---
name: executive-seo-report
description: Use when preparing an SEO report for people who will not read past the first page and will remember one number.
---

# A Report That Survives An Executive

Most SEO reports fail because they show effort rather than effect, and because they are dense enough that the reader picks whichever number confirms their prior. The remedy is not more charts. It is deciding in advance what the reader should be able to do differently after reading, and cutting everything that does not serve that decision.

## What you need first

- the decision the report is meant to inform
- one agreed headline metric with history
- the change log for the period

## Method

1. Open with the answer in one sentence, including the direction and size. If the reader stops after that line they should still have the truth.
2. Show one chart with at least 13 months of history so seasonality is visible. A 30-day chart can be made to say anything and everyone knows it.
3. Say what you did, what moved, and be explicit where you cannot connect the two. Admitting one unattributable result buys credibility for the ones you can attribute.
4. Report the bad number before anyone finds it. A drop you surface yourself is a finding; a drop found by the reader is a cover-up.
5. Put lagging indicators up front and leading indicators behind them, clearly labelled as leading. Never let rankings or impressions stand in for revenue in the headline.
6. End with one specific ask - a decision, a budget, a resource - not a list of next steps that requires nothing from the reader.

## What this produces

A one-page report with a single headline number, one long-horizon chart, and one explicit ask.

## Where this goes wrong

- Changing chart date ranges between reports so trends cannot be compared, which reads as manipulation even when accidental
- Reporting keyword position averages, which move for reasons nobody in the room can act on
- Burying the caveat in a footnote - if the number needs a caveat to be honest, the caveat goes in the sentence

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From the QuQi skill library - https://www.quqi.io/skills/executive-seo-report