What should you look at first?

Write the business question above the report. For a service company, you might choose qualified enquiries. For an online shop, choose completed orders and the sales value recorded for them.

An SEO report summarises selected measures of a website's search performance. Common sections cover traffic, rankings, conversions, backlinks, content and technical issues. Use that structure as a starting point. Semrush's reporting guide.

Request a readable opening page

Ask for a short explanation of the result, the main uncertainty and the proposed next action. Put detailed charts after that explanation. If the opening only lists tasks completed, ask what the team intended those tasks to achieve.

• Confirm the reporting dates and comparison period.
• Name the source of each headline measure.
• Separate business outcomes from work completed.
• Label missing information as unmeasured.
• Assign an owner to the next investigation.

For seasonal businesses, request a comparison with the equivalent period last year as well as the previous month. Keep promotions and major website changes in a note beside the chart. Treat these as context to investigate, rather than automatic explanations.

What does the Google Search Console report actually show?

Read the four main measures together. Google Search Console's Performance report covers clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position in Google Search results. Its table can group information by query, page, country and device. Google's Performance report documentation.

These definitions follow Google's metric descriptions. To express CTR as a percentage, multiply the ratio by one hundred. Check that both inputs use the same dates and filters.

Check the settings before the story

Ask the presenter to show the date range, search type and active filters. Google allows these settings to be changed, and the latest data can be preliminary. Avoid treating an unfinished period as a final monthly result. Google's settings and data notes.

Do not ask the chart total and every table total to match without checking how they are grouped. Google explains that property and page aggregation can produce differences. Ask for that explanation before assuming a reporting mistake. Google's chart and table guidance.

How do you investigate rising or falling traffic?

Choose the pages that changed most, then identify which matter commercially. For your review, define organic traffic as visits attributed to unpaid search. Ask whether the report is showing search clicks, visits or people, and retain the original measure's name.

Follow one useful page

Start with a product category or service page. Examine the search queries associated with it, then inspect country and device groups. Write down what changed before proposing a reason.

To assess whether a query fits the page, use the guide to search intent, meaning what the searcher wants to accomplish. Choose the intended audience before rewriting content. Avoid treating every search containing your product name as equally useful.

If you decide to test the search title, use the title tag writing guide. Note the original wording, replacement and implementation date. Review the same page and query group afterward, without promising that a wording change alone will explain the result.

How should you check SEO report conversions?

Ask what exactly was counted. A conversion is a desired action, such as a purchase or signup, and conversion rate describes the share of visitors completing that action. The chosen action needs to be explicit. Semrush's conversion definition.

Request separate rows for contact-button clicks, submitted enquiries and completed orders. For each row, record the source and counting rule. Ask your team to demonstrate a test submission before relying on the total.

Bring sales into the review

Agree on your own definition of a suitable enquiry. You might require the person to be in your service area and asking for a service you actually provide. Have the sales team mark those enquiries separately.

• Which action was recorded?
• Which page was involved?
• Was the enquiry checked for duplication?
• Did somebody follow it up?
• Was the outcome a sale, a rejection or still pending?

If the report cannot answer, put an investigation beside the gap. Do not replace missing measurement with a zero. Use the conversion improvement guide to plan a page review once the counting rule is clear.

How do you evaluate backlinks and agency work?

Open examples of the work being reported. A backlink is a link from another website to yours; reporting should consider both quantity and quality. Ask to see the referring page and destination page. Semrush's backlink explanation.

Request a reason for each link the agency pursued. Read the surrounding text and decide whether you understand its purpose. Keep newly reported links, lost links and proposed outreach in separate rows.

Ask what a score represents

Authority Score is Semrush's own website quality measure. If it appears in your report, label the tool and definition beside it. Ask the agency to explain its relevance to the agreed work. Semrush's score definition.

For technical work, request the affected page, original problem, change made and verification status. Use the SEO audit guide to organise the review. Put unresolved issues into a task list with an owner.

If internal links were added, inspect the actual pages using the internal linking guide. For problems reported specifically on phones, use the mobile SEO checklist. Ask for evidence that each change was checked after implementation.

What should a monthly SEO report template include?

Use the following outline in a shared document. Fill it with your own records, rather than example results. Keep the opening short enough to discuss before reviewing individual charts.

1. Objective: the business result this work should support.
2. Scope: dates, market, pages and data sources.
3. Outcome: enquiries, orders or another agreed action.
4. Search evidence: clicks, impressions and relevant page changes.
5. Work delivered: changes with examples and verification.
6. Explanation: confirmed observations and unresolved questions.
7. Next steps: task, owner and review point.

A useful request to send your agency

Please connect each major change to the affected pages and show the source data. Separate completed work from measured outcomes. Where the cause is uncertain, explain what you will check next and who owns that check.

Finish the meeting by selecting the next actions together. Save the decision beside the report. At the next review, revisit those actions before introducing a fresh list of recommendations.