Analytics and reporting

01 — Definition

What this is

Setting up the measurement layer, then using it to tell you the truth every reporting period.

The terms, once. GA4 is Google Analytics 4, the current version of Google's analytics product, and it works differently enough from the old one that plenty of accounts migrated in 2023 have been quietly wrong ever since. Search Console is Google's free tool showing which queries your site appears for and what it earns from them. Tag Manager is a container that lets tracking code be added and changed without touching the site's source each time. Conversion tracking is the configuration that records when something valuable happened — a form submitted, a call started, a purchase completed. Attribution is the attempt to decide which channel deserves the credit, and it is an argument, not a fact.

02 — Problem

Traffic up, enquiries flat

It's the most common complaint in this category and it has three usual explanations, in this order of likelihood.

The enquiries are happening and nothing is counting them. A form plugin changed, the thank-you page moved, the tag fired on the wrong event, the conversion was set up to count a page view. This is the first thing to check and it is checked before anything else on every engagement, including ones where we're being paid to do something else entirely.

The traffic is real and wrong. Rankings improved for terms nobody buys from. Ads brought clicks from a query that was never going to convert. Volume went up, intent went down.

The traffic is right and the site loses it. The page it lands on answers a different question, the form asks for too much, or the thing that would make someone act isn't on the page.

You cannot tell these three apart by looking at a traffic chart, which is why this service exists and why it usually goes first.

03 — Setup

What we set up

GA4

Configured properly rather than accepting the defaults: data retention set to its maximum, internal traffic filtered out, cross-domain tracking where you have more than one domain, and reporting identity set deliberately.

Conversion and event tracking

For the things that are actually worth money to you: form submissions, quote requests, checkout steps, whichever apply. Each one defined, implemented and then tested by submitting it and confirming it arrives.

Call tracking scope

Where calls matter: what can be tracked with the tools you already have, what would need a third-party service, and what that would cost you. We'll tell you if it isn't worth it.

Search Console

Verified, with the sitemap submitted and the property set up to match how your site actually resolves.

Tag Manager

Structured so that a future change doesn't require a developer and a fortnight.

A reporting view

Puts channels, conversions and cost per conversion in one place.

Documentation

What was set up, where it lives, what each conversion means, and how to verify it yourself.

One-time engagement. Every account created belongs to you.

04 — Report spec

The report specification

What every report contains

Report contents, in order

Section	What it answers
Enquiries	How many, from which channel, and what each one cost. This is the top of the report, on every report, for every service. If that number is bad, it is at the top anyway.
Cost per enquiry	Per channel, for anything paid.
Spend	If you're running ads: what went out, against what was planned.
Traffic	By channel, with the change against the previous period and the same period last year where the data exists — because seasonality explains more month-on-month movement than most agencies admit.
Organic detail	Where SEO is running: which pages earn the traffic, which queries produce it, indexation status, and technical health.
Paid detail	Where ads are running: which campaigns, keywords, audiences and creative produced the conversions, and which produced spend without them.
AI visibility sample	Where that service is running: which prompts were checked, whether you were named, and who was cited instead.
What we did	Named tasks in the period, not "ongoing optimisation".
What's next	And why that, rather than something else.
What went wrong	There is always something. A report with no bad news in it is a sales document.

Format and authorship

A written document, in plain language, that makes sense on its own without somebody talking over it. Not a platform export with a logo on it. Not thirty screenshots. Not a live dashboard link standing in for an explanation — you'll have dashboard access anyway, and access is not analysis.

Written by the person doing your work, not assembled by someone who has never opened the account. You'll be told in writing who that is before you sign, and told if it changes.

Written reporting is included in every retainer and is never billed separately. The cadence is agreed in writing before work starts, along with what the report contains, rather than left to habit. You will know before you sign how often it arrives.

What the report will never be

05 — Reading one

How to read a monthly report

Numbers that matter

• Enquiries, and where they came from. The only number that survives contact with your bank account.
• Cost per enquiry, tracked over time rather than in isolation. Rising cost per enquiry with flat volume is the earliest reliable warning sign in paid media.
• Conversion rate by landing page. It tells you whether the problem is traffic or the site.
• Organic clicks from non-brand queries. Brand searches flatter organic reports enormously; strip them out and you can see whether anyone new is finding you.
• Indexed pages against published pages. If you published twelve and eight are indexed, that's a problem hiding under a good traffic chart.
• Repeat and returning behaviour, where it applies to your model.

Numbers that mostly don't

• Impressions, on their own. They measure the internet's activity, not yours.
• Average position. An average across hundreds of keywords can improve while every keyword you care about falls.
• Bounce rate, as it's usually presented. A visitor who read the answer and left satisfied looks identical to one who fled.
• Social reach and engagement, when the objective is enquiries.
• Total traffic, unsegmented. Brand traffic, staff visits and bot traffic all live in there.
• Domain authority scores. Third-party inventions, useful for rough comparison, meaningless as a goal.

What a real month of progress looks like

Early paid media: cost per enquiry moving in the right direction while volume stays flat, because the waste is being cut before the scale is added.

Early SEO: no ranking movement at all, and instead technical errors clearing, pages getting indexed, and non-brand impressions beginning to rise. Impressions before clicks, clicks before enquiries. That order is normal and takes months.

A steady month: two or three specific things done, one of which didn't work, and a clear reason for what's next.

A month that should worry you: everything is up, nothing is explained, and no task is named.

06 — Excluded

What is not included

07 — Cost

What this costs

from $1,250 one-time

one-time · up to about $1,800 with several properties or a broken setup to untangle

There is no monthly fee for reporting. It is included in every retainer, and selling it separately would be charging twice for the same document.

The full pricing table →

08 — Questions

Questions people ask before signing