In short
- SEO Audit: what is it and why is it done: SEO audit is an organized check to see if the search engine can find your website, understand it, and consider it worth showing.
- When to commission an SEO audit and when to skip it: Auditing makes sense in several typical situations.
- What should an SEO audit report contain: The SEO audit report is a document that turns observations into decisions.
- Technical SEO audit: what checks are carried out under the hood: The SEO technical audit examines what the client does not see, but the search engine sees immediately.
SEO audit is an investigation that shows why a company’s website is not attracting Google queries and what needs to be fixed first. It’s worth commissioning when traffic is stagnating, after a page change, or before a major investment in content. A good report doesn’t end with a list of errors: it includes the order of repairs, the owner of each task, and the measure by which you can gauge the results.
KOKPIT COMMPLACE® · RADAR OF DECISIONS
The audit consists of six control points, not a list of observations
The radar leads from the current situation to recommendations. The arm sweeps past additional points, and each of them must be proven before the company changes course.
- 1Final state
- 2Evidence
- 3Risks
- 4Recommendations
- 5Action plan
- 6Control
The schematic of the Commplace® method · illustration, not client data
SEO Audit: what is it and why is it done
SEO audit is an organized check to see if the search engine can find your website, understand it, and consider it worth showing. SEO stands for „search engine optimization,” which means taking care that your website appears in search results. An audit is an examination, not a treatment: first the diagnosis, then the treatment.
In B2B companies, the website is rarely a store. It is a business card that is meant to lead to a sales conversation. Therefore, we assess SEO audits not only based on rankings, but also on whether people who can buy your service end up on the page. Traffic that does not lead to inquiries is an embellishment of the report, not a result.
- shows which subpages the search engine actually sees and which it ignores,
- indicates which questions the customer can expect the website to answer, and which they cannot.,
- sets the corrections in order of the greatest influence on sales,
- it provides a reference point from before the changes, to which you will return after a few months.
Don't know if your site needs an audit? Describe the situation in a few sentences and we'll tell you what to look for.
Make a short conversationWhen to commission an SEO audit and when to give up
Auditing makes sense in several typical situations. The common denominator is one: something has changed or something isn’t working, and you don’t know why. If the site is new and you are just building it, you need a good content plan more often than an audit.
Honestly: not every company needs an external audit. If you have one small website, a few landing pages, and someone in your team regularly looks at free search engine tools, you can do a basic audit yourself. An external audit starts to pay off when there are many sites, when the cost is high, or when your own review doesn’t explain anything.
| Situation | Does the audit make sense? | What to do first |
|---|---|---|
| The traffic from the search engine dropped after the change of the page or addresses | Yes, right away | Check if old addresses are redirected to new ones |
| The site has been around for years and no one knows what's on it. | Yes | Make a list of subpages and compare them with the offer |
| You plan to spend a large budget on content or advertising | Yes, before the decision | Determine which phrases actually lead to queries |
| Small site, few subpages, no problems | Not really | Create your own review based on the list in this article |
| A completely new page, without history | Not yet | Plan the structure and content, audit after a few months |
Auditing on one screen: assessment, gaps, evidence, and plan for corrections
This is what the cockpit looks like, which monitors the audit in Commwork®AI. You can see the overall assessment, the number of vulnerabilities, how many findings the auditor has, and who is improving which area.
| Period | What we do | Owner | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–30 days | Supplementing evidence and making quick corrections | Auditor and owners of the areas | in progress |
| 31–60 days | Improvement of four critical gaps | Marketing team | waiting |
| 61–90 days | Re-measurement and inspection report | Auditor | plan |
What should an SEO audit report include
The SEO audit report is a document that turns observations into decisions. If you receive dozens of pages of reports from tools without any conclusions, you have bought data, not an audit. The following table shows what elements should be included in the report and why.
| Part of the report | What it checks | What decision does it allow? |
|---|---|---|
| Summary for the management | The most important conclusions on one page | Whether and how to allocate the budget |
| Technical SEO audit | Indexing, speed, addresses, redirects, mobile version | What to fix so that the search engine can even see the page |
| Analysis of the visibility of the website | Phrases that the page shows, and phrases that it omits | Where is the chance to receive inquiries from customers? |
| Content Audit | Quality, timeliness, and repeatability of content | What to improve, combine or remove |
| Cannibalization of key words | Situations where several subpages compete for the same query | Which side to strengthen and which to combine |
| Links and credibility | Where do the links lead and what quality do they have? | Is work needed on mentions and publications? |
| The corrective plan | Tasks, order of tasks, owner, deadline | What we do in the first, second and third month |
| Measures of success | Starting point and intermediate goals | How do we know that it works? |
Technical SEO audit: what works under the hood
Technical SEO audit examines what the client doesn’t see, but the search engine sees right away. It starts with the question: can search engine robots access the page and read its most important subpages? If they can’t, no well-crafted text will help.
