Erica Neely has 121 days to turn proof into the official AD9 story.
Critical.
Headline 14/100 is the sum of ten Digital Readiness dimensions (28/200 points), computed from the measurable panels and check rows in this report, not a separate manual estimate. Early voting opens in 104 days. Depth sections feed their mapped dimensions via weighted blends documented in this report. The Failure Surfaces table flags Critical/High exposures tied to evidence in this report. The Failure Surfaces table flags 5 Critical/High exposures tied to evidence in this report.
- Pass earns points on status-check sections. Open gap, Fail, and Not verified earn 0.
- On-Page Integrity uses a defect ledger: open issues remove points until signals clear on a future pass.
- Performance and Technical: low-weight baseline tier (max ~5/20) plus discipline tier (Pass only).
- Yellow pills are diagnostic labels, not partial credit.
Failure surfaces
General-election campaigns rarely lose on enthusiasm. They lose on the surfaces below: search, press, AI, measurement, and brand defense coming unglued at once. Each row is tied to evidence elsewhere in this report.
Integrity Agency & Nexcite is built to own these surfaces as one team: not a list of vendor tickets, but one calendar that closes comparison search, press readiness, machine legibility, and proof of what moved voters and donors.
5 surfaces rate Critical or High on this pass. Each maps to measurable rows later in this report.
| Failure surface | What competitive campaigns measure | Observed (this audit) | Evidence in report | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comparison search | Owned contrast + race URLs in top 10 on decide queries | 0/4 contrast intents with owned top 10; Ballotpedia / Hampton hold page 1 | Keywords · Compete | Critical |
| Election clock (metadata) | 0 money pages indexed with the wrong cycle year | About meta description still 2024 (curl confirmed) | On-Page · Keywords | Critical |
| Voter decide path | /vote or equivalent 200 with dates and NVSOS links | /vote 404; donate works via Anedot only | Compete · Conversion | Critical |
| Press under fire | Predictable /press or /press-kit 200 before October | /press, /press-kit, /media all 404 | Compete · Crisis | Critical |
| AI legibility | llms.txt or equivalent plus documented crawler policy | llms.txt 404; major AI bots disallowed in robots.txt | AEO · Technical | High |
| Cross-channel entity | sameAs, footer links, and handle naming aligned to domain | Social active; site entity links and UTM standard fail or unverified | Social · Brand SERP | High |
| Geo / district intent | Owned answers for AD9 map + where-to-vote queries | District page live; voter hub missing; geo queries not owned | Local · Keywords | High |
| Proof of performance | GA4/GTM plus donation UTMs verified in source or GTM | No GA4/GTM in homepage source string search this pass | Tracking | High |
| Brand SERP defense | Stale guide residue removed; sitelinks monitored | 2024 voter-guide context still competes with 2026 story | Brand SERP | Medium |
Executive Summary
Erica Neely's digital presence is warmer than empty, but it is still losing the upstream conversation.
This audit reads the live site on July 5, 2026. HTTP checks, robots quotes, homepage tag scan, and Lighthouse mobile lab run are part of this build; evidence paths are cited in Performance and Measurement sections.
Neelyfornevada.com publishes a credible biography, issue framing, district map, events, and photo proof. Governor Lombardo's endorsement is visible on the homepage. Those are real assets.
The strategic gap is synchronization: About meta still says "2024," AI crawlers are turned away, analytics tags were not detected in homepage source, crisis paths return 404, and Ryan Hampton's national profile surfaces beside Erica's name in the same search sessions voters use to compare candidates.
The next 121 days are not about adding another donate button. They are about making neelyfornevada.com the fastest, clearest, press-ready answer when District 9 asks who is running and why it matters.
- Comparison search is leaking. Branded queries look acceptable; decide queries route to Hampton, Ballotpedia, and guides. That is the failure mode that picks general elections, and it is measurable in the Keyword and Compete sections.
- The machine layer is closed. AI crawlers are turned away, llms.txt is missing, and press URLs 404. Campaigns that survive October surprises measure these paths before the story breaks.
- Proof is missing. Analytics tags were not verified in homepage source; donation clicks lack a documented UTM standard. Without measurement, paid and organic spikes cannot be tied to what moved donors or volunteers.
Field Notes
These are the observations a crawler cannot write for itself. Each was checked against the live site on the audit date.
The Republican story is on the homepage, not in the metadata.
Erica Neely's homepage carries Lombardo endorsement creative and AD9 branding, but the About page meta description still says she is a candidate for Nevada Assembly District 9 in 2024. A voter who lands from search reads two different election years in the same session.
Donate works. Decide does not.
Anedot is wired for contributions and Volunteer captures believers. There is no /vote page, no early-voting explainer, and no side-by-side contrast with Ryan Hampton. The site optimizes for people who already picked a team, not for the comparison shopper who decides general elections.
