What an Edmonton SEO Audit Includes
An Edmonton SEO Audit is a one-time measurement of a business’s local search visibility across its entire market. It identifies the measurable visibility gap between your business and the competitors currently controlling your most valuable searches. It excludes an ongoing commitment.
The audit measures Google Maps visibility, organic rankings, competitor coverage, and customer review history.
What the Audit Measures
- Measures: Google Maps visibility at 90+ fixed grid points across the service area.
- Measures: desktop and mobile search results separately.
- Analyzes: organic rankings across hundreds of real search queries in the market.
- Compares: competitor coverage across the same grid and keyword set.
- Examines: the customer review history of every named competitor, line by line.
- Avoids: summarizing reviews into a single star-rating average.
- Produces: a written diagnosis supported by the measurement evidence.
The Written Diagnosis
- The written diagnosis attaches the grid map as an exhibit.
- The written diagnosis attaches the keyword table as an exhibit.
- The written diagnosis attaches the review-gap summary as an exhibit.
- The audit ends with a walkthrough call.
- The walkthrough call leaves the next step entirely up to the business owner.
- The written diagnosis becomes the subject of the next service whenever the finding is a location or coverage gap.
The Step by Step Process
The method’s grid definition step precedes the baseline measurement step. The method’s baseline measurement step precedes the full-market keyword pull step. The method’s keyword pull step precedes the competitor review analysis step. The method’s competitor review analysis step precedes the written diagnosis step.
- Grid definition. We define the geo-grid around your actual service area, and the audit’s grid definition step spaces grid points roughly 1.8 kilometres apart, so the reading reflects the whole territory a customer might search from instead of one convenient address.Produces: a fixed measurement grid
- Baseline measurement. The audit’s baseline measurement runs on RankCheck, and RankCheck’s audit reading scores organic and map pack separately, desktop and mobile each recorded on their own, and that dated reading becomes the baseline everything else in the audit is measured against.Produces: a dated baseline exhibit
- Full-market keyword pull. We pull the full set of queries your category actually receives, not a handful of assumed head terms; the audit’s full-market keyword pull reflects actual category demand, not assumed head terms.Produces: a keyword evidence table
- Competitor review analysis. Every named competitor beating you gets their review record read line by line, the same way GroundTruth reads it for a client engagement: the audit’s competitor review analysis surfaces the specific complaint pattern explaining a rival’s position.Produces: a review-gap exhibit
- Written diagnosis. The findings are compiled into a written report: Edmonton SEO Audit names the exact gap between the client and the businesses holding its keywords, with the grid map, the keyword table, and the review-gap summary attached as exhibits.Produces: the diagnosis document with the exhibits attached
- Walkthrough call. We walk through the diagnosis with you directly, and the walkthrough call leaves the next step entirely up to the business owner.Produces: a documented next-step decision
Real Exhibit
A RankCheck baseline delivered as part of an Edmonton SEO audit
Where This Process Leads Next
- The audit precedes a decision to engage any other DecodeLocal Edmonton service.
- The audit is the starting baseline for the geo-location analysis when the audit flags a location gap.
- The written diagnosis is the same document across all four Edmonton SEO services when reused as a starting baseline.
Questions Edmonton Businesses Ask
How much does an SEO audit cost in Edmonton?
An Edmonton SEO audit here costs $899, one-time. The full $899 credits back against any package signed within 60 days. The price is flat for a flat scope: the same grid, the same keyword pull, the same review analysis, every time.
What should an SEO audit include?
A real audit should include a citywide rank reading, not one search from your own office; a keyword pull wide enough to reflect the actual demand in your category, not a handful of guessed head terms; and a look at the businesses actually beating you, including what their customers are complaining about. Ours includes all three, plus a written diagnosis that names the specific gap between you and the businesses holding your keywords, with every exhibit, the grid map, the keyword table, and the review-gap summary, attached.
How long does an SEO audit take?
The measurement itself, the grid, the keyword pull, and the review analysis, runs in a matter of days once it starts. The written diagnosis and the walkthrough call typically follow within the same week. There is no ongoing commitment attached to the audit; it is a single delivery.
Is an SEO audit worth it if I already have a marketing agency?
Yes, because most agencies report on activity, not on measured position. An audit run from an independent, dated geo-grid tells you whether your current work is actually moving the needle from a citywide sample, not from the one search your existing reports usually screenshot. Owners frequently use it as a second opinion before renewing or changing agencies.
Do I need an audit before hiring for ongoing SEO work?
It is not required, but it is the honest starting point. Every one of our ongoing services, the sprint and white glove management, opens with the same baseline measurement the audit delivers, so running the audit first simply means that baseline already exists, and any next engagement starts from evidence instead of a guess.
The outcome of an audit can flag a location problem rather than an optimization problem. That routes the client toward geo-location analysis next. See how a diagnosed location or coverage gap turns into a decision on geo-location analysis for Edmonton businesses. The audit is the first stage of a five-step method, not a standalone product. The other four stages, and the measurements behind them, are set out in full on our Edmonton SEO page.