SEO Audit
Too many SEO audits are little more than automated checklists. They flag errors without explaining why they matter or what to do next.
I dig into your site's technical foundations, structure, content and search performance to identify what's holding you back and where opportunities are being missed. The result is a prioritised action plan to turn better search visibility into more qualified traffic, leads and revenue.
Free SEO Tools vs AI vs Professional SEO Audit
Free tools can identify issues. AI can help you understand them. A professional SEO audit investigates what is affecting your website and gives you a clear plan for what to fix and improve.
Free tools
Detect
Identify technical errors and collect data.
AI assistants
Explain
Interpret available information and suggest options.
My SEO audit
Investigate & prioritise
Verify problems, assess business impact and plan the work.
- Included
- Limited or conditional
- Not included
| What you get | Free SEO Tools | AI Assistants | My SEO Audit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical SEO checks | Included | Included | Included |
| Search Console & GA4 performance review | Limited or conditional | Limited or conditional | Included |
| Manual site structure & internal linking review | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Consultant-verified issues with affected URLs | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Competitor & content gap analysis | Limited or conditional | Limited or conditional | Included |
| Business-specific SEO opportunities | Limited or conditional | Limited or conditional | Included |
| Prioritised action plan | Limited or conditional | Limited or conditional | Included |
| Page-specific fixes with clear implementation steps | Limited or conditional | Limited or conditional | Included |
| Personal walkthrough & 30-day Q&A | Not included | Not included | Included |
Comparison refers to using free tools or general-purpose AI assistants independently. Capabilities vary by tool, access and setup.
What the audit covers
A thorough SEO audit looks beyond technical errors. It examines how your website is built, how it performs in search, where opportunities are being missed and whether visitors can turn into genuine enquiries.
01Technical foundations
Crawling and indexing
Important pages can't generate search traffic if Google can't access or index them. I examine crawl restrictions, indexing signals, canonical tags, redirects and XML sitemaps to identify problems that could prevent valuable pages from appearing in search results.
02Technical foundations
Site structure and key pages
A website can have hundreds of pages and still make its most valuable ones difficult to find. I trace how navigation, categories, product or service pages and internal links work together, looking for buried pages, orphan URLs and internal linking that fails to support commercially important content.
03Technical foundations
Speed, mobile and structured data
A good Lighthouse score doesn't tell the whole story. Core Web Vitals, mobile rendering and structured data are assessed across important page templates to identify performance bottlenecks, implementation errors and issues that automated scores alone may not explain.
04Search visibility
Content and search demand
What are potential customers searching for that your website doesn't answer well? Relevant queries are mapped against existing pages and search intent to uncover missing topics, overlapping URLs and opportunities to improve commercially important content, rather than simply recommending more pages.
Detailed keyword and content gap research is included in the Comprehensive audit.
05Search visibility
Languages and markets
Translated pages alone don't guarantee visibility in the right country. Language URLs, canonical relationships, hreflang and market targeting are reviewed for inconsistencies that may cause Google to select the wrong version or weaken international visibility.
06Search visibility
Competitors and AI search
Search performance means more when you understand who competes for the same queries. I examine relevant competitors, their ranking pages, content coverage and backlink profiles to identify where your website is falling behind. Comprehensive audits also include selected checks of your visibility in AI-generated search answers.
07Enquiries and measurement
Enquiry paths and tracking
A site can attract qualified visitors and still lose enquiries. I follow the journey from important landing pages to quote requests, contact forms and downloads, checking whether those actions are accessible and correctly recorded in GA4.
Detailed keyword and content gap research, along with selected AI search visibility checks, is included in the Comprehensive audit. Audits covering multiple languages or target markets are scoped and quoted separately. For more specialised requirements, see the International SEO audit, Local SEO and AI Search Visibility services.
What you receive
You receive a written report, a prioritised issue list, implementation notes for your developer or website manager and a 90-day action plan, followed by a walkthrough of the findings. Each audit's full contents are listed under pricing below.