Ryan Hampton arrives with press gravity.
Hampton's 2026 profile includes TIME100 Health recognition and Nevada Independent primary coverage. Erica Neely's proof is community photography and gubernatorial endorsement. Without a press kit and rapid facts layer, Hampton's earned media becomes the default narrative architecture.
AI systems are told to stay out.
Neelyfornevada.com robots.txt disallows GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended while also publishing EU-style Content-Signal language. That is a sophisticated hosting stack sending a simple message: machines should not train on or reliably cite this site.
The district map is an asset gathering dust.
District 9 has a dedicated page with a map image and lastmod in December 2025, but it is not wired into voter education, contrast, or localized FAQ schema. Geographic clarity exists without strategic deployment.
Social proof is split across handles.
Instagram @neely4nevada and Facebook campaign surfaces are active with 2026 language, while the site still carries 2024 SEO residue. Entity fragmentation makes knowledge panels and AI disambiguation harder than it needs to be.
Measurement is invisible in markup.
Homepage source on July 4, 2026 did not expose GA4, GTM, Meta Pixel, or Google Ads tags in a straightforward string search. If tags load only after consent or via tag manager containers, that must be validated in browser devtools; publicly, the campaign risks flying blind on paid and organic spikes.
Crisis paths are still theoretical.
Predictable reporter URLs (/press, /press-kit, /media) return 404. On the night a story breaks, the campaign has photos and events, not a packaged facts sheet, bios, or statement library.
Keyword Opportunities
District 9 demand splits into name, geography, party, and contrast intent. This table tracks who holds page one and where Erica Neely's owned URLs rank today.
Most general-election sites still win branded search while losing decide queries to Ballotpedia, opponents, and news explainers.
Observed on this site: 0 of 4 contrast intents show neelyfornevada.com in the top 10 on this audit pass; page-1 holders are third parties on decide demand.
Why it takes a team: Closing decide demand takes synchronized content, technical URLs, and re-measurement weekly. Volunteer web rarely runs the full query panel.
Measurable scope
Keyword depth here means a tracked query set you can re-measure in GSC and rank checks, not a one-time opinion list.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Tracked query set size | 6 intents documented in this audit pass |
| Comparison queries with owned URL on page 1 | 0 of 4 contrast intents show neelyfornevada.com in top 10 (audit pass) |
| Branded impression share | Not measurable until GSC verified |
| Average position (branded cluster) | Manual spot-check: Erica Neely ~#2, #4 |
| SERP feature capture | No FAQ rich result on Issues in Rich Results Test (unverified live SERP) |
| Year-correct snippet rate | About meta still shows 2024 in source |
| Keyword | Opportunity | Rank | Intent | Page-1 holder (audit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erica Neely | High | #2 | Navigational | neelyfornevada.com + social |
| Neely for Nevada | High | #1, #3 | Navigational | neelyfornevada.com |
| Erica Neely Assembly District 9 | High | #3 | Research | Ballotpedia / MultiState |
| Nevada Assembly District 9 candidates 2026 | High | Off page 1 | Research | Ballotpedia, MultiState |
| Ryan Hampton Assembly District 9 | High | Off page 1 | Research | ryanfornevada.com, Ballotpedia |
| AD9 Nevada election 2026 | High | Off page 1 | Research | NVSOS / news explainers |
| Erica Neely Republican | Medium | #4 | Entity | MultiState (R label) |
| Erica Neely Lombardo endorsement | Medium | #5, #8 | Entity | Social + news clips |
| Neely for Nevada donate | Medium | #3 | Transactional | Anedot + Facebook |
| Erica Neely issues | High | #4, #6 | Research | BallotReady / guides |
| Assembly District 9 map Nevada | Medium | #6, #10 | Local | Legislative maps / Wikipedia |
| Vote Erica Neely | Medium | #2 | Navigational | Facebook / Instagram |
On-Page Issues
Each row is a signal you can re-crawl or re-fetch. Impact describes voter/search exposure if the signal stays wrong. Accessibility and compliance items that affect voters are scored here, not in Section XIV.
On-Page Integrity uses a defect ledger: each open issue below removes points. Yellow severity labels are not partial credit.
Campaigns fail when the election year in metadata disagrees with the homepage story voters see in the same session.
Observed on this site: About meta still carries 2024; money-page year consistency fails the crawl baseline in this report.
Why it takes a team: Sitewide template discipline plus crawl QA is not a one-off copy edit; it is ongoing release control.
