What's the most important number in an SEO report?

Calls and form leads from your website. Clicks from Google and what people searched come next. Most other numbers only matter if they lead to those.

Is a low "site score" bad?

Not by itself. Site scores come from third-party tools, not Google. Look at the specific fixes behind the score and ask which ones affect customers.

Should I give an SEO company access to my Google accounts?

For an audit, Google says to give read-only access to Search Console. You should own your Google accounts and add others as users, so you can remove them later.

Can anyone promise I'll rank #1 on Google?

No. Google says no one can promise a #1 ranking.

Do I need an SEO company at all?

Google says that if you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself. If you don't have the time, hire someone who explains what they do in plain words and shows you calls and leads, not just scores.

How to read an SEO report (without learning SEO)

Short answer: Most SEO reports are long, but only a few numbers tie to your business: calls, form leads, and searches for the services you sell in the towns you serve. Rankings for words nobody searches, "site scores" from a tool and raw backlink counts matter a lot less. A good report tells you in plain words what changed, why, and what's next. If yours doesn't, ask.

The numbers that matter

1Calls and form leads from the website. That's the point of the site. If your report doesn't show them, ask why. Good tracking is usually set up once, then counted the same way every month.
2Clicks from Google search (from Search Console). Search Console is Google's own tool, and it doesn't cost anything. It shows how many people clicked to your site from Google and what they searched. Since the number comes from Google, it's the one to trust here.
3What people searched before they clicked. Look for your services and your towns. "Water heater repair Stafford" is worth more than a phrase nobody near you types.
4Your Google Business Profile actions. Calls, direction requests and website clicks from your profile. For a local business, this is often where customers find you first.
5Pages that bring leads. Which pages people land on before they call or fill in a form. Protect those pages in any redesign.

The numbers that matter less

A "site score" or "health score" out of 100. These come from third-party tools, not Google. Google says it "doesn't evaluate or endorse third-party SEO tools, and these tools don't have access to Google's internal ranking data." (Google Search Central) A score can point to real fixes, but Google doesn't use the number itself.
Rankings for long keyword lists. Ranking for a phrase nobody searches doesn't bring calls. Ask which keywords bring actual clicks.
Backlink counts. A pile of links from unrelated or low-quality sites isn't a win. Google says to "avoid SEOs that talk about link popularity schemes." (Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO?)
Impressions on their own. Showing up in results is a start. Clicks and calls are what pay.
Traffic from everywhere. Visitors from other countries rarely call a local plumber. Look at where visitors are, not just how many.

Common report terms in plain words

Impressions: how often your site showed up in Google results.
Clicks: how often someone clicked through to your site.
CTR (click-through rate): clicks divided by impressions.
Average position: roughly where you showed up, averaged across searches. It moves around a lot, and it isn't a fixed "rank."
Indexed pages: pages Google has stored and can show. Old or placeholder pages in this list should be cleaned up.
Crawl errors / 404s: pages Google tried to reach that are broken or missing.
Core Web Vitals: Google's measures of loading time and how steady your pages feel on a real phone.
Backlinks: other sites linking to yours.
Schema: labels in your page code that tell search engines your business name, hours and services.

Red flags, from Google's own advice

Google publishes advice for business owners hiring an SEO (Do you need an SEO?). A few lines worth knowing:

Ranking promises. Google says no one can promise a #1 ranking on Google.
Audits that ask for full control. For an audit, Google says to "only grant read access to Search Console (at this stage, don't grant them write access)."
Scary audits with no plan. Google says an audit "should be about giving you realistic estimates of improvement, and an estimate of the work involved." A long list of "errors" with no priorities isn't that.
Cold emails about your rankings. Google says to "be wary of SEO firms and web consultants or agencies that email you out of the blue."
"Buy ads to rank higher." Google says advertising with Google "won't have any effect on your site's presence in our search results."
Secrecy. If they won't explain what they changed on your site, or why, keep asking until they do.

Questions to send whoever does your SEO

1How many calls and form leads did the website bring in last month, and how do you count them?
2Which searches brought clicks, and are they for services and towns we actually serve?
3What did you change on the site this month, and why?
4Do I own the Google accounts (Search Console, Analytics, Business Profile), or do you? (You should. Here's why owning it matters.)
5Does your advice follow Google's official guidance, including anything you tell me about AI search?

Can you do it yourself?

Google says that "if you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself." It's true. For most owners the hard part isn't the work. It's the time and the jargon. If you'd rather not learn it, that's what we're here for.

How Juhmp handles it

We build and run your site. On Care and Grow, we check it every month for broken links, speed, your sitemap and more. We explain things in plain words. We won't promise rankings, or that AI tools will name you, because no one honestly can. See how we handle AI search.

Get my free site review

One page, by email, about your site only. One per website.

The top 5 things we'd change
Whether Google tracking is set up
How your contact forms are set up

Nothing on your site changes.

Website redirects when you switch Schema for local businesses

FAQ

What's the most important number in an SEO report?: Calls and form leads from your website. Clicks from Google and what people searched come next. Most other numbers only matter if they lead to those.
Is a low "site score" bad?: Not by itself. Site scores come from third-party tools, not Google. Look at the specific fixes behind the score and ask which ones affect customers.
Should I give an SEO company access to my Google accounts?: For an audit, Google says to give read-only access to Search Console. You should own your Google accounts and add others as users, so you can remove them later.
Can anyone promise I'll rank #1 on Google?: No. Google says no one can promise a #1 ranking.
Do I need an SEO company at all?: Google says that if you run a small local business, you can probably do much of the work yourself. If you don't have the time, hire someone who explains what they do in plain words and shows you calls and leads, not just scores.