# What a monthly SEO report should tell you

Source: https://www.smartecomseo.com/sample-monthly-seo-report/  
Updated: 2026-09-29

Most SEO reports are 30 pages of charts that avoid one question: did organic search make you more money? Ours starts there.

## Six sections, in this order

1. **Organic revenue** (Shopify): Orders and revenue attributed to organic search in Shopify, compared with last month and the same month last year.

2. **Clicks and impressions** (Search Console): Google clicks and impressions for the whole store and for the pages we built or changed.

3. **Keyword positions** (Ahrefs, Semrush, GSC): Movement for your target keywords, grouped by collection or topic, with new keywords entering the top 10 and top 3.

4. **Traffic** (Shopify, GSC): Organic sessions and landing pages, so you can see which pages bring buyers and which only bring readers.

5. **Work delivered** (Google Sheet): Articles, collection pages, technical fixes, schema and internal links completed this month, linked to the live Google Sheet.

6. **Next month** (Plan): What we plan to do next and why, including anything we need from you.

## Where each number comes from

| | Source | What it tells you | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic revenue | Shopify reports | Money from organic visits | Last-click attribution undercounts research-heavy journeys |
| Impressions | Google Search Console | How often Google shows your pages | Rises with new pages before clicks follow |
| Clicks | Google Search Console | Visits from Google search | AI Overviews can lower clicks on informational queries |
| Positions | Ahrefs, Semrush, GSC | Where target keywords rank | Averages hide big wins on single pages |
| Keyword count | Ahrefs | How many keywords you rank for | Tools estimate; GSC shows real queries |
| Traffic value | Ahrefs | What the traffic would cost in ads | An estimate, not revenue |

## Reading an SEO report without fooling yourself

### Impressions come first

When new collection pages and articles go live, Google starts testing them in results. Impressions climb weeks before clicks do. A month with flat clicks and rising impressions is usually a good month.

### Average position is misleading

If you start ranking for 500 new keywords at position 40, your average position gets worse even though the store is winning. We report positions for your target keywords separately, and count how many keywords reach the top 10 and top 3.

### Compare with the same month last year

Most Shopify stores are seasonal. Grills peak in spring, greenhouses in late winter, gifts in Q4. Month-on-month changes can reflect the calendar, not the SEO. We always show year-on-year where the data exists.

### Revenue is the scoreboard, with a caveat

Shopify attributes orders to the last channel the buyer used. High-ticket buyers often read a buying guide from Google, leave, and come back later by typing your brand name. Some of that revenue shows up as direct or branded search. We point this out when it matters rather than claiming it.

### The live Google Sheet is the receipt

Every page we publish or update is logged the day it happens: URL, target keyword, date, change. The report summarizes it, the sheet proves it.

**Want a report like this for your store?** Start with a free mini audit and see what we would change first. [Get a free audit](/free-audit/)

## See the numbers other stores reached

[Read the case studies](/case-studies/)