# An SEO report template that a founder actually reads

You need an SEO report you can read in three minutes and act on the same day. This template is for a small product site, not a 40 slide deck. It shows what moved, why it moved, and what you will ship next.

Updated 2026-09-14 · Source: https://porteur.ai/guides/seo-report-template

## The one-page SEO report template

Use one page. Your eye should find the change in outcomes first, then the reason, then what to ship next. The figures sit in a small table at the end.

- Header: site, month, owner, date
- KPIs summary: clicks from search, signups from search, revenue from search
- Why it moved: one or two causes in plain words
- Shipped last month: three to six bullets
- Plan for next month: three to six bullets with owners and dates
- Figures table: outcomes and diagnostics side by side
- Notes: risks, decisions, asks

> Keep it to one page. Link out to the detail if needed.

## What each section holds and where the data comes from

- KPIs summary: outcomes only. Pull clicks from Google Search Console. Pull signups and revenue from product analytics or GA4 if you track it. Report non-brand clicks as a separate line if you can.
- Why it moved: one or two reasons tied to work or changes in search. For example a new page, a content refresh, an internal link change, or a core update.
- Shipped last month: pages published, pages refreshed, technical fixes live, listings secured. Name the URLs.
- Plan for next month: the next pages, refreshes, technical debts, and link work. One owner per line and a date.
- Figures table: outcomes vs diagnostics. Outcomes: clicks, signups, revenue. Diagnostics: impressions, average position, indexed pages, Core Web Vitals, referring domains.
- Notes: blockers and asks. For example a CMS limit, an API you need for a tool page, or approval for a comparison page.

Use free sources first. Search Console is enough for most small sites. Looker Studio connects to Search Console and GA4 for free if you need a joined dashboard.

## A filled SEO report example you can copy

Here is a one-page report for a fictional SaaS, yourproduct.com, for August. Copy the frame and swap your pages and figures. The point is the order and the clarity.

- Header: yourproduct.com, August, owner: A. Patel, date: 2 September
- KPIs summary: clicks from search, non-brand clicks, signups from search, revenue from search tracked in GA4 but not attributed to all plans yet
- Why it moved: new /guides/getting-started ranked for “getting started with {job}”, sending 180 clicks. Internal links added from /pricing and /docs reduced cannibalisation on “{product} pricing”.
- Shipped last month: published /alternatives/{competitor}, refreshed /blog/{job}-checklist, fixed CLS on /pricing to under 0.1, added listings on two directories with a profile link.
- Plan for next month: publish /comparisons/{competitor}-vs-yourproduct, refresh /docs/integrations/{tool}, add 20 internal links to the guides hub, ship JSON-LD on /pricing, owner per line with a date.
- Figures table: outcomes and diagnostics shown for 28 days. Outcomes: clicks, signups. Diagnostics: impressions, average position, indexed pages, LCP under 2.5 seconds, referring domains.
- Notes: need approval for a free calculator page, and access to product analytics events for plan selection.

A good one-page report reads like this example. You see the movement in one glance. The next month’s work is concrete and tied to pages and searches.

## Audit report vs monthly report

An audit report is once. A monthly report is recurring. They serve different jobs and share some parts.

| Part | Audit report (once) | Monthly report (recurring) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Purpose | Find issues and chances across the site | Track outcomes and drive next month’s work |
| Scope | Full crawl, templates, internal links, indexation, speed, content map | Changes in KPIs, why, shipped work, next month |
| Output | A list of fixes and pages to create, sized by effort | Three to six tasks for next month with owners and dates |
| Sources | Crawler, Search Console, the site, the results page | Search Console, product analytics, the site, the results page |

Do the audit first or when growth stalls. Then run the monthly. Keep the monthly to one page and move detail to links and tickets.

## Strategy, plan and roadmap sit above the report

Your SEO strategy answers three questions. Which searches you want. Which pages will answer them. How you will earn links and mentions.

- Searches: the category and best-of lists, the alternatives and comparisons, the jobs the product does, the integrations, and your brand.
- Pages: one page per topic. For example /alternatives/{competitor}, /comparisons/{competitor}-vs-yourproduct, /guides/{job}, /integrations/{tool}, /pricing.
- Links and mentions: launches, listings, tools, data. For example a small calculator, a dataset, or a listing on a relevant directory.

Write the strategy once a year and read it every month. The plan takes the strategy and gives dates and owners for this quarter. The roadmap spreads the plan over quarters.

Your report should point back to the plan. Each task in the next month section should map to one strategy line. The audit feeds the plan with fixes and pages to create.

## KPIs, metrics, goals and a simple dashboard

A KPI is an outcome you read weekly. A metric is a diagnostic you read when a KPI moves. Keep them separate in your report and dashboard.

- KPIs: clicks from search, signups from search, revenue from search.
- Metrics: impressions, average position, indexed pages, Core Web Vitals, referring domains.

Write goals as a number and a date. For example, two hundred clicks a week from non-brand searches by March. Do not write goals as a position on one keyword.

Your dashboard shows both outcomes and diagnostics. Search Console is enough for most small sites. Looker Studio connects to Search Console and GA4 for free if you need one view.

## How to build this SEO report in under an hour

1. **Set the period to the last 28 days in Search Console** Export clicks, impressions, average position. Split brand vs non-brand if you tag brand queries in your sheet.
2. **Pull signups and revenue from product analytics or GA4** Filter to organic search. If you cannot, note it in the report and plan the tracking work.
3. **Scan the results page for your top five queries** Check the snippet and search intent. Note any new features or competitors that could explain changes.
4. **List what shipped and paste URLs** Pages live, pages refreshed, technical changes, and listings secured. Keep to three to six bullets.
5. **Write why outcomes moved** Tie a cause to a change. Avoid long root cause trees. One or two reasons are enough for a founder report.
6. **Write next month’s three to six tasks** Name the page, the query, the owner, and the due date. Link to the ticket. Keep scope realistic.
7. **Fill the figures table** Outcomes on the left, diagnostics on the right. Add Core Web Vitals status, indexed pages, and referring domains.