SEO audit report · example.comIllustrative example
Prioritised issue list
| Number | Issue | Affected pages | Business impact | Priority | Owner | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German product pages are not indexedDetail below | 412 | German product searches cannot reach these pages | High | Web developer | Low |
| 2 | Quote requests are not recorded in GA4 | 1 | Enquiries from search cannot be counted | High | Web developer | Low |
| 3 | Product pages have no structured data | 1,280 | Product details are not eligible for rich results | Medium | Web developer | Medium |
| 4 | Category pages target the same searches | 6 | The pages compete with each other in search | Medium | Marketing | Medium |
| 5 | Quote page is linked only from the footer | 1 | Buyers on product pages miss the quote route | Low | Web developer | Low |
Sample issue · #1
German product pages are not indexed
Evidence
Google Search Console
Why it matters
Buyers searching in German for a part number reach distributors' pages instead of yours.
Fix
Make each German page's canonical tag point to itself, and add hreflang tags between the language versions.
Their canonical tags point to the English versions.
Remove: <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/en/products/…">Add: <link rel="canonical" href="https://example.com/de/produkte/…">Add: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="de" href="https://example.com/de/produkte/…">Add: <link rel="alternate" hreflang="en" href="https://example.com/en/products/…"><!-- the English page carries the same two hreflang links -->- Who
- Your web developer
- Priority
- High
- Effort
- Low
Implementation priorities
Fix first
- Point each German product page's canonical tag to itselfIssue #1Developer
- Add hreflang tags between the language versionsIssue #1Developer
- Record quote form submissions in GA4Issue #2Developer
Then improve
- Add product structured data to the product templatesIssue #3Developer
- Give each category page its own search focusIssue #4Marketing
- Link the quote page from every product pageIssue #5Developer
Then validate
- Recheck the German pages in Search ConsoleIssue #1SEO
- Confirm quote requests appear in GA4Issue #2SEO
- Test product pages for rich result eligibilityIssue #3SEO
How the audit works
01/ Scope
Scope confirmation
Send me your website. I'll recommend the appropriate audit and confirm the scope, price and delivery time. A call is only needed if something requires discussion.
No payment until we agree on the scope.
02/ Access
Read-only access
I'll request read-only access to Google Search Console and GA4. No passwords needed.
03/ Investigation
The audit
I crawl your website, analyse search performance and manually investigate the pages and issues that matter most.
- Essential
- 5–7 working days
- Comprehensive
- 10–15 working days
Timelines begin once the scope is agreed and the necessary access is available.
04/ Review
Walkthrough call
A 120-minute call to go through the report, discuss priorities and answer questions with you and anyone else involved in implementing the recommendations.
05/ Follow-up
Questions for 30 days
You can always email me as you work through the recommendations, and we can arrange a follow-up call if something needs a closer look. This support is available for 30 days after the report is delivered.
After the audit
If you start a monthly SEO service with me within 30 days of your audit, I'll deduct the full audit fee from your monthly fees.
SEO audit pricing
Two one-off SEO audits, with clear scopes and practical deliverables. Compare what's included and choose the level of analysis your website needs.
Essential SEO Audit
€495
One-off fee · Excl. VAT
Identify the SEO issues affecting your website and understand what to fix first.
Estimated delivery5–7 working days
Request Essential AuditComprehensive SEO Audit
€795
One-off fee · Excl. VAT
Go beyond technical fixes with deeper search research, competitive analysis and page-level recommendations.
