A monthly marketing report should lead with the leads and sales your marketing produced, then show the channel numbers behind them. You should be able to trace each number to a report in your own Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads or Business Profile account. If you cannot, ask where it came from.
By Donnie Strompf. Updated October 2026.
I’m Donnie Strompf, I’ve done SEO since 2008, and I run an agency, so read this as advice to a buyer. I explain which numbers to check in Google’s own help pages and what each one cannot tell you. This page makes no claim about what any other provider’s report contains. Good At Marketing provides a monthly report, and you should ask any provider, including us, to explain theirs.
Key takeaways
- Start with outcomes you can count yourself: leads, calls, form fills and sales, compared with a baseline month.
- Every channel number should trace to a named report in an account you can open, with the date range shown.
- A Google Analytics key event, a Google Ads conversion and a Business Profile call are three different counts. The report should say which one it uses.
- Rankings and impressions are early signals. Ask for the clicks and leads that followed them.
- A list of work done is not a result. Ask what each task was meant to improve and whether that number changed.
- If you cannot open the accounts the report comes from, you cannot check it.
What should a monthly marketing report show first?
The first page should show business outcomes: leads by source, phone calls, form submissions, booked jobs and sales. Where you pay for ads, add cost per lead. Part of this lives in your own records, such as your phone log, inbox or CRM, because no Google report knows which inquiry became a customer.
Google Analytics defines a key event as “an event that measures an action that’s particularly important to the success of your business” (Google Analytics Help, key events, no date shown, read October 15, 2026). The same page notes that Google Ads conversions “don’t appear in standard Google Analytics reports.” So a form fill can be counted in one place and not the other, and a report should say which system produced each figure.
Ask for a baseline month in the first report and keep a copy. Search Console keeps the last 16 months of data (Google Analytics Help, Queries report, no date shown, read October 15, 2026), so a comparison with the same month last year is available for search data. Ask when Google Analytics started collecting, since it only has history from that point. See also our guide to measuring content marketing ROI.
What should a monthly SEO report include?
An SEO report should show organic clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position from Search Console, then the organic sessions and key events from Google Analytics. The table gives Google’s definitions of the Search Console numbers (Search Console Help, Performance report, no date shown, read October 15, 2026).
| Metric | Google’s definition | Read it with this |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks | Times a user clicked your site from Google Search results | Google results only |
| Impressions | How many times your site appeared in Search results | Not a visit |
| CTR | Click count divided by impression count | Check by page |
| Average position | Chart: topmost result from your site. Table: the URL or grouping shown | Two different rules |
Search Console also groups data differently by view. The chart is always aggregated by property, while the table aggregates by page when you group by Pages, so chart totals can differ from table totals. Some queries are omitted to protect privacy, and they count toward chart totals unless a query filter is applied (Search Console Help on dimensions and data groupings, no date shown, read October 15, 2026).
Google Analytics shows sessions and the key events that follow them. Its Traffic acquisition report is scoped to sessions, while the User acquisition report is scoped to new users (Google Analytics Help, no date shown, read October 15, 2026), so the same metric can show different values in each. Ask which report a figure came from.
A good SEO report also lists the work completed and what comes next, with the page or number each task should affect. Google’s guidance for hiring an SEO suggests asking whether the provider will share all site changes and the reasoning behind them (Google Search Central, Do You Need an SEO?, updated June 5, 2026). Related reading: our Search Console guide and the SEO fundamentals guide.
What should a Google Ads report include?
A Google Ads report should show spend, plus the conversions it produced and their cost per conversion. It should also list the search terms that triggered your ads and your impression share. Spend should be its own line, because ad spend is paid to Google or the platform on top of any management fee, as the pricing page explains. For the full breakdown, see our guide to how much digital marketing costs for a small business.
The definitions below come from Google Ads Help pages read October 15, 2026, none of which shows a date.
| Number | What Google says | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Conversions | Count across your primary conversion actions | Which actions are primary? |
| All conversions | Adds actions left out of Conversions, such as certain phone calls | Which column is the headline? |
| Cost per conversion | Total cost divided by the Conversions number | Cost per lead or per click? |
| Search terms | Searches that triggered your ads; low-volume terms omitted | Were poor terms excluded? |
| Impression share | Impressions divided by total eligible impressions | Of which campaigns? |
Sources: conversion data, All conversions, search terms and impression share.
Timing matters when you read the month’s total. Google says the primary conversion columns “are calculated based on the time of the click, not the time of the conversion,” and that reporting lags can take 24 to 48 hours (Google Ads Help, conversion data). A figure pulled on the last day of the month can still change.
