Last Updated on October 20, 2026
A good monthly SEO report shows six lines you can check in ten minutes. They are work done against your contract, enquiries, Search Console clicks and impressions, rankings for searched terms, AI answers and who owns the data. Published UK SEO prices have a median of £799 a month (Whito file, June 2026).
Most agency reports are long. The lines that matter most to a UK business owner are often missing or buried on page nine.
Many agencies report well. This page helps you tell which kind you have, using the report you already get.
The ten-minute read
Open last month’s report and go through it in this order. Skip anything that does not answer one of these lines.
- Minutes 1 and 2: the work done, against what your contract says you buy.
- Minutes 3 and 4: enquiries, calls, bookings or sales from organic search.
- Minutes 5 and 6: Search Console clicks and impressions, compared with the same month last year.
- Minute 7: rankings, but only for terms people actually search.
- Minutes 8 and 9: AI answers. Were you named in ChatGPT, Gemini or Google AI Mode?
- Minute 10: who owns the data and the logins.
If a line is missing, that is your question for the next call.
Every line, and what to ask about it
| Line in the report | What it tells you | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Work done this month | What your fee actually bought | Which of these items are in our contract, and which were not done? |
| Enquiries from organic search | Whether the work reached the till | How is an enquiry counted, and can I match it to my own records? |
| Search Console clicks | How often people clicked through from Google | Is this up on the same month last year? |
| Search Console impressions | How often a link to you was shown, not visited | Which searches drove the rise, and did clicks follow? |
| Average position | A ranking averaged across many searches | Which searches, and do any of them bring enquiries? |
| Ranking list | Positions for terms the agency chose | How many impressions does each term get a month? |
| AI answers | Whether assistants name you when asked | Which questions, which engines, what date, and who was named instead? |
| Data access | Whether you could carry on without them | Am I an owner of Search Console and Analytics? |
| Next month’s plan | Whether the work is changing with the results | What will you stop doing, and why? |
Work done, against what the retainer buys
This line comes first because it is fully in the agency’s control. Rankings depend on Google. The work does not.
Whito’s file of published UK SEO prices (June 2026) holds 45 monthly prices from 16 UK providers.
The median is £799 a month and the median entry tier is £447. Prices fall into three bands: budget £99 to £300, mainstream £350 to £1,000, and established agency £1,500 to £5,000+. Our UK SEO costs page sets out these bands for buyers.
Whito’s May 2026 retainer research puts a typical single-channel UK agency retainer, such as SEO or PPC, at £1,250 to £3,500 a month. Our retainer research says every retainer should list specific outputs: posts, articles, hours of work or campaigns a month.
Say you pay £900 a month, in the mainstream band. Your contract lists two articles, a technical check and set outreach hours. The report should show each item, done or explained.
A line like “ongoing optimisation” with no quantity tells you nothing. If you are unsure what your contract buys, our quote audit walks through it.
Enquiries and revenue, not just traffic
Traffic is a means. The end is calls, bookings and sales. A report that never mentions enquiries reports activity, not results.
The fair version has two parts: how many enquiries came from organic search, and how they were counted. Tracked forms, call tracking or a “how did you hear about us” field all work.
Then check it against your own records. If the report says 30 enquiries and your inbox shows eight, ask how they were counted.
Search Console clicks and impressions
Google Search Console is Google’s free tool showing how your site appears in Google. Most reports quote it. Few explain its two main numbers.
Google’s own help page, What are impressions, position, and clicks? (opened 20 October 2026), defines them:
- A click is “How often someone clicked a link from Google to your site.”
- An impression “means that a user has seen (or potentially seen) a link to your site in Search, Discover, or News.”
- Average position is “A relative ranking of the position of your link on Google”.
“Potentially seen” matters. Impressions can rise sharply while nobody new visits. A report that leads with impressions should show clicks right beside them.
The same page says a click on a link to an external page in an AI Overview or AI Mode counts as a click. So Search Console totals include some Google AI traffic. They do not cover ChatGPT.
Ask for clicks against the same month last year, not just last month. Seasonal businesses can look like they are falling every autumn.
Rankings, only for terms with real demand
A ranking for a term nobody searches looks the same in a report as one that brings work.
Ask the agency to show impressions beside each tracked term, from Search Console. A term with no impressions in a month has no demand you can measure. It can stay on the list, but it should not be the headline.
Timing matters too.
Our SEO timeline research uses the which-clock-moved test: ask which clock moved (indexation, rankings, clicks, enquiries, AI citations), by how much, on what date. “Average position improved” is a fair headline in month two. In month nine it is hiding from the enquiries clock.
AI answers: a line worth asking for
Customers now ask ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode who to use. If the assistant names three rivals and not you, no ranking report will show it.
A useful AI line states the questions asked, the engines, the date, whether you were named, and who was named instead. Without fixed questions and a date, months do not compare.
Our guide Is my agency getting me into AI answers? shows how to check yourself.
An agency can also use an independent record for this line.
Whito’s Visibility Monitor asks five fixed questions of ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode on the same day each month. That is 15 answers, with a PDF and raw CSV, the rivals named instead and the reason given.
It records what the engines say. It does not change it, and it makes no promise that a business will be recommended.
Who owns the data
This line matters most on the day you leave. It belongs in every report, even as one sentence.
Google’s help page Managing owners, users, and permissions (opened 20 October 2026) says only property owners can add or remove users. It also says that if all verified owners are removed, remaining users and delegated owners lose access after a grace period.
So check that you, not only the agency, are a verified owner of your Search Console property. Do the same for Analytics, your Google Business Profile and any ad accounts.
In Whito’s agency contract terms study (29 September 2026), 22 of 39 UK agency pricing pages had no usable public service terms. 19 of 39 did not say on the pricing page how you leave. Our guide how to leave your marketing agency covers what to secure before you give notice.
What a report often leaves out
- Contracted work that was not done this month.
- Enquiry numbers, and how they were counted.
- A year-on-year comparison.
- Demand beside rankings.
- Any AI answers line at all.
- Who holds owner access to your accounts.
None of these are hard to add.
Still choosing an agency? Read how to choose an SEO agency. Want a wider check on the one you have? Read is my SEO agency working?
Questions people ask
What should a monthly SEO report include?
Six lines. Work done against the contract, enquiries from organic search, and Search Console clicks and impressions. Then rankings for terms with real demand, AI answers, and who owns the data.
What is the difference between clicks and impressions in Search Console?
Google defines a click as how often someone clicked a link from Google to your site. An impression means a user has seen, or potentially seen, a link to your site. Impressions can rise while visits stay flat.
Should an SEO report show AI answers?
Yes, if customers ask assistants for what you sell. A useful line states the questions asked, the engines, the date, whether you were named, and who was named instead.
How do I check I own my Search Console data?
Open Search Console settings and check that you are listed as a verified owner. Google says that if all verified owners are removed, other users lose access after a grace period.
The takeaway
A report is not proof of work because it is long. It is proof of work when every line ties to something you pay for or something you earn.
Read it in ten minutes, note the missing lines and ask about those first. Structure before scale: fix what the report measures before paying for more.
Want a neutral starting point before your next agency call? Run the free Visibility Check: 17 checks, about twenty seconds, no email, no sales call. For a dated monthly record of AI answers, the Visibility Monitor is £280 a month, total payable, cancel any time.
