Know Exactly Where
You Stand Before
Spending a Dollar
Every Firestarter engagement starts with a comprehensive audit — not a sales pitch dressed up as analysis. We examine your current rankings, technical health, content gaps, and backlink profile to build a clear, prioritized roadmap before any work begins.
- Current Rankings Review What you’re ranking for, what you’re close on, and what’s out of reach
- Technical SEO AssessmentCrawlability, indexing, site speed, and structural issues
- On-Page Optimization AuditTitle tags, H-tags, content, keyword alignment — page by page
- Backlink Profile AnalysisAuthority, anchor text distribution, gaps vs. competitors
- Competitor BenchmarkingHow your top 5 competitors are outranking you — and why
- Prioritized Action RoadmapClear recommendations with expected impact and timeline
You Can’t Build a Winning Strategy on Guesswork
Most SEO agencies skip straight to doing work — publishing content, building links, tweaking title tags — without ever understanding why the site is underperforming or what the fastest path to results actually is. The result is months of activity that doesn’t produce meaningful movement.
The audit changes that. It tells us exactly which technical issues are suppressing rankings, which pages are close to page one and just need a push, which keywords you’re ignoring that your competitors are dominating, and where your link profile is weakest relative to your targets.
With that clarity, we build a custom strategy that prioritizes the highest-impact activities first — not the easiest or most generic ones. That’s why our clients see results faster than industry averages.
- Identify the CeilingTechnical issues that cap rankings regardless of content or links
- Find the Quick WinsPages on pages 2–3 that need minor optimization to break through
- Map the GapsKeywords competitors rank for that you have zero visibility on
- Benchmark the CompetitionUnderstand the authority and content gap you’re closing against
- Sequence the WorkA prioritized roadmap so resources go to highest-impact activities first
What You Receive
The audit isn't a checkbox exercise. Every deliverable is built to be actionable — with examples from your site, clear explanations, and expected outcomes from making the recommended changes.
Rankings Report
A complete view of where you currently rank, which terms have momentum, and which ones represent the fastest path to page one.
- First-page rankings inventory
- Page 2–3 opportunities (quick wins)
- Keyword gap vs. top 5 competitors
- Search volume and intent by keyword
Technical Audit Report
A prioritized list of every technical issue on your site — organized by severity with clear instructions and expected outcomes for each fix.
- Critical errors (crawl blocks, 500s, redirect loops)
- Indexing and coverage issues
- Core Web Vitals assessment
- Site architecture recommendations
On-Page Optimization Review
A page-by-page review of your highest-priority pages — showing exactly what needs to change in title tags, H-tags, content, and internal linking.
- Title tag and meta description audit
- Keyword mapping recommendations
- Content gap analysis
- Internal linking opportunities
Backlink & Competitor Analysis
How your link profile compares to the sites outranking you — and what it would take to close the authority gap.
- Your current DR and link count
- Competitor backlink benchmarks
- Anchor text distribution review
- Link gap — what they have that you don't
45%
80%
Month 1
From Request to Roadmap
Here’s exactly how an audit engagement flows — from your initial conversation through to a complete strategy in your hands.
Strategy Session
We start with a conversation — your goals, your competitive landscape, what’s been tried before, and what success looks like for your business.
Deep Dive Analysis
We run the full audit: crawl the site, pull ranking data, analyze the backlink profile, and benchmark against your top 5 competitors.
Roadmap & Proposal
We compile the findings into a clear, prioritized proposal. Every recommendation includes an explanation, an example from your site, and an expected outcome.
Proposal Review
We walk you through the findings, answer every question, and make sure you understand exactly what we’re recommending and why — before you decide anything.
The Audit That Changed the Direction
“The way all of these complicated tasks are laid out in your proposal makes a lot of sense and is easy to understand. It was clear that Firestarter actually knew what they were looking at.”
“I pretty much knew I was going with Firestarter due to recommendations, but the proposal sealed the deal. It was the most thorough and honest assessment I’d received from any agency.”
“I talked with four SEO companies. Firestarter was the only one that actually listened and created a custom proposal for me. It wasn’t a template — it was built around my specific situation.”
Audit & Discovery Questions Answered
The strategy session and high-level audit overview are complimentary. This covers a review of your current rankings, top-level technical issues, and a competitive snapshot. The comprehensive audit — which includes the full 40+ point technical report, page-by-page optimization review, and detailed backlink analysis — is part of our onboarding process and is included in the cost of a campaign engagement.
Free tools generate lists of issues without context, prioritization, or actionable direction. They’ll flag 200 “errors” with no guidance on which ones actually matter or what to do about them. Our audit filters findings by business impact, explains why each issue matters, shows a real example from your site, and tells you exactly what to do and what to expect from doing it. It’s a strategy document, not a data dump.
No. The strategy session is genuinely no-obligation. We believe that if we do the audit well and show you clearly what’s holding your site back, the decision to move forward becomes obvious. Some clients take the findings to an internal team or another provider — and that’s completely fine. We’d rather earn your business through the quality of our work than pressure you into a contract.
We run a technical crawl every month to monitor for new issues and confirm previous fixes held. A full strategic re-audit typically happens at the 6-month mark of an engagement — reviewing keyword performance, ranking progress, content gaps, and link profile health relative to updated competitor benchmarks. This keeps the strategy current and ensures we’re always working on the highest-impact opportunities.
Know Before You Invest.
Plan Before You Build.
Request a free strategy session. We’ll show you exactly where your site stands, what’s holding it back, and what a realistic path to page one looks like for your business.