Free SEO Audits: Scam or Legit?

What Are “Free” SEO Audits?

At face value, a free SEO audit is just that—an SEO audit that doesn't require you to pay any money.

In reality, free SEO audits are either:

1. Not really SEO audits (i.e., scams)
2. Not really free (i.e., marketing ploys)

As described in the sections below, there is an important distinction between these two kinds of free SEO audits. However, both can safely be described as deceptive at best and downright harmful at worst.

Scams

Let's start with the more harmful of the two: free SEO audits that are nothing more than scams.

These “audits”—like many online scams—are designed to capitalize on a lack of technical knowledge and digital literacy. Luckily, you can usually recognize them by looking for the following traits:

• doesn't contain information about the SEO agency (e.g., website link, phone number, logo, etc.)
• sent from a generic domain (e.g., gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc.)
• filled with out-of-context SEO buzzwords and typos
• doesn't contain information specific to your website

What makes these scams so dangerous is that they often target small businesses that don't have the time or resources to properly vet an SEO agency or audit. As a result, they end up paying for subpar (or nonexistent) services, and their ranking doesn’t improve.

Marketing Ploys

The other kind of free SEO audit is offered by an agency as a way to drum up business.

In most cases, these “free audits” are sent in phishing emails from SEO agencies that provide genuine—and sometimes even high-quality—SEO services. So, what's the problem?

In our experience, there are usually two:

The first problem is that these SEO audits are often misleading. They tend to be filled with inaccurate information and designed to instill a sense of fear about the health of your website.

The second problem is that even if these audits are accurate, they're always incomplete. They might use an auditing tool like SEMrush Site Audit to quickly identify some of the issues affecting your ranking, but they won't provide any information about how to fix them. This leaves you with a list of problems but no clear solution, which—surprise, surprise—is when these agencies hope you'll turn to them for help.

Are “Free” SEO Audits Worth It?

The answer to this question is simple: no!

The process of auditing a website for SEO is time-consuming, and the process of actually addressing issues can be complicated, especially on the backend. It's unrealistic to think that a legitimate agency or expert would perform either of these services for free.

With that in mind, it's best to avoid free SEO audits in favor of legitimate and genuinely useful alternatives like hiring a vetted marketing agency or learning the basics of SEO yourself.

How To Vet an SEO Agency Before Hiring

If you're going to hire an SEO agency, it's essential to do your due diligence first. This means taking the time to vet the agency in question to ensure they're legitimate, qualified, and—perhaps most importantly—suitable for you.

When vetting an SEO agency, here are a few things you should keep in mind:

1) Make sure they're transparent about their services

Any reputable SEO agency should be upfront about the services they offer, as well as their pricing. If an agency is vague about what they do or how much they charge, that's a red flag.

2) Ask for referrals

If you know someone who has used an SEO agency in the past, ask for a referral. This can give you some insight into what it's like to work with the agency and whether or not they're a good fit for you.

3) Check their website

A reputable SEO agency will have a well-designed website with helpful information about its services. If the agency's website is poorly designed or doesn't contain much information, that's a bad sign.

4) Ask questions about the services they provide

When you're talking to an SEO agency, make sure to ask questions about the services they provide. This will help you better understand what they offer and whether or not their services are right for you.

Some things you should ask include:

• “How do you measure campaign success?”
• “Can I see the results of past clients?”
• “What's included in your monthly fee?”
• “What kinds of strategies do you implement for clients?”
• “How will my feedback and concerns be addressed?”

5) Read online reviews

Finally, read online reviews of the SEO agency in question. This can give you some insight into their reputation and whether or not they're likely to provide high-quality services.

How To Tell If Your SEO Strategy Is Working

Before finishing up this article, it's important that we cover how to tell if your SEO strategy is working. After all, even the best SEO strategies won't do you any good if you cannot track their success.

Here are a few things you should keep an eye on to gauge the success of your SEO strategy:

1) Website traffic

Increased website traffic is one of the most apparent indicators of a successful SEO strategy. If you're seeing more visitors to your site, that's a good sign that your SEO efforts are paying off.

2) Keyword rankings

Another thing you should track is your keyword rankings. If you're seeing your keywords moving up in the search results, your SEO strategy is working.

3) Conversions

Of course, website traffic and keyword rankings are critical, but they don't mean much if they don't lead to conversions. Make sure to track your conversion rate to see if your SEO strategy is driving results.

4) ROI

Finally, calculate your return on investment (ROI) to see if your SEO strategy is profitable. If your SEO efforts are costing you more money than they're making you, then it's time to make some changes.

The Bottom Line

If you take anything away from this article, it should be that there's no substitute for a results-driven marketing agency regarding SEO.

If you want your website to rank higher in the search results, you need to work with an agency that knows what they're doing—and these agencies aren't sending out misleading website “audits.” 

As with any partnership, it's essential to do your due diligence to make sure you're working with an agency that's reputable, transparent, and—most importantly—right for you!

Let Us Help!

PW Media is a digital marketing agency specializing in SEO to help businesses of all sizes create an online presence. From website creation and management to full-scale SEO services, PW Media can help you get your business online and find new customers. Our expert team has years of experience, and we use the latest techniques to help your business succeed. Contact us today!