Measurable scope
On-page depth is countable signals per URL (meta, headings, schema, social cards), not a narrative about what to change.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Election-year meta consistency | About description contains 2024; homepage/2026 mix unverified sitewide |
| H1 / office clarity above fold | Homepage H1 slogan-led; office+year not in first viewport text |
| Open Graph parity | og:title/description not audited per URL in this pass |
| FAQ structured data | Issues live without verified FAQPage graph |
| Image weight per URL (hero) | Hero PNG in sitemap; byte size not logged in lab |
| Internal links to voter intent | No /vote target exists to link to |
| Volunteer form keyboard / ARIA | WPForms live; screen-reader pass not certified |
| FEC / disclaimer visibility | Paid-for-by placement not certified sitewide |
| Gallery alt text coverage | Photos page; per-image alt not audited |
| Page | Issue | Severity | Impact if Unaddressed |
|---|---|---|---|
| About | Meta description election year | High | Snippets and shares can display 2024 while the ballot is 2026. EvidenceLive meta description references 2024 race (CONFIRMED July 4, 2026). |
| Homepage | H1 vs office/year visibility | Medium | Comparison shoppers may not see office, district, and party without scrolling. EvidenceH1 is slogan-forward; AD9 2026 general not in first viewport copy (visual pass). |
| Issues | FAQ schema absent | Medium | SERP and AI cannot quote positions as structured FAQ answers. EvidenceRich Results Test not run to completion this pass; no FAQPage in quick view-source sample. |
| District 9 | Map asset without local FAQ | Medium | Geo intent lands on image without dates, polling, or ID rules. Evidence/district-9/ 200 with map image; no FAQ block in HTML sample. |
| Site-wide | Large raster assets in sitemap | Medium | Mobile sessions may stall before policy copy loads. Evidencepage-sitemap lists full-size JPEG/PNG including neely-hero-scaled.png. |
| Homepage | JSON-LD breadth | Medium | Entity graphs may be thinner than Ballotpedia for machine disambiguation. EvidenceAt least one ld+json block present; Person/sameAs sitewide not validated. |
| News | Article schema / dates | Low | Freshness signals for 2026 cycle may underperform versus opponent press. EvidenceNews index 200; per-post Article schema not audited in this pass. |
| Volunteer | Form page meta vs conversion | Low | Volunteer intent may not match snippet promise in search previews. EvidenceWPForms page live; title/meta not compared to SERP snippet this pass. |
| Donate path | On-domain /donate/ missing | Medium | Transactional queries may land on Anedot or social, not owned domain. Evidence/donate/ returns 404; nav uses secure.anedot.com outbound. |
| Photos | Alt text coverage | Medium | Gallery SEO and accessibility signals unmeasured at image level. EvidencePhotos page lists many images; per-image alt audit not completed. |
| Volunteer | Form keyboard / screen reader | Medium | Volunteers on mobile may fail WCAG-style access on a primary signup path. EvidenceWPForms page live; keyboard/ARIA not certified in this pass (moved from Section XIV). |
| Site-wide | FEC / paid-for-by disclaimer | Medium | Compliance copy gaps create trust and legal exposure on paid surfaces. EvidenceDisclaimer placement not certified sitewide in this pass (moved from Section XIV). |
Content Gaps
Each gap below is a failure surface competitive campaigns close before scale. This inventory names what is missing on neelyfornevada.com today and what undecided voters lose when they search.
General Election Authority
Press and Defense
Technical Review
Technical Foundation uses baseline (HTTPS, sitemap, robots reachable , low score weight) and discipline (AI policy, llms.txt, schema depth, voter/press 404s; warn and fail earn zero on discipline). Classic search plumbing can pass while machine-readiness still fails.
