How to Tell Whether Your SEO Is Working
Rankings reports can look great while the phone stays quiet. Here are the numbers that actually show whether SEO is paying off — and where to find them for free.
If you pay someone for SEO, you’ve probably received a report full of green arrows: rankings up, “visibility” up, a long list of keywords. And yet business feels about the same. That gap is common, and it usually means the report is measuring activity instead of results.
Here’s how to check for yourself — using free tools you already have access to — whether search is bringing you customers.
Are more of the right people finding you through search, and are more of them contacting you or buying? Rankings and traffic are only useful if they lead there.
First, know what “working” should look like
SEO is slow. Changes to a site often take weeks to be noticed and months to show their full effect, especially for a newer site. A reasonable expectation is steady improvement over three to six months, not a jump next week.
It also helps to separate two kinds of search traffic:
- Branded searches — people searching your business name. These grow when your reputation and other marketing grow. They aren’t really an SEO win.
- Non-branded searches — people searching for what you do (“kitchen remodel,” “brand photographer”). This is new business you didn’t already have, and it’s where SEO earns its money.
If a report lumps those together, ask for them separately.
Check 1: Google Search Console — are you being seen?
Search Console is Google’s own report on how your site performs in search. It’s free, and you can set it up yourself in a few minutes by verifying your domain. Open the Performance report and look at four numbers:
| Metric | What it means | What you want to see |
|---|---|---|
| Impressions | How often your site appeared in search results | Rising over months — you’re showing up for more searches |
| Clicks | How often someone clicked through to your site | Rising along with impressions |
| CTR (click-through rate) | Clicks divided by impressions | Stable or improving; a drop on key pages may mean weak titles or descriptions |
| Average position | Your typical rank in results | Useful per query, misleading as a site-wide average |
The most useful habit: set the date range to compare the last three months with the same three months a year earlier. That removes seasonal swings. Then click the Queries tab and filter out searches containing your business name. What’s left is your non-branded search performance — the real measure of SEO.
Also check the Pages tab. Are your money pages — the ones for your main services — gaining clicks? Traffic to a three-year-old blog post about something unrelated doesn’t pay the bills.
Check 2: Google Analytics 4 — are visitors doing anything?
Search Console tells you who arrived. Analytics tells you what they did next. In GA4, go to Reports → Acquisition → Traffic acquisition and look at the row for Organic Search.
Visits alone aren’t enough. What you’re after is key events from organic search — form submissions, calls, bookings, purchases. If GA4 doesn’t show any key events, it isn’t set up to measure results yet. That’s the first thing to fix, because without it nobody can tell you whether SEO is working, including the person you’re paying.
Worth tracking as key events for most small businesses:
- Contact or quote form submitted
- Phone number tapped on mobile
- Email address clicked
- Booking or purchase completed
Check 3: Your business — are new customers mentioning search?
Not everything shows up in analytics. Someone may find you on Google, then call from their desk phone a day later. So ask. A simple “How did you hear about us?” on your form or at the first call fills in the gaps.
Then compare: over the same months that Search Console shows more non-branded clicks, did you get more inquiries from people who found you on Google? If both are moving up, SEO is working. If clicks are rising and inquiries aren’t, the problem may be the website itself — the pages are attracting visitors but not convincing them.
If you’re a local business: check your Google Business Profile
For many local businesses, the map listing brings in more calls than the website. Your Google Business Profile has its own performance view showing searches, calls, direction requests and website clicks from the listing. Look at the trend over several months, and keep the listing complete: correct hours, real photos, services listed, and replies to reviews.
Red flags in an SEO report
Be cautious if the reporting you receive:
- Shows only rankings, with no clicks, traffic or leads.
- Tracks a long list of keywords that no real customer would type.
- Mixes branded and non-branded traffic, so growth in your reputation looks like SEO progress.
- Counts “backlinks built” as a result in itself, without asking where they came from.
- Never mentions Search Console or GA4 — or you don’t have access to your own accounts.
That last point matters most. Your Search Console property, your GA4 property and your Google Business Profile should be owned by your business account, with any agency added as a user. If you ever part ways, the data stays with you.
A 15-minute monthly routine
- Search Console → Performance. Compare the last three months with the same period last year. Filter out your business name. Note clicks and impressions.
- Search Console → Pages. Check that your main service pages are gaining.
- Search Console → Indexing. Glance for new errors on important pages.
- GA4 → Traffic acquisition. Note organic sessions and key events.
- Your own records. Count new inquiries that mention Google or search.
Write the five numbers in a simple spreadsheet each month. After a quarter you’ll know, without anyone’s spin, whether search is getting better at bringing you business.
If you want help setting up Search Console, GA4 key events or a simple monthly report, get in touch.
Frank DavisBuilds websites, runs marketing, and shoots photo and video for small businesses. Ask a question.