Understanding Website Detection in Marketing Audit Reports
What is Website Detection?
Website Detection is a feature within the Marketing Audit Reports that automatically identifies and evaluates a prospect's website. Instead of providing a simple yes or no answer, the system analyzes multiple data sources to deliver a more nuanced status, helping you better understand a business's online presence before a consultation.
Key Benefits
This intelligent detection offers several advantages for your agency.
- Enhanced Accuracy: By cross-referencing sources like Google Business Profile and local listings, the system minimizes the chance of missing a website that exists.
- Clearer Communication: The detailed statuses help you frame conversations with prospects, allowing you to confidently explain why a website was not found or why it appears broken.
- Professional Reporting: The final Web and PDF reports presented to clients display these clear, categorized outcomes, ensuring consistency and professionalism.
How Website Detection Works
The process begins when you generate or view a Marketing Audit Report for a prospect within the CRM's Prospecting Tool. As the report is compiled, the system automatically initiates the website detection process. It checks various sources, including the prospect's Google Business Profile and other local listings, to find a website URL. Based on the results, it assigns one of the specific outcomes detailed below.
Website Detection Outcomes
Here is what each possible outcome means and how you can use it.
Website Missing
Meaning: The system was unable to find a website listed for the business across all the sources it checked.
Customer-Facing Report: This status is included in the final Web and PDF reports.
Recommended Action: This presents a clear opportunity to discuss building a new website for the prospect.
Website Not Reachable
Meaning: A website URL was found, but the system could not access it. This could be due to an expired domain, a broken link, or a server issue.
Customer-Facing Report: This status is included in the reports along with an explanatory message.
Recommended Action: Use this finding to position your services for website repair or domain recovery.
Fetching Website Data
Meaning: The detection process is still in progress. This can happen if there is a temporary delay or timeout while the system attempts to gather data.
Customer-Facing Report: This in-progress status is not shown to the client. The final report will only be generated once the data is successfully fetched.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why might a report indicate no website was found if the business has one?
The report relies solely on the data available from its configured sources, such as Google Business Profile. If the website is not listed in these sources, the system will not be able to detect it.
What causes a "Website Not Reachable" status?
This status appears when a URL is located but cannot be accessed during the detection check. Common reasons include domain expiration, incorrect links, or temporary server outages.
Why don't clients see the "Fetching Website Data" status?
To avoid confusion, customer-facing reports are designed to show only final, confirmed results. The "fetching" state is an internal status that is hidden until the process completes.
Can the website status change over time?
Yes. If the underlying data changes—for instance, if a business adds a website to its Google Business Profile—a newly generated report will reflect the updated status.