Technical SEO audit for Pepitone Law

Scope


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In early 2025, small business lawyer Dan Pepitone approached me to conduct a professional SEO audit. Based in NYC, his boutique legal practice provides guidance for therapists and private practices, and his online presence was strong—but could be improved. With a history of solid content and high visibility for terms like “PLLC formation,” he wanted a clear-eyed, expert evaluation of his performance and positioning.

What he needed: an audit and an actionable, human-centered SEO strategy that wouldn’t flatten his voice or feel too “marketing-y.”

The scope included:

  • Full technical SEO audit using Screaming Frog
  • Indexing, sitemap, and crawlability review
  • Analysis of top-performing pages & queries
  • Google Business Profile review & optimization guidance
  • Competitive research (mental health law SEO landscape)
  • Style-aware SEO content writing guidelines
  • Walkthroughs, follow-ups, and plain-language deliverables

Tools used

  • Squarespace – Client’s website content management system
  • Screaming Frog SEO Spider – for full-site technical crawl
  • Google Search Console – keyword tracking & diagnostics
  • Google Analytics – user behavior & page-level engagement
  • Google Business Profile – visibility and optimization checks
  • Google Docs + Otter.ai – for documentation and meeting transcripts
  • Plain-language SEO style guide – custom-built for in-house usage

Solution

Rather than overhauling everything at once, I focused on high-impact, sustainable changes that aligned with Dan’s goals: improving visibility for PLLC-related searches, cleaning up site structure, and boosting overall site health without disrupting his clean, professional aesthetic.

Here’s what I tackled:

  • URL & site structure improvements
    • Updated the main blog URL from /guides-law-advice to /legal-guides and implemented 301 redirects to maintain traffic flow.
    • Cleaned up long, clunky blog slugs and replaced them with concise, keyword-relevant URLs (e.g., /legal-guides/new-york-independent-contractor-law).
    • Reviewed sitemap and redirect indexing in Google Search Console to ensure all changes were properly registered.
  • On-page SEO & content refinement
    • Audited and improved H1 title structure sitewide—removing duplicates, shortening overly long titles, and making sure each one was unique and scannable.
    • Ensured every blog post had clear SEO-friendly categories and tags for improved content discoverability.
    • Flagged thin content areas on key pages (especially service/category pages) and offered guidance on where to expand for better relevance.
  • Performance & speed fixes
    • Compressed and re-uploaded key images to reduce load times without losing quality.
    • Investigated Squarespace’s script-heavy backend, which limits speed optimization, and opened a ticket with Squarespace Support to explore options.
    • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) improved dramatically from 10.9s → 3.8s, though some bottlenecks remain due to platform constraints.
  • Technical SEO fixes
    • Identified 404 pages with past traffic and set up 301 redirects to the most relevant current pages, preserving search value and avoiding user drop-off.
    • Created structured breadcrumb navigation across blog pages to improve internal linking, UX, and crawlability.

 

Screenshot of the SEO audit spreadsheet showing site speed issues, indexing status, and technical checks for Pepitone Law.
Core SEO audit results. The initial technical review revealed performance issues on mobile and missing sitemap content — both resolved during implementation.

Results

Implementation for Pepitone Law’s SEO overhaul began in late January 2025 with the setup of Google Search Console and an initial technical audit. Key improvements were rolled out between February and March—including URL cleanup, sitemap resubmission, and site speed enhancements.

Now that we’ve tracked performance for 49 days post-implementation (March 17 – May 4, 2025), the results show strong early momentum:

  • Search visibility for PLLC keywords remained strong, maintaining top-ranking positions for “PLLC formation New York”–related queries.
  • Google Search Console data showed measurable growth:
    • Total clicks increased from 314 to 475 (51.3% increase)
    • Total impressions rose from 20.4K to 32.1K (57.4% increase)
  • Dan now has an SEO-aligned internal content framework. The custom SEO guidelines equip him to edit and publish future blog content confidently—without compromising clarity or tone.

Need SEO results like these? Let’s talk →

Testimonials

Headshot of Dan Pepitone the lead lawyer of Pepitone Law.

Dan Pepitone 🔗

Small Business Lawyer

“This is amazing! Thanks so much, Rocio!”

Year completed

2025

Services

Technical SEO audit

Search visibility analysis

Keyword & content strategy consulting

SEO style guide development

Google Search Console setup & analysis

Google Analytics setup

Category

Project team members

 

Image of Rocio Sanchez of Marketing by Rocio talking on the phone.

Rocio Sanchez
SEO expert

Join other icons and level up your brand

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “As a therapy practice based in New York City, Rocio was a fantastic match for our SEO needs. … It felt like Rocio really wanted to help our company, and delivered very impressive results. … Highly recommend!!!”Nick Fager, Expansive Therapy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Rocio’s SEO audit and implementation work gave my website a real boost—clean, targeted improvements that didn’t compromise my tone or values as a New York City-based lawyer. … Can’t recommend their SEO services enough!”Dan Pepitone, Pepitone Law

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “ After running Queer Social Club (queersocialclub.com) for two years alone, I knew I needed to level up the focus, but was overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start. I decided to hire consultant support from a marketing professional who understood both queer culture AND digital marketing strategy – Rocio was the perfect person for this!”Sarah Crisp, Queer Social Club

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