SEO audits
SEO audits that tell you what to fix — and what isn't worth worrying about.
A good SEO audit ends in a short list of prioritised actions, not a 90-page automated export nobody reads past page three. We check the technical, on-page and structural things that actually affect visibility, then tell you plainly what matters most.
What we actually check
Eighteen areas, in plain language.
Crawling
Can search engines actually reach every page you want found?
Indexing
Are the right pages in Google's index, and are the wrong ones kept out?
Canonicals
Is each page pointing at the correct version of itself, with no confusion between duplicates?
Robots directives
Is anything important accidentally blocked, or anything unhelpful accidentally allowed through?
Sitemap
Does it exist, stay current, and actually reflect the pages worth finding?
Redirects
Are old URLs sent somewhere sensible, without long chains or loops?
Broken links
Dead links and missing pages, inside the site and pointing out from it.
Technical performance
Load speed and stability, where they're genuinely affecting people and rankings.
Page titles
Do they describe the page honestly and distinctly, or are they duplicated across the site?
Headings
Is there a sensible structure, or a jumble of styled text with no hierarchy?
Search intent
Does each page match what someone searching that term is actually trying to do?
Content duplication
Are several pages fighting over the same topic instead of one doing it properly?
Internal links
Do your most important pages get linked to, or are they buried three clicks deep?
Search Console
What Google is already telling you — often ignored, always useful.
Existing ranking pages
What's already working, so it doesn't get disrupted by well-meaning changes.
Site architecture
Does the structure make sense to a visitor and a crawler, or has it grown organically with no plan?
Migration history
Past domain or platform changes that might still be causing quiet damage.
Local SEO
Where relevant — Google Business Profile, local consistency and area coverage.
Priority matters
Every finding gets ranked, not just listed.
An audit that lists forty issues with equal weight isn't useful — it's overwhelming. We sort findings into four categories so you know exactly where to start.
| Category | What it means |
|---|---|
| Critical | Actively stopping pages from being found or understood. Fix first, regardless of anything else. |
| High opportunity | Not broken, but a clear, specific reason visibility is lower than it should be. |
| Useful improvement | Worth doing, and will help — but won't transform anything on its own. |
| Low priority | Technically true, cosmetically tidy, unlikely to move the needle. Fine to leave for now. |
Timing
When an SEO audit makes sense.
- Traffic has dropped and you don't know why.
- A redesign or rebuild is being planned.
- You're paying for SEO but can't tell what it's actually doing.
- The site has grown messily over several years with no one keeping an eye on structure.
- Rankings have stalled and nothing you're trying seems to move them.
- A new campaign or push into a market is being planned and you want a clean starting point.
Being honest about limits
What an audit is not.
An audit is not an automatic excuse to rebuild the website. Most issues we find are fixable within the existing site — a redirect cleaned up, a set of titles rewritten, a page merged with another. A full rebuild is sometimes the right call, but the audit itself should tell you that honestly rather than assume it.
It's also not a guarantee of a ranking outcome. It's a diagnosis, not a promise — fixing what's found removes obstacles; it doesn't override how competitive your market is.
If traffic has dropped specifically, our page on why Google traffic drops covers the common causes an audit will check for.
For the technical detail behind these checks, see technical SEO. For the wider picture of visibility work, see SEO. Audit pricing sits alongside our other packages on the pricing page.
Before you ask
SEO audit questions, answered plainly.
Ready to see where you stand? Request an SEO review.
Next step
Not sure what's actually wrong?
Let's find out, in order of importance.
Send us your website. We'll tell you honestly what's critical, what's worth doing, and what really isn't worth your time yet.