What Our Rehab SEO Audit Covers
A complete rehab center SEO audit examines every dimension of search performance. Shortcuts in audit scope produce incomplete action plans that leave root causes unresolved.
Technical Health Assessment
We crawl your entire website using Screaming Frog and cross-reference results with Google Search Console data. Technical analysis covers:
- Index coverage: How many pages are indexed vs. crawled? Which pages are blocked, excluded, or returning errors?
- Crawl errors: 4XX and 5XX response codes, redirect chains and loops, broken internal links
- Redirect audit: Every redirect chain, hop count, 301 vs. 302 classification, and PageRank dilution assessment
- Canonical tag implementation: Self-referencing canonicals, cross-domain canonicals, canonical conflicts, and canonicals pointing away from the page Google should index
- Duplicate content: Near-duplicate location pages, parameter-based URL variants, www vs. non-www duplication, HTTP vs. HTTPS coexistence
- XML sitemap: Is the sitemap clean? Does it list only canonically valid, indexable URLs? Are all key pages included?
- Robots.txt: What is being blocked? Is any important content accidentally disallowed?
- Mobile usability: Every mobile usability issue flagged in Google Search Console, plus Screaming Frog mobile rendering checks
- HTTPS and mixed content: Full HTTPS verification across all page elements
- JavaScript rendering: Content hidden behind JavaScript that Googlebot cannot parse
Core Web Vitals and Site Speed
We test your homepage and every key service and location page against Google PageSpeed Insights lab data and Google Search Console field data. We report:
- LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): score, failing element, and specific fix
- CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): score, shifting element identification, and fix
- INP (Interaction to Next Paint): score and contributing scripts
- Mobile vs. desktop performance differential
- Server response time (TTFB) and hosting performance baseline
- Image optimisation status: format (WebP vs. PNG/JPEG), compression, dimensions
- Render-blocking resources: CSS and JavaScript blocking paint
- Third-party script impact: chat widgets, analytics, advertising tags contributing to slow INP
On-Page and Content Analysis
We review every indexed page for the factors Google evaluates when determining YMYL content quality:
- Keyword targeting: Is each page targeting the right keyword? Is there keyword cannibalization between pages?
- Title tag and meta description: Length, keyword inclusion, click-worthiness, duplication across pages
- H1 and heading structure: One H1 per page, appropriate H2/H3 hierarchy, keyword presence in headings
- Content length: Word count vs. competitor median for each target keyword (we use our Apex SEO Analyzer tool for this benchmark)
- E-E-A-T signals: Author credentials displayed, external citations from .gov/.org sources, expertise signals visible above the fold
- FAQPage schema: Implemented on all FAQ sections? Validated and eligible for rich snippets?
- Internal linking: Is each page adequately linked from relevant hub pages and blog content? Are there orphan pages?
- YMYL compliance: All content flags: unsupported claims, missing citations, absent author attribution
Backlink Profile Review
We pull your full backlink profile using Ahrefs and analyze:
- Domain Rating (DR): Current DR and trajectory over the past 12 months
- Referring domain count: Total RDs and monthly acquisition rate
- Anchor text distribution: Branded, partial match, exact match, naked URL, and generic anchor ratios — flagging any over-optimisation
- Toxic link identification: Spammy domains, link farms, and networks requiring disavow
- Competitor gap analysis: Domains linking to your top 3 competitors that do not link to you — the highest-priority outreach targets
- Link velocity: Sudden spikes or drops in referring domains that may indicate penalties or negative SEO
- Top linking pages: Which pages on your site attract the most links? Which deserve more?
Keyword Rankings Baseline
We establish a definitive ranking baseline for your facility before any optimisation work begins. The rankings audit covers:
- Primary commercial keywords: every high-intent keyword relevant to your facility type, program level, and service area
- Local keywords: “[service] near me,” “[service] [city/state]” variants for your full geographic service area
- Informational keywords: blog-level topics you should own but may not currently rank for
- Page 2–3 rankings: keywords where you rank positions 11–30 — the highest-ROI quick wins for targeted optimisation
- Cannibalization identification: keywords where multiple pages compete against each other and split your ranking potential
- SERP feature presence: featured snippets, People Also Ask, and Local Pack appearances
Google Business Profile Audit
For facilities with physical locations, Google Business Profile (GBP) drives a disproportionate share of local search admissions. The GBP audit covers:
- Category accuracy: Is the primary category “Addiction Treatment Center”? Are secondary categories optimised?
