Short answer: a monthly local link report should record what was done, where, and what is still open. It should not predict rankings or claim credit for every movement in them. Clients who read a clear activity record trust it more than a report full of arrows.
Why the report matters more than the dashboard
Agencies often hand clients a screenshot from a ranking tool and call it reporting. The tool shows an outcome. It does not show what you did. When a ranking falls, the client wants to know what changed on your side, and an activity record is the only thing that answers that question honestly.
The sections to include
- Summary. Three or four sentences: what was planned, what was completed and what moved to next month.
- Placements. One row per link: date, the page where it sits, the page it points to and the anchor used.
- Outreach status. Sites contacted, sites that replied, sites that declined and sites still pending. Declines are information. Include them.
- Listing work. Corrections made, duplicates found, new listings created.
- Local mentions. Press and community items, with a note when a mention carried no link.
- Open issues. Problems on the client side that the link work cannot fix, such as a thin location page or a missing profile category.
- Next month. What is planned, and what you need from the client to do it.
What to leave out
Leave out anything that suggests a cause you cannot prove. A line such as "rankings improved because of our new links" is a claim that most reports cannot support. Many things change at once: the site, the competitors, Google's own updates and the season. Link work is one input.
Also leave out vanity numbers. A count of total links means little if the sites are not relevant to the client's city or trade. Describe the placements by relevance and location, and let the row-level detail speak.
Record dates so the client can compare
The most useful field in the report is the date. If the client or agency tracks rankings, calls and form fills in separate tools, dated placements let them lay the two side by side. They can then form their own view, with all the usual caution that correlation is not cause. A provider that lines up its dates with your data is being straightforward with you.
Keep the format forwardable
If you resell the work, the report should be unbranded so you can add your logo, paste it into your template or forward it as is. Keep the layout simple enough that a business owner can read it in five minutes: short sentences, plain labels and no jargon that needs a glossary. This is also why we provide unbranded reports to agency partners.
Say what did not work
A good report includes failures. A host who removed a link, an editor who ignored three follow-ups, a listing that was rejected by a directory. Clients do not expect a perfect month. They expect to be told. When a report only ever shows successes, a careful reader assumes things are being left out.
A short checklist before you send it
- Does every placement row have a date, a source page, a target page and an anchor?
- Are declined and pending items listed?
- Are open issues on the client side named plainly?
- Is there any sentence that promises or implies a ranking outcome? Remove it.
- Could someone who was not on the account understand it?
Where this fits in a wider process
Reporting is the last step in a loop that starts with scoping and runs through outreach and placement checks. If you want to see the whole sequence, our how we work page lays it out. If you are comparing providers, ask to see what their reports contain before you sign anything.
Search guidelines and tactics change, and Google can revalue or ignore links at any time. Nothing here is a promise of rankings, traffic or leads, and results are never assured.