What benchmarks does an SEO company set?
It sets two kinds: a baseline, which records where your site stands before the work begins, and targets, which state what the work is meant to achieve, by when, and how it will be measured. Both come from your own data, mainly Search Console and Google Analytics, rather than from industry averages. Setting them properly also means saving the data the baseline depends on, because neither tool keeps every kind of data forever.
The baseline
The baseline is a snapshot of performance before any changes: clicks and impressions from Google Search, organic visits, the inquiries or sales that come from organic search, and positions for the searches that matter to you. It should cover a defined period long enough to smooth out ordinary weekly swings, and, if your business is seasonal, the same period in the previous year, so that later comparisons do not mistake a busy season for progress.
Separating searches for your brand name from other searches belongs in the baseline too. Growth in non-branded searches is the clearer sign that the work is reaching new people.
The targets
Targets should be specific to your site, not borrowed figures. Each one needs a measure, a starting value from the baseline, a target value or direction, a date, and a source. Useful targets include organic inquiries or sales, clicks and impressions for non-branded searches, positions for a defined group of priority searches, and technical goals such as resolving the issues found in the audit. A target with no date or no source cannot be checked later.
Alongside outcome targets, a company should set milestones for its own work: the audit delivered, the fixes made, the pages published. These show whether the plan is being carried out while the outcome targets are still developing.
Keeping the data the baseline needs
The baseline is only useful if the data behind it is still available when you compare. Two settings matter here.
In Google Analytics, the retention period limits how far back some reports can look. Google’s help on data retention lists the options for user-level data as 2 months or 14 months, and notes: “The data retention setting only affects explorations and funnel reports.” Standard reports are not affected, but detailed analyses run in explorations are. Checking that setting at the start of an engagement costs nothing.
In Search Console, the Performance report covers a limited history. Google’s guide to debugging traffic drops tells site owners to “select Last 16 months” to see a change in context, the longest range it refers to. If you will want to compare with a period further back than that, export the figures at the start and keep them with the baseline.
Writing the baseline and targets down at the start
Ask the company to deliver the baseline as a document, with the dates covered and the source of each figure, and to state each target with its measure, value, date, and source. Ask which settings it will check in your analytics before work starts, and where the exported baseline data will be kept. Targets written down at the start are what the rest of the engagement is judged against.