The thesis1 / 10
The thesis

The brand wins its own name and loses the category.

Brand dominancePosition 3 for 'the belroy hotel' (3,600/mo), position 1 for menu queries, 899 reviews at 4.1 stars.
Category leakageRivals hold positions 2 and 3 for 'hotel st leonards' and 'st leonards tavern' - searches that outvolume the brand terms combined.
Mobile blackoutMobile homepage paints its largest element at 23.8s. Most phone visitors quit before the menu renders.
Today
58%
baseline
→
After all moves
76%
projected
AI Discovery

thebelroyhotel.com.au has Organization schema, live GBP presence, and ranked keyword coverage - it just isn't recommended when buyers ask AI engines about its core category.

Query Claude + Web SearchGoogle AI OverviewsGemini Monthly searches
best pubs in st leonards sydney✓✓✕320 searches
pubs near st leonards sydney✓✓✕
quiet pubs st leonards sydney✓✓✕320 searches
best pubs in st leonards with food and drinks✓✓✕320 searches
where to stay near st leonards hotel accommodations✕✕✕2,400 searches
Target cited in 8 of 15 probes (53.3%).
The diagnosis3 / 10
The diagnosis

Three named causes explain every finding in this audit.

The venue wins its own name but cedes the category to two rivals.

SEARCH-001SEARCH-002ONPAGE-001ONPAGE-002
The Belroy ranks in the top 3 for 21 branded queries and captures A$1,094/mo in equivalent traffic value on 'the belroy hotel' alone. But the higher-volume category searches - 'hotel st leonards' (1,600/mo, pos 19), 'st leonards tavern' (1,900/mo, pos 13), 'st leonards hotel' (2,400/mo, pos 8) - are being captured by hotelstleonards.com.au (pos 2) and stleonardstavern.com.au (pos 3). The intersection data shows rivals pulling roughly 1,100 monthly clicks that could route to The Belroy. The category is being lost because The Belroy's homepage and page titles lean on the brand name instead of the category language.

Google and AI assistants cannot see the reputation the venue has earned.

SCHEMA-001SCHEMA-002SCHEMA-003AI-001
The site ships LocalBusiness schema on every page, but the markup is empty - no name, no phone, no opening hours, no aggregate rating. The venue has 899 Google reviews averaging 4.1 stars (721 at 4+ stars), but none of that reputation appears in Google's search results as a star rating, and AI assistants citing St Leonards venues name St Leonards Tavern, Gilroys Hotel, and Famish Hotel in 3 of 5 probe queries while missing The Belroy. The knowledge graph has no entity for the venue. This is a markup gap, not a reputation gap - the reputation exists; Google just cannot read it from the website.

Most mobile visitors quit the homepage before the menu renders.

CWV-001CWV-002CWV-003IMG-001
Lighthouse mobile LCP is 23.8 seconds - the largest image on the homepage takes nearly 25 seconds to appear on a phone. Time-to-interactive is 24.7 seconds. Mobile performance score is 34/100. Desktop LCP is 1.1 seconds, so the problem is phone-specific: oversized hero media (6.5 MB page weight), unused CSS (176 KiB), and 1,139 KiB of unused JavaScript. Since 60%+ of pub/restaurant discovery happens on mobile, most first-time phone visitors abandon before the page becomes usable. This wastes every ranking above it.
Move 1 of 44 / 10
Move 1 of 4

Fix the mobile homepage speed so phone visitors see the menu

Why this matters: Lighthouse mobile LCP is 23.8 seconds on the homepage, time-to-interactive 24.7s, total page weight 6.5 MB.
◆ Problem
Lighthouse mobile LCP is 23.8 seconds on the homepage, time-to-interactive 24.7s, total page weight 6.5 MB.
→
▶ Action
  1. Replace the hero video with a compressed image under 200 KB
  2. Convert all homepage images to WebP format
  3. Add preload hint to the main hero image
  4. Strip unused plugins and scripts from the site
→
✓ Verify
Run PageSpeed Insights on the homepage and confirm mobile Performance score above 70, load time under 2.5 seconds, and total page weight under 2 MB.
→
★ Outcome
Mobile homepage load time drops from 23.8s to under 2.5s, verified in PageSpeed Insights

