The essentials
- The rule: judge on data you control (Search Console, GA4), not only on the agency's report.
- The metrics that pay: non-brand organic traffic, organic conversions, attributed revenue. Rankings are an intermediate metric.
- The timescale: at 3 months you judge the work (audit, fixes, content), at 6 months the trend, at 12 months the result, at a comparable time of year.
- Warning sign: a report showing only rankings or volumes of actions, with no connection to traffic and enquiries.
An SEO contract is judged on results, but which ones? Many agency reports line up rankings and volumes of pages produced, without the owner knowing whether the investment pays. This article gives the eight metrics that count, where to read them yourself, and the realistic calendar for deciding to continue, adjust or stop. It complements choosing your SEO supplier.
The eight metrics
| # | Metric | Source | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Non-brand organic clicks | Search Console, with a filter excluding your name | The visibility gained on searches you didn't own |
| 2 | Impressions and average position on the target queries | Search Console, an agreed list of 20 to 50 queries | Progress on what the agency is supposed to be working on |
| 3 | Organic sessions and entry pages | GA4, the Organic Search channel | Which pages bring the traffic, and which are improving |
| 4 | Organic conversions | GA4, key events filtered on Organic Search | Forms, calls and purchases coming from SEO |
| 5 | Revenue or attributed value | GA4 e-commerce, or a value per conversion | The return on investment |
| 6 | Indexed pages and technical errors | Search Console, the Pages and Core Web Vitals reports | The site's health after the fixes |
| 7 | Referring domains gained | Search Console (Links) or a backlink tool | The effect of the link building |
| 8 | Actions delivered vs the plan | The agency's report, compared with the initial action plan | The work actually done |
Metrics 1 to 5 are about results; 6 to 8 about the work. A report showing only some of them is incomplete. The detail of the Search Console reports is in the Search Console Performance report, and that of the SEO metrics in the KPIs.
Checking the sources yourself
- Search Console: you must be the owner, with the agency holding delegated access. The "queries not containing [your brand]" filter isolates the traffic gained through SEO.
- GA4: the conversions must be defined (key events) and documented before the contract starts, otherwise comparison is impossible; see turning on conversion tracking in GA4.
- A dashboard: a dashboard bringing together Search Console, GA4 and the rankings, updated automatically, saves depending on the agency's monthly report and lets you check its figures.
Comparing correctly
Three precautions make the comparison honest. First, compare with the same period the previous year (seasonality), not with the previous month. Then, isolate what isn't down to SEO: a TV campaign, a press article, a downturn in the sector. Finally, don't judge on a single query: Google fluctuates, and one query can drop three places while fifty gain. The list of target queries agreed at the start, tracked by average position and impressions, is the right level.
The evaluation calendar
| Milestone | What you should see | If you don't |
|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | The audit delivered, a prioritised plan, the list of target queries, the dashboard in place | Ask for them before paying the second month |
| Month 3 | The priority technical fixes done, the first content live, clean indexing | The work isn't following: demand a schedule or leave |
| Month 6 | Impressions and rankings rising on the target queries, non-brand traffic starting to stir | Ask for a review of the strategy (queries, pages, links) |
| Month 12 | Non-brand traffic and organic conversions clearly up at a comparable time of year | Change supplier or approach |
These timescales stretch for a new site or a very competitive sector, and shorten when the site had blocking technical problems.
Reading an agency report
A good report fits in a few pages: the five result metrics with a year-on-year comparison, the target queries, the month's actions and their expected effect, next month's actions, and the blockers that depend on you. The signs of a weak report: rankings only, tool screenshots with no commentary, volumes ("8 articles, 12 links") with no connection to results, metrics that change from one month to the next. The traps of interpretation are detailed in a supplier's reporting.
When the results don't come
- Check the plan has been executed (metric 8): the technical recommendations are often still waiting with the developer.
- Check the target: queries that are too competitive or have no commercial intent will produce nothing.
- Check the measurement: broken GA4 conversions, a missing brand filter.
- Ask the agency for its diagnosis and its revised plan, in writing.
- If none of that explains the gap at 12 months, change.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's SEO keyword tracking 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
How long before you see an SEO agency's results?
The first ranking movements appear in 2 to 3 months if the site had technical brakes; the effect on non-brand traffic becomes clear between 6 and 12 months. A new site or a very competitive sector takes longer. Before 3 months, judge the work delivered, not the results.
Are rankings a good metric?
They are useful for tracking the target queries, but not sufficient alone: a position gained on a query with no traffic pays nothing, and Google personalises results. Always connect rankings to clicks (Search Console) and conversions (GA4).
How do you separate SEO traffic from brand traffic?
In Search Console, filter for queries not containing your company name or its variants. The remaining traffic is what was gained on generic searches, and therefore attributable to the SEO work. Brand traffic depends on your standing, not on the agency.
What if the agency refuses to give access to the tools?
That is a warning sign. You should own Search Console and GA4, with the agency on delegated access. For the agency's own rank tracking or backlink tools, ask for raw monthly exports. A persistent refusal justifies reconsidering the relationship.