A technical SEO audit is a structured review of how search engines crawl, index and understand your website — covering speed, mobile usability, indexation, redirects, sitemap/robots issues, schema and other foundation problems that block rankings even when content is good. For UK SMEs, a proper human-led audit often costs a few hundred pounds; automated PDFs alone are not enough.
What does a technical SEO audit check?
- Crawlability and indexation (can Google and Bing reach the right pages?)
- Robots.txt, XML sitemaps and canonical tags
- Redirect chains, broken links and soft 404s
- Mobile usability and page speed / Core Web Vitals
- HTTPS, mixed content and basic security hygiene
- Duplicate or thin URL patterns
- Structured data (schema) where relevant
- Internal linking and orphan pages
Strong audits end with a prioritised fix list ranked by impact and effort — not a 80-page dump of tool screenshots.
How much does a technical SEO audit cost in the UK?
Typical 2026 ranges for human-led work:
- Small brochure sites: roughly £400–£1,000
- Standard SME sites: roughly £600–£1,500
- Larger or e-commerce: £1,500–£5,000+
Below ~£300 you are often buying automated software output. Enterprise crawls cost more because of scale and complexity.
At Elendil Studio, a detailed SEO audit is £150 for small-business scope suitable for most Cambridgeshire SMEs — technical crawl, keyword opportunities, competitor notes, Google Business Profile review, written roadmap and a 30-minute walkthrough. See SEO services.
Free SEO review vs paid technical SEO audit
Our free SEO review is a basic website check with three priority observations and a short introductory call. There is no full written technical report.
Choose free if you are exploring whether SEO is worth it. Choose the paid audit if you need a prioritised roadmap before investing in a monthly package or briefing a developer.
When do you need a technical SEO audit?
- Traffic dropped after a redesign or migration
- Pages will not index
- The site is slow on mobile
- You are about to start a retainer and want a baseline
- Multiple tools disagree and you need a human verdict
What happens after the audit?
Implementation matters more than the PDF. Fixes may involve your developer, your CMS settings, hosting, or ongoing SEO hours. We can implement through monthly packages from £250, or hand your team a clear list.
If the site structure itself is the problem, a rebuild may beat endless patches — see web design vs SEO and web design packages.
Technical SEO audit checklist (buyer view)
- Confirm the auditor will use crawl tools and human judgement
- Ask for prioritised actions, not only issues
- Check whether GBP/local is included if you are a local business
- Agree who implements fixes
- Re-measure 30–60 days after implementation
Want the light-touch start? Request a free SEO review. Prefer the written roadmap? Ask for the £150 detailed audit on the same page.