SEO
SEO audits
An SEO audit is a documented diagnosis of why a website does or does not get found — technical health, on-page structure, listings, and what AI assistants currently say about the business. Hitman Marketing delivers this as the AI Visibility Teardown: $497, five business days, credited toward any engagement.
From $497. Full pricing
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What should an SEO audit actually include?
Four layers: technical health, on-page structure, the listings layer, and — new since AI assistants started answering buyer questions — what those assistants actually say about the business and its competitors. An audit that stops at the website is describing half the problem.
| Layer | What gets checked | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Technical | Rendering, speed, indexation, AI crawler access | A blocked crawler or client-side rendering zeroes everything downstream |
| On-page | Titles, structure, internal links, extraction-readiness | Whether pages can rank and be quoted |
| Listings | Google Business Profile, plus Foursquare, Apple and Bing claim status | Those four feed Gemini, ChatGPT, Siri and Copilot respectively |
| AI visibility | Ten buying-intent prompts across four assistants, competitors tracked | What buyers are actually being told today |
Are free SEO audits worth anything?
As a conversation starter, occasionally; as a diagnosis, no. Free audits are automated tool exports built to open a sales call, and they flag the same generic issues on every site. A useful audit requires a person looking at your market, your competitors, and your listings.
The audit sold here costs $497, takes five business days, and applies the straightforward Google Business Profile fixes during the audit itself rather than listing them for later. It ends in a recorded 45-minute walkthrough with a prioritised 90-day roadmap, and the fee is credited in full against any retainer or build started within 45 days.
Related: The AI Visibility Teardown
Should an SEO audit cover AI search now?
Yes — leaving it out means auditing a shrinking share of how customers find businesses. BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey puts AI-assistant use for local recommendations at 45%, up from 6% a year earlier, and most business owners have never seen what those assistants say about them.
The gap the audit measures is stark: SOCi's index found Google's local pack recommending roughly thirty times the share of local businesses that ChatGPT does, and the audit shows exactly which side of that gap a business sits on.
Related: AI search statistics for 2026
Common questions
- How much does an SEO audit cost?
- Ours is $497, delivered in five business days, and credited in full toward any retainer or build started within 45 days — so continuing makes the audit effectively free. Paying something matters: a free audit is a sales document, and a paid one has to justify itself as a deliverable that stands on its own.
- What do I actually receive at the end?
- A recorded 45-minute walkthrough, a prioritised 90-day roadmap, the AI visibility results across ten buying-intent prompts with your three named competitors tracked alongside you, a geo-grid ranking map, the listings claim-status report, and the twenty-point technical findings. The quick Google Business Profile fixes are applied during the audit, not listed as homework.
- Can I take the audit and do the work myself?
- Yes, and some people should. The roadmap is written so it can be handed to anyone — an in-house person, your current agency, or you. Several of the highest-return items, like claiming Foursquare, Apple Business Connect, and Bing Places, are free and genuinely doable in an afternoon. There is no obligation to continue.
Also worth considering
Find out whether your territory is open
One contract per industry per city. If yours is open you can execute at the published price today; if a competitor already holds it, the nearest open market is the one to look at.
The survey is credited in full against the contract if your territory opens and you take it.