An SEO audit is a structured review of your website that identifies what’s stopping it from ranking and getting traffic, and what to fix first. I’m Simon McCullagh, and I’ve been working in SEO for 12 years across agency, in-house and freelance roles, based in Newry, Northern Ireland, working with businesses across NI and the wider UK.

My SEO audit services are for site owners and marketing teams who already suspect something is wrong, or simply want an expert set of eyes on the site before investing further in SEO. You work directly with me throughout, not an account manager or a junior analyst running an automated scan.

What my SEO audit covers

A proper audit has to look at technical foundations, content and off-site signals together, because a problem in one area often explains a symptom in another. I cover the following areas:

Technical SEO audit: crawlability, indexing, robots.txt and XML sitemaps, redirect chains, duplicate content, and site architecture. I crawl the site with Screaming Frog to find broken links, orphaned pages, thin content and crawl budget issues, then cross-reference that against Google Search Console to see how Google is actually indexing the site versus how it’s structured.
Core Web Vitals and page experience: load speed, layout stability and interactivity, checked against real Search Console data and Lighthouse/PageSpeed Insights reports rather than a single lab test.
On-page SEO: title tags, headings, internal anchor text, and whether pages are structured to match search intent rather than just keyword density.
Content review: gaps against what’s currently ranking, duplicate or cannibalising pages, and outdated or thin content dragging down otherwise strong sections.
Internal linking and site architecture: whether your most important pages are easy to find from the homepage and get enough internal link equity, or whether they’re buried several clicks deep.
Backlink profile: a review of your existing link profile for toxic or spammy links, lost links worth reclaiming, and gaps compared with competitors.
Structured data and analytics: where relevant, I check structured data implementation, and if you already have Google Analytics 4 in place, review whether tracking and conversions are set up correctly, since an audit is only as useful as the data behind it.

Free SEO report vs full SEO audit

These are two different things. The free SEO website report is an automated, high-level check: it flags obvious issues quickly and gives you a starting point, but it isn’t a substitute for manual review.

A full SEO audit is a manually reviewed piece of work. I look at crawl data, Search Console reports and your backlink profile myself, interpret what the numbers actually mean for your specific site and market, and turn that into a clear set of recommendations ordered by impact, rather than a generic checklist. The free report tells you that something is wrong; the audit tells you why, and what to do about it.

What you get

At the end of the audit you receive a written report and a prioritised action plan, setting out what to tackle first based on impact versus effort. The report is a written document you can keep and refer back to.

The report is followed by a walkthrough call, where I talk you through the findings in plain English, answer questions, and make sure you understand not just what to fix but why it matters for your traffic and rankings.

How the audit works

The process follows a consistent structure, though the depth varies with site size and complexity:

Access and scoping: I request access to Google Search Console and, where available, Google Analytics 4, and agree the scope of the audit with you.
Crawl and data collection: I crawl the site with Screaming Frog and pull indexing, performance and Core Web Vitals data from Search Console and PageSpeed Insights.
Manual review: I work through technical, on-page, content and backlink findings, checking automated flags against the real pages rather than reporting them blind.
Ranking findings: issues are ordered by impact versus effort, so you know what to address first.
Delivery and walkthrough call: you get the written report plus a call to go through it together.

Turnaround depends on the size of the site, how many issues turn up, and how much backlink history there is to work through, so I confirm a realistic timeline once I’ve had a look at the site.

After the audit

What happens next is entirely up to you. Some clients take the action plan and implement the fixes with their own developer or in-house team. Others ask me to implement the recommendations directly, which is where ongoing technical SEO services tend to pick up from the audit. The prioritised list from the audit usually becomes the starting scope for that follow-on work, typically beginning with the highest-impact fixes such as crawl-structure changes, redirect cleanups or migration-related issues.

If you want to see how ongoing work is structured and priced, my SEO pricing page sets out the packages available after the audit stage.

SEO audit FAQs

What is included in an SEO audit?

A technical SEO audit covering crawlability, indexing and Core Web Vitals, an on-page and content review, an internal linking and site architecture check, and a backlink profile review, with recommendations ordered so you know what to fix first.

How much does an SEO audit cost?

Cost depends on the size and complexity of your site. In general terms, a small brochure site is quicker to review and costs less than a large e-commerce catalogue, which has far more pages, content and backlink history to work through. I don’t publish a fixed headline price for that reason. Get in touch with details of your site and I’ll give you a specific quote.

How long does an SEO audit take?

It depends on site size, the number of issues found, and how much backlink and indexing history needs reviewing. Smaller sites are quicker than large or technically complex ones. I’ll confirm a timeline once I understand the scope of your site.

How often should you audit your website?

There’s no fixed rule, but an annual audit is sensible for most active websites. It’s worth bringing one forward after a site migration, a redesign, or a noticeable drop in traffic following a Google core update, since an audit after a ranking drop is often the right first step rather than guessing at fixes.

Book an SEO audit

If you want a clear view of what’s holding your site back and what to fix first, I can carry out a full SEO audit and walk you through the findings myself. Alternatively, if you’d like a quicker first look before committing, start with the free SEO website report.

To discuss your site and get a quote for a full audit, get in touch and tell me a bit about what you’re trying to achieve. You can also see the full range of SEO services I offer as an independent SEO consultant.