Estimated delivery10–15 working days
Request Comprehensive Audit
| Essential€495 | Comprehensive€795 | |
|---|---|---|
| 01Website coverage | ||
| Crawl coverage | Up to 500 pages | Up to 1,000 pages |
| Manual page review | Up to 10 priority pages | Up to 15 priority pages |
| Languages and target markets | Both audits1 language · 1 target market | |
| 02Technical SEO & website health | ||
| Crawling and indexing | Both auditsCrawl restrictions, indexing, sitemaps and robots.txt | |
| Canonicals, redirects and URL issues | Both auditsCanonicals, redirects, broken links and duplicate URL issues | |
| Site architecture and internal linking | Both auditsNavigation, site structure and internal links | |
| Performance, mobile and structured data | Both auditsCore Web Vitals, mobile usability and schema checks | |
| On-page SEO analysis | Titles, headings, metadata and priority-page content checks | Deeper review of important pages and page templates |
| 03Search demand & competitors | ||
| Keyword and search intent analysis | Search intent checks for priority pages | Detailed keyword and search intent research |
| Content gaps and keyword cannibalisation | Not included | Content gap and keyword cannibalisation assessment |
| Competitor analysis | SEO benchmarking against up to 3 competitors | SEO and content benchmarking against up to 5 competitors, including opportunities |
| Backlink profile | Basic backlink profile assessment | More detailed backlink profile assessment |
| Enquiry paths and conversion tracking | Both auditsIncluded | |
| AI search visibility | Not included | Selected AI search visibility checks |
| 04Reports, recommendations & support | ||
| SEO audit report | Written report with executive summary | Detailed report with executive summary |
| Prioritised findings | Evidence, impact and recommended fixes | Evidence, impact and recommended fixes, with deeper analysis |
| Implementation guidance | Both auditsNotes for the developer or website manager | |
| 90-day action plan | Prioritised 90-day action plan | Detailed 90-day SEO roadmap |
| Written page optimisation recommendations | Not included | Up to 10 priority pages |
| New page opportunities | Not included | Up to 5 proposed pages, including topic and target search intent |
| Findings walkthrough | Both audits120-minute call | |
| Follow-up supportEmail questions, plus a follow-up call if something needs a closer look | Both audits30 days | |
| Estimated delivery | 5–7 working daysRequest Essential Audit | 10–15 working daysRequest Comprehensive Audit |
Larger or more complex websites
Multilingual, multi-market, larger or more complex websites are quoted individually.
Your audit fee, credited in full
Start monthly work with me within 30 days of receiving your audit, and I'll deduct the full audit fee from your monthly fees.
Prices exclude VAT. Both audits are one-off services.
06 situations · one interconnected picture
When an audit makes sense
Do any of these sound familiar?
Select a situation to reveal its connected questions above.
An audit is not the right fit if you want a quick automated score or a guarantee of first-page rankings.
SEO audit FAQs
Do you offer free SEO audits?
Yes, as a first review. Send me your website and I'll check your homepage and key pages by hand, then send you a ranked list of what to fix first with a Loom walkthrough within 5 business days.
The paid audits go much further: every page, your Search Console and GA4 data, and a fix list your developer can act on straight away. The free review shows you whether that deeper work is worth it for your site.
Can an SEO audit guarantee better rankings?
No, and nobody can honestly promise that. The audit shows what is holding your site back and what to fix first. Results depend on which fixes are made, how quickly, and what your competitors do in the meantime.
Can ChatGPT do an SEO audit?
Not on its own. ChatGPT, Claude and similar AI assistants can explain SEO terms, review a page you paste in and suggest a checklist. What they can't do is crawl your whole site, read your Search Console and GA4 data, see how Google renders your pages or know which pages bring in enquiries. So their advice stays general, and it can be confidently wrong for your platform or market.
An audit uses that data to decide which issues are real on your site and who should fix them. AI helps me analyse large amounts of data faster. Deciding what matters for your business and what to fix first remains my responsibility.
Can we audit our own website?
For a small site, yes: a careful owner can find the basics with a checklist and free tools. An audit is worth paying for when traffic has dropped and you can't see why, when the site is large or built on more than one platform, or when you need a fix list your developer can act on straight away.
Our site is on Shopify or Wix. Can you still audit it?
Yes. Every platform limits what you can change, so I tell you which issues can be fixed on your platform, which need an app or a developer, and which to leave alone.
Which audit do we need?
The Essential audit suits smaller sites with a clear problem to diagnose, such as a drop in traffic. The Comprehensive audit suits sites that also need keyword research, a closer look at competitors and a plan for new pages. If you're unsure, tell me in the form and I'll recommend one.
How often should a website be audited?
After any redesign, platform change or sharp drop in traffic. Otherwise, about once a year is enough for most business websites.
Request an SEO audit
Tell me about your website and what you'd like me to look into. I'll review your enquiry and confirm the scope, price and next steps before any payment.
Prefer to talk first?