Before judging Google Ads results, check which actions count as conversions and whether the tracking works. Google lists website actions, phone calls, app activity and imported offline sales as conversion types (Google Ads Help, conversion measurement). Our guide to setting up conversion tracking explains what to count, and the Google Ads optimization tips cover what to do with the numbers. Our Google Ads management page describes the service.
What should a Business Profile report include?
A Business Profile report should show the Performance numbers Google provides for your listing. You can view Performance in Search or Maps, and Business Profile Manager lets you download a report. Google’s Business Profile performance page (no date shown, read October 15, 2026) defines each one as shown below.
| Metric | How Google counts it |
|---|---|
| Views | Unique visitors to your profile on Search and Maps, once per day |
| Searches | Search terms used to find you, updated monthly |
| Directions | Unique requests, adjusted for repeat taps and spam |
| Calls | Times a customer clicked the call button |
| Website clicks | Times people clicked your website link |
| Messages | Number of different conversations |
| Bookings | Completed bookings, where a booking provider manages them |
Two limits matter. Views counts only your profile, not “the overall views of your business on Google.” And Calls counts taps on the call button, so it does not show whether anyone answered.
Our Google Maps marketing guide explains the profile work behind these numbers.
How do you check a monthly report yourself?
You need a login to each account, even a view-only one. Google Analytics’ Viewer role “can see settings and data” (Google Analytics Help, roles, no date shown, read October 15, 2026). Our guide on who owns your website and marketing accounts covers how to set that up.
- Pick three numbers from the report, for example organic clicks, ad spend and profile calls.
- Find each in its platform for the same dates and compare.
- Check that the date ranges are the same length and that a month is not compared with part of one.
- Compare the report’s lead count with your own log of calls and form fills.
- Ask for the list of changes made during the month and the reason for each.
Some gap is normal because the platforms count differently. When numbers differ, ask which counting rules caused the difference.
Which red flags show a report is hiding something?
Most of these come from the definitions above.
| Red flag | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Only rankings and impressions | Neither is a visit, call or sale |
| Screenshots with no date range | You cannot recheck them |
| “Total conversions” with no definition | May include secondary actions |
| No spend line | Cost per lead cannot be checked |
| One average position for the whole site | Chart and table use different rules |
| Tasks listed with no result | Work done is not an outcome |
| Figures from tools you cannot open | Nothing to verify against |
| Leads far from your own count, unexplained | The tracking may be wrong |
How do you know if your marketing agency is working?
Compare outcomes with the baseline month. Look at leads and sales first, then cost per lead. Early signals such as impressions and profile views can move before leads do, so ask the provider in writing which metric the current work is meant to improve and when you should check whether it moved. Do not accept a promise of a ranking or a lead count.
On XO’s second engagement, with weekly reports from July 2021 to March 2023, “private jet” reached position 1. The XO case study shows the dates.
Related reading
- How Small Businesses Can Use Google Search Console to Find Missed Keyword Opportunities
- How to track ChatGPT traffic in Google Analytics 4 and Search Console
- Local SEO, Google Ads and AI Search Statistics for 2026
Next step
Take this list to your current provider or to any you are considering, including us. The free AI-visibility audit comes first, then a 15-minute call. Our choose an SEO company checklist has the rest of the questions to ask before you sign, and SEO services describes the monthly work.
Get your free AI-visibility audit
FAQ
How long should a monthly marketing report be?
Short enough to read in one sitting. One page of outcomes and cost per lead, then a page per channel, then the work log, is plenty. Long exports of every metric hide the few numbers that matter. If a section has no stated purpose, ask what decision it supports.
Is a rank-tracking screenshot enough?
Not on its own. Google says third-party SEO tools “don’t have access to Google’s internal ranking data” (Google Search Central, updated June 5, 2026). Pair any ranking chart with Search Console clicks and the leads those visits produced, so you can see whether position changes reached your phone.
Why do an agency’s numbers differ from mine?
The platforms use different rules. Search Console dates use Pacific Time and include only complete days by default (Search Console Help). Google Analytics sessions use a non-direct last click model, and key events have a 90-day lookback by default (Google Analytics Help). Ask which settings the report used.
How do I count phone calls?
Use more than one source. Business Profile counts taps on the call button, and Google Ads call reporting covers calls made through a Google forwarding number, so calls to your direct number are not tracked there (Google Ads Help, call reporting). Keep a simple tally of calls that came in and where each caller heard of you.
Should the report include traffic from ChatGPT?
Give it its own line so you can see it, because a separate line shows when referrals from ChatGPT and other AI engines rise or fall and keeps them apart from your organic search totals. Our guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT and AI Overviews covers what moves it.
What if I cannot open the accounts behind my report?
Ask for access before the next report. A view-only or lower role is enough to check numbers, and you should hold the owner or administrator role yourself. If a provider created the accounts under its own login, ask what it takes to move ownership to you, and get the answer in writing.
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