Free SEO Report Template (Excel + Google Sheets)
Download our free SEO report template for Excel and Google Sheets. Covers 8 essential sections: executive summary, organic traffic, keyword rankings, technical health, backlinks, content performance, action items, and next month's plan.
A professional SEO report needs 8 sections: executive summary, organic traffic, keyword rankings, technical health, backlinks, content performance, action items, and next month's plan. Download our free template for Excel and Google Sheets — pre-built with 50+ metrics, month-over-month tracking, and prioritized action items. Or skip manual reporting entirely: CrawlRaven generates branded audit reports with 200+ checks in 60 seconds.
Tired of building SEO reports from scratch every month? This free template covers all 8 sections you need — or skip the manual work entirely. CrawlRaven generates branded audit reports with 200+ checks in 60 seconds. Try CrawlRaven free for 14 days →
Key takeaways
- 8 sections every SEO report needs: executive summary, organic traffic, keyword rankings, technical health, backlinks, content performance, action items, next month's plan
- 50+ pre-built metrics with month-over-month tracking and conditional status indicators
- Free download available in both Excel (.xlsx) and Google Sheets format
- Track what matters: organic sessions, conversion rate, keywords in top 10, Core Web Vitals, referring domains
- Or skip manual reporting entirely — CrawlRaven generates branded audit reports in 60 seconds
Download the Free SEO Report Template
Pre-built with 50+ metrics across 8 sections. Works in Excel and Google Sheets.
Why SEO reports matter — and why most are terrible
An SEO report isn't just a status update. It's the primary way you prove ROI to clients, stakeholders, or your own leadership team. Yet most SEO reports fail because they dump raw data without context, skip actionable recommendations, or take hours to build manually each month.
The difference between a report that gets ignored and one that drives decisions comes down to structure. A good SEO report answers three questions: What happened? (metrics), Why did it happen? (analysis), and What should we do next? (action items).
Our template is built around these three questions. Every section maps to a specific decision the reader needs to make. No vanity metrics, no filler — just the data that moves the needle.
Anatomy of a Perfect SEO Report
8 sections every monthly SEO report needs
Template Preview — Sample Data
Sample data shown above — download the template to use with your own metrics
What to include in an SEO report: the 8 essential sections
Whether you're reporting to a client, your CMO, or your own team, these are the sections that belong in every monthly SEO report. Our free template includes all eight, pre-formatted with the right metrics and comparison fields.
1. Executive summary
The executive summary is the only section many stakeholders will read. It needs to stand alone. Include your 10 key performance indicators (organic sessions, conversions, revenue, keyword positions, domain authority) with month-over-month comparisons and status against targets.
Our template includes a structured KPI table with columns for this month, last month, change, change %, target, and status. Below the table, add 2–3 sentences summarizing the month's highlights and concerns. This is where you translate numbers into business impact.
2. Organic traffic breakdown
Break down traffic by source (organic, direct, referral, social, email) to show where SEO fits in the broader picture. Then drill into the top landing pages by organic traffic — these are the pages actually driving business results.
For each landing page, track sessions, conversions, conversion rate, and average position. This reveals which content is performing and which pages need attention. A page with high traffic but low conversions might need CTA optimization; a page with strong conversions but low traffic needs more link building.
3. Keyword rankings
Track your 10–25 most important target keywords with current position, previous position, change, search volume, and target page. Don't just list keywords — group them by intent (informational, commercial, transactional) so stakeholders understand the funnel impact.
The template also includes a ranking distribution table showing how many keywords sit in each position range (1, 2–3, 4–10, 11–20, 21–50, 51–100, not ranking). This gives a birds-eye view of your overall search visibility trajectory that individual keyword changes can't capture.
4. Technical SEO health
Technical issues silently kill rankings. This section tracks 15 critical technical metrics: crawl errors, orphan pages, duplicate titles, broken links, redirect chains, mixed content, missing alt text, and sitemap errors. Each metric includes current value, previous value, status, priority, fix deadline, and owner.
The template includes a dedicated Core Web Vitals sub-section tracking LCP, INP, and CLS against Google's 2026 thresholds (LCP ≤ 2.0s, INP ≤ 150ms, CLS ≤ 0.1). Since Google's March 2026 core update shifted to site-wide CWV aggregation, a few slow pages can now drag down your entire domain.
Pro tip: tools like Screaming Frog give you the raw data, but you still have to decide what to fix first. CrawlRaven runs 200+ technical checks and prioritizes issues by estimated ranking impact — so your report's action items are already ranked by urgency.