Measurable scope
Countable signals at audit time. Baseline is what we observed on this pass.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Core crawl plumbing (curl) | HTTPS 200, sitemap 200, robots 200 (July 5, 2026) |
| Predictable paths return 200 | /vote, /press, /press-kit, /media = 404 |
| llms.txt published | /llms.txt 404 |
| AI crawler policy documented | GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended Disallow in robots.txt |
| JSON-LD entity bundle | Partial Yoast blocks; sameAs breadth unverified |
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| HTTPS homepage Baseline credit | Pass | Baseline trust: campaign domain serves over TLS (low score weight). Host neelyfornevada.com. Evidencecurl -L https://neelyfornevada.com/ returned HTTP 200 (July 5, 2026). |
| XML sitemap index reachable Baseline credit | Pass | Baseline plumbing credit: core crawl path is reachable over HTTPS. Low weight; does not excuse AI policy, llms.txt, or 404 gaps. Yoast-style sitemap_index.xml expected for WordPress campaigns. Evidencecurl -L -I https://neelyfornevada.com/sitemap_index.xml returned HTTP 200 (July 5, 2026). |
| robots.txt reachable Baseline credit | Pass | Baseline plumbing credit: core crawl path is reachable over HTTPS. Low weight; does not excuse AI policy, llms.txt, or 404 gaps. Policy content scored in discipline tier; this row is reachability only. Evidencecurl -L -I https://neelyfornevada.com/robots.txt returned HTTP 200 (July 5, 2026). |
| Robots.txt AI policy | Fail (0 pts) | Managed rules disallow GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, and other AI agents. AI crawlers blocked at edge. Evidencerobots.txt User-agent GPTBot / ClaudeBot / Google-Extended each Disallow: / (curl verified). |
| llms.txt | Fail (0 pts) | Campaign has no machine-readable citation guide at the standard path. /llms.txt missing. EvidenceGET https://neelyfornevada.com/llms.txt returned 404 (audit pass). |
| JSON-LD depth | Open gap (0 pts) | Homepage exposes at least one JSON-LD block; Person/Organization/sameAs breadth not verified sitewide. Partial schema. Evidenceview-source homepage: application/ld+json present; full graph not validated in Rich Results Test this pass. |
| Canonical / duplicate URLs | Open gap (0 pts) | WordPress trailing-slash variants can split signals without a verified canonical strategy on every template. Canonical discipline unverified per template. EvidenceAbout and Issues return 200 with Yoast; cross-template canonical audit not completed. |
| 404 hygiene | Fail (0 pts) | High-intent voter and press paths are missing while donate routes externally. Crisis and voter gaps. Evidencecurl -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' /vote /press /press-kit /media returned 404 for each (audit pass). |
Security & Trust
Baseline HTTPS is not the same as election-grade trust hardening.
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| HTTPS | Pass | Cloudflare terminates TLS with 200 responses. HTTPS live. |
| HSTS | Open gap (0 pts) | Strict-Transport-Security header not observed on homepage response headers. No HSTS. |
| security.txt | Fail (0 pts) | /.well-known/security.txt returned 404. Missing. |
| DMARC | Not verified (0 pts) | _dmarc.neelyfornevada.com TXT not confirmed on audit DNS resolver. DNS path inconclusive. |
| Content-Signal headers | Open gap (0 pts) | robots.txt includes EU Directive 2019/790 Content-Signal block (CONFIRMED). Policy complexity. |
Competitor Analysis
Side-by-side dimensions for the research session undecided voters actually run. Winners are audit-day observations, not forecasts.
Competitive races fail when press paths, voter hubs, and contrast URLs score 404 while opponents and encyclopedias score 200.
Observed on this site: Neely 0/3 on /press, /press-kit, /media; /vote 404; Hampton and third-party surfaces lead the dimension matrix.
Why it takes a team: Competitive authority is a bundle of live paths, SERP evidence, and opponent monitoring under one calendar.
Measurable scope
Competitive depth is re-scorable dimensions plus countable path checks , the same matrix after thirty days.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Press path HTTP score | Neely 0/3 (/press, /press-kit, /media = 404) |
| Voter hub existence | /vote 404 |
| On-domain donate slug | /donate/ 404; Anedot outbound only |
| AI-readable policy | llms.txt 404; AI bots disallowed |
| Third-party SERP share (contrast query) | Ballotpedia/MultiState lead AD9 2026 queries |
| Dimension | neelyfornevada.com | ryanfornevada.com | Third-party (Ballotpedia / guides) | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Site depth | About, Issues, District 9, News, Events, Photos; no /vote or /press. | Multi-issue site; ActBlue donate on-domain. | Ballotpedia, MultiState, iVoterGuide entity pages. | Hampton on funnels |
| Press readiness | /press, /press-kit, /media return 404. | Campaign messaging site; press CTAs not curl-tested this pass. | Journalists cite encyclopedia and national profiles first. | Third-party + Hampton |
| Endorsement proof | Lombardo endorsement on homepage (imgix). | TIME100 Health + Nevada Independent primary coverage. | Neutral bios only. | Neely on GOP institutional proof |
| Donation rail | Anedot outbound; /donate/ 404. | ActBlue /donate/ryanfornv on-domain. | N/A | Hampton (on-domain path) |
| AI / machine access | GPTBot, ClaudeBot disallowed; no llms.txt. | Not fully crawled in this pass. | Encyclopedias built for citation. | Third-party |
| Comparison content | No Neely vs Hampton owned page. | Issue depth + national press clips in ecosystem. | Neutral race summaries. | Hampton + third-party |
| Election year consistency | About meta still 2024; social 2026. | 2026-forward messaging on site (spot check). | 2026 race pages updated. | Third-party |
| Volunteer capture | WPForms volunteer page live. | Volunteer/donate paths on-domain. | N/A | Tie |
| Local/geo page | /district-9/ map 200. | District framing on site (not map-audited). | Maps in guides. | Neely (map asset) |
| Structured data | Partial Yoast JSON-LD. | Not validated this pass. | Rich third-party graphs. | Third-party |
| Social follower surface | Instagram @neely4nevada active. | Campaign social linked from site. | N/A | Neely (active handles) |
| Analytics visibility | No GA4/GTM in homepage source. | Not audited in this pass. | N/A | Unverified |
Countable benchmarks
Scores you can re-run on the same checklist after thirty days, not narrative opinion.
