The Brand Index
Eight advisor websites, scored the way your next client scores yours. The average grade was 42 percent.
Eight advisor websites, scored the way your next client scores yours. The average grade was 42 percent.
Eight advisor websites, scored the way your next client scores yours. The average grade was 42 percent.
Your next client runs this exact audit in their head in the first thirty seconds on your site. They just never create a scorecard. The Brand Index does: five axes, scored one to five, from the live site alone. No calls, no context, no benefit of the doubt. These are the numbers so far.
Your next client runs this exact audit in their head in the first thirty seconds on your site. They just never create a scorecard. The Brand Index does: five axes, scored one to five, from the live site alone. No calls, no context, no benefit of the doubt. These are the numbers so far.
Scored by a former advisor. Firms never named. Updated as the Index grows.
The scores
How did eight advisor websites score?
How did eight advisor websites score?
How did eight advisor websites score?
Clarity
Clarity
Can a stranger tell who you serve in seconds
Can a stranger tell who you serve in seconds
Differentiation
Differentiation
Could a competitor paste your headline onto their site
Could a competitor paste your headline onto their site
Proof
Proof
Do you show trust or just claim it
Do you show trust or just claim it
Narrative
Narrative
Do you sound like your clients or like your industry
Do you sound like your clients or like your industry
Conversion
Conversion
Is there one obvious next step
Is there one obvious next step
Eight firms scored to date. Average total: 10.5 of 25. Seven of eight scored below 60 percent. Select an axis to see what the eight sites did and how to fix it.
What the numbers say
What do the numbers say?
What do the numbers say?
What do the numbers say?
The thing that makes you different is the thing your site says last.
The thing that makes you different is the thing your site says last.
Differentiation scored lowest of the five axes, and five of the eight firms scored the minimum. Not because the firms are the same. Because the sites are. On site after site the real edge, a tax-first model, a trademarked process, two decades of one specialty, sits one scroll down or in a footnote while the hero says what every firm says. Advisors describe the problem in almost the same words every time: the vision is clear, it is putting it into words that never happens.
Differentiation scored lowest of the five axes, and five of the eight firms scored the minimum. Not because the firms are the same. Because the sites are. On site after site the real edge, a tax-first model, a trademarked process, two decades of one specialty, sits one scroll down or in a footnote while the hero says what every firm says. Advisors describe the problem in almost the same words every time: the vision is clear, it is putting it into words that never happens.
Seven of eight sites never say who they serve above the fold.
Seven of eight sites never say who they serve above the fold.
Your next client decides in seconds whether this is for them. On seven of these eight sites, the answer never appears where they look. Mood lines, mottos, portraits, and buildings above the fold. The audience, one scroll later. The prospect is gone before the site gets to the point.
Your next client decides in seconds whether this is for them. On seven of these eight sites, the answer never appears where they look. Mood lines, mottos, portraits, and buildings above the fold. The audience, one scroll later. The prospect is gone before the site gets to the point.
Credentials everywhere. Clients nowhere.
Credentials everywhere. Clients nowhere.
Not one firm scored above 3 of 5 on Proof. The raw material is real: decades in practice, national press, offices, professional marks. What is missing is the client. Five of eight sites contain no client voice at all. Not one testimonial, not one outcome, not one sentence from the people the firm serves. A prospect is not asking whether you are credentialed. They are asking who already trusts you with real money.
Not one firm scored above 3 of 5 on Proof. The raw material is real: decades in practice, national press, offices, professional marks. What is missing is the client. Five of eight sites contain no client voice at all. Not one testimonial, not one outcome, not one sentence from the people the firm serves. A prospect is not asking whether you are credentialed. They are asking who already trusts you with real money.
The one exception proves the rule.
The one exception proves the rule.
One firm scored 19 of 25, six points clear of the next firm and eight and a half above the field average. Not better designed. Better positioned: a filed-down niche, an explicit anti-persona, language no competitor could borrow. When a firm knows exactly who it serves, every other score rises with it. Positioning is the multiplier.
One firm scored 19 of 25, six points clear of the next firm and eight and a half above the field average. Not better designed. Better positioned: a filed-down niche, an explicit anti-persona, language no competitor could borrow. When a firm knows exactly who it serves, every other score rises with it. Positioning is the multiplier.
Try it on your own site.
Try it on your own site.
Open your homepage and cover the logo. If what is left could belong to any firm in your category, you already know your Differentiation score. The audit tells you the other four.
Open your homepage and cover the logo. If what is left could belong to any firm in your category, you already know your Differentiation score. The audit tells you the other four.
The technical layer
The SEO boxes are checked. The message is missing.
The SEO boxes are checked. The message is missing.
The SEO boxes are checked. The message is missing.
The same eight homepages, through the checks a machine runs.
The same eight homepages, through the checks a machine runs.
Meta Descriptions
8 / 8
All eight have meta descriptions. The plugins did their job.
All eight have meta descriptions. The plugins did their job.
FAQ Schema
0 / 8
Zero of eight have FAQ schema. Not one site answers a question in a form Google or an AI assistant can lift, and getting found in search and AI runs through exactly that.
Zero of eight have FAQ schema. Not one site answers a question in a form Google or an AI assistant can lift, and getting found in search and AI runs through exactly that.
Single H1
3 / 8
Only three of eight have a single H1. One site has no H1 or H2 at all. Another has twelve fighting on one page.
Only three of eight have a single H1. One site has no H1 or H2 at all. Another has twelve fighting on one page.
Image Alt Text
32%
32 percent of homepage images carry no alt text.
32 percent of homepage images carry no alt text.
The Exception
19 / 25
The firm that scored 19 of 25 on positioning has alt text on all ten of its homepage images.
The firm that scored 19 of 25 on positioning has alt text on all ten of its homepage images.
One advisor said the fear out loud: the website does not get us clients, it simply gets us clicks. This is how that happens. The tools grade the checklist. Your next client grades the message. These eight sites pass the robot test and fail the human one.
One advisor said the fear out loud: the website does not get us clients, it simply gets us clicks. This is how that happens. The tools grade the checklist. Your next client grades the message. These eight sites pass the robot test and fail the human one.
The method
How were the sites scored?
How were the sites scored?
How were the sites scored?
Five axes, one to five each, scored from the live website alone, by a former advisor who has sat on your side of the table. The test at the center is Cover Your Logo: if the page could belong to any firm in the category, it fails. Firms are never named. The Index grows as more firms are scored, and these numbers update with it.
Five axes, one to five each, scored from the live website alone, by a former advisor who has sat on your side of the table. The test at the center is Cover Your Logo: if the page could belong to any firm in the category, it fails. Firms are never named. The Index grows as more firms are scored, and these numbers update with it.
Eight firms scored so far. Last updated October 2, 2026.
Where does your site land?
Where does your site land?
Where does your site land?
Eight firms found out. The same audit, free, for independent advisory firms: send your URL and get your five scores plus the fixes that move them, inside a week. No call required.
Eight firms found out. The same audit, free, for independent advisory firms: send your URL and get your five scores plus the fixes that move them, inside a week. No call required.
Next
Cover your logo. Could your homepage belong to the firm down the street?
Cover your logo. Could your homepage belong to the firm down the street?
Cover your logo. Could your homepage belong to the firm down the street?
Show me where I stand
30 minutes. I’ll walk you through what prospects see and where they drop off.
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