Most "free SEO audits" are automated PDFs that lead straight into a sales pitch. This one is a local SEO audit done by hand. I spend around 45 minutes checking four things: your website, your Google Business Profile, where you rank today for your three main searches, and whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention you. Then I email you a written report. There's no sales call and no pitch at the end. If everything looks fine, I'll tell you that.
Free · No call required
Our free SEO audit, the Visibility Snapshot
Tell me your website and where you work. Within one working day I'll send back a written review: what's working, what's holding you back, and the one thing I'd fix first.
A snapshot of where you stand today. Doesn't include backlink audits, ranking history or reviews of another agency's work.
Manual review · no sales call · reply within one working day
The problem with free audits
You've probably already requested a "free SEO audit" from one or two agencies. You know how it goes.
A form fires off an automated PDF, usually from a white-label tool like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or one of the cheaper alternatives. It tells you your site has 247 issues. Some of them are real. Most of them are nonsense. The PDF includes a recommended action plan that conveniently matches that agency's £2,000/month retainer.
Three days later someone from sales calls. Then someone else from sales calls. Then you get added to an email sequence.
That's lead bait dressed up as an audit.
✗ Typical "free SEO audit"
✓ The RankLocal Visibility Snapshot
What's covered
The Visibility Snapshot checks four things, using only what anyone can see publicly. I go through each one by hand rather than running a tool. The output is one written document, sent by email, that you can read in about ten minutes. It shows where you stand today, so it doesn't include backlink audits, ranking history, competitor reports or a review of another agency's work. I don't need any logins.
Speed, Core Web Vitals, mobile layout, indexing and metadata. In short, whether Google can load your pages quickly, read them and keep them in its index. These are the basics Google checks before it ranks anything.
How complete your profile is, your primary and secondary categories, your services, your photos and posts, and how many reviews you have and whether you reply to them.
Your positions right now for your three main searches, the ones that bring in calls rather than vanity keywords. I report Google's normal results and the Maps results separately, because they often tell different stories.
Whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention your business when someone in your area asks for what you do. Most local businesses I check aren't mentioned yet.
Your report
You get one document, written in plain English you won't need to Google.
It will tell you:
You'll get it by email within one working day of submitting the form. There's no follow-up call unless you ask for one. There's no email sequence. If you read the report and decide RankLocal isn't the right fit, that's a perfectly reasonable outcome. You've still got a free audit you can use to brief whoever you do hire.
Right fit?
This is right for you if:
Probably not the right fit if:
The process
Your name, email, website, the main town you work in, and whether you're paying for SEO now. No phone number, no company size dropdown, no "what's your monthly marketing budget" question.
I spend around 45 minutes checking the four areas above by hand: your site, your Google Business Profile, where you rank on Google and Maps for your three main searches, and whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention you. Then I write up what I find.
Within one working day, you get a written document by email. Read it whenever suits you.
If the foundations are weak, you might want a one-off project to fix them. If they're solid and you want to push for growth, monthly SEO might make sense. If everything looks fine (and sometimes it does), I'll tell you that and we both move on with our lives. No pressure either way.
Honest answer
Two reasons.
First, most of the businesses I audit don't need a full retainer. They need one or two specific things fixed. The Snapshot tells them which things, and they can decide whether to fix those things themselves or hire someone to do it. Either is fine. The cost of the audit to me is 45 minutes of focused work, and the goodwill it builds is worth far more than the time.
Second, most agencies dress up an automated tool as "expertise" and use it to pressure business owners into work they don't need. That's the opposite of how I want to work. The honest audit is my marketing, and it doubles as the antidote.
If we end up working together after the audit, great. If we don't, you've still got a clear picture of where you stand. That's the deal.
If you'd like to know more before you send your address, the about page explains who reads it and why I started doing this. The case studies show what the work looks like once it's under way, Search Console figures and all. And if your question isn't really about an audit, send me a message instead.