Indexing and structure of addresses
Indexing is the process of adding a page to the search engine database. The audit checks which pages are in the database and which have been omitted or blocked by mistake. It also examines whether the addresses are ordered and whether old addresses lead to redirections to new ones.
- whether important offer pages are accessible to search robots,
- whether there are unnecessary copies of the same page under different addresses,
- whether the page map (the file indicating the subpages to the robot) is up to date,
- do the „page not found” errors not cut off customers from the offer?.
Page speed and mobile version
Page speed is the time a user can actually use a subpage. The audit measures it across several typical subpages, not just the homepage, and checks whether the page looks good on a phone. In B2B companies, mobile traffic is often lower than in stores, but decision-makers still visit the sites between meetings.
Commwork®AI on this topic: visibility maturity radar
Commwork®AI is a system that guides the company from order to decision. In the field of SEO audit, it combines the programs the company already has into a single system: data about the website, content, and queries. It analyzes them, identifies gaps, and monitors the deadlines for implementing the fixes from the report.
The radar shows six areas of visibility on one screen and changes the value between successive measurements. The decision of which side to strengthen and what to combine is always made by a human being. We describe similar implementations in Case studies, and the system itself in Commwork®AI description. The screens and values in the animation are illustrative.
Commplace® Cockpits: what it's like to work on evidence
Six views that guide our decisions. All the charts below are illustrative examples, not given to clients.
The path of decisions with gates
Cost breakdown: not a single number, but a range
The roadmap for decision-making: from ideas to implementation
24-hour monitoring: what was detected
Growth and impact: the difference counts
Three scenarios instead of one forecast
The screen, graph and values are examples. The decision about further steps is always made by the person.
Tool radar: evidence from many sources in one place
A thorough audit requires evidence from search engines, analytics, advertising, mail, and documents, not opinions. Radar shows 28 tools, from which Commwork®AI collects data for review. The guidance circulates through the sources, just as the auditor checks the next areas. The conclusions are always approved by a human.
How these tools help in auditing (examples of use):
- Final state: Search Console (GSC), Google Analytics (GA4) and Ahrefs provide the numbers from which we calculate the change.
- Evidence and gaps: Sheets and Docs collect findings, and each of them has a source and a date.
- Plan and control: Tasks, Calendar and Slack monitor revisions, deadlines and owners after the audit.
Page visibility analysis and keyword cannibalization
Page visibility analysis answers the question: when a customer enters a query related to your service, does your company even appear at all. We check for phrases that the page already shows up for, and for those that should lead to sales but don’t. Beware of a trap: phrases that no one types in or that have no connection to the offer inflate the result and calm the management down for no reason.
What is keyword cannibalization
Keyword cannibalization is a situation where two or more of your company's pages compete for the same query. The search engine doesn't know which one to show, so it shows one after another or none at all. This most often happens on large blogs where articles about similar topics have been created over the years. See also how we approach this in the article about content audit: what to improve and what to remove.
The solution usually does not involve deleting the page. We choose the main page for a given query, enhance it, and connect the rest to it or redirect them. The decision is up to the person, because only they know which subpage should lead to the offer.
How to turn an SEO audit report into a plan, step by step
A report without implementation is costly. The following sequence works for companies that do not have their own SEO department and want to implement changes in stages.
- We fix what blocks visibility: indexing, redirects, critical errors.
- We select 5–10 subpages that are likely to lead to bidding requests, and improve them first.
- We are cleaning up the cannibalization: we are pointing to the main page for every important inquiry.
- We fill in the content gaps where customers ask questions and your website remains silent.
- We set the metrics: the number of queries from the search engine, the number of entries on the offer pages, the number of forms.
