What a free SEO audit should actually include
A free audit is worth exactly what you can do with it afterwards. Most are a tool export with somebody's logo on the front, and the meeting they lead to is the real product.
When a free audit is worth having
When you keep it. That is the whole test. If the findings are yours to take to another agency, or to your own developer, the agency has bet that the work speaks for itself.
If the findings only arrive on a call, and the call is mostly about the price, you did not get an audit. You got a sales meeting with homework attached.
Google is unusually direct about this. Its page on hiring an SEO says "An SEO audit should be about giving you realistic estimates of improvement", and that "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."
What a real one contains
Six things. Anything past this is detail, anything short of it is a checklist.
- What you rank for now, from your own Search Console, not from a tool's estimate.
- Which pages Google has indexed, and which it looked at and left out.
- The state of your Business Profile: category, services, hours, photos, reviews and replies.
- Your listings, including the wrong ones and the duplicates.
- What the businesses above you have that you do not. Named, not hand-waved.
- An order to fix it in, with what each item is likely to change and what it will not.
And one thing it should not contain: a promise about position. Nobody can make that, which is why Google warns about anyone who does.
One page, free, and yours to keep whether you hire us or not.
The tools it should come from, all free
Every number in a decent audit can be traced to something you can open yourself. If it cannot, ask where it came from.
| Tool | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Search Console | What you rank for, what Google indexed, and what it refused. |
| URL Inspection | Whether one page is indexed, and why not. |
| PageSpeed Insights | Real visitor speed data for the page, from Chrome users. |
| Rich Results Test | Whether your structured data is valid. |
| Business Profile performance | Calls, direction requests and searches on the profile. |
Two notes on those. Search Console is free and it is your data, so an agency that will not show you its own account is a question in itself. And Google says "Performance data is available only for verified Business Profiles.", so an unverified profile has no history to audit.
Red flags, in the order you meet them
- A score out of 100. Invented by whoever built the tool. Ask what is in it and watch the answer.
- A guarantee. Google's own words: "Beware of SEOs that claim to guarantee rankings, allege a 'special relationship' with Google".
- Errors with no cost attached. Two hundred missing alt tags is not why the phone is quiet.
- No mention of your Business Profile. For a local business that is most of the job.
- Findings withheld until you sign. Then it was never free.
- "We have a relationship with Google." Nobody does. Google says "Google never accepts money to include or rank sites in our search results".
Four questions to ask before you book
- Do I keep the findings if I do not hire you? The answer tells you what the audit is for.
- Which of this comes from my own accounts? A real audit needs access, or it is guesswork from outside.
- What would you do first, and what will it change? Google suggests asking exactly this sort of question.
- What will you not do? Everyone has a limit. An agency that claims none has not thought about it.
Ours works the same way, and the answers are written on the consultation page rather than saved for the call.
Questions owners ask us
Usually after a bad experience with a free audit somewhere else.
Can I do the audit myself?
Most of it, yes, with free Google tools and an afternoon. The part that is hard alone is knowing which finding costs you calls and which is noise.
Why would an agency give the work away?
Because the audit is the cheap part and the fixing is the job. An agency confident in the fixing is happy to hand over the list.
Should I give an agency access to my Search Console?
Yes, as a user you can remove at any time, on your own account. Never let anyone create it in their own account, because then the history is theirs.
How long should a free audit take?
Long enough to open your accounts and look. If it lands in your inbox in ninety seconds, a tool wrote it.
The one line to remember
If you cannot walk away with it, it was not free. Ask that question first and most of the rest sorts itself out.
Read next
One page on what is holding your calls back, in the order it is costing you. Yours whether you hire us or not.