How can you tell if your SEO is working?
Judge SEO by relevant leads from search, backed by numbers you can check. A useful monthly report connects search activity to calls, forms and bookings, then explains what comes next.
The short answer
Look for leads you can trace to search
SEO is working when it helps bring relevant leads from search, with evidence you can check in your own accounts. Look at Search Console clicks, the queries and pages behind them, and calls, form submissions or bookings tracked in Google Analytics. Compare those numbers with actual inquiries and ask new patients or clients how they found you.
Your monthly report should explain what changed, what work was done and what the next step is. Rankings and impressions need context. Agree on checkpoints before work starts, since the time needed to judge results varies.
What should a monthly SEO report show?
A useful report should help you decide what to keep doing, what to question and what needs attention. Ask for a clear link between the agreed work, search activity and relevant inquiries. Use this checklist when reviewing it.
- The dates being compared. Request the reporting period and comparison period. Keep the basis of comparison clear from one report to the next.
- Search clicks and impressions. Ask which queries and pages account for the changes, including losses as well as gains.
- Calls, forms and bookings. Request the key events attributed to organic search, with a plain explanation of what each event counts.
- Lead quality. Compare the reported actions with inquiries for services you offer and people you can serve.
- Work completed. Ask which pages were changed, what was done and why that work was chosen.
- The next decision. Ask what the company recommends next and which evidence supports that choice.
Keep a starting record before the work begins. If tracking was missing, ask the report to state that gap. Do not accept a comparison that treats an unmeasured period as proof that no leads existed.
Ask the report to separate inquiries attributed to search from the total inquiries your business received. If the source of a lead is unknown, label it that way. Ask what supports each claimed result, and keep any limits in view when deciding on the next round of work.
Check the search numbers yourself
Open your site's Performance report in Search Console. Google's Performance report guide explains the clicks, impressions, queries and pages shown there.
- Match the dates. Select the period used in your SEO report and its comparison period.
- Read clicks and impressions together. Clicks count clicks through to your site from search results. Impressions count appearances in results. Neither is a count of new patients or clients.
- Review Queries. Look at the searches behind the totals. Ask which relate to the services you want to grow.
- Review Pages. Check which pages received clicks. Ask your provider to explain changes on the pages included in the SEO work.
Write down questions as you go. Are the reported gains on the service pages you agreed to focus on? Does the report show enough detail to verify its main claim? Ask for the same dates and filters if your view differs from the report.
Connect tracked actions to real inquiries
Ask whoever manages Google Analytics to show you the key events used for calls, form submissions and bookings. Use Google's key events guide as a reference during that review. Request a view of those events attributed to organic search.
Have the provider explain the exact action behind each label. For a call event, ask if it records a phone link click or a completed call. For a booking event, ask if it records the start or completion of a booking. Do not treat those as the same outcome.
Then compare the report with your actual inquiries. Ask staff to separate relevant new inquiries from repeat contacts and requests for services you do not offer. Ask new patients or clients how they found you, and keep their answers alongside the report. Do not force an uncertain answer into the search category.
If traffic is rising but inquiries are not, use the separate guide to website traffic with no leads for the next review.
Which numbers deserve less weight?
A screenshot showing high rankings for a few chosen phrases is too narrow to judge the whole job. Ask why those phrases were selected and how they relate to the services you sell. Request evidence of relevant clicks and inquiries alongside them.
Treat a large impression total with the same care. Ask which searches and pages sit behind it. More appearances alone do not establish that your practice or firm received more useful inquiries.
Keep the main question in view: what evidence connects this number to the outcome we agreed to measure? If the discussion shifts to AI search, read SEO versus AI SEO separately. Ask for clear definitions of any added measures before accepting them as proof of progress.
How long should you wait before judging?
It varies. Agree on review checkpoints before work starts, with a reason for each one. Ask the company to explain what it expects to learn by each review and what evidence would lead it to change the plan.
Separate a check on completed work from a check on results. A page edit can be finished while its effect remains uncertain. Record both, without treating a list of tasks as proof that more patients or clients arrived.
At each checkpoint, ask for a written decision: continue the agreed work, change the plan or investigate a specific gap. If results remain unclear, request a named next action and a date to review it. Do not settle for an open-ended request to wait without a way to assess progress.
What should you ask your SEO company?
Before signing or renewing, ask these questions and keep the answers with the scope of work.
- Can I open my own Search Console and Google Analytics accounts and verify the report?
- What counts as a lead, and how will we check it?
- Which changes will you make, and how will you explain them?
- What results do you expect, and what are the limits of that estimate?
- When will we review the work and decide what happens next?
Google's advice on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a #1 ranking. It also advises read access to Search Console at the audit stage and realistic estimates from an audit.
Treat guaranteed rankings, secret methods and refusal to give you access to your own Search Console as red flags. Ask for an explanation you can understand before agreeing to more work.
How WTM handles SEO
We quote SEO work per project, and we do SEO on any site, including sites we did not build. There is no published SEO price or monthly fee. Keep Search Console and Google Analytics in your own name and give us user access, so you can check every number we report. Our SEO work comes with a written 180-day refund guarantee: if it brings no new patients or leads (any contact form, phone call or booking that comes from the site) within 180 days of the first SEO changes going live, you get a full refund. Rankings are not part of that promise.
Ongoing SEO is not automatically part of a website build, and we do not promise rankings. If AI search is part of the question, see our AI SEO services.
Bring the evidence to your next review
Bring your latest report, account access and inquiry counts to the next SEO review, then ask for a clear next action. If your proposal also includes a website build, use the website quote comparison tool to review that part of the scope.