- Completeness: All available fields completed — services, attributes, description, website URL, phone, address, hours
- NAP consistency: Exact match between GBP, website, and all directory citations (SAMHSA Treatment Locator, Psychology Today, Healthgrades, etc.)
- Photo count and quality: Professional photos of the facility, staff, and patient areas
- Review profile: Total review count, average rating, recency, and response rate
- Post activity: Are GBP posts being published? At what frequency?
- Local Pack ranking: Where does the facility appear in the Local Pack for primary treatment search terms?
Schema Markup Audit
We validate structured data on every page type and flag missing, broken, or suboptimal schema implementations:
- LocalBusiness / MedicalOrganization: correct NAP data, business type, coordinates
- Service: all service pages have Service schema with appropriate properties
- FAQPage: all FAQ sections using FAQPage schema and eligible for rich snippets
- BreadcrumbList: all pages below the homepage
- Article / MedicalWebPage: blog content with appropriate authorship and datePublished
- Review: any testimonial content eligible for Review schema
What You Receive After the Audit
The SpikeCrest SEO audit is delivered as a written PDF report — typically 25–40 pages — containing:
- Executive summary — the 3–5 highest-priority issues with estimated traffic impact and fix difficulty rating
- Technical issues log — every technical problem discovered, severity rating (Critical / Important / Minor), and specific fix instructions
- Content gap table — missing pages, under-optimized pages, cannibalization conflicts, and YMYL compliance failures
- Backlink profile summary — current profile overview, toxic link disavow list, competitor gap analysis with prioritized outreach targets
- Keyword baseline table — every tracked keyword, current ranking position, and quick-win opportunity flags
- GBP audit section — current status assessment and optimisation recommendation list (applicable to location-based facilities)
- Prioritised action plan — a 30/60/90-day action list ordered by estimated SEO impact, with time estimates for each item
Every audit is followed by a 60-minute debrief call where we walk through findings, answer questions, and discuss the implementation approach.
Who Needs a Rehab SEO Audit?
Facilities launching a new website: A pre-launch technical and content audit identifies issues before they affect your initial indexation and ranking baseline. This is the highest-leverage time to conduct an audit — before Google’s crawlers form an impression of your site.
Centers not seeing results from existing SEO: If you have been investing in SEO services for 6–12 months without meaningful ranking improvement, an independent audit identifies whether the issue is technical, content, link-based, or strategic. We have identified situations where entire domains were incorrectly noindexed, where schema implementations contained systematic errors, and where the wrong keyword targets were being pursued — all invisible without a thorough audit.
Multi-location networks acquiring a new facility: Acquisitions frequently bring technical debt — old URLs, incorrect canonicals, duplicate content — that suppresses the acquired facility’s search performance. An integration audit establishes a clean baseline before the facility is folded into the network’s SEO strategy.
Facilities experiencing unexplained traffic drops: Traffic drops can be caused by algorithmic updates, manual penalties, technical issues (accidental noindex deployment, URL structure changes), or negative SEO. An audit identifies the cause and defines the recovery path.
Any center that has never had a professional SEO review: Most addiction treatment facilities have never had a systematic audit conducted by an SEO specialist. The audit typically uncovers 5–15 significant issues that have been suppressing performance without the facility’s knowledge.
How the Audit Process Works
Step 1 — Access: We request Google Search Console property access, GA4 property access, and (where applicable) GBP account access. No CMS or hosting access is required for the audit.
Step 2 — Crawl and data collection: We run Screaming Frog against the live site, pull GSC data for the past 12 months, pull Ahrefs backlink data, and run keyword ranking checks across your full target keyword set.
Step 3 — Analysis: Every data source is analyzed through the lens of addiction treatment SEO — YMYL standards, local search dynamics, E-E-A-T requirements, and the competitive benchmark data from our Apex SEO Analyzer.
Step 4 — Report production: The written report is produced within 10 business days of receiving access credentials.
Step 5 — Debrief call: A 60-minute video call to walk through findings, answer questions, and align on implementation priority.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does the audit take?
