SEO reporting template that opens with enquiries
A free monthly SEO report template that leads with enquiries, splits branded from non-branded clicks and compares each row with the same month last year.
A monthly SEO report should open with enquiries from organic search, then show branded and non-branded clicks on separate lines, each compared with the same month last year. Search Console can now do the branded split for you. Its branded queries filter separates searches that include your brand name from everything else. Google made it available to all eligible sites on 11 March 2026 (Google Search Central). Search Console keeps 16 months of data, which is enough for a year-on-year column (Google Analytics Help).
This template builds two of those decisions, enquiries first and the branded split, into a 16-row sheet you can download free. Both make a report harder to write and much harder to hide behind, which is the point.
The short version
- The first row of the report is enquiries from organic search, because it is the number the business pays for and the one a report most often buries.
- Branded and non-branded clicks go on separate lines. Google describes non-branded queries as the ones that show how new people find your site.
- Search Console’s branded queries filter does the split automatically on eligible sites. On smaller sites, a query filter that excludes your brand name does the same job.
- Every row is compared with the same month last year, not only last month, so seasonal dips are not mistaken for failure. Search Console holds 16 months of data.
- Every row has a Why and an Action column. A row with no action for three months is a candidate for removal from the report.
- The template is a free CSV with 16 rows and seven columns, and takes about twenty minutes a month once the data sources are connected.
Download the file
Download the SEO reporting template (CSV). No email address, no gate. Open it in Google Sheets, Excel or any text editor. It is for anyone reporting on SEO to a client, a board or themselves, and it doubles as a checklist for judging a report someone sends you.
What rows and columns are in the SEO reporting template?
Seven columns run across the top: Metric, This month, Last month, Same month last year, Change, Why and Action. The 16 metric rows run down the side in the order below, with the business number first and the supporting numbers after it.
| Row group | Rows in the file | What they tell you | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enquiries | Enquiries from organic, cost per enquiry (organic) | Whether search is producing work | GA4 key events or your CRM |
| Clicks | Non-branded, branded and total organic clicks | Whether new people are finding you, separate from people who already know you | Search Console Performance report |
| Visibility | Organic impressions, average position (mapped terms) | Whether you are being shown, for the terms you chose to track | Search Console Performance report |
| Site work | Pages indexed, new pages published, pages improved | What was done and whether Google kept it | Search Console Page indexing report, your own log |
| Authority | Referring domains | Whether other sites are linking to you | Search Console Links report or a backlink tool |
| Experience | Core Web Vitals: LCP mobile, CLS | Whether real visits pass the speed thresholds | Search Console Core Web Vitals report |
| Quality | Conversion rate (organic sessions to enquiry), qualified rate, revenue attributed | Whether the enquiries were worth having | GA4 and your CRM |
The two columns that turn numbers into a report are Why and Action. Why is one sentence explaining the movement on that row. Action is what happens next because of it.
Why does the report open with enquiries?
Because enquiries are what the business pays for, and a report that opens with impressions is avoiding that number. Putting enquiries on the first row forces the conversation to start there.
The number is only trustworthy if the event behind it fires on a submitted enquiry, not a page view. In GA4 the events you count as enquiries are called key events, which Google defines as events that measure an action particularly important to the success of your business (Google Analytics Help). Check which events are marked before you report anything. The qualified rate row is there so that a better conversion rate cannot be claimed when all that happened is a lower bar and more work for the sales team.
Photo: Antoni Shkraba Production on Pexels.
How do I separate branded from non-branded clicks?
Use the branded queries filter in Search Console’s Performance report if your site has it, and a query filter that excludes your brand name if it does not. Google says the filter is decided by an AI-assisted system rather than a keyword list, includes typos and products unique to your site, and may occasionally misclassify a query (Google Search Central).
The same Google post sets out who gets it and why the split matters:
- It is only available for top-level properties, not URL-path or subdomain properties, and only for sites with enough queries and impressions.
- Google describes branded queries as coming from people already familiar with your brand, and non-branded queries as showing how new users find your content.
- The filter has no effect on how Google Search ranks your site. It only changes how you see the data.
If the filter is not in your report, add a query filter in the Performance report for queries not containing your brand name and its common misspellings. Record exactly what you excluded (Search Console Help). Use the same filter every month. The split does not need to be perfect, only consistent.
On some accounts we have taken over, splitting out branded clicks removed much of the growth shown in earlier reports. Introducing the split later, once growth needs explaining, is the point at which trust goes, so split from month one even though it makes early reports look worse.
Why compare with the same month last year?
Because month-on-month comparison on a seasonal business makes a normal dip look like failure and triggers bad decisions. A heating engineer’s October will not look like July, and neither month tells you whether the work is compounding. The same month last year does.
Search Console keeps 16 months of data, so once a year of history exists, the column fills itself (Google Analytics Help). If you have less than a year, leave it blank and say so in the Why column rather than inventing a baseline. Search Console’s average position is the average of your site’s topmost result across the searches that showed it (Search Console Help), so it moves with the mix of searches, not only with rankings. Read it on the terms you mapped, never as a sitewide headline.
