We rebuilt our own site. Here is the record.
We tell clients to diagnose before they rebuild. This is what it looked like when we followed that advice on our own website: what we had built, where it stopped working for us, how we rebuilt it, and the same Review we run for clients, pointed at ourselves.
thedeadygroup.com
- The situation
- The first version of this site was built in-house on Wix: more than fifty pages, a custom keyword strategy, and over 2,500 internal links, all put together by the founder in the firm's first year. It did its job while the firm was getting started. As the firm grew into advisory work for organizations from $5M to $30M+, the site no longer described what we do, and the platform underneath it set limits we could not work around.
- What the diagnostic found
- Before anything was rebuilt, we scanned the live site the way we scan a client's. Only two of six recommended security headers were present. The served page code had no main heading. No privacy or terms links were detectable. Google's PageSpeed test timed out three times before it finished a run, and when it did, the site scored 40 for performance on mobile, with more than two seconds in which the page could not respond to a tap. Email and domain security were already in good shape, which is worth saying: not every finding is a problem.
- What we did
- Repositioned first, then built. The wording and page structure were settled before any design work began. The new site is hand-built with no third-party code packages, hosted on infrastructure we control, and deployed from a version-controlled repository. The blog was consolidated from 175 posts to 47, with every retired post redirected to the closest surviving one. Every address in the old site's map, 229 in all, was checked against the new one before cutover, so no existing link or search result lands on a dead page.
- Where it stands
- The new site went live on September 29, 2026. The comparison below uses the old site as it was live that morning and the new site on the real domain that evening, measured with the same tools.
- Search visibility, still to come
- Search is the one result a rebuild cannot show on launch day. Search engines have to recrawl the site, and rankings take weeks to settle after that. The starting point is on record: about 15 ranking keywords, most of them for blog topics unrelated to our advisory work, and an estimated 0 to 4 search visits a month (third-party estimates, September 25, 2026). The same measures are re-taken at 30, 60, and 90 days after launch and added here, whichever way they move.
| Check | Previous site | Rebuilt site |
|---|---|---|
| Security headers | FailGrade E, 2 of 6 present | PassAll six, including a content security policy |
| Main page heading | FailNone in the served page code | PassPresent on every page |
| Privacy and terms links | FailNone detected | PassPolicy links in every footer |
| Mobile PageSpeed | FailPerformance 40, accessibility 93; timed out three times first | PassPerformance 99, accessibility 100 |
| Desktop PageSpeed | PoorPerformance 61, accessibility 93 | PassPerformance 100, accessibility 100 |
| Time the page cannot respond (mobile) | Fail2.2 seconds of blocking | PassUnder 0.1 seconds |
| Search visibility | FailAbout 15 ranking keywords, 0 to 4 estimated visits a month | PendingRe-measured at 30, 60, and 90 days |
| AI search readiness | PoorBasic schema and an llms.txt file | PassExpanded schema, llms.txt, AI search crawlers named and allowed |
| SEO basics (PageSpeed) | PoorNot scored: the test did not finish | Pass100 on mobile and desktop |
| Email and domain security | PassSPF, DKIM, DMARC in place | PassSame, plus DNSSEC; retired Wix records removed |
Measured September 29, 2026, with Google PageSpeed Insights and The Deady Group’s passive scan. Rebuilt-site figures are from the live domain on the evening of cutover.
The same Review we run for clients, pointed at ourselves.
Run on September 25, 2026, against the old Wix site, with the same eight categories, anchors, and data sources we use for clients. Every score is published here, including the weak ones. Search and local visibility are re-scored at 90 days, when the new site has had time to be recrawled.
| Category | Old site, September 25 | Rebuilt site, measured at cutover |
|---|---|---|
| Website Performance & Speed | 1.5 / 5 | Mobile performance 99, desktop 100All three Core Web Vitals Good on the live domain |
| SEO & Organic Visibility | 1.5 / 5 | Re-scored at 90 daysScored against named competitors; needs time to move |
| Local Search Visibility | 1.0 / 5 | Re-scored at 90 daysBusiness Profile category and reviews, outside the website |
| Brand & Media Presence | 3.5 / 5 | Re-scored at 90 days |
| Email, Domain & DNS Security | 3.5 / 5 | DNSSEC turned on; retired Wix sending records removedSPF, DKIM, and DMARC unchanged and passing |
| Technology Stack & Infrastructure | 2.0 / 5 | Security headers grade A, six of sixHand-built, version-controlled, deployed from a repository |
| AI Discoverability & Structured Data | 4.5 / 5 | Structured data, llms.txt, and a sitemap live; AI crawlers allowed |
| Governance, Privacy & Accessibility | 4.5 / 5 | Accessibility 100; privacy and terms in every footer |
Overall, old site: 2.75 out of 5, the average of the eight categories. The Review found the back-of-house work (structured data, accessibility, privacy, email authentication) strong and the front of house, the part that brings strangers to the site, barely built. The rebuild addresses the site itself. Search and local visibility take months of content and reviews, and are re-scored on the same anchors at 90 days.
We took our own advice. Here is the proof.
A firm that tells clients to diagnose first should be able to show it did the same. This site went through the three steps we run on yours, in the same order.
- DiagnoseWe ran the full Review on our own Wix site and scored it 2.75 out of 5, weak spots included.
- RebuildWe settled the positioning before any design, then hand-built the site and kept all 229 old addresses working.
- PublishEvery score is on this page, and search results are added at 30, 60, and 90 days.
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