Do I need a website audit? How to tell if your website is actually working

Over the last 3 months, I’ve had many conversations about websites – and their performance – with friends, clients and potential customers. And after a chat about SEO (or the absolute lack of it, in most cases), and a few quick questions from me, most people end up asking:

‘So… do I need a website audit?‘

But they don’t sound totally convinced.

Which makes sense – because they’re not entirely sure what that actually is.

They’ve ‘looked into SEO’.
They’ve seen the term website audit mentioned as a good place to start.

But beyond that – along with everything else SEO – it all feels a bit… vague.

• “Is it really technical? Will I even understand it?”
• “Is it going to be expensive?”
• “What if my site’s a total disaster — and I have to start again?”
• “Is it even necessary?”

But the only question that really matters is:

“Is my website actually working… or not?”

What people think a website audit is

There’s a bit of a perception that a website audit is:

• very technical
• quite overwhelming
• something only big companies need
• going to be a big list of things you got wrong with your website (embarrassing)
• or the first step before a full rebuild (terrifyingly expensive)

Understandably it just becomes one more barrier, used to delay actually getting started on that SEO strategy (which you’ve been talking about for two years).

But in reality, a website audit – done properly – is a simple and incredibly useful tool.

You can read my blog about the website audit checklist I use, if you want to find out more.

What a website audit does

At its core, a website audit answers three key questions:

• What’s working?
• What isn’t?
• And why?

That’s it.

Even if your website is a few years old, or your copy was a DIY job when you set it up, a website audit is not about tearing everything down or scrapping something that might just need a tweak.

It’s about how easy it is for Google – and people landing on it – to find, understand, and use it.

You could have a bargain basement website that’s actually doing a decent job.

Or or a super-cool (looking) £10K work of art, that is doing bugger all for your bottom line.

How to tell if your website is actually working

This is the easy bit. And something you might already have some of the answers to.

Ask yourself:

• Does my website bring in consistent enquiries?
• Am I ranking on Google for any of the services I offer?
• Does my website get traffic from Google?
• How are people finding me?

If the answers to these questions are, on the whole, pretty positive – amazing. You might be at a strong startng point and just need a few tweaks to improve things.

But if any of the following sound familiar – something else is usually going on under the surface.

• We’re not getting many leads through the website.’
• ‘I don’t think we rank for anything.’
• ‘We paid so much money for this design – but nothing’s changed.’
• ‘I feel like we’re burning money paying for blogs.’
• ‘How am I even supposed to know where to find anything out?’

And even if you know something is going on. What are you supposed to do about it?

A tragic tale of (some) design-led websites

Over the last few months, I have audited, edited, and worked on some websites that looked – quite frankly – bloody gorgeous.

Beautiful branding. Strong narrative. Stand-out visuals.

In other words, very design-led. Which in itself, isn’t a problem… as long as it’s not at the expense of proper SEO.

They were all different websites – and some had different issues – but all of them had the same end result.

The website was simply not doing its job.

Things like:

• no clear or optimised meta titles
• missing or duplicated H1s
• no real H2 structure to guide the page
• no keyword research behind the content
• no mapping of keywords to specific services or pages
• and no ongoing SEO content or blog strategy

Maybe this is a common issue in the website world – but from a purely anecdotal perspective, I feel like I’m just seeing it more and more.

Websites that are beautifully built from a brand and design perspective – but without any basic foundation of SEO that will help them get found.

Listen – I LOVE a gorgeous, bold brand and slick design as much as the next person. I’m not a philistine!

But beauty isn’t a ranking factor on Google the last time I looked.

Brand, design and your general aesthetic are super-valuable when it comes to creating your business identify and shaping how your business is seen – but you need to actually GET seen first.

So you end up with a site that looks great – but isn’t showing up in search results. Or generating leads.

That is NOT what you get a website for.

So… the million-dollar* question – do you actually need a website audit?

*No million dollars are involved in this process IRL.

Yes – probably, if:

• your website isn’t generating leads
• you’re not ranking for the services you offer
• you’ve had a redesign but haven’t seen results
• you’ve never really looked at SEO properly
• or you’re just not sure what’s working and what isn’t

You might not need one (yet) if:

• your website is already bringing in consistent, relevant enquiries
• you understand your data and performance
• you’ve got a clear SEO/content strategy in place

For most small businesses I speak to, though, it’s usually the first category.

Will a website audit fix your website? (Honestly… no)

This is really important. This is not about misleading you or pretending that generating a report of findings is going to magically solve your problems or start bringing in leads.

It won’t.

But it will do something REALLY valuable. It will show you exactly what’s not working – and why.

Because most of the time, it’s not one big issue – it’s a collection of smaller things that have been missed or just not understood properly.

Usually, not disaster territory.

Things like:

• pages not targeting the right keywords
• unclear or inconsistent page structure
• content that doesn’t match what people are actually searching for
• technical or indexing issues behind the scenes

Sometimes, what seems like the smallest of issues, can just be the missing part of your SEO puzzle. Put that right and you’ve got a quick win on your hands.

Sometimes, it’s a few things, tangled together, that are strangling your website’s reach.

But the point is, with an audit, there’s no guesswork any more. No chucking good money after bad, doing more blogs or more expensive design upgrades, and just hoping they do the trick.

A proper website audit tells you exactly:

• what’s working
• what isn’t
• and what matters most

And just as importantly – a prioritised action plan.

You might not need to do it all at once.
You might be able to fix bits yourself.
You can decide what (if anything) you need help with.

But either way, it stops you wasting time or money on changes that don’t make any difference.

Visit my SEO content strategy page to find out more about my SEO services.

What you actually get from a website audit (when I do it anyway!)

A good audit isn’t just 4 pages of spreadheets rammed with data and acronyms that make you glaze over.

I mean, if you love acronyms and data, they’re available free of charge! There’ll be plenty generated as part of the process.

What your audit SHOULD give you is information that is clear, useful and actionable.

• Plain-English explanations of what is working – and what’s not
• Practical recommendations you can act on
• A prioritised plan of what to fix first
• Insight into how your site is performing overall

I can say with absolute confidence, that just having having the information presented clearly is usually an immediate step in the right direction for most people.

Understanding what’s going on – and how to get started – is a good place to to be.

Sound good? This is what I offer

If you’re reading this and thinking ‘this sounds like my website‘, then I can help.

My website audits are £295 and include:

• A full SEO and content review of your site
• Keyword and page alignment checks
• Structure, content and visibility recommendations
• A clear, prioritised action plan

So you know exactly:

• what to fix
• what to focus on
• and what can wait

And if you decide to go on and work with me on your website or SEO content afterwards, I’ll take the cost of the audit off your first project.

Why not book a call, and have a free, zero-stress chat to see if a website audit is the best option for you?