Usually, this "audit" is a 50-page PDF generated by a piece of software in about thirty seconds. It will tell you that your images are too large, your meta descriptions are missing, and your site is "slow". It is a list of symptoms, not a diagnosis.
The problem with free audits is that they are not audits: they are lead-generation tools. The goal is to scare you with a long list of errors so that you feel forced to hire the agency to fix them.
A real audit doesn't just tell you what is broken: it tells you why it is broken and whether it is actually worth fixing.
The three tiers of audits
In the Australian market, website audits generally fall into three pricing tiers. Depending on where your business is, you need a different one.
1. The automated scan (free to $500)
These are software-led reports (using tools like Lighthouse or SEMRush). They are great for a "pulse check", but they lack context. An automated scan can tell you that a page is slow, but it can't tell you that the page is slow because your CMS editor is uploading 10MB PNGs.
- Best for: Very small businesses or those just starting to look at their performance.
- The Gap: No strategic insight and no prioritised action plan.
2. The specialist audit ($1,000 to $3,000)
These are typically focused on one specific area, such as a "Technical SEO Audit" or a "UX/UI Review". A human expert looks at the data and provides a set of recommendations.
- Best for: Businesses that know exactly where the problem is (e.g., "our conversions have dropped") and need a specialist to diagnose that one thing.
- The Gap: They often operate in a silo. A SEO audit might suggest changes that break the UX, because the two auditors aren't talking to each other.
3. The full digital health check ($3,000 to $8,000+)
This is a comprehensive diagnostic. It covers design, performance, technical SEO, conversions, analytics, and CMS governance. Instead of a list of errors, you get a strategic roadmap.
- Best for: Mid-market businesses ($2M to $50M revenue) where the website is a critical business asset.
- The Value: It connects the dots. It identifies that your slow load time (Performance) is caused by your image workflow (CMS), which is hurting your rankings (SEO) and killing your leads (Conversion).
Where my Website Health Check fits
My first call is free: 20 minutes to tell me what's going on, and for me to tell you whether an audit is worth it. My Website Health Check is the full audit in the third tier: all seven areas, a written report and a walkthrough call. I don't publish a price, because it depends on the size of the site and the systems around it. After the call I can usually send a ballpark by email. Larger or multi-brand sites, or sites tangled up with internal systems, start with paid scoping, credited against the audit.
How to judge the value of an audit
If you are comparing quotes for an audit, don't look at the price first. Look at the deliverables. A cheap audit gives you a list of problems. A valuable audit gives you three things:
- Evidence: "Here is exactly where the leak is happening."
- Impact: "This specific issue is costing you X% in conversions."
- Triage: "Fix these three things this week, plan these two for next quarter, and ignore the rest."
The most expensive audit is the one that tells you everything is fine, only for your site to crash during your biggest campaign of the year.
Where to from here
Not sure an audit is worth it? Book a free 20-minute call and I'll tell you honestly. If you know the site is underperforming, the Website Health Check gives you one report, one walkthrough and every fix ranked.