What does a filled-in month look like?
The figures below are made up to show how a completed row reads. They are not from a client account.
| Metric | This month | Same month last year | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enquiries from organic | 34 | 19 | Two service pages rebuilt in month two now rank for their main terms |
| Non-branded organic clicks | 2,140 | 1,020 | Longer searches reaching the guides published in March |
| Branded organic clicks | 880 | 810 | Flat, as expected. Brand demand is not what the work targets |
Read the three rows together. Enquiries rose while branded clicks stayed flat, so the growth came from people who did not already know the business, and the Why column says which pages brought them.
How do you fill it in each month?
- Write the Why column before you send it. A report you can send without writing that column is a report the sender has not read.
- Split branded and non-branded from month one, even though it makes early reports look worse.
- Use the year-on-year column as the headline for anything seasonal. With less than a year of data, say so in the Why column rather than leaving it blank.
- Delete rows that have had no action for three months. A report that grows every month becomes a document nobody reads, and the rows that matter get lost among the ones that do not.
Photo: RDNE Stock project on Pexels.
Where does this template earn its keep?
- Reporting to a client or a board in a way that survives the obvious follow-up question.
- Judging a report you are receiving: check how far down the page enquiries appear, and whether branded is separated at all.
- Keeping your own record so that a change of agency does not lose the history.
If the report shows a fall you cannot explain, work through what to check when organic traffic drops. If you suspect something on the site is broken, the SEO audit checklist is the place to start.
The bottom line
A report is for decisions, so it should open with the number the business pays for, separate the demand you earned from the demand you already had, and compare like with like. If a row never changes what anyone does, take it out.
Questions people ask about this
Why separate branded and non-branded?
Because people searching for you by name already know you, so counting those clicks as SEO growth credits the work with something it did not do. Google’s own framing is that non-branded queries show how new users find your content. On some accounts the split removes much of the curve, which is uncomfortable and correct.
Where does the enquiry number come from?
From your analytics key events, or from your CRM, and it is only trustworthy if those events fire on submitted enquiries rather than page views. If you are unsure, that is the first thing to check, before you report anything at all.
Is monthly the right cadence?
For reporting, yes. For decisions, no: search moves too slowly for a monthly number to justify a change of direction. The report is a record, and the decisions should be made on the quarter.
What if I have less than a year of data?
Leave the year-on-year column empty and say so in the Why column, rather than comparing against a made-up baseline. Use the previous quarter as a rough comparison until twelve months exist, and treat every month-on-month move with caution if your business is seasonal. The first honest year-on-year report is the one that finally shows whether the work is compounding, so protect the record until you get there.
How do I tell branded from non-branded clicks?
If your Search Console property has the branded queries filter, use it: Google classifies queries automatically, including misspellings and products unique to your site. If it does not, filter queries by your company name and common misspellings and count those clicks as branded. Everything else is non-branded. Write the filter down and use the same one every month, because changing it later makes the history unreadable. The split does not need to be perfect, only consistent.
Should I include rankings in the report?
Only as a supporting line, never as the headline. Rankings vary by location and device, and they do not pay anyone. If a page moves from position twelve to position four and enquiries do not change, the Why column should say that. Keep a small set of terms you have decided matter, and drop the rest. A rank chart for two hundred keywords is a screen saver, not a report.
What goes in the Action column when nothing needs doing?
Write that nothing needs doing and why, for example a seasonal dip you expected, and note the month. The rule in the file is that three months with no action makes the row a candidate for removal, so recording the empty months is how you apply that rule. An action column that is always full is as suspicious as one that is always empty.
How do I report a month where enquiries fell?
Lead with it, do not bury it. Say what fell, by how much against the same month last year, and the most likely reason in the Why column. Then state what changes next month as a result. A client can forgive a bad month explained plainly. A report that opens with rising impressions during a month when enquiries fell is the report that ends the relationship.
Can I use this template for paid search too?
Not as it stands, because the rows are built around organic behaviour and the branded split does a different job in a paid account. The structure transfers well, though. Enquiries first, cost per enquiry second, then the Why and Action columns. If you run both channels, keep them on separate sheets and put a single blended cost per enquiry at the top of a cover page.
How is qualified rate measured in practice?
Agree in writing what counts as qualified before the month starts. It is usually a real enquiry from someone you could serve, in an area you cover, for a job you do. Then have the sales side mark each organic enquiry as qualified or not in the CRM. Divide the qualified count by the total. If nobody is marking enquiries, the rate cannot be reported, and the sheet should say so.
What if my agency will not report this way?
Ask them to add the enquiry row and the branded split to their existing report, which takes very little effort if they have the data. Reluctance is information. If they cannot get the enquiry number, the tracking is probably not set up to count enquiries, and that is the first problem to fix. You can also keep this sheet yourself from Search Console and analytics, and compare the two.
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