Published November 7, 2026 · Updated November 7, 2026
In February 2025 I audited the website of Varela Law, a Houston immigration and family law firm, as a short project of about 7 to 10 days. The firm does not practice estate planning, but attorney websites tend to share the same problems, so here is what I found and how you can check your own.
Key takeaways
- Real audit: Varela Law, Houston (immigration and family law), February 2025, about 7 to 10 days.
- Eight issues were found, mostly small one-time fixes in metadata, headings, images, canonical, schema, and sitemap.
- Four things were already working: mobile, speed, HTTPS, and healthy links.
- This note describes an audit and its fixes, not a ranking result.
The Short Version
The Varela Law website was fast, secure, and mobile friendly. The problems were in how the site described itself to search engines, including its metadata, headings, image descriptions, canonical signal, structured data, and sitemap. Most were small, one-time fixes, and the table below lists each finding with why it matters and the fix.
| Finding | What the audit found | Why it matters | Recommended fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta description is too long | Over 700 characters on the homepage. Search results usually show only part of a long description. | The key message may be cut off or replaced in search results. | Rewrite it as a concise summary naming the practice area, the city, and who the firm helps. |
| Six H1 headings on one page | The homepage had six H1 tags. A single main heading is the clearer convention. | It can make the page’s main topic less clear to visitors and to tools that read headings. | Keep one clear H1 and turn the rest into H2 or H3 subheadings. |
| Images without alt text | 42 images had no alt text. | Without alt text, search engines and screen readers have no text description of what the images show. | Add a short, plain description to each meaningful image. |
| No canonical tag | The homepage did not declare its preferred version. | It makes it less clear which version of the page the site prefers. | Add a canonical tag to the homepage. |
| www and non-www not unified | Both versions of the address loaded separately. | Search engines may treat them as separate versions of the site. | Redirect every version to one primary address. |
| No Open Graph tags | Shared links on LinkedIn or Facebook showed no proper preview. | A missing preview can make shared links less informative. | Add Open Graph tags. |
| No LegalService or LocalBusiness schema | No structured data described the site as a law firm. | Search engines had less explicit information about practice areas and location. | Add LegalService and LocalBusiness schema in JSON-LD. |
| No XML sitemap or update signals | The site had no XML sitemap listing its pages and last-modified dates. | A sitemap helps search engines discover pages. It does not guarantee crawling or indexing. | Create and submit an XML sitemap with last-modified dates. |
What Was Already Working
Four things were already working well on the Varela Law site: it was mobile responsive and fast, secure, had healthy links, and used keywords sensibly in titles and descriptions. Recording what already works matters because it shows where not to spend effort, and it keeps the audit proportionate to the problems found.
- Mobile responsive and fast to load
- Secure (HTTPS) and clean code
- Healthy internal and external links
- Solid keyword use in titles and descriptions
How to Check Your Own Website for These Eight Issues
You can run all eight checks from a browser without special software. View the page source or inspect the page, look for each item below, and write down what you find with the date. A missing item is a question to investigate, not automatic proof of a problem.
- H1 count. Search the page source for “<h1” and count the results.
- Meta description. Find
name="description"in the source and read how long it is. - Image alt text. Inspect the meaningful images and check that each has a short description.
- Canonical tag. Search the source for
rel="canonical". - www and non-www. Type both versions of the address and see whether one redirects to the other.
- Open Graph tags. Search the source for
og:titleandog:image. - Structured data. Search the source for
application/ld+json. - XML sitemap. Open
/sitemap.xmlor/sitemap_index.xmlon your domain.
What This Means for an Estate Planning Firm
An estate planning firm can apply the same checks to its own website without assuming it has the same problems. Look at the main heading, description, structured data, and sitemap on each important page. The points below are general website practices, not a promise of ranking or inquiry results.
- One clear H1 per page. A page about trusts should have one main heading about trusts, not six competing ones.
- A concise, specific description. Say the practice area, the city, and who you help, and expect search engines to shorten or rewrite it sometimes.
- Describe the firm in structured data. LegalService and LocalBusiness schema describe the firm, its services, and its location in a form search engines can read. It does not guarantee any search feature.
- List your pages in a sitemap. An XML sitemap with last-modified dates helps search engines discover new and updated pages. It does not guarantee crawling or indexing.
What I Am Not Claiming
This post describes an audit and the work that followed, not a ranking result. I do not have dated numbers for this firm that I would stand behind, so I am not publishing one. Anything beyond the documented work below would go further than the evidence supports.
I worked with the firm’s team on metadata, headings, image alt text, canonical tags, redirect consistency, and schema. The firm’s own recommendation is on my LinkedIn profile. See more real audit excerpts.
Questions About These Audit Findings
These answers cover the findings in the table above in plain terms. Each gives the short answer first and states the limit: a fix improves how clearly a site describes itself, but search engines decide what to display, so none of these changes guarantees rankings, rich results, or more inquiries.
How many H1 tags should a page have?
A single main heading is the clearer convention. Use one H1 that names the page topic and turn the rest into H2 or H3 subheadings.
How long should a meta description be?
Search results usually show only part of a long description, so write a concise summary naming the practice area, the city, and who the firm helps. Search engines may still rewrite it.
Does missing alt text matter?
Alt text gives search engines and screen readers a text description of an image. Without it they have less to go on, so add a short, plain description to each meaningful image.
Does an XML sitemap guarantee indexing?
No. A sitemap helps search engines discover pages and last-modified dates, but it does not guarantee crawling or indexing.
Does LegalService schema guarantee a rich result?
No. LegalService and LocalBusiness schema describe the firm, its services, and its location in a form search engines can read, but they do not guarantee any search feature.
Want This Check Run on Your Firm’s Page?
Start with a free one-page review of your public Google Business Profile, delivered by email. No account access is needed, and you can decide afterward whether to discuss separate paid work.
Request a Free ReviewEditorial note: This article shares a working method and general information about website practices. It is not legal advice, and it does not promise rankings or inquiries. Examples marked hypothetical are illustrations, not real client results.
Keep reading
- How I Classify One Estate-Planning Search Query Before Touching the Website
- Google Business Profile Checklist for Estate Planning Firms
- Local SEO Audit for Estate Planning Law Firms
About the author
Sohanur Rahman · Local SEO specialist · Jashore, Bangladesh
My hands-on work includes law firm website SEO and Local SEO support, with examples attributed to their original practice areas and industries. I work remotely and I do not claim a U.S. office or team.