What the free audit contains, and what happens afterwards
What we look at, what you get, how long it takes, and why there is no automated sequence attached to it. Written so nobody has to ask on a call.
The free audit is a written review, done by a person, of your live site and, where you give read access, your Search Console, analytics, ads account and email platform. A person replies within one business day of your request, and the written document follows a few days after that, as the contact page sets out. It costs nothing, it has no automated follow-up, and you keep it whether you hire us or not.
Everywhere else on this site the same thing is called the free review, because “audit” makes people think it is only about search. It is one offer either way, and it covers search, paid media and email. Somebody once told us they had received four automated audits in one week and read none of them. This page exists so you can tell what you are asking for before it arrives.
The short version
- The free review is read and written by a person. It is not a crawler export or a score out of 100.
- It looks at your live site, and where you grant read access, Search Console, GA4, the ads account and the email platform.
- You get a written document with four parts: what is wrong, what it is costing you, the two or three things to do first, and what could not be seen.
- A person replies within one business day, and the written review follows a few days later. Large accounts, or access still being arranged, can take longer.
- There is no drip sequence afterwards. We offer once to walk you through it, and the document is yours either way.
- Some reviews end with us saying we should not take the account on, because our guarantee puts money at risk on this side.
What does the free audit look at?
It looks at your live site first, then at each account you choose to open to us. Every source is optional apart from the website address, and the review says plainly what it could not see.
Your live site. Indexation, meaning what is actually in Google’s index against what you would expect to be there. Technical blockers. The pages you rely on to produce enquiries, and whether they answer the search that lands on them.
Search Console, where you grant access. This is the input we find most useful, and it needs a login, which is why it is easy to skip. Its Performance report shows the searches that bring people to your site, with clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position (Google Search Console Help). From it we read what you already rank for, what sits between positions five and twenty, and which searches bring people who do nothing.
The ads account, where you grant access. The search terms report first, because it shows the actual searches that triggered your ads (Google Ads Help), and in the accounts we review that is where most of the waste shows up. Then the conversion actions, to check whether the number the account is optimising toward is a real enquiry.
The email platform, where you grant access. Whether the sending domain is authenticated, what share of the list is actually being mailed, and which flows do not exist. A list of past customers that nobody mails is a common find, and often the cheapest place to start.
Your analytics. Mainly one question: does the conversion count match the enquiries you actually received. When it does not, every decision built on that number is unreliable until it is fixed.
| Source | What we check first | Access to give | What happens without it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live site | Indexation, blockers, the pages meant to produce enquiries | None, just the address | Nothing is lost, this part is always done |
| Search Console | What you rank for, positions five to twenty, searches that bring no enquiries | Restricted user | We judge search from the outside and say so |
| Google Ads | Search terms, conversion actions | Read-only | Ad spend is not assessed |
| Email platform | Domain authentication, share of list mailed, missing flows | A read or reporting login, where the platform offers one | Email is covered only as far as the site shows it |
| GA4 | Conversion count against enquiries received | Viewer | Tracking accuracy is flagged as unknown |
The roles in the table are view-only levels each platform documents. A Search Console restricted user has view rights on most data (Search Console Help). A GA4 Viewer can see settings and data without changing them (Analytics Help). Google Ads read-only access lets someone view campaigns and run reports without editing them (Google Ads Help). Google’s own advice to anyone hiring for search work is to give read access to Search Console and hold back write access at the audit stage (Google Search Central).
Photo: SHVETS production on Pexels.
What actually lands in your inbox?
A written document in plain language, with four parts. It is not a score, and it does not come from a template.
What is wrong, specifically. The actual problems, named, with where to find them.
What it is costing you. Where the money is going, in currency where we can calculate it, and labelled as an estimate where we cannot.
The two or three things worth doing first. Ranked by what would move the enquiry number soonest, not by what is easiest for us to sell.
What we cannot tell from outside. The limits of what we could see, and what access would have made the answer better.
How long does the free review take?
A person replies within one business day of your request, and the written review follows a few days after that (contact page). It takes that long because somebody reads the accounts rather than running them through a tool. A large account, or access that is still being arranged, can push it longer, and you will be told if that happens.
What happens after the review arrives?
No automated sequence. No drip campaign. No call from a different number two weeks later.
We offer once to walk you through the findings. If you do not reply, that is the end of it, and the document is still yours, including if you take it to another agency. This is a business decision rather than generosity. Being plainly different from an automated audit is worth more to us than the few extra calls a sequence would produce.
Photo: ANTONI SHKRABA production on Pexels.
Why would an agency give this away?
