SEO audit for Cape Town and South African websites

When an audit is the right first step

Audits suit three situations we see often with South African sites. Traffic has dropped after a redesign or a move to a new host. A previous agency built many pages and no one knows which work. Or a site looks fine but never appears for the searches that bring in customers. In each case the cheapest next step is to find out what is wrong before paying for content or links.

Our SEO audit service page describes the standard deliverable. This page lists the checks that matter in a South African setting.

What we check, and the local angle on each

Speed deserves a note. Our Core Web Vitals check gives a first reading, and the audit goes deeper into what slows each template.

One check is worth explaining in full. Many South African sites were built by one agency, moved to a new host and then edited by several people. The result is often a mix of old and new URLs that all respond, with no clear preferred version. Search engines then split signals across copies. We map every live version, choose the one to keep and write the redirect rules for the rest, so your developer can apply them in one release.

What you receive

• A written report with findings ordered by impact and effort, each with the evidence behind it.
• A spreadsheet of affected URLs, so your developer does not have to hunt.
• A short list of quick wins that can be done in a week.
• A keyword gap view using Search Console queries, showing what you already rank for on page two.
• A walkthrough call, held in the South African morning, which is early afternoon in Pune.

Our SEO audit checklist shows the structure, if you want to do a first pass yourself.

We also add a short section on competitors. For three to five sites that rank for your main searches, we compare page types, depth and structure, so the plan is based on what actually ranks in your market rather than on general advice.

Access we need

We need read access to Google Search Console, and ideally Google Analytics, plus a login or a staging copy if the site has a custom build. We do not need your hosting password for an audit. Search Console contains search queries and sometimes URLs with personal data in them, so POPIA still applies. We limit access to what is needed, and you can remove it the day we finish. Check with your lawyer if your contracts restrict data sharing with suppliers abroad.

After the audit

Some clients fix the list in-house, others ask us to implement the technical fixes, and some pass the report to another supplier. All three are fine. If you want help afterwards, we can quote fixes as separate fixed-price work or as hourly work at $30 an hour. For larger scopes such as technical SEO, we agree a plan first.

Price and timing

Audits start at $1,500, quoted fixed. Larger or multi-site audits cost more, and the quote tells you before you commit. Most audits take one to three weeks depending on site size and how quickly we get access. See the SEO audit cost guide for what moves the price. South Africa is about three and a half hours behind India all year, so calls are easy to place. Our other country pages are on the South Africa hub.