What should a monthly SEO or GEO report include?
Four things: which customer questions now name you, where you rank across a map grid, actions taken from your Google profile, and what shipped this month with what is next. One page. If a report needs a call to interpret, it is written for the agency.
What belongs in it
Prompt coverage. The same questions, tested the same way, with a frequency rather than a yes or no.
Grid position. The same keyword and grid size every month, shown next to last month.
Profile actions. Calls, direction requests and website clicks - the closest thing to revenue in local search.
Work done and work next. Specific items, not categories.
What is padding
Impressions. Keyword counts with no context. Domain authority, which is a third-party invention with no bearing on Google. Social followers. Anything presented only as a percentage with no underlying number.
A forty-page PDF is not thoroughness. It is a way to make a thin month look substantial.
The honesty test
A good report explains numbers that went down. If every metric in every month is up and to the right, either the reporting is selective or the metrics were chosen because they always rise.
What you should be able to do with it
Read it in five minutes, know whether the month was good, and know what happens next. If you cannot, ask for a different report - it is your money paying for it.
The short version
- Four things: prompts, grid, profile actions, work log
- One page, readable in five minutes
- Impressions and domain authority are padding
- A report with no bad news is a report with poor metrics
Related questions
How often should I get one?
Monthly. Weekly reporting produces noise and reactive decisions.
Should I get raw access to the data?
Yes. Your Google profile insights and Search Console are yours.
What if I don't understand it?
Say so. Clear reporting is the agency's job, not yours.
Keep reading
How do you measure AI visibility?
Four numbers: how many of your target questions name you across assistants, your position at multiple points...
How do you choose a GEO agency?
Ask nine questions: do you work with my competitors, who owns my profile, what exactly ships each month, how...
What is a geo-grid rank report?
A geo-grid checks your map ranking from many simulated locations across your service area - typically 25 or...
Want this checked on your own business?
The free visibility check shows what AI assistants say about you today, where you sit on the map grid, and the three fixes worth doing first.
