SEO deliverables: what a client should get each month

An SEO deliverable is something you hand a client that they can open and read. Each month, hand a client four of them: a report, a list of the work done, a plan for the month ahead, and a list of what you need from them. Name each one the same way in your proposal, your monthly hand-over and your tracker.

Which SEO proposal deliverables should you list?

List each thing the client will get, how often they'll get it, and in what form. Name things the client can open, and leave out lines that only describe effort.

Write each line of the list the same way:

1. Name the thing. "A monthly SEO report" is a deliverable. "Ongoing optimization" isn't one, because the client can't open it.
2. Say how often it comes: once, each month, or when the client asks.
3. Say the form it takes: a file, a shared sheet, or a changed page on the site.
4. Say what you need from the client before you can make it.
5. Say what's left out, so the list has a clear edge.

Then sort the lines into two groups. One group holds the things a client gets once, near the start, such as a first review of the site. The other holds the things a client gets every month.

The one-time items belong to the first weeks of an account. For a new client's first month, laid out as a checklist, see SEO client onboarding.

Some lines hang on things only the client can give you, like access to an account. For the questions to ask a new SEO client, see SEO onboarding questions.

Keep the list in your proposal and the list in your contract the same, word for word. What each part of the contract says is in the parts of an SEO contract.

Which deliverables does professional SEO consulting hand over each month?

Each month, hand over four things: the report, the list of work done, next month's plan and your asks of the client. That's our own guidance. Google lists services SEOs and agencies provide for website owners, and it doesn't say what gets handed over each month.

Here's Google's list, with one thing you could hand over for each service. The hand-over ideas are ours.

• A review of the site's content or structure: a written list of what you found, page by page, with a fix beside each item.
• Technical advice on website development: a short note the client's developer can act on, saying what to change, where, and why.
• Content development: the plan for each new page, or the draft itself if writing is part of your offer.
• Management of online business development campaigns: a few lines on what ran this month and what came of it.
• Keyword research: the keyword list, sorted by the page each keyword belongs to.
• SEO training: the notes or the recording from each session.
• Expertise in specific markets and geographies: what you learned about the client's market or area, in a few plain lines.
• Optimizing for generative AI: a list of what you changed, and why.

That's a list of what SEOs offer. Put on your own list only the services your agency sells.

Whichever services you sell, a monthly hand-over can hold the same four parts:

1. The report. The numbers for the month, with notes in plain words.
2. The work list. Each task you finished, with a link to the page it changed.
3. Next month's plan. What you'll do next, and why.
4. Your asks. What you need from the client, and by when.

The report has parts of its own. For the parts of a white label SEO report and the steps to build one, see How do I create a white label SEO report?.

Some services don't come round every month. A site review or a round of training may happen once. List each of those under the month it's due, and leave it off the other months.

How do you keep an SEO deliverables tracker a client can read?

Keep one shared sheet with a row for each deliverable, and write every row in the words your proposal used. Give each row a due date, a status and a link, so the client can follow it without a call.

Six columns are enough:

• Deliverable. The name from the proposal, word for word.
• Month. The month it belongs to.
• Due. The date the client can expect it.
• Status. One of a short set: not started, in progress, with you for review, done.
• Link. Where the finished thing lives.
• Waiting on. Who has the next move, you or the client.

Then keep it true:

1. Build the sheet from the proposal on the day the client signs.
2. Update it on the same day each week.
3. Change a status only when the thing itself has changed.
4. Bring the sheet up on every client call.
5. At the end of the month, check it against the report. The two should tell the same story.

Leave your working notes out of it. Hours, tool names and trade words belong in a file of your own. Keep the tracker to what's done and what's next.

Laid side by side, your trackers also show how much one person is carrying across all your clients. For a way to count one person's load, see how many SEO clients one person can manage.