Reports clients see
What lands in a client portal — the analytics view with its own date ranges, and the SEO reports you attach to a project and share by link.
Your clients do not log into the admin portal. What they see is their own portal, and two things in it are reporting: an Analytics page driven by the GA4 property you connected, and SEO reports attached to their project.
Both are client-facing by definition. Anything you attach or enable here is something a client can read, so check it before you publish it.
Before you start
Portal analytics needs a connected Google account with a GA4 property selected under SettingsIntegrationsGoogle Analytics — see Analytics. Until analytics is enabled for the portal, the client sees "Ask your team to enable analytics".
The client's Analytics page
The client opens Client portalAnalytics and picks their own window. The options are Last 7 days, Last 14 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, Last 6 months and Last 12 months, and the page opens on Last 30 days.
Comparisons are always against the equal-length period immediately before the range they chose, shown as Current against Previous.
| Section | What the client reads |
|---|---|
| Visit Patterns | When people visit |
| What this means | Plain-language reading of the numbers above it |
| Content opportunities | Where there is room to improve |
| Device Mix | Phone, desktop, tablet |
| Visitor Mix | New against returning |
| Top Locations | Where visitors are |
| Search Performance | Clicks, impressions and position by query and page |
| SEO report performance | How the delivered SEO work is tracking |
| All Metrics Comparison | Current against previous across every metric |
| Top pages | The pages doing the work |
Search Performance needs Search Console, not only GA4
Queries, impressions and position come from the Search Console site you chose on the Google connection card, which is a separate choice from the GA4 properties. If a client's portal shows traffic but no search data, that site is what is missing.
SEO reports on the client dashboard
A delivered SEO report attached to a project appears on the client's portal dashboard under Client portalDashboardSEO reports. The dashboard lists the three most recent, with View all going to the project for the rest.
Attach the report to the project
A report only reaches the portal once it is attached — the attach date is what orders the list.
Check it opens
Each report opens from a share link in a new tab. Open one yourself before telling a client it is there.
Point the client at their dashboard
They do not need to go hunting. The three most recent are on the front page of their portal.
A share link is a public link
Report links carry a token rather than a login. Anyone holding the link can open the report without signing in. That is what makes them easy to forward to a client — and what makes them unsuitable for anything you would not want forwarded further.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The client sees "Ask your team to enable analytics" | Analytics is not enabled for that portal, or no GA4 property feeds it | Connect Google and select the property — see Analytics |
| Portal analytics shows traffic but no Search Performance | No Search Console site is chosen on the Google connection card | Pick the site on the Google Analytics card under Settings → Integrations |
| A report is not on the client's dashboard | It was never attached to the project, or it has no share link | Attach it to the project and confirm the link opens |
| Only three reports are listed | The dashboard shows the three most recent by design | The client uses View all to reach the project's full list |
| The numbers do not match your admin Analytics page | The client chose a different range, or the portal is reading a different property | Compare the ranges first, then check which GA4 property that portal uses |