Independent SEO due diligence, traffic-loss investigation and risk audits for buyers, advisers and businesses whose decisions depend on organic search.
A plausible story is not a conclusion.
Before either, hidden dependencies go untested. All three are expensive ways to be wrong. Discern tests the evidence before capital is committed, recovery work begins, or an existing asset is left exposed.
Engagements, scope and fees.
For an acquisition, investment or exit.
Tests whether reported organic performance is real, durable and transferable; where value is concentrated; what the asset depends on; and which unresolved risks the transaction needs to price.
Fixed fee from£9,500
View engagementFor a material loss in organic traffic.
Dates and separates the loss, tests technical, algorithmic, competitive, demand and measurement explanations, and defines the response the evidence supports.
Fixed fee from£7,500
View engagementFor protecting existing organic value.
Maps concentration, technical and operational dependencies, algorithmic, market and AI exposure, existing controls and what ought to be protected. It is a defensive audit, not a growth audit.
Fixed fee from£5,000
View engagementEvery engagement is scoped before work begins. You receive the question, access required, deliverables, timing and fixed fee in writing before you commit.
The traffic loss report is absolutely superb. No waffle. Just facts and action points, clearly laid out and illustrated. Our MD was almost purring when she read it.Rory M. · CEO
How Discern works.
Whether the question concerns a deal, a loss or existing exposure, Discern establishes the commercial claim, relevant timeline and underlying data. Sources are reconciled, competing explanations tested, and the conclusion limited to what the evidence supports.
What does the business, seller or deal team need to rely on? The question is made specific before evidence is gathered.
Search, analytics, technical and commercial evidence are reconciled against the timeline and the parts of the asset affected.
What has been observed, derived, estimated or inferred, and exactly what that allows the finding to conclude.
You see the explanation that survived. You also see what was ruled out, and why.
Discern is run by Lucy Kirkness, who has worked in SEO since 2012 and ran an SEO agency for six years. She has also bought, operated and sold websites herself. Earlier in her career, she worked in private investigation.
That combination shapes the work: organic search is treated as a commercial asset, competing explanations are tested, and every conclusion is traceable.
SEO due diligence is for a transaction. A traffic loss investigation is for a material decline that needs explaining. An SEO risk audit is a proactive review of existing organic value before a deal, loss or major change forces the question.
A concise decision report, a supporting evidence register, and a working session covering the conclusion, outstanding uncertainties and the response the evidence supports. Exact deliverables are confirmed in the engagement scope.
The exact list depends on the question. Full work normally requires read-only access to Search Console and analytics, plus the relevant technical records, release history and commercial information. Access is specified before work starts.
The domain, situation, available access and decision are reviewed first. You then receive a written scope, access list, delivery date and fixed fee. Current starting fees are shown above; no work begins on an open-ended day rate.
Yes. Discern does not replace the implementation team. The role is to provide an independent assessment of the evidence, the risks and the response being proposed.
Yes. Contractual confidentiality and data-handling terms are supplied with the engagement scope, and Discern carries professional indemnity insurance appropriate to the work.
Send the domain and a short outline. A clear scope and fixed fee follow before work begins.
Discuss a case