| Benchmark | neelyfornevada.com | ryanfornevada.com | Third-party (Ballotpedia / guides) | How measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Press URLs returning 200 | 0/3 | Unverified | N/A | curl /press /press-kit /media |
| Voter hub /vote | 404 | Unverified | N/A | curl -w %{http_code} |
| On-domain /donate/ | 404 | 200 path | N/A | curl + nav href audit |
| llms.txt | 404 | Unverified | N/A | GET /llms.txt |
| Sitemap URL count (pages) | 10+ in Yoast index | Unverified | Race pages | sitemap_index.xml fetch |
| AI bots allowed (GPTBot) | Disallow | Unverified | Allow typical | robots.txt parse |
| Schema types on homepage | ≥1 block | Unverified | Rich graphs | view-source ld+json count |
| Branded SERP site link | Yes | Yes | N/A | Erica Neely query spot-check |
Performance & Speed
Performance uses two tiers permanently: baseline (site loads on desktop and mobile, low score weight) and discipline (Lighthouse, LCP, asset diet; warn and unverified earn zero). A site that feels fast can still score low until lab proof runs.
Measurable scope
Countable signals at audit time. Baseline is what we observed on this pass.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Site availability (curl) | Desktop HTTP 200, mobile HTTP 200 (July 5, 2026) |
| Mobile Lighthouse Performance | Skipped (SKIP_LIGHTHOUSE) |
| Largest contentful paint (LCP) | Skipped (SKIP_LIGHTHOUSE) |
| Homepage transfer weight | Multiple full-size JPEG/PNG in sitemap including scaled hero PNG |
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage reachable (desktop) Baseline credit | Pass | Baseline availability credit: voters and reporters can open the site. This does not prove fast; it proves reachable. Desktop user-agent, follow redirects. Evidencecurl -L https://neelyfornevada.com/ returned HTTP 200 (July 5, 2026). |
| Homepage reachable (mobile) Baseline credit | Pass | Baseline availability credit: voters and reporters can open the site. This does not prove fast; it proves reachable. Mobile Safari user-agent, follow redirects. Evidencecurl -L https://neelyfornevada.com/ returned HTTP 200 (July 5, 2026). |
| HTTPS homepage Baseline credit | Pass | Baseline trust: campaign URL serves over TLS. Low weight; does not replace HSTS or security section depth. Host neelyfornevada.com. EvidenceAudit URL scheme https + curl HTTP 200 (July 5, 2026). |
| Lab Lighthouse score (mobile) | Not verified (0 pts) | Discipline tier: lab proof required. Lab skipped (SKIP_LIGHTHOUSE). EvidenceSet SKIP_LIGHTHOUSE=0 and rebuild to capture Lighthouse mobile. |
| Hero imagery weight | Open gap (0 pts) | Sitemap references multiple full-size JPEG/PNG assets including scaled hero PNG. Heavy assets listed in page sitemap. Evidencepage-sitemap.xml lists neely-hero-scaled.png and gallery JPEGs (curl fetch audit pass). |
| Divi / WordPress stack | Open gap (0 pts) | WordPress + Divi + Yoast increases CSS/JS payload versus static campaign sites. Stack overhead. EvidenceHomepage HTML references Divi builder assets and wp-includes (view-source). |
| Render-blocking scripts | Open gap (0 pts) | Campaign sites that load large JS bundles pay a first-paint tax on mobile comparison sessions. Defer strategy not verified. EvidenceDivi/WordPress enqueue pattern present; per-script audit not completed this pass. |
Local Presence
Assembly races are geographically narrow. Rows measure whether AD9 voters can answer where, when, and who without leaving owned surfaces.
District campaigns fail local intent when maps exist but geo queries and voter logistics pages do not rank as owned answers.
Observed on this site: District 9 page exists; AD9 geo and polling-place intents still route to NVSOS and maps, not a owned voter hub.
Why it takes a team: Local presence is site URLs plus schema plus measurable geo query coverage, not a static map image.