Full spec → report §Detailed Evidence

Move 2 of 45 / 10
Move 2 of 4

Put the 899 reviews into Google's search results as a star rating

Why this matters: The site ships LocalBusiness structured data on every page, but the markup is empty - no name, no address, no phone, no opening hours, no aggregate rating, no menu link.
◆ Problem
The site ships LocalBusiness structured data on every page, but the markup is empty - no name, no address, no phone, no opening hours, no aggregate rating, no menu link.
→
▶ Action
  1. Replace the empty structured data with a complete pub schema block
  2. Include the 899 reviews and 4.1 star rating in the site's code
  3. Add address, phone, hours, and menu link to the data
  4. Validate every page passes Google's Rich Results Test
→
✓ Verify
Open Google Rich Results Test and paste each of the 6 primary URLs.
→
★ Outcome
Google displays the 4.1 star rating and '899 reviews' badge on search results for branded queries within 28 days

Full spec → report §Detailed Evidence

Move 3 of 46 / 10
Move 3 of 4

Rewrite the homepage and key page titles to win category searches

Why this matters: The homepage title is 'The Belroy Hotel - Your St Leonards Local'.
◆ Problem
The homepage title is 'The Belroy Hotel - Your St Leonards Local'.
→
▶ Action
  1. Change homepage title to include 'St Leonards Hotel' and 'Restaurant'
  2. Rewrite H1 from 'WELCOME TO' to something that names the venue and category
  3. Add an opening paragraph that uses the category words naturally
  4. Apply the same pattern to the menu and about page headings
→
✓ Verify
Check the homepage in Google Search Console URL Inspection tool.
→
★ Outcome
'Hotel st leonards' (1,600/mo) climbs from position 19 toward the first page within 90 days, tracked in Google Search Console

Full spec → report §Detailed Evidence

Move 4 of 47 / 10
Move 4 of 4

Rewrite the functions page to win event venue searches

Why this matters: The /functions page has a 391-character meta description (double the ideal), no matching signal for the function-venue category, and does not rank in the top 20 for any relevant event query.
◆ Problem
The /functions page has a 391-character meta description (double the ideal), no matching signal for the function-venue category, and does not rank in the top 20 for any relevant event query.
→
▶ Action
  1. Rewrite the functions page title to name St Leonards and 'function venue'
  2. Shorten the meta description to 155 characters with booking info
  3. Structure the page with clear headings for capacity, catering, event types
  4. Add a FAQ block with common venue booking questions
→
✓ Verify
Search Google for 'function venue st leonards' on a phone in incognito mode.
→
★ Outcome
Functions page ranks in top 20 for 'function venue st leonards' within 60 days, tracked in GSC

Full spec → report §Detailed Evidence

Why this order8 / 10
Why this order

Speed first: no schema, review, or content work matters if mobile phones abandon the homepage before it renders.

STEP 1
Fix the mobile homepage speed so phone visitors see the menu
→
STEP 2
Put the 899 reviews into Google's search results as a star rating
→
STEP 3
Rewrite the homepage and key page titles to win category searches
→
STEP 4
Rewrite the functions page to win event venue searches
MOVE-001 (speed) runs first and alone - it unlocks every downstream move because rank improvements mean nothing if phone visitors bounce on load. MOVE-003 (schema) runs in parallel with MOVE-001 because it's independent code work; it produces the earliest customer-visible signal (stars in search results). MOVE-002 (category titles) follows the speed fix so Google recrawls a fast, reoptimised page. MOVE-004 (functions rewrite) is last because it's the most expensive in staff hours, and it benefits from inheriting the structural fixes the first three moves install.
What you'll see if done9 / 10
What you'll see if done

Within 90 days, The Belroy is visible on the phone searches that bring first-time visitors into the pub.

Day 30 (early signals)
Homepage loads fast enough on mobile that users actually see the menu
899 reviews appear as a star rating in Google search results for the brand
Day 60 (visible wins)
Category searches like 'hotel st leonards' climb from position 19 toward the first page
The functions page appears in Google search for event-venue queries in St Leonards
Day 90 (compounding)
New cover bookings arrive from searches that never used to see The Belroy
AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Google) name The Belroy for Sunday roast, sports, and function queries
DAY 0
DAY 30
DAY 60
DAY 90
What happens next10 / 10
What happens next
The 4 moves to run
  1. 1Fix the mobile homepage speed so phone visitors see the menu
  2. 2Put the 899 reviews into Google's search results as a star rating
  3. 3Rewrite the homepage and key page titles to win category searches
  4. 4Rewrite the functions page to win event venue searches

Hand this pack to your team and run the sprint.

Cost of inactionEvery week, roughly 1,200 St Leonards searchers on category terms like 'hotel st leonards' and 'st leonards tavern' click a rival instead. The 4.1-star reputation the venue has earned across 899 reviews does no visibility work because Google cannot see it in the site's markup.
taussig