How this site was built, step by step

We ran cwaaccountants.co.uk through Telperion, the Laurelin Labs audit engine. It crawls every page it can reach, renders each one in a real browser and scores the site against a register of technical, content and AI search checks.

307 checks run

Of the 63 failures, 2 are critical and 16 high, and 24 are specific to AI search. Both critical findings are minor on inspection: an image page that returns an error, and one address that failed a certificate check during the crawl while the home page is secure.

Before a search engine or AI assistant can use a page, it has to separate the content from everything else. On the current site, the cookie plug-in buries the content.

What we could use from 36 pages

Search has changed. When Google shows an AI Overview, the top result loses most of its clicks, so being the source the summary quotes matters as much as ranking.

Share of clicks taken by the first result

US mobile, April to June 2026. Advanced Web Ranking. A Pew panel found the same pattern: 8% of visits clicked a result with an AI summary against 15% without (Pew Research Center).

What the research changed in the build

• Answers written for people. Google removed FAQ drop-downs from results on 7 May 2026 (Google), so the value is the answer itself, written to be quoted.
• Named, qualified authors. Tax is a "Your Money or Your Life" topic, where Google wants to see who wrote the advice (rater guidelines).
• No magic files. Google says llms.txt files "will neither harm nor help" (Google, July 2026); a study of about 300,000 domains found no effect (SE Ranking). Included as a low-cost extra, not sold as a lever.
• Ranking still counts. 38% of AI Overview citations come from pages in the top 10 (Ahrefs).

One page for each service and each office, so every common search has one clear answer, and every current address has somewhere to go.

The concept has 13 service pages, 2 office pages, 6 guides (one for each key date), plus home, about, careers, contact, privacy and the hub pages. The 57 today include 12 image pages and 3 addresses that do not match their content.

Redirect map: 33 current addresses

Every page opens with a short, direct answer to the search that brings people to it, then what is included, the facts with their sources, common questions, and who wrote it.

Structured data on the concept site

No WordPress, no page builder, no plug-ins. Plain pages, two self-hosted fonts and a little script, served from a global network.

Home page download size

Files the browser has to fetch

Measured in Chromium at desktop width on 27 October 2026, uncompressed. Scripts: 957 KB against 35 KB. Images: 2,634 KB against 667 KB. The photos are served at the size each screen needs: on a phone the page is 501 KB.

Google Search Console shows which searches CWA appears for, how often people click and which pages are indexed. Google Analytics 4 shows what visitors do next. Both are set up before launch and linked.

Key events in Google Analytics 4

Reports split by service, office and guide, so CWA can see which pages bring enquiries. A short report each month: searches, visits, enquiries and what to do next.

Consent, done properly

Since 5 February 2026 UK law allows anonymous visitor statistics without a consent pop-up, provided visitors are told and can object (Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, s112; ICO guidance). Anything that tracks individuals still waits for permission, passed to Google through consent mode (Google).

A site only stays useful to search engines and AI assistants if it keeps answering new questions. After launch, Laurelin Labs would draft two guides a month for CWA to review and edit, then publish them.

1. Week onePick the topicChosen from what CWA's clients search for, and timed to the next key date.
2. Week oneLaurelin Labs drafts itAnswer first, with its title, description, sources and structured data done.
3. Week twoCWA reviews and editsYour accountant checks the advice, adds their experience and puts their name to it.
4. ThenLaurelin Labs publishesLinked from the right service pages and submitted to Google the same day.
5. MonthlyMeasure what it earnedSearches, clicks and enquiries for each guide, in the monthly report.

Led by search demand

Topics come from the keyword research Laurelin Labs ran on CWA's market: 1,421 searches, how often each is made, and in which months. The first year runs from Self Assessment help in December to Making Tax Digital before April and Companies House in the summer, each guide live a month before its searches peak.