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There’s certainly no shortage of data in SEO. Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and an endless number of other tracking platforms mean finding data isn’t difficult, but deciding what numbers are actually important and what to include in a report is.
In 2026, building reports that offer genuine value is even more difficult. SEOs are faced with core updates every other month, algorithm changes every week, and AI features that are wreaking havoc in organic search results. Many websites are also seeing declines in traffic and clicks even if they’ve managed to keep rankings steady.
Previously, reporting on rankings, traffic, and clicks may have been enough to show success. Now, however, you need to do more to translate your efforts into tangible business results.
The exact metrics you use will depend on a number of factors. A report for an ecommerce business, for example, likely needs to emphasise revenue and product performance, whereas a B2B report might lean on qualified leads, and a report for a publisher might prioritise visibility and engagement. But if you’re looking to build an SEO report from scratch and need a good place to start, then here are the metrics you should consider including in your report.
Before diving into any data or analytics, it’s important to decide what it is you want to demonstrate. This could be anything, from proving that fixing a technical issue improved organic performance to showing how organic search has contributed to revenue. Whatever it is, you need to choose the metrics that actually illustrate your point, and not the ones that just look impressive on the surface.
Because we have access to so much data, it’s easy to report on keywords, clicks, and rankings. However, this kind of data doesn't always mean much to stakeholders. It may look impressive and it’s definitely helpful for internal teams to know, but it might not get your point across very effectively or show the true value of SEO.
The best SEO reports are the ones that work backwards. Start with the business outcome and then identify which metrics explain whether you are or aren’t on the right track.
This is arguably the most important section. Ultimately, it answers the question - is SEO actually working?
Organic revenue can help you put traffic into context. An influx in organic traffic may look great or a decline in traffic may seem concerning, but if revenue has stayed the same, it won’t necessarily tell the full story.
This post from Kai Cromwell via X sums this up well:
Conversions may be more useful than revenue if your focus is lead generation. This means any action like a form submission, phone call, or demo request. You can also take this one step further and report qualified leads or opportunities generated from organic search - although this may not always be possible.
It’s still important to show what’s happening in organic search. Here are some of the best metrics to do that.
Branded searches are often influenced by other efforts like advertising and PR, so non-branded traffic often provides a clearer view of whether your SEO strategy is working for people who aren’t specifically looking for the brand.
Traffic going to category, product, or service pages might be more useful than reporting on organic traffic as a whole, as it shows what pages actually drive business.
SEO performance can fluctuate throughout the year, especially for seasonal businesses. Year-on-year comparisons can provide a better indication of actual long-term growth. Sometimes quarter-on-quarter or month-on-month comparisons are more effective, but this is dependent on the business.
This is where many people go wrong with reports. However, when done right, you can show search visibility in a meaningful way.
What you don’t want to do is report on hundreds of individual keyword rankings. This will mean very little to a stakeholder.
Instead, group keywords together. For example, separate commercial terms and informational topics to give an overview of gains and losses. Stakeholders are unlikely to care about individual rankings, so keep it broad.
There are some exceptions to this. Some businesses have a handful of high-value keywords that can have a significant impact on performance. If that's the case, then you should include these in your report.
Impressions are helpful for determining whether a decline in clicks is down to a reduction in visibility or a change in user behaviour, clicks show how much traffic your organic listings are generating from Google, and click-through-rates (CTR) help identify changes in search behaviour. These three are much more beneficial when reported together rather than as standalone numbers.
Share of search (the percentage of search queries for your brand out of the total search queries for all other brands in your sector) is pretty helpful for getting a better idea of your brand awareness against your competitors, especially for larger businesses. But you should only report this if the data is available and accurate.
This is a difficult area to report on, but it is still important as AI in search continues to develop and more people are discovering brands and products through AI-powered search engines.
Knowing how often your brand or website appears compared to your competitors is important, but you do need a consistent set of prompts and a repeatable methodology to do this in a meaningful way.
This one is industry dependent. Since AI tools typically provide the user with everything they need from your site, if you’re a publisher, this is going to be pretty minimal. However, if a user has to go on your site to complete an action, then this can effectively demonstrate whether AI visibility is leading to actual website visits, so it can be a worthwhile metric to show in this instance.
Knowing if the people who are visiting from AI platforms are actually converting is a good way to establish whether these platforms are offering value to the business.
Ultimately, your SEO report should focus on the metrics that actually matter and prove how your SEO efforts are contributing to the goals of the business.
If you need expert help creating a winning SEO strategy (and building an impressive report to go with it), don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.
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