What a monthly SEO report should show, based on Google's own advice

Picture the report that arrives each month: a PDF full of coloured charts, arrows pointing up, a few words in green. The owner reads it, feels vaguely reassured, and still cannot say whether the money brings results. The truth is that a report can look professional and answer nothing.

Google has written, with some care, what an owner should expect from anyone who does search work. In its page "Do you need an SEO?" it lists questions to ask, among them: "How do you measure your success?", "What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe?" and "Will you share with me all the changes you make to my site, and provide detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them?"

A good monthly report answers those questions again, every month, in writing. Let us build one, section by section, and then see how you can check it yourself.

What are the parts of a useful monthly SEO report?

Here is the whole report in one table. Each section rests on something Google has published, and each one can be checked by you, the owner.

| Section of the report | What it should show | What Google says | How you check it | |---|---|---|---| | Changes made | Every change, with its page, reason and date | Ask an SEO to "share with me all the changes" | Open the changed pages on your site | | Four search numbers | Clicks, impressions, click-through rate, average position | These are the metrics of the Performance report | Search Console, Performance report | | Searches | The queries that brought visitors | The report shows "which queries are bringing traffic to your site" | The Queries tab | | Pages | Pages with the highest and lowest click-through rate | You can "see which pages have the highest (and lowest) click-through rate" | The Pages tab | | AI answers in Google | Visits from AI Overviews and AI Mode | They are counted under the "Web" search type | The Search type filter | | Next month | The planned work and its expected result and timeframe | Ask "what kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe?" | Compare with last month's promise |

Six sections, and not one of them needs a paid tool to verify. That is the point: a report you can check is a report you can trust.

Why must the report list every change?

The first section comes first for a reason. Google's advice is plain: ask the SEO to share all the changes it makes, with "detailed information about your recommendations and the reasoning behind them." A useful list has four columns: which page, what changed, why, and on which date.

The reason is practical. Google also reminds owners that "you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire". If something on your site changes, you should know it happened and why.

The date matters as much as the change. Google's SEO Starter Guide says: "Some changes might take effect in a few hours, others could take several months. In general, you likely want to wait a few weeks to assess whether your work had beneficial effects in Google Search results." With a date beside each change, you know when to look for its effect, and you avoid judging a change made last Tuesday.

Which search numbers should the report show?

The second section brings the numbers, and they should come from Google Search Console, Google's free tool for site owners. Google "strongly" encourages every owner to use it, because it gives "key information and data directly from Google Search itself." Its Performance report shows four metrics, which Google defines this way:

• Clicks: "The number of times a user clicked your site from Google Search results."
• Impressions: "How many times your site appeared in Search results."
• Click-through rate: "The click count divided by the impression count."
• Average position: "The average position of the topmost result from your site."

The default view of the report "shows click and impression data for your site in Google Search results for the past three months." A good monthly report states its exact date range, shows the latest month, and places it beside the months before. Without the date range, you cannot compare the report with your own Search Console, and a report you cannot compare is a report you must simply believe.

Which searches and which pages should it name?

Totals are useful, naturally, but they leave out the detail you can act on. Google says the Performance report helps you "learn which queries are bringing traffic to your site" and "see which pages have the highest (and lowest) click-through rate from Google search results."

So the third and fourth sections should name real searches and real pages. Let us say you run a physiotherapy clinic. A good report tells you that people found you by typing "physiotherapy for back pain" and your neighbourhood's name, and that your page on sports injuries appears often in results but few people click it. That second fact is the most useful line in the report, because it points to the next piece of work: perhaps a clearer title, perhaps a better description under it.

The Search Console report can group the data by queries, pages, countries, devices, search appearance and dates. You can check each of these with a click on the matching tab.

How should the report treat AI Overviews and AI Mode?

Owners now ask whether they appear in Google's AI answers. Here Google gives a clear fact: sites appearing in AI features "(such as AI Overviews and AI Mode) are included in the overall search traffic in Search Console", in the Performance report, "within the 'Web' search type."

This has a consequence for your report. The visits from Google's AI answers are already inside the clicks and impressions of the Web search type. If a report shows a separate figure for "AI traffic from Google", it should say which tool produced that figure and how. For assistants outside Google, such as ChatGPT or Perplexity, the same rule applies: every number should name its source.

Why do the rankings in a report differ from what you see?

An owner opens Google on the phone, searches for the main service, and finds a different position from the one in the report. There is a good reason. Google explains that "Search results are specific to the time, place, device, and recent history of the person searching."

Your single search from your office is one view among many searches made by other people in other places. The average position in Search Console gathers them into one figure. If your report shows positions from another tool, remember Google's reminder that "third-party tools don't have access to our internal ranking data." Such positions are that tool's own measurement, and the report should say so.

What should the report say about next month?

The last section looks forward. It should name the work planned for the next month and say what result it expects, and in what timeframe, because that is exactly what Google suggests asking. It should also restate how success is measured, in the words agreed at the start: calls, booking requests, contact forms, visits to the service pages.

Watch the tone of this section. Google writes that "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google", and its starter guide adds that "There are no secrets here that'll automatically rank your site first in Google". A careful report makes realistic statements about expected direction and timing, and it avoids promises of position.

How do you check a report against your own Search Console?

In the end, a report is worth what you can verify in it. This check needs no training.

1. Make sure your business can open Search Console for your site, ideally as a verified owner. Our post on who owns your website when an agency runs it explains the roles.
2. Open the Performance report and set the same date range the report uses.
3. Compare the clicks and impressions. They should match the report, or the report should explain the difference.
4. Open the Queries tab and look for the searches the report names.
5. Open the Pages tab and find the pages with the lowest click-through rate.
6. Open two or three pages from the list of changes and confirm the changes are there.

For a longer guide to reading these numbers, see checking results yourself. If you want to know what a monthly fee should buy beyond the report, read what an agency retainer includes, and for the questions to ask before you sign, judging any provider. The wider choice between an agency, a freelancer, a hire and AI agents is set out in who does your marketing.

Where does Licheo fit?

Licheo offers the website, search and AI work that big companies pay whole teams for, done for your small business. Nothing goes live until you approve it, so every change on your site is one you have already seen and accepted. You learn no tools and manage no dashboard, and your own Search Console remains the place where you can check the results.

If you want a first view of your site before any report, the free Get Found Check reads your homepage, your domain records and your security certificate, and returns a grade in under 60 seconds.

Sources

1. Do you need an SEO?, Google Search Central, Last updated 5 June 2026, accessed 27 September 2026.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide, Google Search Central, Last updated 10 December 2025, accessed 27 September 2026.
3. Performance report (Search results): Overview and basic setup, Search Console Help, Google, accessed 27 September 2026.
4. AI features and your website, Google Search Central, Last updated 10 December 2025, accessed 27 September 2026.
5. Google Search's guidance on using third-party SEO tools, services, and advice, Google Search Central, Last updated 5 June 2026, accessed 27 September 2026.
6. About Search Console, Search Console Help, Google, accessed 27 September 2026.