My vision

SEO Audit

I only carry out SEO audits and analyses when a client explicitly asks for them, because my experience with them has not been good. When I hand over an SEO audit, I am excited about how much I have done and uncovered for the client, and then… The client usually takes the audit and implements it badly, or simply puts it in a drawer. Many specialists ignore this, send the invoice and move on. I really dislike doing work that ends up in a drawer. I want to create value for the client and multiply their investment in me as an SEO consultant. SEO audits turn out badly mainly for clients with a corporate structure. That is why I offer two clearly defined types of audit.

SEO Hot Fix audit, where I aim to pick out, in roughly 12 hours, all the opportunities the client has that are not too complicated to implement. Opportunities that, in my experience, will genuinely move the client forward.
Comprehensive SEO audit. This is a thorough analysis of the website, a check in all available tools and a description of the issues found, together with solutions and steps.

I'm interested

What does the SEO Hot Fix audit include?

Browsing the website as a user

I find out what earns you the most money and where you see potential. Then I check whether you are really targeting the main keywords in your field with the right pages and what could be improved. In 50% of cases I find critical weaknesses that have fairly simple solutions. Thanks to my background in UX, I also try to reflect this side of the problem.

Crawl and current website structure

I also look at it from a technical and quantitative point of view. I crawl your entire website, check indexing and use this data to pull out the biggest weaknesses. If the client is advanced, they can keep working with this crawl and fix the issues themselves. They will also see all the formal errors on the website. Fixing them will "improve your SEO", but the real impact will not be very large.

Implementation guide

I don't like audits that say "this is wrong" without offering a solution. Above all, I try to turn the critical issues straight into a working solution you can build on. What, where and how you need to change. Anyone who reads the audit should know clearly what to do or what the next step should be.

Who have I carried out SEO audits and consulting for?

What is the difference between an SEO audit and an SEO analysis?

These terms can easily overlap. Here I will only describe the difference I see between the two outputs. An SEO audit is a shorter and simpler document that points out issues and tries to outline simple solutions. An SEO auditor points out issues and prioritises them rather than building detailed solutions.

Unlike an audit, an SEO analysis focuses on a detailed evaluation of the performance and effectiveness of the SEO strategy. It includes a thorough evaluation of key metrics such as organic keywords, technical condition or the link building portfolio. Another major difference I see is that an SEO audit focuses on fixing errors, whereas an SEO analysis tries to build a strategy and steps for the future based on the current situation.

Let me illustrate the difference with two examples. In an SEO audit, I might say, for instance, that here is a list of 80 pages returning 404, which you should redirect to equivalent pages on your website. The client receives a table, but not the target pages. In an SEO analysis, I also give the client my recommendations on whether and where to redirect.

Second example: during an audit I find that the client’s categories are badly named, so I point this out. In an analysis, I also look at which categories they could have, what to call them and what this could bring. The client receives a complete brief for creating, for example, 10 to 20 pages, included in the price of the analysis.

What exactly I check on the technical side

On the technical side, I look at the things that decide whether a website gets into the game at all. How the robot moves through it, in other words crawling, and what gets into the index. Whether URL variants are creating duplicate content and whether correctly set canonical links keep it under control. I also check whether removed and moved URLs point where they should via 301 redirects, and how fast and usable the website is on mobile, in other words Core Web Vitals and mobile first index. These are exactly the places where websites most often lose out quietly.

When is an SEO audit a good idea?

1) An SEO audit is suitable at the start of a collaboration, but it is very helpful to agree with the SEO consultant that they will then process and implement the changes themselves.

2) The second case where an SEO audit makes sense is when there is a genuinely capable person on the client’s side who understands SEO.

No audit or analysis actually improves the state of a website or its SEO on its own! They need to be implemented, so it is very important to have a competent person on the other side. Most audits and analyses should also be discussed and refined further. It has happened to me several times that I received additional insider information on some points of an audit or analysis, which changed my recommendations

It is also important to know that an SEO audit can typically generate 50 to 250 hours of development, copywriting and coordination work on the client’s side. The client should be aware of this.

Which areas do I cover in SEO audits?

My approach to SEO is that it is a marketing channel that should meet marketing goals. Thanks to my knowledge of marketing in general, I see SEO in its full breadth. I also have experience with other marketing channels and UX. That is probably the biggest difference. When I look at SEO audits by some specialists, I can see that narrow focus in their recommendations. Their recommendations simply undermine brand work, chase traffic instead of sales or ignore paid campaigns. I try to avoid this and work in synergy with other channels. My understanding of UX and inbound marketing shows clearly in my SEO analyses and audits. I focus more on on-page factors of SEO than on off-page ones. I focus on off-page factors if you want to work on link building.

On-page gets most of my attention

Because I focus mainly on on-page in an audit, a large part of it is about whether the content targets the right queries. I verify the search intent for the main keywords (the ones where the core of the client’s revenue really lies), whether they are matched by the right type of page and what the SERP you want to reach looks like. I also look at title tags and meta descriptions, because these are what decide whether someone clicks on your result or goes to a competitor.

When we also tackle off-page

If you also want to work on off-page, I add a review of your link profile to the audit. I look at how you are doing with backlinks, what your domain authority (taken with a pinch of salt) is compared with your competitors and whether your anchor text distribution is healthy. It usually also includes checking whether your links come from non-indexed or nofollow pages, where their value is zero. However, I do this within 1 to 2 hours and I do not produce extensive link building audits and analyses. From my many years of experience in link building, it really has to be done hands-on for the client, not just handed over as armchair advice on what to do.

Quality, trustworthiness and AI

Thirdly, I look at an area that many audits overlook: the quality and trustworthiness of content. Google sums it up with the acronym E-E-A-T and with the rise of answers from artificial intelligence, in other words GEO, it matters more than ever. It is not just about being visible, but about being the source that both the search engine and the model trust.

An SEO audit will not give you a comprehensive solution for website filtering, keyword research or a new website structure. Don’t expect that from it. The first option is meant to give your SEO a simple, quick and inexpensive kick-start. The second option goes into more depth. If you want to take SEO really seriously and have sufficient volume for it, I definitely recommend ongoing collaboration with me or with another professional in the field.

I see prioritisation, interpretation and proposed solutions as the essential parts of an SEO audit. I have already seen several audits that were nothing more than exports from marketing and SEO tools. Even the search intent behind the word itself invites this. And indeed, some clients simply receive a few tool exports for around a hundred euros. But that is not what I do

The tools I use for audits include Ahrefs, Marketing Miner, Collabim, Screaming Frog and Sitebulb. Personally, my top 2 tools are Ahrefs and Screaming Frog. Evaluating the existing Google Search Console setup goes without saying. But the most important things are experience, prioritisation and interpretation.

I know WordPress and Shoptet very well, which makes audits of sites built on them much simpler. I also know the possibilities and limits of both systems. There is no point in designing and recommending technical acrobatics when they cannot be implemented easily.

What else do I offer?