What do you check first when you take over a client?

sharifawan said:

Always find something the last lot left behind. Last one I picked up had a phone number on half their listings that stopped working in 2023, nobody had noticed because the main ones were fine.

I go straight for the stuff thats out of their control now, old accounts, logins nobody has, anything set up on an email address that doesnt exist anymore.

Whats your first check?

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as far as I can remember, the strange stuff usually turns up in things like old record nd forgotten account.

GA4 and conversion tracking are the most common issues in my experience.

usually compare the current results with what was done in the last campaign first.then i check for content gaps lost rankings backlink changes and any easy opportunities that may have missed

Beyond checking who owns the domain and analytics accounts, I would document every service that could affect the website's operation. That includes DNS, transactional email, backup storage, the CDN and any scheduled integrations.

For each service, record the responsible person, recovery method, renewal date and whether access has been tested. This can reveal single points of failure that are not obvious during a typical SEO audit. I would also establish a baseline of traffic, conversions and technical errors before making changes, so future results can be compared fairly.

Hmm . I usually start with SEMrush. I spend some time digging into the website, checking what's going on and looking for any major issues.

If I don't find anything seriously wrong with the website, I move on to the next step.

I directly compare it with the bigger players in the same niche.
What are they doing differently?
What kind of content are they publishing?
What topics are they covering that my client's website isn't?

Once I have a clear picture, I start suggesting similar improvements to my client.

Clients usually like this approach because they can see the bigger picture.
They understand what we're trying to achieve, and honestly, it makes my job of ranking their website much easier too!
Hope it helps.

My absolute first check is securing independent ownership of the domain registrar, hosting, and Google Search Console, as previous agencies often hold these hostage.

I’d also check who actually has admin access and whether the business can still recover those accounts.

I always check whether all contact information and accounts are still working.

first thing for me is understanding what the previous person was doing . otherwise it is easy to break something by changing it.

Old reports can help you see what was done before and what the client did not like.