the next page.

The rewrite is where the visibility gains come from. Ownership is what makes the rewrite possible

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jonny Martin is the founder of Built Mighty, a Seattle WordPress and WooCommerce agency with more than ten years of experience, and its migration service MightyMigrate.