Setting up a client portal your clients will use

A client portal only works if clients open it. That means it has to show them something useful, ask them for as little as possible, and never expose anything that should stay private.

Share progress, not your workspace

Clients want to know what is happening and what is expected of them. Show the current strategy and priorities, the progress of the work, the reports, and any documents or meetings that matter to them.

Keep internal things internal

Internal notes, team discussion, draft sections, unreviewed AI drafts and your own financial information should never be visible. The simplest rule is that a client sees only what has been marked as shared or approved.

Make approvals easy

When a task needs the client’s sign-off, show what needs approval, why it is recommended, what will happen and the evidence. Let them approve, request changes or reject, and comment. Record who decided and when, so there is always a clear history.

Keep clients apart

Every client must see only their own organisation’s data. That has to be enforced on the server, not just hidden in the interface.

Tell clients what to expect

Introduce the portal when you onboard the client, and explain what they will see and how to approve things. A short explanation up front saves a lot of email later.

See Setting up the client portal for the steps in SEO Ops.