What SEO Success Looks Like in 2025: CMOs, Boards and Clients Need to Know.

Key Takeaways

• SEO has shifted: Organic traffic is harder to achieve, with AI Overviews and zero-click results dominating search.
• SEO reporting needs context: Focus on business impact, not just keyword rankings. Visibility and brand exposure matter more than clicks.
• Key metrics: Track exposure metrics (AI Overviews, Featured Snippets), high-intent CTRs, conversions from organic traffic, and AI citation tracking.
• Avoid vanity metrics: Rankings and impressions are less important; focus on conversions and user engagement.
• Shift from informational to commercial intent: Target content that aligns with decision-making users.
• 2025 SEO reports: Should connect SEO efforts to business outcomes, including goal tracking, traffic insights, and conversion data.
• Monitor AI & SERP impact: Track how AI Overviews affect visibility and brand mentions.

SEO reporting is no longer about keyword rankings in isolation or broad traffic numbers. SEO reports in 2025 are designed to show business impact, user behaviour, and how SEO supports growth, especially in a search environment dominated by AI features and AI Overviews across Google search results.

If you’re still leading with keyword positions, average position or impressions from Google Search Console in your slide deck, you may be missing the mark — and potentially losing trust.

SEO has shifted. Organic traffic is harder to win. Clicks are disappearing into AI Overviews and zero-click search results. Even when impressions rise, search traffic may fall if the click-through rate drops.

Search results formats have changed. The rise of LLMs and social discovery platforms also shifts how users find answers and content through search engines.

Stakeholders now ask:

“What results is SEO delivering?”

“What does success look like?”

Here’s how to answer those questions clearly — with SEO reporting that reflects reality, shows business value, and helps clients understand the impact of SEO efforts.

Organic Traffic vs SEO Performance

If your report opens with “organic traffic is down” without context, you set yourself — or your agency‑client relationship — up to look like you're under‑delivering in your SEO strategy.

Yes, many businesses are seeing a decline in organic search traffic in 2025, but this isn’t always due to poor SEO efforts.

Instead, the change is industry‑wide. AI features and zero-click formats are integrated into search results — altering how users find information and how Google Search treats content.

Example: One client had strong ranking growth and more impressions in Google Search Console across key pages. Yet clicks dropped. Panic: “Is SEO underperforming?” The answer lay in informational queries, now answered in AI Overviews — not by users clicking through.

Why Being in an AI Overview Can Be Stronger Than Top‑3 Google Rankings

1. Higher visibility, less competition

AI Overviews appear above search rankings. Even if you’re #1 in traditional ranking reports, your site may be below the fold if an Overview appears. Being cited means being front and centre in search.

2. Authority by association

Google’s AI algorithm chooses sources based on trust, relevance and authority. Your brand being cited signals credibility, beyond simple optimisation or backlink profile strength.

3. Context over clicks

Ranking in the top 3 might bring clicks, but an AI Overview delivers brand exposure within the search result itself. Even without a click, users view your brand as a trusted source.

What an SEO Report Looks Like in 2025

Modern stakeholders — whether CMOs, boards, or clients — want to know: “What’s working, what’s not, and what should we do next?”

To answer this, modern SEO reports must be built on reliable SEO data, derived from tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. These reports are no longer just about traffic — they now provide insights that connect organic search performance with business growth and user behaviour.

1. Executive Summary

• Major wins and challenges (e.g. gains in search traffic or improved keyword rankings)

• Performance trends drawn from key metrics and supported by visuals or dashboards

• Top recommendations tied to business goals and upcoming key events

2. Goal Tracking

Summarise how well SEO efforts are aligning with agreed objectives:

• Growth in organic search visibility

• Higher conversion rates from organic traffic

• Increase in branded searches and awareness across Google searches

• Improved average position on high-priority keywords

Use tools like SE Ranking or Google Sheets to monitor progress against these goals and create SEO reports that demonstrate return on investment clearly.

3. Organic Traffic Insights

• Traffic trends: Sessions broken down by page path, location, and device type. Highlight seasonal patterns and spikes.

• User behaviour: Report on bounce rate, average time on page, pages per session, and other indicators of user activity.

• Keyword performance: Track branded vs non-branded keywords, shifts in specific keywords, and movement in average CTR and rankings.

• Content performance: Show how different content formats perform, from blogs to product pages. Flag any underperforming content for review or consolidation.

4. Technical SEO Health

• SEO audit findings: Include a summary of technical issues and the business case for fixing technical issues.

• Indexing and crawl status: Use data from Google Search Console and other tools to confirm that important pages are indexed and accessible.

5. Backlink Profile

• Link volume and quality: Total backlinks, referring domains, and spam score trends.

• Link acquisition strategy: Overview of outreach or content marketing campaigns that generated high-value links.

• Linked brand mentions: Highlight mentions from authoritative websites — even those without follow links — as they strengthen overall domain trust.

Consider using Ahrefs or other tools to monitor changes and visualise backlink growth over time.

6. Conversion Data

• Macro-conversions: Sales, lead forms, or sign-ups completed via organic search.

• Micro-conversions: Events like PDF downloads, email list opt-ins, and page scroll depth.

• AI LLM referrals: Track conversions from users referred by tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity. These are emerging signals of content trust and authority, and a strong addition to your SEO win column.