The short answer
Read results first (enquiries, calls, sales), then compare them with last month and the same month last year, then use traffic and visibility numbers to explain why they moved. Ignore single-day spikes. Ask what changed, what produced the results and what happens next. Anything that moved sharply without an explanation is worth a question.
Open the report with three questions in front of you
Before you look at a single chart, write down three questions. Did the site produce more, fewer or the same number of enquiries, calls or sales than before? Which pages or channels produced them? And is there anything in the report that nobody has explained yet? Reading with questions stops you from drifting into traffic charts that look busy and say little.
Then find the results section. These are the actions that matter to your business: form submissions, calls, bookings, quote requests, purchases. If you cannot find them, that is the first thing to ask us about. A report without them describes activity, not outcomes. What counts as a conversion helps you decide what should be there.
This page is about reading your own report. The theory behind the numbers, such as which KPIs to track and how cost per customer is worked out, is covered once on the Learn side. For the full explanation, read Marketing KPIs that matter.
Compare against two baselines
A number on its own means nothing. 412 visits is neither good nor bad. It only becomes meaningful next to something, and you need two comparisons because each one catches a different mistake.
- Versus last month: shows momentum. Did something recently help or hurt? Weak on its own, because months differ in length and season.
- Versus the same month last year: removes most seasonality. If December is always slow for your business, comparing it to November will always look bad, and comparing it to last December tells you the truth.
If the site is under a year old there is no year-ago figure. Say so, and lean on the trend across several months instead of any single one.
Account for seasonality and calendar effects
Most businesses have a natural rhythm: landscaping peaks in spring, accountants in the weeks before tax deadlines, B2B services dip in August and late December. A normal seasonal dip can look like a failure if you only compare with the month before.
Calendar effects matter too. A four-week month has fewer days than a five-week one, so totals are lower even if daily averages match. A month with a public holiday week can lose a tenth of its working days. When a total looks off, ask whether the daily average changed, not just the total.
What each section of the report is for
Most reports, ours included, follow the same shape. Use this table to know what you are looking at and what to check before you move on.
| Section | What it shows | What to check | When to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Results | Enquiries, calls, bookings, sales, with values if set | Both baselines, and whether the count roughly matches your own records | The total is far from what you actually received |
| Where results came from | Channels, pages or campaigns behind the results | Which two or three sources carry most of the total | One source jumped or vanished with no explanation |
| Visibility | Impressions, clicks and average position from Search Console | Direction over six months, not one month | Visibility rose for months while results stayed flat |
| Visits | Sessions and users from GA4 | Whether visits moved the same way as results | Visits fell and results fell with them |
| Work done | Pages published, fixes made, campaigns launched | Whether it links to a result you can point at | A long list with no stated goal |
| Next month | Planned work and the number it should move | Does each item name a result it targets | There is no plan, or no number attached |
A worked reading
Example: Illustrative example only: the numbers are made up
A dental clinic's report for March shows 38 enquiries (form plus calls), 6,100 organic visits and 91,000 impressions. February had 31 enquiries, 5,400 visits and 82,000 impressions. March last year had 29 enquiries and 4,300 visits. Results: 38 against 31 is up 23 percent on the month and up 31 percent on last year, so the headline is good. Explanation: visits grew about 13 percent on the month and 42 percent on the year, and impressions rose 11 percent, so more people saw the clinic and clicked. Enquiries per visit held steady at about 0.6 percent, so the extra visitors were not lower quality. Questions to ask: which pages produced the extra enquiries, and can the front desk handle 38 a month? Nothing here needs fixing. The question is how to repeat it.
If you see this, ask that
The combination of results and visits tells you more than either one. These are the five patterns we see most, with the question each one deserves.
| What moved | What it often means | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Results up, visits up | The work is paying off, or it is a good season | Which pages or channels drove it, and is it repeatable? |
| Results flat, visits up | New visitors are less likely to enquire, or tracking missed something | Are the extra visits landing on pages with a clear next step? |
| Results up, visits flat or down | The visitors you are getting are better matched, or low-value pages lost traffic | Which pages lost visits, and did they matter to the business? |
| Results down, visits flat | Something between the visit and the enquiry broke | Does the form send, does the number connect, did the page change? |
| Everything down | Season, a shorter month, a tracking change or a real loss of visibility | What does the same month last year show, and what changed on the site? |
Read charts with a skeptical eye
- Check the axis. A chart that starts at 4,000 instead of zero makes a small change look dramatic.
- Check the date range. A partial month at the end of a chart looks like a collapse.
- Ignore one-day spikes. A single day can come from a newsletter, a bot or a holiday. Look at the weekly or monthly line.
- Look at the shape over six to twelve months, not the last data point.
- Be cautious with percentages on small numbers. Going from 2 enquiries to 4 is up 100 percent and means very little.
What to ask your team
A good report answers these without being asked. If yours does not, ask them. Your project manager is the right person for questions about plans and timing.
- 1What was the main result this month, and how does it compare with last month and last year?
- 2What changed that explains it: new content, a fix, a campaign, a seasonal effect or a tracking change?
- 3Which pages, services or channels produced the results, and which did not?
- 4Is anything in the report a drop that has no explanation yet?
- 5What is planned next month, and what result should it move?
When something looks wrong
Before worrying, check three things: is the month complete, is the comparison like for like, and does a second source show the same direction? Many alarming dips disappear on this check. If they do not, read why numbers differ and the GA4 basics to find out whether the cause is tracking or reality.
When to ask us
Ask us when a headline result moved sharply with no explanation, when a number in the report disagrees with your own records (for example your booking calendar shows twice as many enquiries), or when you cannot find the numbers that matter to you. Use the support request form and choose Report or analytics question.
- The report name and the month, plus a screenshot of the number you are asking about.
- What you expected to see and why, for example your own count of enquiries.
- Any changes on your side that month, such as a new phone number, a new form, a promotion or a closure.
- Links to files as Google Drive, Dropbox or Loom links. Never send passwords.