- We return to the measurement after the set time and compare it with the starting point.
Do you want to know which of your subpages should be improved first? Schedule a short conversation.
Make a short conversationHow Commplace works during visibility audits
We work like a doctor: diagnosis, tests, plan, implementation, control. SEO audit is a study in this chain for us, not a separate product that we leave behind. If your site needs more work on visibility, we describe it in the offer. page positioning. We have been in the industry since 1996, so we know that tools change, but the logic of decision-making does not.
In the audit, we combine technical, content, and sales analysis. The result is a report with a plan, where each task has an owner and a measure. The audit pricing is based on a short discussion and an initial diagnosis, because the scope depends on the size of the site. If a self-audit is sufficient, we will be straightforward about it. The differences between SEO, GEO, and AEO audits are described in the text. SEO, GEO and AEO audits: what are the differences, You can find a broader checklist of the page in auditing the website.
- conversation and preliminary diagnosis: we determine the goal and scope,
- study: technical, content, visibility,
- report on the corrective plan and measures,
- implementation: on your side or together with us,
- control: return to the starting point.
How to check that the SEO audit really worked
The increase in traffic after the audit does not yet mean that the audit caused it. The traffic also increases due to the season, an advertising campaign, or a change in the search engine. Correlation is not an influence, so before making changes, we record a reference point: the number of queries, visits to offer pages, and forms.
Then we make the changes in stages and compare the improved subpages with the subpages we haven't yet changed. This is a simple version of the control group. If the improved pages grow faster than the non-improved ones, you have stronger evidence than the graph itself for an upward trend. It's also good to have a clearly defined conversion metric; we write about this in auditing analytics and measuring conversions.
See what really hinders the visibility of your website
We will arrange a brief conversation during which we will get to know your website and business goals. After that, you will receive an initial diagnosis and a proposal for the scope of the audit. No pressure: if you are satisfied with a self-assessment, we will be straightforward about it.
- Preliminary diagnosis of the visibility of the page,
- indicating 5–10 subpages that are most important for sales,
- proposal of the scope of the audit and the method of measuring the effects.
A network of experts: who checks which area of the audit
Auditing is the work of many roles at once: gathering evidence, assessing risk, verifying numbers, and preparing recommendations. This network shows how one system connects these roles so that no area is overlooked.
The network of virtual experts works together: one system, many roles
- How to read the screen: Each point represents one role in the system, and the lines show which roles are exchanged during negotiations.
- Checking: The individual roles ensure that evidence and compliance are in place so that conclusions are not based on assumptions.
- Approval: The role prepares proposals. The evaluation, recommendations, and plan for amendments are approved by a human being.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How long does the SEO audit take?
The time depends on the size of the website and the scope of the research. A small company website requires less work than a blog service with hundreds of subpages. We give a specific time after a brief discussion and preliminary diagnosis, because only then do we know how many subpages and what tools the research involves.
How is a technical SEO audit different from a full audit?
The SEO technical audit examines the structure of the website: indexing, addresses, speed, and mobile version. The full audit adds content analysis, visibility, links, and a sales plan. A technical audit alone is sufficient when you suspect a specific problem, for example after changing the website.
What is keyword cannibalization and do I need to worry about it?
This is a situation where several of your subpages are competing for the same query. This mainly applies to pages with a large number of articles. If you have several dozen subpages on different topics, the problem is probably not relevant to you. An audit will quickly check this.
Is the SEO audit report enough to make me implement the changes myself?
A good report should make this possible: it includes tasks in order, the owner, and the measures. If the company lacks someone to implement the changes, we can take over some of the tasks. That’s when we have a separate discussion about the scope, not the hidden cost of the audit.
How to assess whether an external audit report is good?
Check three things: does the report have a summary for the management, are the tasks arranged in order of impact on sales, and does it include measures of success? If it’s just a list of errors from the tool, ask for a corrective plan and an explanation of priorities.
How much does an SEO audit cost at Commplace?
We do not publish the prices of SEO audits because they depend on the size of the website and the scope of the work. After a brief discussion and an initial diagnosis, we present the price together with a description of what you will receive. This way, you know exactly what you are paying for before making a decision.
It is worth reading further
Source: preparation by the Commplace® editorial team. The numerical examples are illustrative and based on explicit assumptions; they do not constitute legal advice or guarantees of results.