5. Backlink profile
Track total backlinks, referring domains, new/lost domains, domain rating, and the dofollow/nofollow split. Month-over-month trends matter more than absolute numbers here — a steady gain in referring domains signals healthy link building; sudden losses may indicate content removal or disavow issues.
The template includes tables for new backlinks acquired and lost backlinks with source URL, target page, DA/DR, link type, and anchor text. This makes it easy to spot which content earns links naturally and which outreach efforts are working.
6. Content performance
Three sub-tables cover the full content lifecycle: content published this month (with target keyword and early ranking data), top performing content (all-time organic sessions and conversions), and a content decay alert (pages that have lost significant traffic compared to 3 months ago).
The content decay alert is the most underused section in SEO reporting. Refreshing decaying content is often 3–5x faster than creating new content and can recover rankings within weeks. Our template flags any page with a traffic decline so you catch decay before it compounds.
7. Action items and recommendations
This is the section that separates good SEO reports from great ones. Every finding from the report should translate into a prioritized action item with category, expected impact, owner, deadline, and status.
Use the P0–P3 priority framework in our template:
- P0 — Critical: issues actively hurting rankings (broken pages, CWV failures, indexation problems)
- P1 — High: high-impact improvements (content refresh, link building targets)
- P2 — Medium: moderate improvements (schema markup, internal linking optimization)
- P3 — Low: nice-to-haves (minor content updates, image optimization)
8. Next month's plan
Close every report with a forward-looking plan. List 3–5 focus areas with planned activities, KPI targets, and owners. This creates accountability and gives stakeholders a preview of what's coming — so they're not surprised when the next report arrives.
Template walkthrough: how to use it
Our SEO report template is available in two formats: Excel (.xlsx) for offline use and Google Sheets for team collaboration. Both are identical in structure and fully formatted with CrawlRaven brand colors, conditional formatting, and pre-built formulas.
Getting started
- Download or copy: grab the Excel file or make a copy of the Google Sheet
- Fill in report details: client name, website URL, report period, and your name
- Pull data from your tools: Google Analytics 4, Search Console, your rank tracker, and your backlink tool
- Update each section: fill in this month's numbers — last month's numbers should already be there from the previous report
- Add analysis: write the executive summary and populate action items based on what you see in the data
- Share: export as PDF for clients, or share the live sheet for internal teams
What each tab covers
The template has 7 tabs organized by section:
| Tab | Sections Covered | # Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Executive Summary | KPI dashboard, report details, summary notes | 10 |
| Organic Traffic | Traffic by source, top landing pages | 7 |
| Keyword Rankings | Target keywords (10 slots), ranking distribution | 7 |
| Technical SEO | 15 health metrics, Core Web Vitals | 18 |
| Backlinks | Profile overview, new/lost links | 7 |
| Content | Published this month, top performers, decay alerts | 6 |
| Action Items | Prioritized recommendations (P0–P3), next month's plan | 7 |
5 SEO reporting mistakes that lose clients
1. Leading with vanity metrics
Total impressions, total keywords tracked, or total pages indexed sound impressive but mean nothing to a business owner. Lead with metrics tied to revenue: organic conversions, organic revenue, and conversion rate. Then use traffic and rankings to explain why revenue moved up or down.
2. No month-over-month comparison
A single data point is meaningless. “You have 15,000 organic sessions” tells the client nothing. “Organic sessions grew 12% from 13,400 to 15,000, driven by a 3-position improvement on your top 5 keywords” tells a story. Every metric in our template includes a comparison column.
3. Data without recommendations
The most common failure: pages of charts and tables with zero guidance on what to do next. If your report doesn't end with a prioritized list of specific actions, it's a dashboard screenshot — not a report. Our template dedicates an entire tab to action items ranked by priority and impact.
4. Making it too long
A 30-page SEO report won't get read. The executive summary should fit on one page. Technical details go in deeper tabs for those who want them. Design for the skimmer first, the analyst second. Our 7-tab structure lets stakeholders get the full picture from Tab 1 alone.
5. Building reports manually every month
If your team spends 4–8 hours per client per month assembling SEO reports, that's billable time that could go toward actually improving rankings. Templates help, but the real solution is automation. CrawlRaven generates branded technical audit reports in 60 seconds — covering every metric in this template and more.
