When to Get an Audit and the 6 Elements That Make an Audit Good
When to Get an Audit and the 6 Elements That Make an Audit Good
When done well, an audit can move you forward quickly. We break down how to accomplish this (and avoid a bad audit experience).
If you’ve been in the marketing world for a while or like to read late-night marketing debates on X, you have undoubtedly heard people complain about “useless audits” or calling out consultants for passing off lazy work as an audit.
When done right, audits can be extremely valuable to in-house marketing teams, but this is a part of the marketing world where, sadly, the bad experiences outweigh the good ones.
A big part of the problem is that it is difficult to look at two audit offerings from consultants or agencies and understand which one will be good.
My goal with this post is to help you better understand when it makes sense for you to get an audit, how to identify a good one from a bad one (before you buy!), and how to get the most value from an audit.
Let’s dig in.
When to consider getting an audit
Despite some of the fuss over audits, they are still valuable tools, and many smart, motivated marketers use them to grow and improve. Here are three main reasons you should consider getting an audit.
You can’t solve the problem in-house
Site speed, technical SEO, and marketing automation configuration are a few areas where marketing teams often find that they don’t have the right skillsets/experience in-house to figure out the problems themselves. You might be able to narrow the issues down to a more specific area, but ultimately, you need help diagnosing the issue and developing a solution.
You don’t have the bandwidth
I once used an analytics agency to audit our tracking scripts and custom JS and give clear direction on what to change because our in-house devs were too busy to take on the task. They totally could have figured it out, but getting the audit allowed our devs to keep making progress on their work, and I solved the problems.
Sometimes, it makes sense to get the extra bandwidth to go faster.
You need third-party validation
I was once hired by a CEO to audit an entire marketing program (tools, tactics, and team) for the purpose of validating where the issues and opportunities existed. To them, this validation was valuable in handling immediate issues and also figuring out the right marketing leader to bring in next.
In some ways, this is a combination of points 1 & 2, but overall, it can be useful to confirm or challenge your current understanding via an unbiased external partner.
When NOT to get an audit
Sometimes, the audit you paid for is done well, but you may be disappointed with the outcome because you shouldn’t have sought out an audit in the first place. Here are two reasons not to pursue an audit.
You don’t have a clear objective
Can you imagine calling a plumber to your home and telling them to look around and see what they can find?
When an audit doesn’t begin with a clear objective, it sets up the entire thing to feel aimless, generic, and pointless.
Good consultants and agencies will definitely find things to highlight in the audit, but none of it will answer the question, “so what?”
You’re hoping for a silver bullet
If you’re behind on your goals for the quarter, an audit isn’t likely to save the quarter.
If you don’t have product-market fit, an audit isn’t likely to change that.
Getting an audit (or doing anything in marketing) out of desperation isn’t likely to end well. Maybe somewhere, there is a marketer who threw a Hail Mary with an audit, found out something that turned things around, and went on to great success, but I’ve never heard a story like that, and it certainly isn’t the norm.
The audit will not hand you a silver bullet.
What makes an audit good or bad?
If you now feel that there is a clear and valid reason to get an audit, how do you determine if an audit will be good? How do you avoid being one of those people heading to X to rant about the useless audit you just got back?
Below are six elements you should look for when evaluating (and ideally you can see some examples before buying).
1. Data presentation
How the results of the audit are presented to you matter. You need to understand the content and be able to hand it off to others without requiring a lot of work. The most hated SEO audits simply export data from a tool and call it an audit.
Look for an audit that will take the time to curate the data and put it together in a way that is easy to understand, reference, and share.
Bad: Generic, raw data export
Good: Styled, curated data
2. Prioritization
One of the most important aspects of an audit is prioritization. Without it, you might assume that everything needs to be addressed ASAP.
Look for an audit that will include realistic prioritization.
Bad: All items shown as critical
Good: Items prioritized by impact
3. Full picture
Along the same lines as prioritization, you don’t want to get a readout that is all bad. It can make everything feel more dire than it is, leading to misapplied focus or resources.
Look for an audit that will find the issues, but also shows you everything that is in good shape or being done well.
Bad: Only shows the issues
Good: Shows the bad and the good
4. Context
If your audit tells you that you have synchronous JS blocking the loading of critical assets, that’s helpful. If your audit tells you that it matters because it appears to be causing the lead form on your site to not load for 4 seconds, which is likely having a negative impact on conversion rates, that’s very helpful.
Look for an audit that is going to tell you not only what but also why it matters.
Bad: Only tells you the what
Good: Also tells you why it matters
5. Meetings
Imagine getting an email with a bunch of attachments or a link to a Google Drive folder with 7-10 spreadsheets and slide decks and a simple “let us know if you have any questions!” What the heck do you do with all of that?
Look for an audit that includes meetings to gain context before starting, a meeting to walk through all of the findings, and some sort of guidance or support to help beyond the presentation meeting.
Bad: Hands over a data dump
Good: Includes guidance & meetings
6. Broader Impact
If you hire someone to audit your paid social campaigns, they will do that. If there are things adjacent to the paid social campaigns that could be better, like landing pages, offers, or how you handle organic social, you would want to know those things too.
Look for an audit that will go beyond the core thing to evaluate and speak to adjacent or related things that may be impacting the core thing or are being impacted by the core thing.
Bad: Is myopic in one area
Good: Understands broader impact
How to get the most value from an audit
Now, let’s assume you pursued an audit for the right reasons and were able to find someone to give you a good one that aligns with the details above. How do you ensure that you turn the learnings from the audit into added value for your company?
Have a plan for how to implement/execute.
The worst thing you can do is get a good audit that lays things out for your company, but all it does is collect dust.
Granted, you won’t know exactly what will need to be done until you get the audit back. However, you should have a pretty good idea of the type of work involved and the resources you’ll need.
Assume there will be a lot to do and prepare accordingly, so that you can take action and implement the changes/learnings from the audit.
Does Ten Speed offer any audits?
Yes, we do. It’s probably not a surprise, but they contain the 6 elements of a good audit outlined above. 🙂
We currently offer the following audits, if any of them might be useful to you.
Comprehensive Strategy Audit
Content Decay Audit
On-Site & Technical SEO Audit
Site Migration Audit
Fill out this form and we’ll provide you with more info.
Additional Resources:
Understanding Search Intent: Examples for B2B SaaS SEO