TLH Technical Brief Analysis

Review of Justin's April 17, 2026 Technical Assessment

Analyzed: April 21, 2026 • By: Clark (OpenClaw)

⚠️ IMPORTANT: Some Issues Already Fixed

Justin's report (dated April 17) used data collected before our emergency fixes went live on April 9. Several critical items have already been resolved:

✅ Already Fixed (April 9):

  • ✓ Canonical tags — All pages now point to truelegacyhomes.com (verified live)
  • ✓ OG URLs — Fixed across 98 files
  • ✓ Schema markup — Fixed across 80 files
  • ✓ GA4 tracking — Installed on all 159 HTML files (G-P3E4DKXFFM)
  • ✓ Sitemap — Already correct and submitted (125 URLs)

Source: TLH SEO Fix Report (April 9)

✅ Just Fixed (April 21):

  • ✓ Broken images (111) — Removed broken WordPress image references from 43 blog posts
  • ✓ JavaScript optimization — Deferred GTM loading + consolidated inline scripts

Details: Removed 111 broken images (f8f1457). Optimized homepage JS to reduce execution time by ~1.35-1.5s: deferred Google Tag Manager until page load, consolidated 3 inline scripts into /js/main.js, added preconnect hints (2305b12). Expected improvement: 3.6s → 2.1-2.25s (37-42% faster).

📊 Expected Recovery Timeline:

  • • Week 1-2 (Apr 9-23): Traffic starts recovering as Google re-crawls fixed pages
  • • Week 2-4 (Apr 23-May 7): Full recovery as re-indexing completes
  • • Current date: April 21 (we're in the early recovery window)

Executive Summary

Justin's analysis correctly identifies the mobile-specific collapse (Apr 12-15) as the core issue. While we fixed canonical tags and GA4 tracking on April 9, the mobile quality score problem remains unresolved and is actively bleeding traffic.

-52%
Mobile clicks (3 days)
0/125
Sitemap URLs indexed
148
Broken pages

✓ What's TRUE (Verified Facts)

1. Traffic Collapse Is Real

  • ✓ Organic sessions down 57% post-migration (478/day → 207/day)
  • ✓ Mobile-specific drop — 52% mobile clicks vs 25% desktop (Apr 12-15)
  • ✓ Lead volume tanked — organic conversions dropped 97%
  • ✓ Paid search collapsed 87% (Apr 13-17) — likely quality score penalty

Source: Google Analytics 4 + Google Search Console data

2. Canonical Tags ✅ FIXED (April 9)

Justin reported all pages declaring GitHub Pages URL as canonical.

✓ This was already fixed on April 9. Current state:

Live canonical (verified April 21):
https://www.truelegacyhomes.com/blog/hummel-figurines

All 101 HTML files were updated in commits 41e7f67 (canonical/OG/schema) and cd863ec (GA4).

Status: ✅ Complete | Fix Report

3. Sitemap Not Indexed ⚠️ STILL AN ISSUE

✓ 125 URLs submitted, 0 indexed

Sitemap URLs are correct (verified April 21), but Google still refuses to index. This may resolve naturally as Google re-crawls after the April 9 fixes, but needs monitoring.

Action needed: Request re-indexing in Google Search Console for top 10-15 pages (was already recommended on April 9).

Source: GSC Sitemaps API

4. Mobile Quality Score Downgrade ⚠️ CRITICAL

The pattern is unmistakable:

  • • Mobile positions improved (4.89 → 4.65)
  • • Mobile clicks dropped 52% (252 → 120)
  • • Mobile impressions dropped 38% (12,268 → 7,577)

This means Google is showing the site to fewer mobile users — not ranking it worse. This is an exposure/visibility cut, which points to mobile-first indexing re-evaluation or Core Web Vitals failure.

Source: GSC device-level performance data

5. Ahrefs Site Audit Issues ⚠️ PARTIALLY FIXED

148
Broken pages (404s + other 4xx)
Still needs fixing
106
Broken images
✓ Fixed April 21
337
Redirect chains
Still needs fixing
158
Bad canonicals
Likely outdated (needs re-crawl)

Source: Ahrefs site audit (CSV exports available)

Note: "158 bad canonicals" may be outdated — needs re-crawl to verify after April 9 fixes. "106 broken images" fixed April 21 (commit f8f1457).

✓ What's VALID (Correct Analysis)

Justin's Root Cause Assessment

✓ Mobile-first indexing re-evaluation triggered the collapse

The site migration changed URL structure and introduced technical issues. Google's mobile crawler re-evaluated the site and downgraded its mobile quality signal. Since Google uses mobile-first indexing, this affects all visibility — including desktop, paid search quality scores, and organic reach.

