SEO Audit Services
If your website is not ranking, attracting enough traffic or turning visitors into enquiries, an SEO audit gives you a clear starting point. Whitwell Media reviews your website, search visibility, local presence, content, competitors and technical setup to show you what needs fixing first.
Find out Why Your Website Is Not Ranking
Many businesses know their website should be performing better, but they do not know where the problem is. An SEO audit removes the guesswork by showing what is stopping your website from being found, understood and trusted by search engines.
A drop in search visibility or a lack of organic leads is rarely caused by just one simple issue. Typically, it is a combination of technical errors, content gaps, and local search configuration errors.
What Is an SEO Audit?
An SEO audit is a detailed review of your website and search visibility. It looks at the issues that may be stopping search engines from crawling, understanding, ranking or trusting your pages, then turns those findings into a clear action plan.
Many SEO audit companies use automated software to generate generic PDF reports filled with technical jargon. At Whitwell Media, we do things differently. Our reviews are human-led, meaning we manually inspect your website, study your competitors, analyse search demand, and align our recommendations with your real business goals.
Human-Led Analysis
We translate raw data into clear, jargon-free business recommendations, showing you exactly how changes affect your leads.
Key Questions the Audit Answers
- What is working on your website currently?
- What specific issues are holding your rankings back?
- What are your search competitors doing better?
- What should be fixed first to get results?
- What improvements are worth prioritising for your budget?
What Our SEO Audit Covers
We manually review the critical pillars of search engine visibility to locate exactly what is stopping your business website from generating organic enquiries.
Technical SEO
Review crawlability, sitemaps, indexing signals, redirects, broken links, Core Web Vitals, and schema. We explain what technical SEO services are needed to fix them.
On-Page SEO
Audit page title tags, meta descriptions, H1 headings, URL structure, image alt text, and internal link distributions around search intent.
Content and Keywords
Evaluate your keyword targeting, look for content gaps, locate duplicate or thin pages, and outline an SEO content strategy designed to convert.
Local SEO & GBP
Audit map pack visibility, location keywords, local page structures, and GBP fields. We link to local SEO services and Google Business Profile optimisation.
Competitor Analysis
Analyse competitors ranking above you. Discover what content structures they use, their backlink gaps, and what keywords they cover.
Backlinks and Authority
Review your referring domains, check link profiles, find quality opportunities, and clean up toxic or low-relevance authority signals.
Speed and UX
Test website loading speed, check mobile layout friction, navigation paths, and calls to action so visitors can easily get in touch.
Tracking & Analytics
Verify Google Analytics 4 tracking, Search Console setups, form submission triggers, and phone/email click measurements.
Priority Fixes
Separate findings into critical issues, quick wins, important updates, and long-term search growth options to make planning straightforward.
You Do Not Need More Guesswork
Before you spend more money on SEO, content, ads or a new website, Whitwell Media can show you what is actually stopping your site from performing.
Many businesses know their website could perform better, but they do not know whether the problem is SEO, content, speed, local visibility, their Google Business Profile or the website itself. An audit gives you a proper diagnosis before you commit to ongoing SEO, a redesign or more marketing spend.
You don't need to understand coding or search algorithm details before asking for support. We do the technical deep dive and deliver our findings in plain, practical language so you can make informed commercial decisions.
Our Guarantee to You
- No Jargon: Everything explained in terms of business traffic and leads.
- Clear Priorities: We show you what to fix first and what can wait.
- No Monthly Commitment Required: The audit is a standalone document. You decide where to go next.
Our SEO Audit Process
We Understand Your Website and Goals
We discuss your target audience, business model, and what you want to achieve with search marketing. This ensures the audit is tailored to your business goals, not just generic search metrics.
We Review Your Website and Search Visibility
We perform a thorough manual review of your website using technical, content, and local search guidelines. We look beyond automated tools to find real, human-impact issues.
We Prioritise the Findings
Instead of dumping hundreds of confusing issues on you, we group them into critical fixes, important improvements, and future opportunities, so you know exactly what to do first.
You Get a Clear Action Plan
We deliver a detailed prioritised document and hold a video call to explain the fixes without technical jargon. You get a clear, step-by-step roadmap to improve your search visibility.
What You Get From the Audit
We provide comprehensive, manual analysis and structured resources designed to give you clarity and control over your SEO strategy.
