An audit at SEC Marketing Group is more than a checklist, it’s a forensic investigation. While “Eric’s SEO Tool” gives us the baseline, the Full Audit Workflow is where we find the hidden levers that will double a client’s lead flow.
When we are pitching a prospect, showing that we know their business better than they do is how we win the contract.
Phase 1: The Tech Stack “X-Ray”
Before looking at keywords, we need to know what the site is built on. We use Chrome Extensions to do this in seconds.
Essential Extensions:
- Wappalyzer: Our go-to for identifying the CMS (WordPress, Wix, etc.), hosting, and pixel tracking (Meta, LinkedIn).
- The “Extra Mile” Move: If you see they are on an outdated version of PHP or a slow host, that’s an immediate “win” you can mention in the proposal.
- Detailed SEO Extension: Provides an instant snapshot of Page Titles, Descriptions, Canonical tags, and Header structures (H1-H6).
- Google Tag Assistant: Use this to see if their Google Analytics (GA4) or Google Tag Manager is actually firing.
- Insight: If the tag is “Red” or missing, we can tell the client: “You’re currently flying blind; we need to fix your tracking first.”
Phase 2: The Step-by-Step Audit Workflow
1. The Crawl (Technical Health)
Run the site through Eric’s SEO Tool and cross-reference with a deep crawler like Screaming Frog.
- Check for: 404 errors, broken redirects, and “Orphaned” pages that aren’t linked anywhere.
2. On-Page Excellence
- The H1 Check: Does every page have exactly one H1? Does it include the primary keyword?
- Image Alt Text: Are they optimized for accessibility and SEO, or are they named
IMG_1234.jpg? - Mobile-First Check: Open the site on your phone. If the “Click-to-Call” button isn’t front and center, log it as a priority fix.
3. Core Web Vitals (Speed)
Use Google PageSpeed Insights. We aim for “Green” scores. If a site is slow, it doesn’t matter how good the content is Google will try and bury it.
Phase 3: The Proposal Pivot (Ad & Campaign Intel)
To truly engage a potential client, you need to see where they are spending money. This allows us to say: “We can get you this same traffic organically so you can stop paying for every click.”
How to Check a Prospect’s Ad Campaigns:
- The Google Ads Transparency Center: Go to the Google Ads Transparency Center and search for the company name.
- What to look for: See their active search ads. Are their headlines weak? Are they sending traffic to a generic homepage instead of a high-converting landing page?
- Facebook Ad Library: Search for their brand on the Meta Ad Library.
- The Engagement Hook: If they are running heavy social ads but their SEO is weak, tell them: “You’re paying for ‘rented’ traffic. Let’s build ‘owned’ traffic through SEO.”
- SEMrush/SpyFu (Estimated Spend): Use these tools to see which keywords they are bidding on.
- The Strategy: Find high-cost keywords they are paying for ($10+ per click) and show them how we can rank them organically for those same terms.
Phase 4: Consolidating the “Source of Truth”
Once the audit is complete, every finding must be recorded.
- For Prospects: Distill the top 3 technical “fails” and top 3 “ad opportunities” into the pitch deck.
- For Signed Clients: Move every single finding into the Client Work Log.
- Action: Assign a priority level (High/Medium/Low) to each item so the team knows what to fix on Day 1.
The Audit Mindset
“Don’t just find problems; find patterns.” If a client has 50 pages with missing Meta Descriptions, don’t just list 50 errors. Identify the process that failed so we can implement a permanent solution as we scale to 50+ clients.