Guide
SEO reporting: what to measure, how to present it and how to spot a bad report
An SEO report should let a business owner answer one question: is this working, and what is being done about it? This guide covers the metrics that matter, how to structure a monthly report, the tools to build it and the warning signs of reports designed to hide rather than show.
No minimum contract · Itemised monthly deliverables · UK team, Fareham HQ · Reporting from your own GA4 & Search Console
Key takeaways
7
sections in a good monthly report
1
KPI that matters: organic enquiries
0
numbers you cannot verify yourself
Scroll for the full guide.
The metrics that matter
- Organic conversions: enquiries, calls, sales, sign-ups from organic search — the goal
- Organic traffic: sessions and users from search, by landing page and by page type
- Visibility: impressions and average position in Search Console; rankings for the keyword map grouped by topic
- Technical health: indexed pages, crawl errors, Core Web Vitals, broken links
- Authority: new referring domains and notable links or mentions
- AI visibility: citations in AI Overviews and assistant answers for priority queries
- Work done: the itemised deliverables for the month and what is planned next
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How to structure a monthly SEO report
Start with a one-paragraph summary in plain English: what moved, why, and what happens next. Then performance against goals (conversions, traffic), then visibility (rankings, impressions), then the work completed and the plan. Keep rankings in an appendix grouped by topic; a 400-row keyword table on page one is a sign the report is about volume, not insight. Compare against the previous period and the same period last year to separate seasonality from progress.
SEO reporting tools
Google Search Console and GA4 are the sources of truth and are free. Looker Studio (also free) builds live dashboards from them. Rank trackers and SEO platforms add keyword tracking and competitor data; most include report builders and templates. See SEO reporting tools and templates.
Warning signs in an agency report
- Rankings for keywords with no search volume or that were chosen after the fact
- No mention of conversions, enquiries or revenue
- “Work done” sections that list activities (“optimised meta tags”) with no specifics
- Metrics you cannot verify in your own Search Console or Analytics
- Charts with no axis labels or date ranges
- Every month described as a success
How MHAFs reports
Monthly, from your own Search Console and GA4 so you can check every number, with itemised deliverables and a strategy call. See our SEO services.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How often should SEO be reported?
Monthly is the standard; weekly checks internally, quarterly reviews of strategy.
What is a good SEO KPI?
Organic conversions (enquiries or revenue) are the primary KPI; traffic and visibility are leading indicators.
Can I build my own SEO report?
Yes — Looker Studio with Search Console and GA4 connectors is free and covers most needs.
What should an SEO audit report include?
Findings grouped by technical, content and authority, each with impact, effort and a recommended fix, plus a prioritised action list. See SEO audit services.
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