27/08/2026
Most free marketing audits are sales documents wearing a lab coat.
The tells: every "critical issue" maps neatly onto a service the agency sells. Volume instead of judgement — "47 SEO errors" is a scare tactic, not a finding. And the biggest one: a genuine audit tells you what's already working and must be left alone. "Leave it alone" can't be invoiced, which is why the sales version never says it.
A real finding sounds like: "this page gets 900 visits a month, the form is broken on mobile, fixing it is worth ~25 enquiries." Ranked. Quantified. Three to five priorities, not forty-seven.
An audit is a diagnosis, not a proposal. Full guide to spotting the difference on the blog.
What's the worst audit you've been handed? War stories welcome.