The essentials
- Three levels: the board page (5 to 8 result metrics with targets), the channel pages (10 to 15 optimisation metrics each), the measurement page (data reliability).
- By channel: SEO and GEO (non-brand traffic, positions, citations, leads), SEA (cost per result, impression share, brand share), social (reach, engagement, traffic, leads), email (deliverability, clicks, conversions), website (conversion, speed).
- Pace: weekly for advertising, monthly for the rest, quarterly for SEO, GEO and the budget.
- Structure: each metric with its target, its gap, its 12-month trend and a comment that leads to an action.
SEO, SEA, social media, email, analytics: every channel produces dozens of metrics, and a report that includes them all serves no one. A good report answers three questions in order: is marketing producing the expected results, which channel contributes and at what cost, where should you act. This article gives the list of metrics to ask for by level and by channel, the structure and the pace. The underlying metrics are detailed in digital marketing KPIs ; the contractual requirements towards an agency in which reports to require from your agency.
Level 1: the board page
| Metric | Why | Display |
|---|---|---|
| Qualified leads or sales | The result | Value, target, gap, 12-month curve |
| Revenue or pipeline attributed to marketing | The contribution to the business | Value, target, share by channel |
| Cost per lead or per sale, all costs included | Efficiency | Value, maximum threshold, trend |
| Share of each channel in the results | Dependence and balance | Stacked bars by month |
| Website conversion rate | The quality of the site and of the traffic | Value, target, by device |
| Qualified non-brand traffic | New business won | 12-month curve |
| Marketing ROI over the quarter | The budget decision | Value and trend |
Seven metrics at most, each with a target, a gap and a two-line comment. The board page reads in five minutes; the construction rules are in creating a clear dashboard for a leadership team.
Level 2: the channel pages
SEO and GEO
- Non-brand organic sessions, by page group; organic leads and sales.
- Impressions, clicks and average position (Search Console) on commercial queries; number of keywords in the top 3 and top 10.
- Citations and traffic from AI assistants (ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI overviews); see GEO KPIs.
- Pages published or updated, pages falling, technical errors, speed (Core Web Vitals).
SEA (Google Ads, Shopping)
- Spend, conversions and cost per conversion from a neutral source, by campaign; net ROAS for e-commerce.
- Impression share, share lost to budget and to rank; brand share in the results.
- CTR, CPC, quality score; excluded search terms; tests under way. The detail is in the Google Ads KPIs.
Organic and paid social media
- Reach and engagement rate by platform and by format; followers as a trend only.
- Traffic and conversions from social media (UTM); inbound leads by message.
- Advertising: cost per result on the click, frequency, share of new customers, winning creatives; see the SMO KPIs and the SMA KPIs.
Email and CRM
- Active base, deliverability rate, click-through rate (more reliable than opens since the mail providers’ protections), unsubscribes.
- Conversions and revenue by campaign and by automated sequence.
Site and conversion
- Conversion rate by source, device and landing page; funnel steps.
- Speed, errors, accessibility; A/B tests under way and results. The useful GA4 metrics are in GA4 KPIs.
Level 3: the measurement page
Often missing, it stops you reading false numbers: volume of key events per day, share of consented traffic, abnormal share of “unattributed” or “direct” traffic, gap between the conversions of the platforms and those of GA4 or the CRM, latest tag changes. An anomaly on this page invalidates the others and goes in the first line of the comment.
The pace by metric
| Pace | Metrics | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | Advertising spend and cost per result, measurement anomalies, leads | An alert or a dashboard, not a report |
| Monthly | Board page, channel pages, actions of the month | A 2 to 4 page report and a 30-minute meeting |
| Quarterly | SEO, GEO, organic social, ROI, budget, recommendations | Review and reallocation |
| Annual | Trends, full cost by channel, lasting value | Basis for the following year’s plan |
Page template for a metric
- The number: the month’s value, the target, the gap in percentage, the change against last year.
- The trend: a 12-month curve with the target and the events annotated.
- The detail: the breakdown by channel, campaign or segment, sorted.
- The comment: two to four lines: the cause of the gap, the action proposed, the owner, the check date.
A report that follows this template for seven board metrics and ten per channel fits in a few pages, reads in ten minutes and produces decisions. What it does not contain: the raw screenshots of the platforms, the metrics without a target, the followers and impressions at the top of the page, the average positions without the associated traffic.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's overview brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
Which metrics should you put in a digital marketing report?
Seven result metrics for the board (leads or sales, attributed revenue, cost per result, channel share, conversion rate, non-brand traffic, ROI), ten to fifteen optimisation metrics per channel (SEO and GEO, SEA, social, email, website), and a page on the reliability of the measurement.
How often should the report be produced?
Weekly by alert for advertising and anomalies, monthly for the full report read in a 30-minute meeting, quarterly for SEO, GEO, ROI and budget decisions, annually for trends and the following plan.
Should you include followers and impressions?
On the channel page, as a trend, never on the board page. They are activity metrics that are useful for optimising social media and advertising, but they measure neither the leads, nor the sales, nor the cost per result, which are the only numbers a leadership team decides on.
How should a metric be presented in a report?
With the month’s number, its target and the gap, the change against last year, an annotated 12-month curve, the breakdown by channel or segment, and a two to four line comment that gives the cause and the action proposed with an owner and a date.
What is the measurement page of a report?
The page that checks the numbers are reliable: volume of key events, share of consented traffic, unattributed traffic, gap between the conversions of the platforms and those of GA4 or the CRM, tag changes. An anomaly on this page invalidates the rest of the report and is dealt with first.