Actionable SEO Report
A detailed, easy-to-read PDF report outlining the technical and structural issues holding your website back.
Prioritised Checklist
A step-by-step spreadsheet of recommendations grouped by urgency, so you know exactly what to fix first.
Technical Health Score
A clear metric showing how well your site crawls, its mobile responsiveness, and overall technical structure.
Content & Keyword Analysis
Insights into how your pages target search queries and actionable ways to rewrite underperforming content.
Competitor Benchmarking
A direct comparison showing how your website stacks up against your top search competitors on key keywords.
Local SEO Evaluation
A review of your county-wide visibility, local citation signals, and Google Business Profile setup.
Structured Data Blueprint
A guide to implementing schema markup that enhances rich search results and prepares you for AI search engine crawlers.
A 1-on-1 Walkthrough Call
A video consultation to discuss the findings, answer your questions, and detail next steps.
Custom Fix Proposal
An optional, transparent proposal outlining how Whitwell Media can implement all the changes for you.
SEO Audits for Local and Small Businesses
Local businesses have unique search opportunities. Unlike national brands, your customers are searching for services in specific towns, cities, or counties. Your audit needs to reflect that.
We review your geographic relevance, focusing on how well you rank in your immediate service area. We check if search engines understand your location signals and connect you with local buyers.
If you are based in County Durham or the wider North East, we ensure your site is structured to capture local search intent. Learn more about our targeted regional approach on our SEO Services in Durham page.
Google Business Profile Audit
We review your local listing setup, reviews, categories, and business description to make sure you rank in map results.
Local Citation Review
We check directories across the web to ensure your name, address, and phone number (NAP) are consistent and build trust.
Geographic Keywords
We identify whether your website targets localised terms and phrases that customers in your service region search for.
SEO Audits and AI Search Readiness
Search engines are changing rapidly. With Google's AI Overviews and answer engines like Perplexity or ChatGPT, how searchers find services is evolving. But AI engines still rely on reading website code and content.
An SEO audit reviews how crawlable and digestible your site is for AI systems. If your code is cluttered, or your text is hard to extract, AI search engines will not reference you when generating answers.
By auditing your site's structure, we ensure you are set up for future organic growth. You can read more about how we optimise websites for AI search models on our dedicated AI Search Optimisation page.
Evaluating AI Discoverability
- Reviewing crawl permissions for major AI bots (like GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and Google-Extended)
- Auditing structured schema markup to make sure entities, locations, and pricing are clear
- Testing page load speed and semantic structure to support direct answer extraction
- Analysing information hierarchy to align with answer engine preferences
- Checking keyword associations to see how well your pages match generative search context
When Should You Get an SEO Audit?
If your business is experiencing any of these scenarios, diagnostic reviews can identify the underlying issues and save time and money.
Your Rankings and Traffic Have Dropped
A sudden drop in search traffic is a major warning signal. It often indicates a crawl error, server configuration issue, or that your site has been negatively impacted by a recent Google algorithm update.
You Are Planning a Website Redesign
Auditing your current site before a redesign is essential. It lets you catalogue your high-performing pages, plan redirects for changing URLs, and avoid launching new pages with technical errors.
Your Enquiries and Sales Have Stalled
If you are getting traffic but no calls or contact form submissions, something is wrong. An audit checks whether broken forms, layout glitches, slow mobile load speeds, or poor page structure are driving users away.
What Happens After the Audit?
Once you receive your audit, you have full control over how the recommendations are implemented. We provide the information in formats that suit every workflow.
Fix the Issues Yourself
If you are comfortable managing your website content management system (CMS) or have an in-house editor, you can use our prioritised spreadsheet to work through the fixes step-by-step.
Hand the Brief to Your Developer
For complex systems or custom-coded websites, we write developer-ready instructions. Your internal developers or agency can follow our specifications to make code changes directly.
Let Whitwell Media Handle the Fixes
If you want the job done quickly and correctly, we can execute the fixes for you. We can handle WordPress, Webflow, Shopify, and HTML sites, letting you focus on running your business.
Frequently Asked Questions About SEO Audits
Related SEO Services
Find out What Is Holding Your Website Back
Stop guessing why your website is not generating enquiries. Get a complete diagnostic review, a clear prioritised fixes list, and a professional consultation call to set a clean foundation for your online growth.