The Risky-to-Compliant Swap Worksheet
Convert every now-risky visibility tactic into its earned equivalent in one sitting.
Google did not just name the offense on June 24. The same policy update points straight at the compliant playbook that replaces it. This worksheet pairs eight tactics that now carry demotion risk under the spam policy with the earned move that produces the same visibility without the exposure.
Work down the list, name what your firm currently has in each risky category, write the compliant swap you will make, and assign an owner and due date. Finish this in under an hour and you leave with a one-page remediation plan.
Section 1: Off-Site Placements You Paid For
These are the easiest to audit because they show up in an invoice, not just a search result.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do you currently pay for a spot in any mention network or "featured firm" package? | Y / N - vendor name: ________ |
| How many directories is your firm listed in, and how many of those listings did you actually write yourself vs. a vendor auto-generate? | ________ |
| Have you ever paid, directly or through a package, for a backlink or citation placement? | Y / N - where: ________ |
| Compliant swap for each "Y" above: what earned equivalent will you pursue instead, such as a bar association profile, genuine press mention, or real client's public review? | ________ |
| Owner | ________ |
| Due date | ________ |
Score / Notes: _____ / 3 off-site risks identified. Every "Y" needs a swap before it needs deleting.
Section 2: On-Site Pages Built to Harvest Citations, Not Answer Questions
Pages engineered for AI visibility rather than a real client question are the update's clearest target.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do you have any "Best Immigration Attorneys in [city]" or similar best-of listicle pages, even ones that mention your firm favorably? | Y / N: ________ |
| Do you run scaled comparison pages, such as "Firm X vs. Firm Y," built primarily to rank rather than to genuinely help a prospective client choose? | Y / N: ________ |
| Do you have doorway pages: near-duplicate practice-area pages built for every city or keyword variant rather than one substantive page per real service? | Y / N - count: ________ |
| Compliant swap: which of these becomes one primary-source-cited practice page, citing USCIS, DOL, BIA, or statute directly, or one original firsthand case explainer in your own voice? | ________ |
| Owner | ________ |
| Due date | ________ |
Score / Notes: _____ / 3 on-site risks identified. Name the single page you will rebuild first: ________
Section 3: Social Proof That Is Not Fully Yours
Reviews and "recommendations" are where earned and planted signals look most alike from the outside.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Have you ever solicited, incentivized, or had a vendor place reviews that were not from your own verified clients? | Y / N: ________ |
| Have you or a vendor ever engaged in recommendation poisoning: instructing an AI tool, prompt, or content designed to make a model treat your site as an authority regardless of merit? | Y / N: ________ |
| Compliant swap: which real, recent client outcome can become a named testimonial, with permission, this month? | ________ |
| Compliant swap: which real case can become an original firsthand case explainer, written in your own voice and citing what actually happened? | ________ |
| Owner | ________ |
| Due date | ________ |
Score / Notes: _____ / 2 social-proof risks identified. Circle your honest read: Clean / One to fix / Several to fix.
Section 4: Lock In Ownership and Timing
A swap that has no owner and no date does not happen. This section turns the audit into a plan.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Total risky tactics identified across Sections 1-3 | ________ / 8 |
| Which single swap will you complete first, and why that one? | ________ |
| Who reviews progress on this list, and how often: weekly, biweekly, or monthly? | ________ |
| Target date to have every "Y" above converted to its compliant twin | ________ |
| What does "done" look like: will you re-run this worksheet, or check citations directly in Search Console / Bing Webmaster Tools? | ________ |
Score / Notes: ________________________
Summary / Next Steps
Based on your answers, here are your highest-priority actions.
- Retire your riskiest asset first. Whichever tactic scored highest in exposure, whether paid placement, doorway pages, or planted reviews, pick the single instance causing the most risk and remove or rebuild it this week.
- Publish one earned replacement. A named client testimonial, a firsthand case explainer, or a primary-source-cited practice page. One real swap beats a long list of good intentions.
- Assign an owner to the rest. The remaining items on your list do not need to move this week, but they need a name and a date attached or they will still be sitting here at the next spam update.
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