What our Laufwerk 360° audit checks

A 360 degree website audit checks everything that decides how visible a website is, in one pass: technology, structure, content, loading times, findability in search engines and AI assistants, and data protection. What you get at the end is not a pile of measurements but a prioritised plan that says what to do first and why.

Why we built an audit of our own

Since we launched the Laufwerk 360 degree audit, one thing has become clear: there is hardly a business that takes nothing away from it. That is not self promotion, it is the sober result of around 50 individually produced audits and at least as many conversations, hour after hour, with the clients concerned.

Two sentences come up in almost every initial consultation. The first: our website is not found on Google. The second: the website brings no enquiries. Both are symptoms, not diagnoses. A website audit answers the question underneath, namely where exactly the thread breaks between technology, text and perception.

The full scope is described on the page about the Laufwerk 360 degree audit.

A case from Carrara: even specialists have blind spots

The case that stayed with us most is a family-run IT business in Carrara, Italy: two computer enthusiasts who build their own websites and actively work on their search engine rankings. Even they were surprised by how many additional options the audit showed for improving their findability and for meeting legal requirements cleanly.

Both sat in front of their screens scrolling through a report of roughly 40 pages. “We did not do that?” the father asked in disbelief, while his son started checking the findings by hand without argument. At the end came a dry “So it is.” and a list of concrete changes. Shortly afterwards we were asked to run the audit on two further sites of the same business.

This is no criticism of the two of them. Quite the opposite: anyone who builds their own technology sits so deep inside the system that a second pair of eyes sees more than the first. That is precisely what an audit is for.

How the audit is built

The Laufwerk 360 degree audit is not a surface level scan but a structured analysis of the kind you normally see from large digital agencies. Technical search engine optimisation, performance, structure, content, tracking and legal aspects are looked at together, with clear recommendations, a priority order and an implementation roadmap. For a single website that means, among other things:

• checking the central pages in raw form: home page, service pages, blog articles, contact page
• analysing the technical files: robots.txt, llms.txt, sitemaps and structured data
• running real measurements of loading times on desktop and mobile
• assessing the security of the domain and of email
• reviewing data protection under EU law and, in the Carrara case, under Italian law as well

Honesty requires this too: there were runs where we had to improve the tool itself. Crawlers that could not access pages properly, company profiles that were not recognised cleanly and further details. Every one of those findings went back into the code of the tool. That loop of practice, feedback and improvement is what makes the audit land where it should: on the points that actually matter for your business.

What the audit checks, in plain words

So that readers without an IT background can follow, here is the jargon translated into everyday language once.

SEO: found, understood, clicked

Everything that makes your page appear on Google, be understood and be clicked. We look at titles and meta data, internal linking, site structure, local search terms and whether search engines can clearly tell who you are and where you work.

GEO: visibility in AI assistants

How well ChatGPT, Perplexity or Gemini know your business and name it when a fitting question comes up. If you want to be found in ChatGPT, good copy is not enough: AI crawlers have to be allowed in, documents such as llms.txt should be set sensibly and your brand name has to be written the same way everywhere. That is what GEO optimisation consists of.

AEO: built to be the answer

Whether your content is structured so that it can be used directly as an answer in search results, voice assistants and AI answer boxes. We assess fact density, FAQ structure and how suitable your texts are for answer boxes.

Core Web Vitals: how fast the site feels

Core Web Vitals are the measurements for loading speed and stability. In short: whether your website feels quick and calm or whether content jumps around while it loads. We measure on desktop and mobile and name the brakes one by one.

Schema: what machines know about you

Structured data is extra information in the code with which you explain to machines who you are, what you do and where you are. It covers name, address, opening hours, phone number, legal details and the regions you serve.

Data protection, cookies and consent

How you are allowed to handle user data, for example whether tracking may only start after consent. We check the privacy policy, the cookie notice, the consent logic and third party scripts.

We also offer the individual disciplines separately: SEO audit, GEO audit and AEO audit.

What your business actually gains

An audit shows where your real performance and your digital perception drift apart. Businesses like the family firm in Carrara gain three things above all:

• Clarity about risks and opportunities: a structured overview instead of a gut feeling, showing where action is needed and where you already stand well.
• Focus on the levers that work: measures sorted by effect and effort, from quick technical corrections to strategic topics such as AI visibility.
• A concrete roadmap: not an abstract report, but an order of work you can go through step by step, internally or with partners.

Many of our clients are not developers, yet they want to understand what we do. That is why every audit comes with a glossary that translates the key terms into plain language. You get not only a report but also the knowledge to read it and decide on solid ground.

From findings to roadmap

Every finding is rated by effect and effort. Out of that comes a prioritised plan on three levels:

• Immediate measures: small technical corrections with a large effect, such as missing page titles, blocked crawlers, broken redirects or tracking that starts before consent.
• Structural topics: site structure, internal linking, structured data, loading times and content that has to be built around the questions people really ask.
• Strategic topics: visibility in AI assistants, building a reliable base of facts about your company and content that works as a source worth citing.

We do not set deadlines we cannot keep. The order is reasoned, the pace is yours, depending on whether you implement it yourself, have a team or hand it to us.

The complete list of checks is on the page about the 360 degree audit.

Frequently asked questions about the website audit

What is a 360 degree website audit?

A structured review of a website in one pass: technical search engine optimisation, visibility in AI assistants, answer optimisation, loading times, structured data, domain and email security and data protection. The result is a report with findings, a priority order and an implementation roadmap.

Who is it worth it for?

For businesses that develop their own sites, for businesses on a website builder and for businesses that already have an agency at their side. The Carrara case shows it: even people who know their craft miss things inside their own system that stand out immediately from the outside.

What do I get at the end?

A detailed report, around 40 pages in the Carrara case, with findings per area, a prioritisation by effect and effort, a roadmap and a glossary that explains the technical terms.

Is a free online tool not enough?

Free tools deliver single measurements, a loading score for instance. They tell you neither which finding matters for your business nor how the areas connect. A fast server helps little if AI crawlers are locked out and your contact details are missing from the code.

What is the difference between SEO, GEO and AEO?

SEO makes you appear in classic search results. GEO optimisation makes AI assistants know your company and name it correctly. AEO makes your content usable as a direct answer, in answer boxes and with voice assistants.

How do I become visible in AI answers?

To be found in ChatGPT you need three things: AI crawlers must not be locked out, the facts about your company have to be machine readable in the code, and the content has to answer questions instead of repeating marketing lines. The audit checks all three.

Do I have to implement the measures myself?

No. The report is written so that you can pass it on internally or to an agency you already work with. If you would like us to, we take the implementation on.

Does this apply to websites outside Germany?

Yes. The data protection part follows European law and takes national specifics into account. For the business in Carrara we checked the Italian requirements in addition.

Is an audit right for you?

In a free initial consultation we look at your starting position, clarify your goals and tell you honestly whether an audit will help you. Whether you develop yourself, work with a builder or already have support: the 360 degree audit is the outside view of the whole picture.

Write to us through the contact form or to info@laufwerk.cloud.