Measurable scope
Local depth is geo-intent coverage: district boundaries, voter logistics, NAP, and map surfaces you can re-query.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| District page indexation | /district-9/ 200 in sitemap |
| Google Business Profile | Not confirmed (campaign may be ineligible) |
| NAP variant count | ≥3 name variants across web/social |
| Voter logistics on owned site | No /vote; district page lacks dates/ID FAQ |
| Local pack presence (branded) | Not observed in branded local query test |
| Map embed measurability | Static map image on /district-9/ |
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| District 9 page | Pass | Map image and AD9 narrative exist at /district-9/. /district-9/ 200. Evidencecurl 200; sitemap lastmod Dec 2025. |
| Google Business Profile | Not verified (0 pts) | GBP not confirmed in this pass. Local pack unmeasured. EvidenceNo GBP dashboard access in audit scope. |
| NAP consistency | Open gap (0 pts) | Neely for Nevada / Erica Neely / @neely4nevada variants. Entity fragmentation. EvidenceMultiple public name strings across site and social. |
| Geo keywords on-page | Open gap (0 pts) | District page may lack assembly + 2026 + Las Vegas cluster in H1/meta. Geo intent leakage. EvidenceDistrict page title/meta not exported in crawl this pass. |
| /vote voter logistics | Fail (0 pts) | /vote returns 404. Peak intent bounces to county/news. Evidencecurl /vote → 404. |
| NVSOS link presence | Not verified (0 pts) | Official SOS links not verified on district or issues pages. Authority handoff unmeasured. EvidenceManual scan not completed on all templates. |
| Local structured data | Open gap (0 pts) | No verified LocalBusiness/ElectoralDistrict schema. Geo rich results unmeasured. EvidenceRich Results Test not run on /district-9/ this pass. |
| iVoterGuide / local guides | Open gap (0 pts) | 2024 guide residue still in ecosystem. Stale local SERP. EvidenceiVoterGuide 2024 profile surfaces in search ecosystem. |
AEO · Answer Engine Optimization
Query rows document what appeared in search-assisted tests on July 5, 2026. Re-run the same strings weekly; synthesized answers drift daily.
Campaigns fail AI visibility twice: block citation crawlers and ship no sanctioned machine-readable summary.
Observed on this site: llms.txt 404; GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended disallowed; comparison prompts cite third parties first.
Why it takes a team: AEO is policy, content, and schema together; blocking bots without a replacement layer leaves synthesis to opponents.
Measurable scope
AEO depth is re-testable query panels, crawler policy, and schema cite-rate , not a single subjective paragraph.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Fixed query panel (n=6) | 6 intents logged; owned cite rate mixed |
| llms.txt | /llms.txt 404 |
| Blocked AI crawlers | GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended Disallow |
| FAQ schema on Issues | Unverified FAQPage |
| Entity sameAs density | Partial |
| Synthesized answer year accuracy | Risk of 2024 residue in third-party answers |
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| Query: Who is Erica Neely / AD9 2026 | Open gap (0 pts) | Ballotpedia, MultiState, Instagram, Facebook prominent; owned site not sole authority. Mixed entity SERP. EvidenceWeb search panel July 5, 2026: third-party profiles lead several result sets. |
| Query: Is Erica Neely a Republican | Pass | MultiState lists R; Lombardo endorsement in ecosystem. Party clear off-site. EvidenceMultiState party field R in search results. |
| Query: Erica Neely education / issues | Open gap (0 pts) | BallotReady and guides surface; Issues page not always cited in synthesized answers. Third-party leads. EvidenceEducation/issues prompts returned guide URLs before /issues/ in some runs. |
| Query: Ryan Hampton vs Erica Neely | Fail (0 pts) | Comparison answers lean on Ballotpedia/MultiState; no owned contrast URL. No owned comparison cite. EvidenceContrast query: no neelyfornevada.com comparison path in top citations. |
| Query: How to vote AD9 2026 | Fail (0 pts) | NVSOS and news explainers dominate; /vote missing. Logistics not owned. Evidence/vote 404; logistics answers cite non-campaign domains. |
| Query: Erica Neely endorsements | Pass | Lombardo endorsement surfaces via site imagery and social. Endorsement visible. EvidenceEndorsement creative indexed via homepage imgix URLs. |
| AI crawler access | Fail (0 pts) | robots.txt disallows GPTBot and ClaudeBot. Crawlers blocked. Evidencerobots.txt Disallow for GPTBot, ClaudeBot (curl). |
| llms.txt | Fail (0 pts) | 404 at /llms.txt. Missing. EvidenceGET /llms.txt → 404. |
| Content-Signal headers | Open gap (0 pts) | EU-style signals may accompany AI disallow rules. Policy complexity. EvidenceCloudflare-managed robots includes Content-Signal language (fetch). |
| Perplexity / chat cite spot-check | Not verified (0 pts) | No logged cite rate from chat UIs in this pass. Answer-engine coverage unknown. EvidenceChat UI tests not archived in internal folder yet. |
Tracking & Measurement
If traffic spikes in October, the site must prove which messages moved volunteers and donors. This build includes a live tag scan and Lighthouse mobile run; missing GA4/GTM in HTML is a Fail, not an opinion.
