01 The homepage cycles through a four-image slider before the firm’s "no call centres" promise or any director’s name appears in body copy.
What I saw
The live bryanandmercer.co.uk loads with a four-frame slider built on a 2019-era WordPress slider plugin. Three of the four frames are partner portraits against St Albans red-brick walls; the fourth is the Daniel Spike interior shot. A visitor watches the slider auto-advance for ten seconds before the body copy ever names Shelley Spyrides, Christopher Weeks, Daniel Spike or Socratis Komodromos, or surfaces the firm’s own headline promise that "we do not utilise call centres". The slider is the loudest thing on the homepage and it carries no information.
What the rebuild does about it
After rebuild: no slider. A single static hero names Shelley Spyrides as Managing Director and Christopher Weeks as Head of Wills and Probate in the lede, places the firm at 59 London Road, and translates the "no call centres" promise into a hard guarantee under the H1 (the named solicitor on the file from instruction to completion, with both Heads’ direct dials surfaced). The "Specialists in Property" strapline sits permanently in the wordmark rather than sliding past.
02 Three of the four named directors are never visually introduced above the fold; only Daniel Spike is shown by name with a photo.
What I saw
The Directors tile of Daniel Spike (cropped from the existing slider sequence) is the only place a director is shown with a face and a name on the homepage. Shelley Spyrides (Managing Director, Head of Property), Christopher Weeks (Director, Head of Wills and Probate) and Socratis Komodromos (Director) are not visually surfaced above the fold despite each holding a named role and, in Shelley’s and Christopher’s case, publishing their direct dial and direct email. The firm’s own About-page claim that "all current directors trained within the firm" is the firm’s strongest succession story and is buried two clicks deep.
What the rebuild does about it
After rebuild: a designed four-director card row with each director’s name, role and direct dial (Shelley · 01727 732646 · Property; Christopher · 01727 732645 · Wills and Probate; Daniel · Director; Socratis · Director) and a clear marker on the two directors with published direct-email addresses. The "trained within the firm" succession claim becomes the heritage block, written exactly as the firm publishes it. Photos slot in cleanly once the firm confirms which existing portrait belongs to which director.
03 Footer reads "Copyright 2019" and the schema graph carries no LegalService, no Person record for any director, and no machine-readable trace of the Lexcel or CQS accreditations.
What I saw
The footer renders a static "Copyright 2019" date even though the homepage was last modified 2026-05-18 per the Yoast WebPage schema. The Yoast Organization schema names the firm "Bryan & Mercer", points at the 1920×1280 slider1 JPG as the primary image, and includes a Twitter/X sameAs link. What it does NOT carry: LegalService or Attorney, no Person records for Shelley, Christopher, Daniel or Socratis, no PostalAddress at 59 London Road, no openingHoursSpecification, no hasCredential entries for the Lexcel or CQS accreditations the firm displays on the homepage. A St Albans search for "CQS conveyancing solicitor near me" or an AI assistant asked for "Lexcel-accredited property solicitor AL1" has nothing structured to surface.
What the rebuild does about it
After rebuild: footer renders the current year via JavaScript Date. The page ships a single graph of LegalService + LocalBusiness + Attorney + Person schema with the full 59 London Road postal address, telephone in E.164, openingHoursSpecification (Mon–Fri 09:00–17:00), hasCredential entries for both Lexcel and the Conveyancing Quality Scheme, and a Person record for each of the four named directors. A FAQPage block carries the five real client questions answered on the page. The firm starts appearing in the AL1 queries St Albans people actually type.