How to Make an SEO Report for a Client: What to Include, Template, Tools and How to Automate It
What an SEO report is and how to make one clients understand
In this article
An SEO report summarises how a website is performing in search and what was done to improve it. To make one for a client: start with business outcomes (organic leads, sales, calls), then show organic traffic, keyword rankings and visibility, technical health, backlinks, local SEO where relevant, work completed and next month's priorities, all in plain language with clear charts. The best reports are short, consistent and largely automated from Google Search Console, GA4 and SEO tools.
What is an SEO report?
A periodic (usually monthly) document or dashboard showing:
- Results: traffic, conversions, rankings
- Health: technical issues, site speed, indexation
- Authority: backlinks and mentions
- Activity: what the SEO team did
- Plan: what's next and why
Its purpose is to prove value, build trust and align on priorities. (SEO basics: What is SEO?)
What to include in a client SEO report
| Section | Metrics | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Executive summary | 3–5 bullet highlights, wins and concerns | Your analysis |
| Business outcomes | Organic conversions, leads, revenue, calls | GA4, CRM, call tracking |
| Organic traffic | Sessions/users from organic search, trend vs last month and year | GA4 |
| Search performance | Clicks, impressions, CTR, average position | Google Search Console |
| Keyword rankings | Target keywords, movements, top 3/top 10 counts | Semrush, Ahrefs, rank trackers |
| Top pages | Pages gaining/losing traffic | GA4, Search Console |
| Technical health | Crawl errors, indexation, Core Web Vitals, site audit score | Search Console, site audit tools |
| Backlinks | New/lost referring domains, notable links | Semrush, Ahrefs |
| Local SEO | Google Business Profile views, calls, direction requests, reviews, map rankings | GBP Performance, local rank trackers |
| Work completed | Content published, fixes, links earned | Task tracker |
| Next steps | Priorities and expected impact | Your plan |
Monthly SEO report template
- Summary: "Organic leads up 18% month on month (42 → 50). Three new pages ranking top 10. Next: improve service page CTR."
- KPI scorecard: leads, organic sessions, clicks, top-10 keywords, referring domains, compared with last month and last year
- Charts: 12-month organic traffic and conversions trend
- Wins: keywords moved into top 3, new links, fixed issues
- Issues and risks: drops, algorithm updates, technical problems
- Work completed: bullet list
- Plan for next month: 3–5 priorities
- Appendix: full keyword table, technical details
Tips for reports clients actually read
- Lead with business impact, not jargon
- Explain why numbers changed
- Compare year over year for seasonal businesses
- Keep it short: one-page summary + optional detail
- Use consistent format every month
- Annotate charts with key events (site launch, Google updates)
- Recommend actions, not just data
Tools for SEO reporting
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Google Looker Studio | Free dashboards combining GA4, Search Console, Sheets and more |
| Semrush / Ahrefs / Moz | Rankings, backlinks, audits, built-in report builders |
| AgencyAnalytics, DashThis, Whatagraph | Agency client reporting platforms |
| Google Sheets | Custom data and calculations |
| Call tracking tools | Phone leads from organic traffic |
How to automate client SEO reporting
- Connect data sources (GA4, Search Console, rank tracker, GBP) to a dashboard
- Template the report once, duplicate per client
- Schedule delivery (PDF email or live link) monthly
- Automate data pulls for custom metrics with Make, Zapier or n8n into Sheets (see How to integrate data from multiple sources)
- Use AI to draft the executive summary from the numbers, then review and personalise (see How to automate tasks with AI)
- Alert on major drops automatically
Automation saves agencies hours per client each month and makes reports consistent. (Dashboards more broadly: What is business intelligence?)
Frequently asked questions
How do I make an SEO report for a client?
Combine data from GA4, Search Console and SEO tools into a consistent template covering outcomes, traffic, rankings, technical health, backlinks, local SEO, work completed and next steps, with a plain-language summary.
What is an SEO report?
A regular summary of a website's search performance, health, authority and the SEO work completed, used to measure progress and plan improvements.
What should an SEO report include?
Executive summary, conversions from organic search, organic traffic, Search Console performance, keyword rankings, top pages, technical issues, backlinks, local SEO metrics, work completed and next steps.
How often should I send SEO reports?
Monthly is standard, with live dashboards for clients who want real-time access and quarterly strategic reviews.
What is the best free SEO reporting tool?
Google Looker Studio combined with GA4 and Search Console is the most popular free option.
Can SEO reports be automated?
Yes. Dashboards, scheduled emails and automation tools can pull data and deliver reports automatically, with AI helping draft summaries.
Want an automated client reporting dashboard built for your business?
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Start a conversationWritten by Sachin Rawat
AI & automation engineer · websites, apps and motion design
I build AI agents, automations, websites, apps and motion design for businesses. These guides answer the questions people actually search, written from hands-on experience building them.
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