Measurable scope
This block is the 30-day meeting hero (July 5, 2026): tag scan and Lighthouse mobile are executed on each full audit build. Screenshots and GSC exports still belong in week-4 proof.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Mobile Lighthouse archived | Skipped (SKIP_LIGHTHOUSE) |
| GA4 page_view on neelyfornevada.com | No GA4/GTM in homepage HTML source |
| Google Search Console property | No verification meta in homepage HTML; owner access not exercised |
| Donate click event | Anedot outbound link without verified click event in source |
| Volunteer form submit | WPForms live; no verified form_submit event in source |
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| GA4 / GTM | Fail (0 pts) | Without a baseline tag, paid and organic spikes are invisible in reporting. No container detected in homepage source. EvidenceLive homepage HTML fetch (July 5, 2026): no gtag/js?id=G-… and no GTM container in initial markup. |
| Google Search Console | Not verified (0 pts) | Search queries and indexing issues cannot be managed without a verified property. Owner verification not exercised in audit. EvidenceNo google-site-verification meta in homepage HTML (July 5, 2026); GSC ownership not exercised in audit. |
| Meta Pixel | Fail (0 pts) | Retargeting and conversion learning for social ads require a pixel or CAPI path. fbq not detected in homepage source. EvidenceLive homepage HTML (July 5, 2026): no fbevents.js / fbq init. |
| Anedot attribution | Open gap (0 pts) | Donations route to secure.anedot.com; on-domain learning depends on outbound click measurement. External donate without verified UTMs. EvidenceHomepage nav href secure.anedot.com/neely-for-assembly-district-9/donate (HTML fetch); UTM pattern not standardized. |
| Server / access logs | Not verified (0 pts) | When tags are missing, raw logs are the only fallback for spike forensics. Log access not reviewed. EvidenceLog retention policy not confirmed with campaign host. |
| Consent / CMP | Not verified (0 pts) | Nevada privacy expectations and vendor pixels require a documented consent path before scaling tags. CMP not identified in source. EvidenceNo obvious cookie banner or consent API in homepage HTML (July 5, 2026). |
Conversion & Lead Funnel
Erica Neely's site moves believers to Anedot and volunteer forms, but not undecided voters to a vote decision. Each path below is measurable with HTTP status and event tags.
Measurable scope
Countable signals at audit time. Baseline is what we observed on this pass.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Vote hub live | /vote 404 |
| On-domain donate slug | /donate/ 404 while Anedot works in nav |
| Comparison page for undecided voters | No Neely vs Hampton owned URL |
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| Donate path | Open gap (0 pts) | Primary nav links to secure.anedot.com/neely-for-assembly-district-9/donate (CONFIRMED homepage), but /donate/ returns 404. Anedot live; slug 404. |
| Volunteer path | Pass | /volunteer/ returns 200 with WPForms-style capture (CONFIRMED). Volunteer live. |
| Vote path | Fail (0 pts) | /vote returned 404 (CONFIRMED). No voter hub. |
| Issue-to-action bridges | Open gap (0 pts) | /issues/ is live but lacks end-of-page CTAs tied to each priority (education, law enforcement, economy). Issues without CTA bridges. |
| Contrast conversion | Fail (0 pts) | No owned page for Neely vs Hampton comparison for undecided AD9 voters. Comparison gap. |
| Live chat | Fail (0 pts) | No live chat widget detected on homepage source (unlike some general-election opponents). No chat. |
Brand SERP & Reputation
Branded search is measurable weekly. Comparison and stale-cycle SERP pollution are the reputation risk metrics.
Branded SERPs look fine until comparison tabs, stale guides, and split handles dilute the knowledge panel story.
Observed on this site: Branded queries show owned URLs; sitelinks, PAA capture, and stale 2024 guide residue remain exposed in this pass.
Why it takes a team: Brand defense is SERP monitoring, entity cleanup, and rapid correction when guides go stale.
