How to Read Your Agency's Monthly SEO Report (and What Is Usually Missing From It)

Short answer: A monthly SEO report should tell a partner five things: how many calls and form submissions came from search and from which pages; where the firm sits in the map pack for its core query in each target city; how the practice and location pages performed in impressions and clicks; whether branded search is growing; and whether AI answers name the firm, with the list of questions that were tested. Most reports lead with total sessions, a count of "keywords ranking", and a proprietary score. Those are activity, not outcomes. Ask for the five and ask where each one comes from.

What does a typical report show, and why?

None of these is wrong to include. None of them is the point.

What should the report lead with?

1. Leads by source and page

Calls and form submissions, split by organic search, map pack (the profile's own call button), direct and referral. Then, for organic, which pages the calls came from. Source: call tracking on the website number, the Business Profile's call reports, and the form tool. If the agency cannot produce this, the tracking is not set up, and that is the first thing to fix.

2. Map-pack position by city

For the core query in each target city ("family lawyer Burbank", "estate planning attorney Pasadena"), the firm's position in the three-pack, checked from that city, weekly, and shown as a trend. Source: a local rank tracker that checks by location, or a manual monthly check. This is the number most directly tied to first calls for a local practice.

3. Practice and location page performance

Impressions, clicks and average position for the practice, matter and location pages, separately from the blog. Source: Google Search Console, page report. The firm should have owner access and be able to open the same report.

4. Branded search

Impressions and clicks for the firm's name and the attorneys' names, month over month. Source: Search Console, query report, filtered. This rises when the firm is being recommended, cited or referred somewhere the analytics cannot see, including in AI answers. It is the best available proxy for reputation.

5. AI citations, with the query list

Whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI surfaces name the firm or cite its pages for a fixed set of client questions, and who else they name. Source: a documented monthly run, with the questions listed and the number of runs stated. A single "AI visibility: 62" with no query list is not a measurement. Our own method is on the methodology page and in how to track your citation rate.

What else should be in it?

• What was done this month. Pages published (with links), technical fixes, profile changes, reviews received and responded to. Concrete, checkable.
• What is planned next month. So the partner can say no to something.
• What went wrong. A page that lost position, a review that needs the partner's attention, a suspension. A report with no problems in twelve months is not reporting.

What questions should a partner ask?

1. "Where does this number come from? Show me in the source account."
2. "How many calls did search produce this month, and from which pages?"
3. "What is the query list behind the AI number?"
4. "Which of last month's planned items did not get done, and why?"
5. "If I cancelled today, what would I have?" (The answer should be: everything, in your accounts.)

What does not work?

• A dashboard link instead of a report. Dashboards show what the vendor chose to chart; the questions above still apply.
• Comparing this month to last month only. Legal search is seasonal; compare to the same month last year as well.
• Reading the report for the trend line and not the leads. The trend line is what the report was designed to show.

Our reports are built on the five numbers above, and the pricing page lists what each tier reports. A firm evaluating its current agency can get an independent read on the same numbers from the free visibility check, which covers the map pack, the practice pages and the AI citations for its practice and cities.