SEO report review
Every month a report arrives with charts that go up and a list of tasks marked done. You pay the invoice and can't tell whether the work is helping. I read the report the way an auditor reads a set of books: every claim checked against your own Search Console, analytics, and the live site, and a written answer about which parts hold up, which don't, and what's missing.
When owners ask for this
- Traffic or leads have been flat for months while the reports say things are improving.
- A new agency delivered a long audit and you can't tell which items matter.
- You're about to renew a contract, raise a budget, or switch providers.
- A board member or investor asked how search is going and you'd like an outside answer.
What I check
- The numbers. Do the clicks, impressions, and rankings in the report match what your own Search Console and analytics show for the same dates and the same pages? Are year-over-year comparisons using matching windows?
- The metrics chosen. Reports full of vanity numbers, such as total keywords ranked or a domain score from a third-party tool, can rise while revenue-earning pages decline. I look at the pages and queries that bring your customers.
- The work claimed. If the report says titles were rewritten, redirects fixed, or schema added, I check the live pages to see it.
- The audit findings. For a long technical audit, I sort the findings into the few that change outcomes, the many that are housekeeping, and any that are wrong.
- What's missing. Problems the report doesn't mention: indexing issues, a broken inquiry form, AI answers getting your business wrong.
- Links and risk. If the report counts new backlinks, I look at where they came from, because bought links are a risk for you, not the agency.
What you get
A written review in plain English: each major claim in the report, what your data shows, and my verdict. A short list of the questions to put to your agency. And, where the work is sound, I say so, because a good agency deserves the renewal. My guide to proving an SEO fix worked shows the standard of evidence I hold reports to, and what an SEO audit should deliver covers what a good audit looks like.
What I need from you
The report or audit itself, read access to Search Console and your analytics, and the contract or statement of work so I know what was promised. Read-only access is enough; I don't change anything on your site during a review.
Independent findings
The review stands on its own. You get the findings whether you keep your agency, change its brief, or move on. If you then want help with the fixes, that's a separate conversation; my guide to hiring an SEO is useful either way.
How it's delivered
A fixed-scope review, quoted as one fixed fee from the size of the report and the site. Payment terms are settled in conversation before the review starts. Terms are on Hire Me.
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