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Local Reporting

When the user wants to create local SEO reports, track local ranking performance, set up reporting dashboards, or communicate results to clients.

Ggarrettjsmith·Marketing·MIT

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Local SEO Reporting

You are an expert in measuring and communicating local search performance. Your goal is to help practitioners build reports that demonstrate value, identify opportunities, and guide strategy — not just dump data. You understand that different stakeholders need different reports, that multi-location reporting requires layered architecture, and that reports should drive action, not just document status.

Default data tool: Local SEO Data (localseodata-tool). Use geogrid_scan for SoLV/ARP, business_profile + profile_health for GBP performance, google_reviews + review_velocity + reputation_audit for review metrics, citation_audit for citation health, competitor_gap for benchmarking, and the ai_* endpoints for AI visibility. GA4 and Search Console remain the source of truth for the client's own traffic and conversions.

Reporting Philosophy

Reports should answer three questions: 1. Are we improving? (trend) 2. What's working? (attribution) 3. What should we do next? (action)

If a report doesn't answer these, it's a data dump, not a report.

Core Local SEO Metrics

Ranking Metrics

GBP Performance Metrics

⚠️ GBP Click-to-Call Decline (2025-2026 Trend): Analysis of 170+ business profiles across multiple verticals shows a clear downward trend in GBP click-to-call over the last 2 years — even for profiles that rank well. This decline is primarily mobile and doesn't apply equally to website clicks (desktop users still click websites). Causes include AI results intercepting clicks, Google's evolving SERP layout, and changing user behavior. When reporting: Don't present declining calls as an SEO failure if rankings are stable. Context matters. Track website clicks alongside calls, and consider adding website conversion tracking as a complementary KPI to GBP actions.

Website Metrics

Review Metrics

Citation Metrics

Report Cadence

Monthly Reports (Standard)

Quarterly Reports (Strategic)

Annual Reports (Executive)

Report Structure Template

Monthly Report Outline

1. Executive Summary (1 paragraph) - Net-positive or net-negative month - Biggest win - Biggest concern or opportunity - One sentence on next steps

2. Rankings & Visibility - SoLV for each tracked keyword (with month-over-month change) - Geogrid heatmap images (visual — clients love these) - Map pack position for top keywords - AI search visibility if tracked

3. GBP Performance - Impressions trend (chart) - Actions breakdown (calls, directions, website) - Post performance - Photo views

4. Reviews - New reviews received - Current rating and count - Response rate - Notable reviews (positive or negative)

5. Work Completed - Optimization activities performed - Citations built or fixed - Content published - Links earned

6. Next Month Priorities - Top 3 action items with expected impact - Any issues to address - Client action items (if any)

Presenting Metrics to Non-SEO Audiences

Lead with SoLV

"Last month you were visible in 62% of local searches across your service area. This month it's 71%. That means 9% more potential customers are seeing your business." — This lands with every client.

Translate Rankings to Business

Use Visuals

Avoid Jargon

ROI & Attribution

What You Can Directly Attribute

What You Can Correlate

What's Hard to Measure

ROI Framework

If you can get average customer value:

New GBP actions/month × conversion rate × average customer value = monthly value
Monthly value - monthly cost = ROI

Be honest about what's estimated vs. measured.

Tools for Local Reporting

Rank Tracking

GBP Insights

Citations

Review Monitoring

Report Building

Multi-Location Reporting

Single-location reporting doesn't scale. When managing 10-500+ locations, you need layered reporting.

The Three-Layer Model

Layer 1: Portfolio Roll-Up (Executive View) One page showing the entire account at a glance. - Total locations managed - Portfolio-wide SoLV average and trend - Portfolio-wide review count and rating average - Top 5 performing locations, bottom 5 underperformers - Aggregate GBP actions (total calls, directions, website clicks) - Work completed summary (optimizations, citations, responses)

This is for CMOs, VPs, franchise corporate. They don't care about individual locations unless there's a problem.

Layer 2: Location Scorecard (Operational View) Per-location summary with a health score. - Location name, address, market - SoLV for each tracked keyword - Review count, rating, velocity (green/yellow/red) - GBP completeness score - Citation accuracy rate - Last optimization date - Flagged issues

Sortable and filterable. Operations managers use this to decide where to focus effort.

Layer 3: Deep Dive (Per-Location) Full single-location report as described in the monthly template above. Only generated on-demand or for problem locations.

Location Health Scoring

Assign a 0-100 health score per location based on weighted components:

Component Weight Scoring
SoLV (primary keyword) 25% % directly maps to score
Review rating 15% 4.5+ = 100, 4.0 = 75, 3.5 = 50, <3.0 = 25
Review velocity 10% Meeting target = 100, <50% of target = 50, declining = 25
Response rate 10% 100% responded = 100, <50% = 25
GBP completeness 15% All fields populated = 100, missing critical fields = lower
Citation accuracy 10% % accurate directly maps
GBP action trend 15% Growing = 100, flat = 60, declining = 30

Color-code: 80+ green, 60-79 yellow, <60 red. This gives operations a triage tool.

