Team Empathy · Monthly report
August 2026
A clean recovery month, and a record for AI referrals
Data window: 1 to 31 August 2026 · Pulled 2 September 2026 · Sources: Google Search Console, GA4, Ahrefs, a live Google NZ rankings check · Compared against July 2026 and August 2025
Your reporting has a new home. This page replaces the monthly PDF. Each month gets its own tab on this one link, the full history stays in one place, and the Download PDF button gives you a copy any time. The Your story tab has the wider picture.
The month at a glance
150
Clicks from Google search
↑ 32.7% vs July (113)
27,870
Impressions
↑ 8.9% vs July
0.54%
Click-through rate
↑ from 0.44% in July
29
Visits from AI assistants
record monthall from ChatGPT
7
Tracked enquiries, 5 of them from organic search
↑ from 5 in July
188
Organic visitors
↑ from 160 in July
9 of 16
Tracked keywords on page one (live check, 2 Sep), 3 in the top 3
-60.7%
Clicks against August 2025, despite better rankings (explained below)
What August says
A clean recovery month. Clicks rose 32.7% and impressions rose 8.9%, so you were shown more often and clicked more often. Both levers moved together, which is exactly the shape you want after a soft July.
The AI referrals set a record. 29 visits from AI assistants, up from 17 in July and 8 in June, and every one of them came from ChatGPT. That is your fastest-growing channel.
Year on year needs context. Clicks are down 60.7% on August last year, and your placement across all searches improved over that same period. Impressions fell 37.7% and click-through fell too. Better placement, shown less, clicked less: that is the market-wide shift toward Google answering questions on the results page, not a problem with the site.
Rankings
Checked live on Google New Zealand, 2 September 2026. Of the 16 keywords we track, 9 are on page one and 3 are in the top three.
| Keyword | July | Live, 2 September |
|---|
| ceramic coating Auckland | 2 | 2 |
| Tesla ceramic coating | 1 | 2 |
| car grooming Auckland | 12 | 7 |
| car tinting Auckland | 21 | 17 |
| window tinting Auckland | 30 | 19 |
| paint protection film | 50 | 42 |
Window tinting Auckland moving 30 to 19 and car grooming Auckland 12 to 7 are the two most commercially useful moves this month. Two went the other way and are worth naming: "ceramic coating car" slipped from 5 to 33, and "mobile car grooming" dropped out of the top 50. Both are on our list. Live Google NZ check
Work and what's next
- Content: a new article went live on 26 August, and two existing pages were updated.
- Reporting rebuilt: this live page replaces the monthly PDF, the wider picture sits on the Your story tab, and the data behind it is now pulled straight from Google rather than assembled by hand.
- Authority is changing shape: we are winding down monthly volume link building while we develop better ways to earn authority, and putting that effort into content instead.
- Worth a chat: the new performance parts section that went live at the end of August has no ecommerce tracking on it, so none of its sales are being measured. Easy to fix and worth doing.
- Coming up: content production moves into Notable, our own AI search platform, which brings a live dashboard with AI visibility tracking. Ben will be in touch with options for the next chapter.