Free · No call required · 1 working day turnaround
Tell me your website and I'll send back a written review within one working day.
A snapshot of where you stand today. Doesn't include backlink audits, ranking history or reviews of another agency's work.
Manual review · no sales call · reply within one working day
Common Questions
Yes. No payment, no card, no trial. You give me your name, email, website, the main town you work in and whether you pay for SEO now. I send you a written audit within one working day. That's the entire transaction.
There isn't one. I get paid by the businesses I end up working with after the audit. Most audits don't convert into work, and that's fine. The audit pays for itself in goodwill and referrals over time. If you read the report and decide RankLocal isn't the right fit for you, no one will chase you.
Other agencies plug your URL into a tool like SEMrush or Ahrefs and email you the PDF the tool generates. That takes 30 seconds and tells you nothing useful. The Visibility Snapshot is 45 minutes of manual work by one person (me). I check your site, your Google Business Profile, where you rank today for your three main searches and whether ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews mention you, with your trade and your town in mind.
It's a local SEO audit. It looks at what decides whether people nearby find you: your Google Business Profile, the basics of your website, where you rank in your own town for your three main searches, and whether AI answers mention you. It doesn't crawl every page of your site, audit your backlinks or compare you against competitors. If the Snapshot shows you need one of those, I'll say so.
Within one working day of submitting the form. Sometimes faster, depending on the queue. You'll get an email confirmation when the request comes in.
No. The report is delivered by email and that's the end of the interaction unless you choose to reply. There's no automated sequence, no sales call booked into your calendar, no chasing.
Primarily London and the Home Counties (Surrey, Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent and Berkshire), because that's where I work. I'll audit UK businesses outside that area too, but I won't take them on as ongoing clients, so the audit will focus on what you can act on yourself.
The audit works best on sites that have been live for at least 3 months, so there's enough data for me to review. If your site is brand new or you don't have one, get in touch directly and I'll tell you what I can do.
No. The audit is done from publicly available data and the tools I use myself. You don't need to give me access to anything.
The audit tells you what your business needs, not what it will cost. Those are separate conversations. If you want pricing after reading the report, you can request a quote then, with no obligation.
No. The whole point is to give you a clear priority (the one thing to fix first) rather than a 50-page list of problems. If your site has serious issues, the audit will say so plainly and tell you which one to address first. The rest can wait.
Yes. The report is yours, so share it, forward it, print it or ignore it.
The Visibility Snapshot takes me around 45 minutes to put together. You get a clear view of where your business is and isn't visible online, plus one specific thing to fix first. There's no call and no pitch at the end. If everything looks fine, I'll tell you that.
Name, email, website, your main town and whether you pay for SEO now. That's all I ask.
Client Reviews
Shared from our Google reviews. You can read them all on our profile.
"Highly recommend RankLocal. I was apprehensive at first as had been let down with a previous agency I used, but went with the Growth Engine and the level of insight, professional development and web exposure obtained from this was way above my expectation. Dan is clearly very knowledgeable in this field and extremely proactive."
Elliot Boorman
"Recently used Rank Local to redesign my website. Really happy with the finished product and the company were a professional outfit throughout the process."
Maximillian
Local Guide
"Thanks Rank Local — recently redone my website, very pleased with it, great work. Was a pleasure dealing with Daniel. We had our new site up and running within 3 weeks."
Daniel Byatt
"I had a site for my 1 man company for years that never really gained much traction so I decided to bring it up to date. Rank Local rebuilt the site and it looks so much better — modern and easier to navigate. I've already been contacted by people from the site so whatever they did, they did it right. Thanks again Dan."
Chevy Roach
"Excellent service and great people to work with. Sorted all our SEO ranking for 247 Cars with Google and we are on first page for all our service areas."
Andy Johnson
"Great service from Rank Local Agency. They redone my site — now I appear in AI search results for my business in Richmond. Using them for my social media management, all going well, nothing to fault. Recommended them to a friend also."
Daniel Brewster