SEO report template (free PDF)

An SEO report shows what search brought a site over a period, usually a month: clicks, impressions, click rate and position from Google Search Console, the pages and searches behind any change, what that traffic led to, and what to work on next. It turns the numbers into decisions.

Clicks

Times someone clicked through to your site from Google Search results.

Impressions

Times your site appeared in Google Search results.

CTR

Clicks divided by impressions.

Average position

The average position of your site's highest result. Lower is better.

For average position, a lower number is better, so 24.6 to 22.9 is a climb. Report CTR changes in percentage points, not percent.

1. 1

   Summary

   Three sentences at the top: what changed, the main reason, and what happens next month. Many readers stop here, so it has to stand on its own.

   Example

   Clicks from Google rose 20% to 2,210, mostly from the fall lawn care guide published in September and the updated overseeding guide. Impressions rose 23%, a little faster than clicks, and CTR held at 1.9%. In November we work on the two searches at positions 11 and 14.

2. 2

   Search Console numbers

   Clicks, impressions, CTR and average position for the month, next to last month and the same month last year. The year-ago column shows whether a change is seasonal.

   Example

   Clicks 2,210, up 20% on September and almost double October last year (1,120). Impressions grew faster than clicks over the year, so CTR is 1.9%, down from 2.2% a year ago. Average position moved from 24.6 to 22.9.

3. 3

   Pages that gained and lost clicks

   The three to five pages with the biggest change in clicks each way, with the likely reason. A list without reasons is just data.

   Example

   • Gained: /fall-lawn-care-guide +240 clicks (published September 12, now position 6 for "fall lawn care")
   • Gained: /overseeding-a-lawn +150 (seed-rate table added October 2)
   • Lost: /summer-watering-schedule −90 (seasonal; it fell the same way last October)
4. 4

   Queries close to page one

   Queries at positions 8 to 20 with real impressions. These are usually the cheapest wins: a better title, a section the page lacks, or a new page when nothing on the site answers the search.

   Example

   • "when to overseed a lawn" position 11, 4,900 impressions, 22 clicks: add a dates-by-region table to /overseeding-a-lawn
   • "best grass seed for shade" position 14, 2,300 impressions, shown for /overseeding-a-lawn: no page is about it yet, plan one
5. 5

   Indexing

   From the Page indexing report: indexed pages, and any new reasons pages aren't indexed. Not every URL should be indexed, so flag only pages that matter.

   Example

   62 pages indexed, the same as last month. The new aeration post shows "Discovered - currently not indexed"; we linked to it from the fall lawn care guide.

6. 6

   Results from search

   What the visits did, from your analytics: sign-ups, leads, sales or newsletter subscribers that came from organic search. This is the line a client or boss cares about most.

   Example

   41 newsletter sign-ups from organic search (last month 33).

7. 7

   Work done

   What was published, updated or fixed this month, with links, so a change in the numbers can be traced to a change on the site.

   Example

   • Published: /aerating-a-lawn (October 9)
   • Updated: /overseeding-a-lawn (seed-rate table, October 2), /best-lawn-mowers (new prices, two models replaced)
   • Linked /aerating-a-lawn from /fall-lawn-care-guide
   • Fixed: 12 broken internal links
8. 8

   Next month

   Three to five tasks, each tied to a number above, with who does it. Fewer tasks that get done beat a long list.

   Example

   • Sam: add a dates-by-region table to /overseeding-a-lawn for "when to overseed a lawn" (position 11, 4,900 impressions)
   • Priya: write "best grass seed for shade" (position 14, 2,300 impressions, only /overseeding-a-lawn shows for it)
   • Sam: check /aerating-a-lawn is indexed by mid-November (not indexed today)

Found queries close to page one? See what a top-three spot would be worth, then plan the page with the SEO content brief template. Two of your pages showing up for one query? See which searches they split with the keyword cannibalization checker. Pages stuck as Discovered or Crawled - currently not indexed? What each status means and what to do. Clicks rose or fell and you need the reason? Check whether a confirmed Google update lines up with it in the Google update checker. Need a one-off check of the whole site, with a ranked list of fixes? Use the SEO audit report template.

• Its Performance page shows clicks, impressions, click rate and average position for the last 7, 28 or 90 days, each with its change against the period before, plus your top queries and the clicks on each article Serpwright published.
• It syncs Search Console once a week, or when you press Sync now.
• It lists the searches your site shows up for without a page, as titles you approve, and writes the articles. Drafts wait for your review before publishing unless you turn on the drip or auto-publish. Auto-approve takes only titles above a confidence threshold you set.

3 days free, no card.