What a Redstone Audit Looks Like

Not a grade sheet. A structured look at what is working, where the gaps are, and what to address first so modernization spend is based on evidence, not assumptions.

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The purpose of an audit

An Honest Look Before Anyone Starts Building

Most modernization projects stall because problems surface mid-build that should have been mapped first: unexpected redirect gaps, inherited analytics holes, SEO handoffs that lose rankings in month two.

A Redstone Foundry audit runs before that. Six areas, documented findings, a prioritized path forward. Not a slide deck with amber circles. A working document your team can act on.

What we examine

Six Areas, Each With Teeth

Each area covers a different failure mode. Some show up in metrics. Many do not until something breaks or a migration goes wrong. The patterns below are not hypothetical.

Technical Foundation

The Part Visitors Feel But Cannot Name

Core Web Vitals, render paths, mobile responsiveness, server configuration, image delivery, and caching. Most sites have at least one quiet problem here that costs conversions without showing up cleanly in bounce rate.

Patterns we frequently find

Layout shift caused by late-loading fonts or unresized images
Slow server response time masked by a fast CDN edge cache
Third-party scripts blocking the critical render path
Mobile forms that work on desktop but break on the keyboard

Lead and Conversion Systems

The Machinery Behind the Submit Button

Form routing, validation, CRM mapping, email delivery, source attribution, and internal handoff. Often built once and never verified again, so real inquiries go nowhere.

Patterns we frequently find

Forms that submit successfully but email never arrives
No source or campaign context attached to the lead record
Thank-you pages that load but fire no conversion events
Follow-up emails that arrive from a no-reply address and feel automated

SEO and Search Continuity

The Signals Search Engines Actually Use

Titles, descriptions, canonicals, internal links, structured data, crawl budget, and the redirect map. Gaps here are quiet. Rankings erode slowly and the cause is rarely obvious.

Patterns we frequently find

Duplicate pages indexed under both www and non-www versions
Service pages with identical metadata copied from the homepage
Broken internal links pointing to pages that no longer exist
Structured data present but describing the wrong entity type

Analytics and Tracking

Whether the Numbers You Are Seeing Are Real

GA4 event coverage, tag manager setup, conversion accuracy, cross-domain tracking, attribution alignment, and source data per session. Most installs are partial. Many are misleading.

Patterns we frequently find

GA4 installed but only pageviews tracked, no form events
Conversion goals still pointing to UA properties that no longer exist
Paid media pixels firing on every page rather than only on conversions
Self-referral traffic from the payment gateway inflating organic numbers

Content Systems and CMS Health

Whether the Site Can Be Maintained Without You

CMS architecture, content blocks, media handling, publishing workflow, and how much technical help a routine update needs. Sites that require a developer for every copy change create expensive dependency.

Patterns we frequently find

Page templates that hardcode layout so editors cannot change structure
Image uploads with no compression or format guidance
Navigation items that require code changes to update
No staging or preview environment for reviewing before publishing

Architecture and Path Forward

What Should Change and in What Order

A prioritized finding list is not a to-do list. Some fixes need migration; some take an afternoon. The audit separates high-leverage wins from longer bets so you know where to start and when a technical co-pilot would help.

Patterns we frequently find

A redirect chain that started after one migration and compounded after the next
A plugin dependency graph that makes upgrading the CMS version risky
A codebase with no local development environment documented
A vendor contract that owns critical infrastructure without a handoff clause

The deliverable

What You Walk Away With

The audit closes with a working session, not an email attachment. Findings are explained in context so the team understands the decision, not only the recommendation.

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Annotated Finding List

Each finding with affected URL, observed behavior, likely cause, and recommended fix.

Priority Tier

Three tiers: before launch, first month, and when the opportunity arises.

SEO and Redirect Map

Current URL structure, canonical state, and redirect logic to protect search continuity through migration.

Analytics Gap Report

Events that should be tracked but are not, with the tag or code changes needed to close the gap.

Walkthrough Session

A structured review with your team so the document is understood, not just delivered.

Next step

The Audit Comes Before The Roadmap

Planning a migration, rebuild, or platform change? An audit is the right first engagement. It defines what needs to move, what can wait, and what should be redesigned rather than carried forward.

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