Understand progress
What was improved?
And what has changed?
A published change is a deliverable. Its impact on the business is a separate question. Considering the two separately makes it easier to assess progress and next steps.
Three levels of assessment
Which question would you like to answer?
Was the work completed?
Has the agreed page been fully revised? Does the contact link lead to the correct destination? Is the technical fix visible in the public version?
What matters here is the agreed scope, the URL concerned and a verifiable check.
How is the website found and used?
Which relevant search queries lead to which page? Do visitors reach the intended information and contact options?
Identify the data source actually available and the period being considered.
Are relevant contacts being generated?
Do enquiries relate to your offering? Are the customers a good fit, and can the business meet their needs?
This assessment needs feedback from the business and cannot be inferred from a ranking position alone.
A technical example
HTTPS improves the connection — it does not prove business success.
HTTPS protects transmission between the browser and web server against eavesdropping and manipulation. Whether the connection is configured correctly can be checked technically. However, this does not mean that all website security issues have been resolved or that revenue has increased.
For a brief, this means that setting up and checking the connection is a specific deliverable. Statements about enquiries or revenue require their own data and a separate assessment. A fixed deadline for success cannot be inferred from the technical change.
Technical background: web.dev: Why HTTPS matters. This example does not describe a specific client assignment.
Make before and after comparable
Include these details in your evaluation.
- Starting point: What was the specific problem, and which page was affected?
- Change: What was published or technically adjusted, and when?
- Check: How was completion of the agreed task established?
- Observation: Which data are actually available for subsequent developments?
- Context: Which other changes could have influenced the observation?
- Next step: What conclusions can reasonably be drawn, and which question remains open?
Where possible, compare corresponding periods and pages or user groups defined in the same way. When enquiry numbers are low, even a single additional contact can produce a large percentage change. Absolute figures help show the scale involved.
If measurement data are missing, ‘not yet assessable’ is a factual statement. The lack of a basis should remain visible instead of being replaced with a seemingly precise success figure.
What should count as progress in your project?
Clarify the goal, deliverable and available data before implementation. A complete review scope is described in the agency’s SEO audit guide.
Clarify your project goal with Sven