## The agent-ready version a contractor can act on

Turn the report into a task list a contractor can start from today. Use one line per action with the fields they need. Keep the lines in your tracker of choice.

- Fields: task, page URL, target query, intent, expected impact, owner, due date, status, link to doc or brief.
- Examples: write /alternatives/{competitor} for “{competitor} alternatives” with a clear head to head. Refresh /pricing to match new plans. Add 15 internal links to /guides/getting-started from the top ten pages.

Attach briefs for new pages. One page per topic. Include the title under about 60 characters, the h1, the outline, and the calls to action. Name two or three internal links to add from existing pages.

## What to ship after the report

Ship pages against the searches you want. Ship fixes that remove crawl and index gaps. Ship links that a human would care to click.

- Pages: comparisons, alternatives, guides for jobs, integration pages, and your pricing page. One topic per page.
- Fixes: Core Web Vitals to pass thresholds, clean index bloat, add internal links to your key pages, fix canonicals where needed.
- Links and mentions: a small tool or a dataset, a launch, and listings on relevant directories. Earn mentions with something someone wants to cite.

> Do not produce many thin pages at once. Scaled content abuse is against Google’s spam policies as of 2026.

## SEO, SEM and PPC in your reporting

SEM often means paid and organic together. PPC is the paid model. Organic results come from ranking. Paid results come from an auction on the query.

Paid stops when the budget stops. Organic keeps sending clicks after the work. For a new product, run both. Use paid to learn which queries convert. Use organic to hold them.

Keep paid results out of the one-page SEO report. Put them in a separate line in your wider growth report if you need a single view for search.

## Costs, roles and red flags to note in the report

Size your budget by the work and by the value of a search click to your business. Do not chase a market average. Every range online is somebody’s marketing.

- Agencies bill retainers and sell execution.
- Freelancers bill hourly, daily or per project and sell execution or an audit.
- A consultant sells judgement. For example a strategy or a review.
- An in-house hire sells continuity.
- A report sells the judgement once. Porteur is one report bought once, 99 € or 199 € with product analytics.

- Red flags: guaranteed rankings, secret techniques, links for sale, and a promise of first position on a keyword.
- Google does not penalise AI-assisted writing as such. It acts on pages made at scale without value.
- The helpful content system’s signals were folded into core ranking in March 2024.

## Questions

### How do I write an SEO report?

Keep it to one page. Lead with outcomes, then why, then what you will ship next. Pull outcomes from Search Console and product analytics, and diagnostics from Search Console. Write goals as a number with a date. Link to the tickets, not the other way round.

### What is in an SEO audit report?

An audit report is once. It lists issues and chances across templates, internal links, indexation, speed and content. The output is a sized list of fixes and pages to create, which becomes your quarterly plan. Run it before the monthly cycle or when growth stalls.

### Can ChatGPT do an SEO audit?

It can help you draft checks and tidy notes. It cannot crawl your site or Search Console by itself. Use it to structure findings and turn them into actions. Use a crawler’s export and Search Console for the actual data.

### What is the 80/20 rule in SEO for a small site?

Focus on pages against the searches you want and on internal links to them. Fix only the few technical issues that block crawling, indexing or speed. Report only the outcomes and one or two reasons, and keep the tasks for next month small and owned.

### Where can I find SEO report templates?

You can copy the one on this page. For dashboards, use Search Console. If you need a combined view, connect Search Console and GA4 to Looker Studio. If you want a one-off outside eye, buy a single report from a consultant or a product like Porteur.

### How often should I update the strategy in my report?

Write the strategy once a year. Read it every month. Update the plan each quarter. The monthly report should point to the plan and show progress on pages and fixes tied to the strategy.

## Read next

- [A monthly SEO report on one page: what changed, why, what next](https://porteur.ai/guides/seo-monthly-report): Make a one-page SEO monthly report that shows what changed, why, and what to do next. KPIs, table of figures, and a worked example.
- [An SEO audit checklist for a small site: forty checks in order](https://porteur.ai/guides/seo-audit-checklist): Run these forty SEO checks in order on a small site. The tool to use, what a fail looks like, and what to fix next, in plain steps.
- [SEO KPIs: the three numbers a founder reads weekly](https://porteur.ai/guides/seo-kpis): Track three SEO KPIs each week: non-brand clicks, signups from search, and revenue from search. See where each comes from and what to do when one moves.
- [An SEO dashboard for free: Search Console, GA4 and Looker Studio](https://porteur.ai/guides/seo-dashboard): What to show on one screen, how to build it in Looker Studio with free connectors, and when Search Console alone is enough for a small product.
- [An SEO strategy for a small product: three questions, one page](https://porteur.ai/guides/seo-strategy): Build a one‑page SEO strategy you can ship: which searches, which pages, how links come, plus a plan, KPIs, a dashboard and a monthly report.
- [The Search Console performance report, column by column](https://porteur.ai/guides/search-console-performance-report): Every column in the Google Search Console performance report explained with the traps that trip small sites, and how to act on each.

Paste your homepage URL and get a free check that reads your site and rivals on your searches in about thirty seconds, with three findings you can act on. Free check: https://porteur.ai/