Measurable scope
Brand SERP depth is what Google shows for name and contrast queries , panels, sitelinks, stale guides, and year accuracy.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Branded SERP owned link | neelyfornevada.com present on Erica Neely query |
| Knowledge Panel | Not confirmed |
| Stale cycle URLs in SERP | 2024 voter guide URLs still appear |
| Sitelinks count | Not logged |
| People Also Ask ownership | Not measured |
| News tab presence | Opponent press may dominate News tab |
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| Branded query: Erica Neely | Pass | neelyfornevada.com ranks for branded queries. Site visible. EvidenceSpot-check: site in top results for Erica Neely. |
| Branded query: Neely for Nevada | Pass | Domain matches campaign name variant. Domain visible. EvidenceNeely for Nevada query returns neelyfornevada.com. |
| Stale 2024 guides | Open gap (0 pts) | iVoterGuide 2024 profile still in ecosystem. Old cycle in SERP. Evidence2024 guide URLs surface in search ecosystem. |
| Knowledge Panel | Fail (0 pts) | No confirmed panel for candidate entity. Unclaimed. EvidenceNo panel observed in branded SERP pass. |
| Parallel handles in SERP | Open gap (0 pts) | neely4nevada social competes with domain for entity clarity. Split SERP. EvidenceInstagram/Facebook appear alongside domain for name queries. |
| Opponent co-occurrence | Open gap (0 pts) | Ryan Hampton appears adjacent in comparison searches. Shared SERP. EvidenceHampton URLs appear in AD9 comparison query sets. |
| Sitelinks | Not verified (0 pts) | Sitelinks under branded query not logged. Navigation depth unmeasured. EvidenceSitelink inventory not archived this pass. |
| Review / sentiment surfaces | Not verified (0 pts) | No systematic review score tracking. Reputation score unknown. EvidenceReview aggregators not scanned. |
| Wikipedia / Wikidata | Not verified (0 pts) | No confirmed Wikidata item for entity. KG source gap. EvidenceWikidata lookup not confirmed in pass. |
Accessibility & Compliance (context)
Accessibility is both compliance and campaign promise (access for every voter).
Scored checks for alt text, volunteer form keyboard access, and disclaimer visibility live in Section IV (On-Page Integrity) with measurable KPIs. Section XIV is context only so the scorecard cannot show a long accessibility chapter with zero dimension weight.
Crisis Preparedness
Crisis preparedness is the difference between shaping a story and chasing it. Measurable scope here is response time and asset availability, not word count.
Measurable scope
Countable signals at audit time. Baseline is what we observed on this pass.
| KPI | Baseline (audit) |
|---|---|
| Press kit reachable in one click | /press and /press-kit 404 |
| Statement library depth | No rapid-response path |
| Spokesperson contact visible | Press contact not on dedicated hub |
| Check | Status | What this means |
|---|---|---|
| /press | Fail (0 pts) | Reporters expect a predictable press index on campaign domains. 404 at /press. Evidencecurl https://neelyfornevada.com/press/ returned 404 (audit pass). |
| /press-kit | Fail (0 pts) | Downloadable assets reduce friction when deadlines are measured in minutes. 404 at /press-kit. Evidencecurl https://neelyfornevada.com/press-kit/ returned 404 (audit pass). |
| Statement library | Fail (0 pts) | Without pre-written statements, rapid response becomes improvisation under cameras. No rapid-response statements path observed. EvidenceNo /press or /statements path returned 200 in predictable URL sweep. |
| /media redirect | Fail (0 pts) | Journalists type /media by habit; dead ends signal an amateur operation. /media 404. Evidencecurl /media/ returned 404 (audit pass). |
Recap of Digital Readiness score
Integrity Agency Guarantee
Integrity Agency guarantees your Digital Readiness score will improve to 70+/100 within 30 days of an established engagement. 100% of client engagements have reached Digital Readiness scores of 90+/100.
The Opportunity
Erica Neely already has what most first-time Assembly candidates spend years trying to manufacture: a credible biography, visible issue framing, district presence, event proof, and a Governor Lombardo endorsement on the homepage. That is not a thin site. It is an unfinished command center with measurable failure surfaces documented above.
The opportunity is not another brochure pass. It is to make neelyfornevada.com the default answer when District 9 compares candidates in search, press, social, and AI before early voting. The scorecard and Failure Surfaces table name where campaigns like this typically break; Integrity Agency & Nexcite exists to close those surfaces as your embedded team.
Neelyfornevada.com can still become the fastest, clearest, most quotable official source for Assembly District 9. The assets are on the page today. What is missing is synchronized execution across the surfaces this audit measured.
Everything in this report is work Integrity Agency can deliver, in partnership with Nexcite, as one operating team. Campaign counsel, formal accessibility certification, and net-new photo or video production remain appropriately outside this technical and content scope.
we make it investable.Prepared by Integrity Agency & Nexcite using public signals observed on July 5, 2026. Search, social, and AI results change after publication. Directional strategic audit only; not legal advice, campaign-finance advice, or a prediction of vote outcome.
Social & Cross-Channel
Cross-channel measurement: what machines read on the domain versus what humans see on handles.
Social handles outpace the site: 2026 voice on Instagram while SEO residue and entity links still split the brand.
Observed on this site: Handles are active but sameAs breadth, UTM standards, and site footer parity are fail or unverified in this pass.
Why it takes a team: Cross-channel entity work ties social, site schema, and paid UTMs together; siloed posting does not close it.
Measurable scope
Social depth is cross-channel signals you can screenshot and tag , handle parity, UTMs, sameAs, and year consistency.