Free agency audits are sales pitches with audit branding. They flag generic issues to justify a six-month retainer proposal. This is a paid, fixed-scope diagnostic with no upsell built into the deliverable. The fix list is yours to give to anyone you want.
Automated tools flag pattern issues (contrast, alt text, load times). They can’t tell you whether your value prop is wrong, whether your form asks for the wrong fields, or why qualified traffic from your best paid campaign is bouncing. The judgment is the product.
If traffic isn’t converting, CRO first. If you have decent conversion but suspect AI is recommending competitors instead of you, GEO first. Same price either way. If unsure, send a URL and get a straight answer back.
Quick Wins typically move indicators within 2–4 weeks. Strategic fixes (IA rebuilds, full funnel reworks) compound over 60–90 days. The audit tells you which is which.
Read-only GA4 (or whatever analytics you run), a short kickoff call to understand your business and buyer, and URLs of the pages that matter most. If your analytics are broken or missing, we'll need to fix that and get some data recorded before we draw conclusions.
Yes, as a separate engagement. Scoped CRO engagements, audit + implementation, typically take three weeks. Many clients take the fix list to their existing developer or agency. Both paths work.
Then you get a short report, a “don’t spend money on this” recommendation, and the budget redirects to traffic or a different rung of the funnel. You paid for certainty.