SME Problems · 10 November 2026 · Facts checked 10 November 2026 · By Khuzayfah Redo, SingRank
In short
SEO ranking but no enquiries? Your sheet says top 3, but the phone stays quiet. Before you argue with your agency, check your own numbers. We sell SEO, so read this knowing that.
Best for: reports full of keywords you never picked.
Ask for the list, who chose it and when you agreed to it. An agency choosing them does not prove bad faith.
Google tells owners to ask an SEO provider, "How do you measure your success?" If the answer is keyword positions, here is what an SEO contract should say.
Check: Google Search Central, checked 10 November 2026.
Best for: anyone who only sees agency reports.
In the Performance report, set the country filter to Singapore, then open the Queries tab. Give each agreed keyword one line: impressions, clicks, landing page, enquiries. If you have no login, ask for one, as in our guide to switching agency.
Google says anonymised queries "are dropped when filtering by query". So a missing keyword does not mean zero searches.
Check: Search Console Help, checked 10 November 2026.
Best for: reports that lead with rankings.
Google advises you to watch trends in impressions and clicks, not position alone. Impressions are how many times your site appeared.
From 12 September to 9 October 2026, Search Console named 101 searches that averaged page 1 on our small site. Of those, 50 were shown once, and none was credited with a click. That is one site, so read it as a warning.
Check: Search Console Help and metric definitions, checked 10 November 2026.
Best for: long keyword lists with your brand in them.
Google says "Branded traffic often comes from users already familiar with your site". Many of those people may not be new customers.
Use the Non-branded query filter. Google does not offer it to sites with few impressions, so cross out your name by hand if the filter is missing.
Check: Search Console Help, checked 10 November 2026.
Best for: keywords that sound right but sell nothing.
Read each keyword aloud. Is this person ready to call you, or looking for free information? Mark it buyer or reader.
For a rough idea of demand, Keyword Planner gives "estimates on the number of searches a keyword gets each month". Treat a low figure as a question for your agency.
Check: Google Ads Help, checked 10 November 2026.
Best for: keywords seen often but rarely clicked.
Click a keyword in the Queries table, then open the Pages tab to see which URL Google showed. Open that page on your phone. Can you see what you sell and how to reach you?
Low click-through can mean searchers "don't think it answers their query". More in impressions but no clicks.
Check: Search Console Help, checked 10 November 2026.
Best for: owners shown a "leads" dashboard.
Search Console counts clicks from Google to your site and stops there. For one month, count each WhatsApp chat, call and form from a real person.
Dashboards can mislead. Of 33 WhatsApp taps and form sends on our own tracker, only 1 left contact details.
Check: Search Console Help, checked 10 November 2026.
Best for: businesses whose buyers ask AI tools.
Google counts AI Overviews and AI Mode in the Performance data, under the Web search type. So they sit inside the figures on your sheet.
For other AI tools, check whether ChatGPT recommends you by asking what your buyers ask. We do not guarantee a mention.
Check: Google Search Central, checked 10 November 2026.
We found no official pass mark for impressions, clicks or enquiries, so ask how any target was worked out. Take your sheet to the agency and ask which keywords it would drop, and why.
If nobody can explain the list, run a 30-day test. Or send us your website for a free review on WhatsApp. We reply within 1 working day, and our plan says what we promise.