A report on your website's positions in search results is one of the most important documents in SEO. For a business owner investing in SEO, it answers a fundamental question: are my money and time paying off? Is the website moving up in Google, standing still or slipping?
In most countries Google handles the vast majority of searches - around 90% or more in the UK, Canada and Australia. For most businesses, a rankings report is therefore a report on visibility in Google, which means the data must be measured for each target market separately - with local search settings, the right country and city, and for the phrases your customers actually type.
What an SEO rankings report is and what it should contain
An SEO rankings report is a regular summary showing which positions your website holds in Google search results for a list of target keywords.
Current positions for target keywords
For each tracked phrase, the report shows the current position in Google results for your target country. Positions 1-3 take the overwhelming majority of clicks; positions 4-10 are the first page with moderate traffic; positions 11-20 are page two, where traffic is minimal.
Industry click-through studies for Google results show:
- Position 1: roughly 25-35% of all clicks for the query
- Positions 2-3: roughly 10-18% each
- Positions 4-10: 2-7% each
- Beyond the first page: under 1%
How positions change over time
The report should show not only the current position but also the change since the previous period. Rising positions confirm that the SEO work is effective; a fall is a signal that needs investigating.
Google Search Console data
Google Search Console gives you data directly from Google:
- Impressions: how many times your website appeared in search results
- Clicks: how many times people actually clicked through to your website
- CTR (Click-Through Rate): clicks as a share of impressions
- Average position: your website's average position for each keyword
How to check your website's rankings by keyword
There are three ways to check your rankings. Google Search Console - free, the average position for each query over a chosen period, but only for queries where the website has already appeared. Rank tracking tools - SE Ranking, Semrush, Ahrefs - daily or weekly checks of a chosen list of phrases in the right country and city, with history and competitors. Manual checks - in an incognito window, but the result is distorted by location and personalisation.
For a regular report, the best combination is a list of target phrases in a rank tracker plus Search Console data on impressions and clicks.
What matters in rankings reports for international markets
Tracking by language
Many businesses serve customers who search in more than one language - English and French in Canada, English and Spanish in the US, or several languages across Europe. An effective rankings report tracks keywords in every language your customers use, so it reflects real search behaviour.
For businesses with several language versions of their website, the report should separate:
- Positions of each language version for queries in that language
- Positions of secondary language versions for their own queries (where they matter)
Where your customers are
Customers often search from different countries - the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia and beyond. The report should split data by country: traffic from each market behaves differently.
For some businesses, traffic from a particular market is a significant share and is worth analysing separately, with its own conversion metrics.
Types of phrases in the report
Branded phrases: should hold positions 1-2 without difficulty.
Commercial phrases ("SEO agency Manchester", "SEO services prices"): the phrases your business depends on.
Informational phrases: build traffic and authority.
Local phrases with city names: "SEO Leeds", "web design Toronto", "marketing agency Sydney".
Rank tracking tools
Google Search Console (free)
A free Google tool available to every website owner. It shows exact data - impressions, clicks, CTR and average position for every phrase and every page.
SE Ranking
The tool we use: rank tracking in Google by country and city, search volume and keyword difficulty, ranking history and competitor comparison.
Serpstat
A well-known SEO tool with its own Google database. It includes a rank tracking module with history and competitor comparison.
Semrush and Ahrefs
International SEO tools with rank tracking modules for Google.
How YoSiteUp reports rankings to clients
Executive summary: The month's key figures - changes in overall visibility, how many phrases are in the top 3/top 10/top 20, organic traffic from GA4.
Detailed ranking data: A full table of tracked phrases with the current position, the change and a 3-month trend.
Google Search Console analysis: Phrases with the biggest growth in impressions, pages with a low CTR.
Competitor section: Visibility compared with 3-5 key competitors.
Optimisation recommendations: Specific recommendations for pages that need attention.
Visibility in AI answers: a new line in the report
Google rankings no longer tell the whole story. An AI answer increasingly appears above the results, and you need to know whether it mentions your website. That is why our reports include a GEO section: the questions customers ask AI in your niche, which answers include your website and whom AI recommends instead. See an example on the page SEO and GEO report.
Frequently asked questions
Why do my positions differ between a manual Google search and the report? Google personalises search results based on browsing history, location and account. Rank tracking tools check results without personalisation.
How many phrases should a report track? For a small business, 50-100 phrases is a good starting point: 10-20 core commercial phrases, 20-30 informational ones and 20-50 long-tail phrases.
What do fluctuations of 1-3 positions mean? Fluctuations within ±3 positions are normal and need no immediate action. Focus on the trend over several months.
How quickly should I react to a drop in rankings? A sudden fall of 10+ positions for many phrases at once needs immediate investigation - it could be an algorithmic penalty, a technical fault or a manual action. A gradual decline over 2-3 months points to competitor activity or a content problem.
