The short answer
A useful local SEO report starts with what customers did: calls, direction requests, website visits and form fills from your Google Business Profile and site, compared with last month and last year. Then reviews gained and your rating. Rankings belong near the end. If a report is mostly keyword positions, ask for the actions behind them.
Impressions go up and down with the season. A ranking report checked from one spot in town misses how Maps changes block by block. And "visibility" percentages from tools are each tool's own formula. None of these are useless, but none of them paid anyone.
Monthly is enough for most small businesses. Compare each month with the same month last year so a slow January doesn't look like a problem.
Search your business while signed in and choose Performance.
Yes, and you should be able to see the same numbers in your own accounts.
Check your hours, phone number and recent reviews on the profile first.
To choose an SEO company, ask what they'll do each month, what they'll report, who owns the website and listings if you leave, and how they'll measure calls and leads rather than rankings alone.
2 min readThe local SEO tools most small businesses need are free: Google Business Profile, Google Search Console, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect and PageSpeed Insights.
2 min readThis local SEO checklist runs in order of impact.
2 min readBook a time with Lehvel and we’ll go through what your business actually needs.