Report delivery is within 10 business days of receiving GSC, GA4, and GBP access. The debrief call is scheduled immediately after delivery.
Can we implement the audit findings without engaging SpikeCrest for ongoing SEO?
Yes. The audit report is written to be fully actionable by your in-house team, your existing web developer, or any SEO agency. Many clients use the standalone audit as an objective briefing document for their internal team or as a second opinion on an existing SEO agency’s work.
Do you audit sites built on platforms other than WordPress?
Yes. Technical and on-page audits are platform-agnostic — we audit Webflow, Squarespace, Wix, custom-built sites, and enterprise CMS platforms. Some specific recommendations (server-side caching, custom schema injection, robots.txt editing) may differ based on platform limitations, which we document in the report.
Is the standalone audit the same as the onboarding audit included in a retainer?
Identical scope. Standalone audit clients receive the same written report, the same keyword baseline, the same 30/60/90-day action plan, and the same debrief call. The only difference is that retainer clients proceed directly to implementation after the debrief, while standalone audit clients take the report and act on it independently or with a separate agency.
What is the cost of a standalone SEO audit?
Audit pricing depends on the size of the website and the number of locations. See our pricing page for detailed plan information, or contact us to discuss your specific situation.
How is your audit different from an automated SEO audit tool?
Automated tools (SEMrush site audit, Moz site crawl) identify technical issues at the surface level. A SpikeCrest audit adds three layers that automated tools cannot provide: (1) YMYL and E-E-A-T evaluation specific to addiction treatment content, (2) competitor benchmarking against your actual SERP competitors using our Apex SEO Analyzer, and (3) a strategic prioritisation framework that distinguishes between the 3 issues that will move rankings immediately and the 30 issues that are lower priority. The output is an actionable roadmap, not a raw list of flags.
What Happens After the Audit
The value of an SEO audit is in what you do with the findings. SpikeCrest provides two post-audit paths:
Standalone audit: You receive the full report, the debrief call, and the 30/60/90-day action plan. Implementation is at your discretion — by your internal team, your existing web agency, or any provider of your choice. Many clients use the standalone audit to restart a stalled SEO investment with an objective baseline, or to brief a new agency on the existing state of the site.
Audit-to-retainer transition: Most clients who conduct a standalone audit identify issues significant enough to warrant ongoing SEO management. The transition to a retainer is seamless — the audit becomes the implementation brief for Month 1 of the retainer engagement. No duplicate work, no re-scoping. The audit findings drive the Month 1 priority list.
Why Addiction Treatment Audits Require an Addiction Treatment Specialist
A general SEO agency conducting a technical audit of an addiction treatment website will identify the standard technical issues — crawl errors, Core Web Vitals failures, missing meta descriptions. What they will not identify is:
YMYL content that does not meet Google’s quality standard. Content with missing author credentials, unsupported clinical claims, or missing .gov/.org citations fails the YMYL quality check. A general auditor does not know YMYL standards in the context of healthcare content.
GBP categories that suppress Local Pack eligibility. The GBP category “Healthcare” does not trigger Local Pack appearances for “drug rehab near me” the way “Drug Addiction Treatment Center” does. This distinction is invisible to an auditor without addiction treatment vertical knowledge.
LegitScript certification status and its implications. A facility without LegitScript certification cannot run Google Ads. An audit that does not flag LegitScript status is missing a critical paid-organic coordination insight.
HIPAA compliance in analytics configuration. Standard GA4 configurations can inadvertently collect PHI. An auditor without healthcare compliance awareness will not flag this — but the legal and operational risk is significant.
SpikeCrest’s addiction treatment SEO audits evaluate every one of these dimensions because they are standard components of our audit methodology, not special add-ons.
The written deliverable from every audit is an actionable roadmap, not a list of raw technical flags. Findings are prioritized by estimated impact and fix complexity: the 3–5 actions that will produce the most meaningful ranking movement in the next 30 days are presented first, followed by the structural improvements that compound over 60–90 days, and the optimization opportunities that round out the long-term strategy. Every item includes a specific fix instruction, not just a problem description. The debrief call that follows ensures you understand the priority logic and leave with a clear implementation plan — whether you are implementing the fixes yourself, assigning them to your web team, or transitioning to a SpikeCrest retainer.
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