Frustrated to Found: Unlock Website Growth with an SEO Audit

Feeling like your website should be doing more for your business? More leads, more sales, more traffic, just…more? You’re not alone. Many businesses invest in a shiny new website only to realise later that great looks don’t equal strong performance.

That’s where an SEO audit comes in. An audit cuts through the guesswork and shows you what’s working, what’s holding your site back, and where the biggest opportunities for growth are hiding. It’s the first step in turning website frustration into clarity, traction, and long-term results.

• Who needs an SEO audit?
• What exactly is an SEO audit?
• How does an SEO udit help my business?
• Free vs Pro: Why a human SEO audit matters
• Case studies
• Turn insight into action

Who Needs an SEO Audit?

The short answer—just about everyone who has a website for their business.

Whether you’re just getting started, or you’ve had your website active for years, an SEO audit helps you understand how visible your business is in your market. A new website gets a clear roadmap from day one, while an established site gets a health check to uncover technical issues, slow performance, outdated content or missed opportunities. And, if your traffic has dropped, an audit can help you figure out why and what to focus on fixing.

If you’ve recently redesigned your website, changed platforms, added new content, or made structural changes, an audit ensures nothing unintentionally damaged your rankings.

Essentially, an SEO audit gives you a clear view of what’s happening behind the scenes of your website so that you can make informed decisions moving forward.

What Exactly is an SEO Audit?

An SEO audit helps uncover what is holding your site back from reaching your business goals and identifies the areas that need improvement. The goal is simple: identify issues, spot opportunities, and create a plan that moves your business forward.

An audit typically covers 7 main areas:

1. Technical SEO analysis – The technical analysis examines areas such as site structure, speed, indexing, mobile usability, URLs, and sitemaps. This is the foundation of your site. If it’s shaky, everything on top struggles.
2. On-page SEO analysis – The on-page analysis looks at your content, keywords, metadata, headings, internal links, images, and structured data. It answers questions like:
   • Are you targeting keywords people are searching for?
   • Is your content helpful and in-depth?
   • Are your pages linking to one another?
   • Are images compressed with descriptive file names and alt text?
3. Off-page SEO analysis – Off-page analysis focuses on backlinks and online reputation. Who is linking to your site? Are you mentioned in the right places? Is your brand visible beyond your own website? This can include areas such as your social media campaigns and mentions on industry-related websites.
4. User experience (UX) – Essentially, UX answers the question: How easy is your website to use, both on mobile and desktop? It assesses navigation, mobile layout, accessibility, site speed, and how helpful your pages are. A good user experience generally leads to higher conversions.
5. Performance analysis (Core Web Vitals) – An analysis of your website’s performance will measure how fast pages load, how quickly users can interact with a page, and whether content shifts around as the page loads. Users won’t wait around for a slow website.
6. Competitive analysis – A competitive analysis identifies who’s outranking you in search results and why. This shows potential keywords to target, content gaps to fill, and backlink opportunities to pursue.
7. Local SEO – Reviewing local SEO includes the areas listed above, but it looks specifically at how visible your business is in your local area. This covers:
   • your Google Business Profile
   • visibility in local map listings
   • brand mentions or links in local media
   • ranking for location specific keywords

How Does an SEO Audit Help my Business?

You wouldn’t drive your vehicle without a yearly WOF, and you can’t expect your website to continue to be competitive without auditing its performance. The main benefits of an SEO audit include increasing your brand’s visibility, improving your users’ experience, providing your company a competitive advantage, and setting your business up for long–term success.

• Increased visibility – The higher you appear in search results, the more chances you have to turn searchers into customers. An audit shows what’s blocking your rankings and how to fix it.
• Improved user experience – A faster website that is user friendly keeps people around longer. Not mobile friendly? Confusing layout? Pages loading slow? These are all fixable issues that an SEO audit uncovers.
• Competitive advantage – When you understand how and why your competitors are ranking, you can start making smarter decisions. An audit gives you insights into their keywords, backlinks, and strategies so you can outperform them.
• Long-term success – SEO isn’t a one-and-done project. The best results come from ongoing improvements. An audit highlights the areas with the biggest ROI so your long-term growth is intentional, sustainable, and measurable.

Free vs Pro: Why a human SEO audit matters

Free audit tools are great for getting a quick snapshot of your site. They can flag errors, suggest improvements, and give you a general sense of your SEO health.

But here’s the catch: free tools don’t know you. They can’t tell you what really matters, what to fix first, or how the pieces fit together. They also can’t interpret context—like whether a “critical issue” is actually critical, or whether the fix is even worth your time.

That’s where a human makes all the difference.

A professional audit doesn’t just list problems. It:

• Prioritises what actually impacts your results 
• Interprets the “why” behind the data 
• Spots things automated tools can’t 
• Connects SEO improvements to business outcomes 
• Gives you a clear, practical plan to follow

Some helpful free tools (good for a quick glance):

• Ahrefs Site Audit Tool 
• Semrush Technical Site Audit  
• Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool 

A Pro Audit goes much deeper and translates the data into a strategy. That’s what Found does: identify the issues holding you back and build a plan to move you forward—more traffic, more leads, better conversions.

Case Studies

Curious what an audit can uncover? Here are a few examples of what happens when businesses turn insights into action.

Golf 360  Golf 360 struggled to convert online shoppers. The audit revealed content gaps, technical issues, and missed keyword opportunities. Found optimised the site for industry-specific search terms and created a structured content plan—leading to stronger visibility, better engagement, and increased sales.

Hotel Grand Chancellor After completing an SEO audit and implementing key services, Found increased revenue by 93% via online bookings. Hotel Grand Chancellor now regularly ranks 1st for event and location accommodation terms and often outranks Booking.com and Tripadvisor.

Meltrons needed better-quality traffic and stronger commercial leads. With targeted keyword research and a refined content strategy, Found helped them grow organic traffic and revenue by over 2,000%. They now rank first for more than 75 competitive keywords.

Turn Insight into Action

An SEO audit is more than a list of problems—it’s a roadmap for progress. It shows you exactly where your website stands today and what you can do to grow tomorrow. Don’t settle for auto-generated lists or vague recommendations. A Pro Audit from Found gives you clarity, direction, and a strategy built for long-term success.

Found is your local Tauranga SEO Agency partner, here to help you move from frustration to forward momentum. Ready to get clear on what’s holding your site back? Let’s get started.