Before starting any new client engagement, the first step is always the same: a full marketing audit. Not a vague "review," but a specific checklist across every channel. Here's the version you can run yourself, quarterly.

SEO & technical foundations

  • Is there a submitted, up-to-date XML sitemap and a correctly configured robots.txt?
  • Are your top 10 landing pages indexed in Google Search Console with no coverage errors?
  • What's your mobile page speed score, and is anything render-blocking?
  • Do your top pages have unique title tags and meta descriptions, or are they duplicated/templated?

Paid media

  • What's CAC by channel and by campaign — not just blended?
  • Is conversion tracking actually firing correctly on every campaign?
  • How many ad creatives have you tested in the last 90 days?
  • Are you retargeting site visitors who didn't convert, or is that budget just not allocated?

Content & SEO content

  • Does each piece of content map to a specific keyword and funnel stage, or was it published without a target?
  • Which of your existing pages are ranking positions 5-15 — the "quick win" range where a content refresh can push into the top 3?
  • Do you have a content cluster around your core service, or scattered one-off posts?

Conversion & funnel

  • What's your landing page conversion rate, and when did you last test an alternative?
  • Where in the funnel is the biggest drop-off — and do you actually have analytics set up to see it?
  • Is your CTA the same across every channel, or tailored to how the visitor arrived?

If most of these are hard to answer, that's usually a sign your funnel needs a proper Conversion Rate Optimization pass before you spend more on acquisition.

Analytics & reporting

  • Can you answer "what was our CAC last month, by channel" in under five minutes?
  • Is attribution set up in a way you actually trust, or is it a black box?
  • Do you have a recurring reporting cadence, or does data only get reviewed when something breaks?

Run through this list honestly and you'll usually find two or three items that explain most of your current growth ceiling. That's the order to fix them in — not everything at once.

FAQ

How often should a business run a full marketing audit?

Quarterly, covering every channel — SEO and technical foundations, paid media, content, conversion and funnel, and analytics and reporting — rather than a vague, occasional review.

  • Running through the checklist honestly usually surfaces two or three items that explain most of the current growth ceiling.
  • Fix those two or three items first, not everything at once.

What's the first thing to check in a paid media audit?

CAC by channel and by campaign, not just the blended number, plus whether conversion tracking is actually firing correctly on every campaign.

  • Untested or stale ad creative — fewer than a handful of new creatives in the last 90 days — is a common, easy-to-spot audit finding.
  • Unallocated retargeting budget for site visitors who didn't convert is one of the most common gaps found in a paid media audit.