How CrawlRaven automates SEO reporting
This template gives you a solid foundation for manual reporting. But if you manage more than 2–3 sites, manual reporting quickly becomes unsustainable. Here's what CrawlRaven automates:
- 200+ technical checks run automatically — no manual crawl needed
- Issues prioritized by ranking impact — skip the guesswork on what to fix first
- Branded, white-label reports generated in 60 seconds — perfect for agencies
- Historical tracking — month-over-month comparisons built in
- Core Web Vitals monitoring — site-wide aggregation matching Google's 2026 methodology
The template handles the “what to report” question. CrawlRaven handles the “how to collect the data and generate the report” question. Use them together, or let CrawlRaven replace the manual process entirely.
Get the Free Template + Join the CrawlRaven Waitlist
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Who this template is for
| Role | How to Use This Template |
|---|---|
| SEO freelancers | White-label it with your branding. Send monthly PDFs. Use the action items tab as your delivery checklist. |
| Agency account managers | Standardize reporting across all clients. Train juniors on what to track. Use the executive summary for client calls. |
| In-house SEOs | Report to leadership in a format they understand. Tie SEO metrics to business KPIs. Build the case for more resources. |
| Small business owners | Track your own SEO progress without hiring an agency. Know what's working and what to ask your SEO person about. |
Sources and further reading
- Google Search Console documentation — Performance reports
- Web.dev — Core Web Vitals (2026 thresholds)
- Google March 2026 Core Update: Impact Analysis & Recovery Guide
- How to Perform a Technical SEO Audit in 2026 (Step-by-Step)
- How Much Does an SEO Audit Cost in 2026?
- 7 Best White Label SEO Audit Tools for Agencies
Frequently asked questions
What should an SEO report include?
A professional SEO report should include 8 sections: executive summary with KPIs, organic traffic breakdown, keyword rankings with position tracking, technical SEO health metrics (including Core Web Vitals), backlink profile analysis, content performance, prioritized action items, and next month's plan. Our free template covers all 8 sections with 50+ pre-built metrics.
How often should I send SEO reports?
Monthly is the standard cadence for SEO reports. Weekly reports create noise — most SEO metrics don't change meaningfully week-to-week. Quarterly reports are too infrequent to catch issues early. Send monthly reports with a consistent structure so stakeholders can compare periods easily. For time-sensitive situations (algorithm updates, site migrations), supplement with ad-hoc updates.
What is the best format for an SEO report?
Google Sheets works best for internal teams who need live, collaborative access. Excel works for offline use and clients who prefer attachments. PDF is best for final client deliverables — it preserves formatting and prevents accidental edits. Our template works in both Excel and Google Sheets, and can be exported to PDF from either.
How do I explain SEO results to non-technical stakeholders?
Focus on three things: revenue impact (organic conversions and revenue), visibility (keywords in top 10), and next steps (what you're doing about it). Use the executive summary section of your report to translate technical metrics into business language. Instead of 'LCP improved from 3.2s to 1.8s', say 'Page speed now meets Google's standards, which directly supports ranking stability.'
What SEO metrics should I track monthly?
The 10 most important monthly metrics: organic sessions, organic conversions, conversion rate, organic revenue, total tracked keywords, keywords in top 3, keywords in top 10, average position, domain authority/rating, and referring domains. Our template tracks all 10 with month-over-month comparisons, targets, and status indicators.
How long should an SEO report take to create?
With a good template, a monthly SEO report should take 1–2 hours per client. Most time goes into data collection (pulling from GA4, Search Console, rank trackers, backlink tools) and writing the executive summary. Automated tools like CrawlRaven reduce this to under 10 minutes by generating branded technical audit reports with 200+ checks automatically.
Is there a free SEO report template?
Yes. CrawlRaven offers a free SEO report template available for both Excel (.xlsx) and Google Sheets. It includes 7 tabs covering all 8 essential sections, 50+ pre-built metrics with month-over-month tracking, a Core Web Vitals section, and a prioritized action items framework. No email gate — download it directly.
What tools do I need to fill in an SEO report?
At minimum: Google Analytics 4 (traffic data), Google Search Console (keyword rankings, impressions), and a backlink tool (Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush). For technical SEO health, use a crawler like CrawlRaven (200+ automated checks), Screaming Frog, or Sitebulb. A rank tracker is optional if you use Search Console for position data.
15+ years of growing SaaS websites through SEO | Author, 200-Point Audit Checklist
Aditi has spent 15+ years helping SaaS companies scale organic traffic through technical SEO and content strategy. She is the author of the CrawlRaven 200-Point Audit checklist used by agencies and in-house teams to systematically improve search performance.