What a weekly report for a local client should contain
The test of a report is simple: after thirty seconds, does the owner know what you did this week and whether things got better? Lead with the work, follow with the results, and end with one thing that needs the owner.
- Posts: what went live on the Google profile this week, with a preview
- Reviews: new reviews, the rating, and the replies posted
- Rankings: how much of the service area the business covers in the top three on the map, compared with last week
- Pages: articles or service pages published on the website, with links
- Website: visits and where they came from, from privacy-friendly statistics
- Listings: directories where the name, address or phone number still differ
- One action for the owner, such as new photos or asking more customers for reviews
A sample weekly report
Here is what one week can look like for a plumber, written the way the owner reads it. The business, names and numbers are made up for this example.
The format stays the same every week: what was done, what changed, and one thing for the owner. Nothing in it needs a login, a chart legend or an explanation of what an impression is.
- This week we posted “Water heater replacement in Westside” on your Google profile, with a photo from Tuesday’s job
- You got 3 new Google reviews (all 5 stars); we replied to each one within a day
- On the map you are now in the top three at 22 of 49 measured points for “emergency plumber”, 4 more than last week
- We published a new page: “Drain cleaning in Northgate”
- 312 people visited your website, most of them from Google
- One listing still shows your old phone number; the fix is in your dashboard
- This week: please upload three new photos of recent jobs
A report from the work vs. a dashboard from integrations
Most white label reporting tools are dashboards: you connect Google Analytics, Search Console, ad accounts and social profiles, and the tool turns the data into charts with your logo. That is the right shape for agencies that run campaigns across many channels and need one view of all of them.
A local SEO retainer is different. The value is in the weekly work: the post that went live, the review that got a reply, the page that was published, the cells on the map that turned green. A report generated from that work can say what happened in plain sentences, because the software that did the work knows what it did.
In Synfinic the weekly report is built from the work itself. A section only appears when there is a measurement behind it: if the map grid has not finished this week, the report says nothing about rankings instead of showing a zero. The local section ends with exactly one suggested action, chosen in a fixed order, so the owner is never handed a list of ten things to do.
In Synfinic the weekly report is built from the work itself.
How reporting keeps clients
Local clients rarely cancel because results are bad in one month. They cancel because they cannot see what they are paying for. A report every week, in the same format, answers that question before it is asked.
Weekly also beats monthly for a practical reason: a short report each week is read, a long report once a month is skimmed. When rankings dip, as they do, the owner has already seen several weeks of work and is more likely to give the process time.
- Send it on the same day every week, so it becomes a habit
- Use the owner’s words: calls, bookings, reviews, not impressions and sessions
- Show change against last week, not only absolute numbers
- Never fill gaps with made-up numbers; say what was not measured
Pricing reporting into the retainer
Reporting is rarely sold on its own to local businesses. It is part of what makes a retainer feel worth it, so most agencies include it in every plan rather than charging for it separately.
In Synfinic the weekly report is included for every client location: $97 a month for the membership plus $42 per location on Core, with Google profile posts, review requests and replies, map heatmaps and the listings check in the same fee. There is no separate charge per dashboard or per data source.
There is no separate charge per dashboard or per data source.
White label, honestly
White label reporting means the report comes from your agency: your logo, your colors and your sender address, with no trace of the software. In Synfinic, the client account that holds the report shows your logo, colors and name, under your own domain, and a monthly branded PDF goes out on a fixed day from your own mailbox.
If your clients expect a branded dashboard with data from many ad and social channels today, a dashboard tool with live white label, such as those in the table below, fits better right now. If you want a report that writes itself from the weekly local SEO work, that is what Synfinic is built for.
If you want a report that writes itself from the weekly local SEO work, that is what Synfinic is built for.In SynfinicWhite label and client accountsYour logo on every client account, all clients in one login.See how it works →