A monthly SEO report should tell you one thing clearly: is the work bringing in more business? Too many reports bury that under pages of charts. I send a monthly SEO report to every client, and these are the six numbers I put front and centre.
Why most monthly SEO reports miss the point
A report full of “keyword visibility” and “domain authority” can look impressive while your phone stays quiet. If your report doesn’t show enquiries, it’s not telling you whether the work is paying for itself.
1. Enquiries
Forms, phone clicks and email clicks from the website, tracked as key events in Google Analytics. This is the headline number.
For a Wirral garden room company, the August report showed 25 website enquiries. For a Buckinghamshire cleaning company, enquiry actions rose from 20 in April to 29 in May, up 45%.
2. Enquiry rate
Enquiries divided by visits. It tells you whether a change in enquiries came from more visitors or better pages. When the garden room company’s enquiries dipped to 18 in September, the rate held at 4.8%, which showed the site was fine and the job was traffic.
3. Organic clicks and impressions
From Google Search Console. Impressions show how often you appear; clicks show how often people choose you. For a temporary structures hire company, both rose sharply in the 30 days after new local pages went live: impressions up 22%, clicks up 33%.
4. Average position
Also from Search Console, over a 28 day window. For a mobile wellness company it moved from 38.1 to 20.2 in 28 days. Track it over months, not days, because it moves around.
5. Google Business Profile actions
Calls, direction requests and website clicks from your profile. For many local businesses this is where a big share of contact comes from. The cleaning company’s profile website clicks went from 35 to 59 in a month.
6. Rankings for the searches that pay
A short table of the 10 to 20 searches that actually bring work, by town. Position 1 for “garden rooms Bebington” means more than ranking for hundreds of searches nobody buys from.
How to read your monthly SEO report in 5 minutes
- Start with enquiries. Up, down or flat compared with last month and the same month last year if you have it.
- Check the enquiry rate. If enquiries moved but the rate held, it’s a traffic story. If the rate moved, it’s a page story.
- Look at clicks next. Rising impressions with flat clicks usually means your page titles need work. Rising clicks with flat enquiries means the landing pages need work.
- Scan the money searches. Are you moving up for the searches that bring paying customers, in the towns you want?
- Read the plan for next month. It should follow directly from the numbers above. If it doesn’t, ask why.
If your report makes this hard to do, the report is the problem, not you.
What else goes in a good monthly SEO report
- What was done this month, in plain English.
- What’s planned for next month.
- Anything that needs the client’s input, like photos, reviews or approvals.
- An honest note when a month is quieter, and why.
That last one matters. Quiet months happen. A good report explains them instead of hiding them.
Not getting a report like this?
If your current SEO provider sends charts but never mentions enquiries, or you’ve no idea whether your site is bringing in work, I’ll check your setup for free and show you what your numbers look like.
[Get your free website audit]
FAQ
How often should I get an SEO report?
Monthly is right for most local businesses. Weekly numbers move around too much to read anything into.
What tools do I need to track this myself?
Google Analytics, Google Search Console and your Google Business Profile. All free.
What if enquiries go down one month?
Check the enquiry rate. If it held, you had fewer visitors. If it fell, look at what changed on the site.