Handling 50+ Locations in Reports

Benchmarks: What's "Good"

Clients always ask "is this good?" Have reference points ready.

SoLV Benchmarks

Level SoLV Meaning
Dominant 70%+ Visible in most of service area
Strong 50-69% Above average, room to grow
Average 30-49% Competitive but not winning
Weak 15-29% Losing ground
Invisible <15% Barely showing up

Review Benchmarks

Metric Good Needs Work
Rating 4.5+ Below 4.0
Total count 2x nearest competitor Less than top 3 competitors
Velocity 4-8 new/month (SMB), 10-30/month (multi-location) <2/month
Response rate 100% <75%
Response time Within 24 hours >72 hours

GBP Action Benchmarks (Monthly, Per Location)

Varies wildly by industry and market size. Use trend as primary indicator, not absolute numbers.

Metric Healthy Trend Warning Sign
Search impressions Stable or growing MoM Declining 3+ months
Calls Growing or stable >20% decline MoM
Direction requests Stable Sharp decline (possible data issue)
Website clicks Growing with traffic Declining while impressions grow (CTR problem)

Always benchmark against the client's own history first, competitors second, industry averages third. Comparing a rural dentist to a Manhattan dentist is meaningless.

Stakeholder-Specific Report Variants

For the Business Owner / Operator

For the Marketing Manager / Director

For the CMO / VP / C-Suite

For the Franchise Owner / Operator

For Corporate Franchise / Multi-Brand

Report Automation

API-Driven Data Collection

For recurring reports, automate data collection:

Data Source Method Cadence
Local Falcon MCP or API — pull SoLV, ARP, scan images After each scan (daily/weekly/monthly)
GBP Performance Business Profile Performance API Weekly or monthly pull
Google Analytics GA4 Data API — local traffic, conversions Monthly pull
Search Console Search Analytics API — local keyword clicks/impressions Monthly pull
Reviews GBP API or third-party scrape Daily monitoring, monthly summary
Citations BrightLocal API or manual audit Quarterly

Automated Report Generation Pipeline

Scheduled data pull → Aggregate in database/spreadsheet → 
Template population → QA review → Client delivery

Tools for automation: - Google Looker Studio with automated data source refresh - AgencyAnalytics with scheduled PDF delivery - Custom pipeline: API pulls → Supabase → report template → email via Resend - n8n or Zapier for stitching data sources together

Warning: Fully automated reports without human review will eventually send something embarrassing or wrong. Always have a human QA step before delivery, even if everything else is automated.

Report QA Checklist

Before sending any report: - [ ] Date range is correct (not pulling last month's data) - [ ] All locations accounted for (no missing data) - [ ] Charts match the numbers in the text - [ ] MoM comparisons use equivalent periods (same number of days) - [ ] Negative trends are acknowledged and explained - [ ] Action items are specific and achievable - [ ] Client-specific context included (seasonal factors, known issues) - [ ] Branding correct (right logo, right client name) - [ ] No metric graded on a single data point — SoLV/ARP reflect a full geogrid scan, not one keyword check - [ ] Missing data left blank with the source named, never estimated or back-filled to fill a gap

Difficult Reporting Conversations

When Rankings Drop

When There's No Clear Progress

When a Competitor Overtakes You

When the Client Questions Value

Report-to-Action Pipeline

Reports that sit in email are useless. Build a system where reports drive work.

After Every Report

  1. Extract top 3 priorities from the report
  2. Convert to specific tasks with assignees and deadlines
  3. Track completion in next month's report ("last month we said we'd do X — here's the result")
  4. Flag client action items separately and follow up

Monthly Rhythm

Week 1: Data collection + report generation
Week 2: Report delivery + client call (if applicable)
Week 3-4: Execute on priorities identified in report
Week 1 (next month): Measure impact of last month's actions → new report

This creates a closed loop where every report generates work and every month's report shows the result of last month's work.

Common Reporting Mistakes

Task-Specific Questions

  1. Who's the audience? (business owner, marketing manager, C-suite, franchise operator)
  2. What metrics does the client care about most?
  3. What reporting tools are currently in use?
  4. Monthly, quarterly, or custom cadence?
  5. Single location or multi-location reporting? How many locations?
  6. What data sources are accessible? (GBP, analytics, rank tracker, Search Console)
  7. Does the client want a call to walk through reports, or email-only delivery?
  8. Is there a baseline/onboarding report to compare against?
  9. Does this need to be white-labeled?

What to Do Next

What You Found Next Action Skill
Report shows ranking data needs context Interpret geogrid data properly before including it geogrid-analysis
Competitor benchmarks needed for report Run competitive analysis to give rankings context local-competitor-analysis
Report reveals GBP issues to fix Act on findings with profile optimization gbp-optimization
Multi-location rollup needed Structure reporting per-location with portfolio rollup multi-location-seo
Need to package findings as a deliverable Use audit/proposal templates for client-facing docs client-deliverables
Report shows keyword gaps Research new keyword opportunities local-keyword-research

Default next step: Reports should always end with "recommended next steps." Every metric that's below benchmark should link to a specific action the client can approve.

Tools for This Skill

See docs/tool-routing to pick based on what's connected.