Because we carry a financial penalty when an engagement misses its written target, and we need to know an account’s state before we agree to take it. The penalty is specific. On search engagements on the Growth and Scale plans, the target is a 50% increase in organic traffic, keyword rankings or direct enquiries within 90 days. Missing it means a refund of every retainer fee paid plus $1,000 (SEO pricing). That comes with conditions: a baseline measured in your own Search Console and GA4 in week one, the 90 days counted from when access is granted, recommended changes implemented, and working tracking.
Paid ads work differently. There is no retainer. You pay per qualified lead against criteria agreed in writing before launch, and on the Growth size, fewer than 50 qualified leads in a month makes the next month free (ads pricing). Either way, taking on an account we cannot move costs us money rather than merely earning us less.
That diligence has to happen before we sign regardless. Doing it before you pay, and handing you the result, is the version where you get something out of it too. It also means some reviews end with us saying the account is not one we should take on. That is not a negotiating position. It is what the document found.
The bottom line
A review is only worth reading if a person looked at your real accounts and wrote down what they found, including what they could not see. Judge any free audit, ours included, by whether it names specific problems in your accounts and ranks what to do first, and whether it asks anything of you afterwards.
Questions people ask about this
What do you need from me?
The website address is enough to start. Read access to Search Console, GA4 and the ads account makes it considerably more useful. That is because without them we are looking at your site from the outside and guessing at what happens after the click. If you would rather not grant access before you know us, say so and we will do the version we can.
How long does it take?
A person replies within one business day, and the written review follows a few days after that. Occasionally it takes longer, if the account is large or access is still being arranged. It takes that long because somebody is actually reading it. A report that arrives in twenty minutes was generated, and it tells you what a crawler noticed rather than what matters.
What happens after you send it?
We offer to talk it through once. If you say no, or say nothing, that is the end of it. There is no sequence, no drip, and nobody rings you a month later to check in. The document is yours whether you hire us or not, including if you take it to another agency.
Why give it away?
Because we carry financial risk if an engagement misses its target, so we need to know whether an account is movable before we agree to take it. On search that risk is a refund of every retainer fee plus $1,000, under the conditions on the SEO pricing page. The audit is how we find out. It is useful to you and it is not charity: it is diligence we would have to do anyway, done before you pay rather than after.
Is the audit worth doing if my site gets almost no traffic?
Yes, and it is often more useful, because the question changes from what is wrong to whether there is anything to work with. With little data the review leans on the site itself, the search results for your category and the state of any ads or email accounts. What you get is a view on where the first traffic could come from and whether it is worth chasing.
Does the audit look at my competitors?
Where it helps answer the question. If you are not ranking, part of the work is looking at who is and why, because that shows whether the gap is closable. It is not a full competitor report, and it does not list everything a rival does. It looks at the search results and ad auctions you are actually in and tells you what is beating you there.
What if you find the site needs rebuilding?
The document says so, plainly, with the reasons. Whole-site rebuilds are not a service we sell, so there is no incentive to reach that conclusion, and the recommendation comes with enough detail for a developer to act on. Search work on a site that cannot hold it is wasted, and we would rather you fix the foundation first, with whoever you choose, and come back afterwards.
Is the audit useful if I already work with an agency?
Yes, and you can hand it to them. A second view of the same accounts either confirms the current work is sound or gives you specific questions to ask. Either way you learn something. We are not going to pitch against your agency in the document. It says what we found, and what you do with it is your decision.
How do I grant read access safely?
Add a named user with the lowest level of permission that lets them see the data. Search Console has a restricted user role (Search Console Help), GA4 has a Viewer role, and Google Ads has read-only access (Google Ads Help). For Meta, add access to the one ad account through your business settings and pick the narrowest permission that shows performance. Never share your own login. When the review is done, remove the access in the same place you added it.
Does the audit cover email if I have no list?
It covers what exists. If there is no list, the review notes whether you are collecting addresses at all and where that could start, because past customers and enquiries are often the first list. If you have a platform but have never sent anything, we check that the sending domain is authenticated. We do that because Gmail asks every sender to personal Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM (Google Workspace Admin Help).
What if I only want one channel looked at?
Say so, and that is what gets looked at. The review covers search, paid and email because they affect each other, but if you only run ads, the ads account is where the time goes. What we will still mention is anything obvious in another channel that is costing you, because leaving it out to stay in scope would not be honest.
How do I get the most from the audit?
Grant access before the work starts rather than after, tell us what an enquiry is actually worth to you, and say what you have already tried. Those three things turn a general review into a specific one. Then read the document properly and start with the first recommendation. The first two or three changes are ranked at the top because they are expected to move the enquiry number soonest.
Free review
Want this looked at on your own site?
Send the address. A person reads it and writes back with the two or three things that would move your enquiry number first. Free, and yours to keep whether you hire us or not.