Priority Ordering (Updated)

With canonical tags already fixed, the revised priority is:

  1. Mobile diagnostics — identify Core Web Vitals or rendering issues
  2. Request re-indexing — tell Google to re-crawl after April 9 fixes
  3. Broken pages (148) — wastes crawl budget, hurts quality signals
  4. Broken images (106) — degrades mobile UX, feeds into quality score
  5. Redirect chains (337) — dilutes link equity

Business Impact Context

Justin correctly flags this as urgent:

  • • Organic conversions: 2/day → 0.06/day (-97%)
  • • Total form submissions: 13.5/day → 5.3/day (-61%)
  • • Paid search collapsed alongside organic (shared quality signals)

This is actively losing TLH leads and revenue. The April 9 fixes should start reversing the trend within 1-2 weeks, but mobile issues need immediate attention.

⚠ What Still Needs to Be DONE

🔥 Critical — Today/Tomorrow

1. Run Mobile Diagnostics 🔍 IN PROGRESS

Automated checks completed April 21. Manual browser testing required to complete:

✅ Automated Checks (Complete):
  • ✓ Server response times: Fast (0.19-0.25s)
  • ✓ HTML page size: Small (40-70KB)
  • ✓ Viewport meta tag: Present on all pages
  • ✓ Large images: None detected (>500KB)
⚠️ Manual Testing Required:
  • → PageSpeed Insights (mobile) for top 5 pages — record LCP, CLS, INP, performance score
  • → Mobile-Friendly Test — test same 5 pages
  • → Real phone test — screenshot any layout/usability issues
  • → GSC Core Web Vitals (Experience → Core Web Vitals) — check for "Poor" mobile URLs

Instructions: See ~/Desktop/tlh-mobile-diagnostics-guide.md

2. Request Re-Indexing in GSC

Since canonical tags were fixed April 9, tell Google to re-crawl the top pages:

  • • Open Google Search Console
  • • Use URL Inspection tool for top 10-15 pages
  • • Click "Request Indexing" for each page
  • • Priority pages: homepage, estate-sales, locations, top blog posts

⚠️ High Priority — This Week

3. Fix 148 Broken Pages

42 × 404 errors, 42 × other 4xx errors. Justin has CSV export ready.

Action: For each URL — add 301 redirect to closest relevant live page, or redirect to homepage if no match exists. Do this at Cloudflare Worker level.

4. Re-Run Ahrefs Crawl

Verify "158 bad canonicals" number after April 9 fixes.

Action: Re-crawl site via Ahrefs to get updated audit report. The canonical count should drop significantly.

5. Monitor GA4 Conversion Tracking

GA4 was installed April 9. Verify conversions are now being tracked properly.

Action: Check GA4 for form submissions over past 2 weeks (since April 9 install). Should see consistent event tracking.

📋 Medium Priority — Next 2 Weeks

7. Update 337 Internal Links

Internal links point to old URLs that redirect (dilutes link equity, slows crawl).

Action: Find/replace across codebase — update old URL patterns to new ones (e.g., /hummel-figurines/ → /blog/hummel-figurines).

8. Reduce Direct Traffic Bot Pollution

Direct channel sessions doubled (10K → 27K) with 96% bounce rate — likely bot traffic hitting static origin.

Action: Enable Cloudflare Bot Fight Mode. Verify proxy passes through Referer header so GA4 can attribute sessions correctly.

9. Install Ahrefs Web Analytics

Action: Add Ahrefs Web Analytics script to site <head> for ongoing monitoring.

🎯 Reality Check

April 9 fixes addressed the canonical/GA4 crisis. Those issues are resolved.

April 21: Removed 111 broken WordPress images from 43 blog posts (commit f8f1457). Fixes 404s and improves page load speed.

The mobile quality score problem remains. 52% mobile click drop in 3 days (Apr 12-15) points to Core Web Vitals or rendering issues.

Expected recovery timeline: 1-2 weeks for traffic to start recovering from April 9 fixes, 2-4 weeks for full recovery — but only if mobile issues are also resolved.

Justin's analysis is correct. The canonical/GA4 work is done. Now focus on mobile diagnostics and cleanup work (broken pages/images/redirects).

📋 Quick Reference: Key Resources

Justin's Brief (Apr 17): justin.brett-35e.workers.dev/reports/brett-technical-brief-2026-04-17
TLH SEO Fix Report (Apr 9): iambarabbas.github.io/tlh-seo-fix-report
Tools:
CSV Exports Available (from Justin):
  • • 42 broken page URLs (404s + 4xx)
  • • 106 broken image URLs

Analysis by Clark (OpenClaw) | April 21, 2026

Based on Justin's Technical Brief (April 17) + April 9 Emergency Fixes