Improving your company or your clients’ SEO takes a lot of time, energy, and effort. Prove that your work is worth it with well-detailed and easy-to-understand SEO reporting.
In this blog, Seth Kluver, Senior Director of SEO, cuts through the jargon and shows you how to create SEO reports that are as easy to understand as they are impressive.
What We’ll Cover:
- What is SEO Reporting?
- What Should Your SEO Reports Include?
- SEO Reporting Process: 4 Steps to Build Powerful Reports
- Tips for Building Effective SEO Reports
- SEO Reporting Tools
My Expert Opinion on SEO Reporting
I constantly see the struggle of translating complex SEO efforts into impactful reports. But here’s the key: effective SEO reporting shouldn’t be a battle with information overload.
Shift your focus to the SEO wins that resonate with your business goals. Are organic traffic numbers on an upward trajectory? Are your targeted keyword rankings driving more leads and conversions? These are the success stories your reports need to celebrate. Forget about one-size-fits-all templates – you need clear, actionable insights that can be easily understood by everyone involved.
My Recommendation: Focus on visualizing your data! Using tools like Looker Studio to create charts and graphs can turn complex metrics into easily digestible narratives. Don’t be afraid to add a sprinkle of client-specific context to personalize the SEO ranking report and demonstrate the value SEO is bringing to their business.
What Is SEO Reporting?
SEO reports can help you determine how well your content is performing online, giving you valuable insights into how potential customers find and interact with your website.
But how do you track your SEO efforts?
By analyzing important metrics that contribute to your website goals.
SEO reports can be prepared on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis, depending on what your boss’s and client’s expectations are. As a digital marketer, you should probably keep a monthly eye on your efforts but your bosses or clients may not be interested in receiving the data that often. Be sure to clarify this with them before getting started.
SEO reporting should give you all the valuable data you need to accurately assess a website’s performance, with plenty of meaningful metrics that align with your short- and long-term goals. Based on the data, you can glean insights that help you determine the next steps to continually optimize your campaigns and boost performance.
What Should Your SEO Reports Include?
Since this SEO report will most likely be read by your boss or your clients, you want it to be the right balance between detailed and digestible.
Instead of including absolutely every piece of data you have, narrow it down to the key metrics that demonstrate the site’s performance. When you pair this with recommendations on how to further increase growth, your stakeholders will be happy with your efforts.
Keep reading for a list of things commonly seen on an SEO report.
1. Dashboards and Executive Reports
Your clients are busy. They want quick, easy access to important data that will show them the success of your efforts.
Dashboards are, effectively, the “executive summary” of your reporting. They give an overall, succinct view of how your SEO efforts are generating a positive return on investment (ROI) for your clients.
Ideally, you’re going to want to offer dashboards that are not only easily accessible but also configurable. Design your dashboard to fit your client’s needs. If they want to see how many hits their blog pages are receiving, put that information closer to the top. If they are more interested in how many times the homepage was accessed, put that close to the top instead.
The goal of your dashboard is to make your SEO reporting as easy as possible to follow and understand.
2. Goal Reports
Any good SEO company will set up goals and/or ecommerce tracking in Google Analytics. The type of goal, of course, depends on the type of website. Your client or boss is going to want to see how many goals of SEO traffic is driving.
Goals include things like:
- Events
- Page/Visit
- Visit Duration
- Conversions
- URL Destinations
The idea is, you want your client to see a direct link between your SEO efforts and how they’re making a difference in helping the client reach their profit goals.
This is huge, as many companies don’t fully understand the “why” behind things like blogging or posting on social media. Goal reports filled with information on conversion rates, traffic numbers, and page visits help prove your value as a marketer. Keep in mind, that it might be wise to run some benchmark reports before diving into goal performance.
3. Total Work Completed for the Time Period
SEO reporting is a great time to detail exactly what you did during that time period. Make it clear that you added three new articles with keywords, optimized seven additional pages, produced articles for other sites in exchange for backlinks, or whatever else you may have worked on that would benefit your client or company.
Create a detailed report that outlines exactly what work was performed over the last month/quarter/whatever. Often, clients don’t see first-hand what you’re doing for their SEO performance, so it’s important that you document everything and share your results.
4. Traffic by Segmentation
Understanding what parts of the website are driving traffic are essential when looking at conversions.
I see a lot of companies looking at their traffic as a whole, but they forget to look at where the traffic is coming from.
Pro-Tip: Look at segmentation based on your content. Are your conversions coming from service pages, blogs, guides, case studies, etc.? Once you know what content is driving traffic to your site and causing your visitors to convert, you can make better decisions on what you can do down the line to improve performance.
Traffic by Channel
When it comes to SEO reporting, organic traffic is often the star of the show, and for good reason.
It directly shows the impact of your hard work. By putting organic traffic by channel front and center, you’re providing an immediate snapshot of the website’s overall performance in terms of attracting visitors through unpaid search results.
Traffic by Location
Your client has a lot of new traffic thanks to your SEO efforts. That’s great, but where is it coming from?
Even though you know that there are various country-specific versions of Google around the world, your client may not. It’s important to show them how your site is ranking around the globe. Do this by giving them an SEO report that shows the top locations of your inbound traffic.
Include which keywords are showing up in which SERP rankings and where. Including this in your SEO reporting demonstrates your efforts but it’s also a gold mine for targeting opportunities, the timing of social media posts, and other marketing efforts in the future.
5. Organic Traffic Conversions
Organic traffic attracts ideal customers searching for what you offer. Conversion data reveals who your top performers are – the pages generating the most buzz.
Not to mention, it also can help you identify high-traffic content, expose potential content gaps, and analyze page views and landing page effectiveness.
6. Landing Page Report
Your SEO report should cover landing pages as well. It can help you identify top-performing pages to reveal which ones are driving the most traffic, conversions and engagement, helping you understand which pages resonate with your target audience and which ones need improvement.
7. Keyword Rankings
Track the positions of your top keywords in search engines. Are they climbing the ladder and attracting more organic traffic?
By monitoring your keyword rankings, you can identify which pieces of content are performing well and which ones are missing the mark. Don’t forget about related keywords that you should rank for as well. In fact, in some cases, the related keywords might be easier to rank (in terms of competitiveness) and/or better for your client (in terms of the number of monthly searches) than the keyword you were tasked with ranking.
You can find your organic keyword metrics in SEMRush, which provides visual data on overall keyword ranking, their volume, and any fluctuations. If you notice that your client’s top keywords are losing their positioning on Google SERPs, you’d want to point that out.
That’s why you should offer up a report that shows how many related keywords you’ve ranked for your client during your SEO stint. You’ll show them that you’re making an online impact or where opportunity still lies.
8. Website Technical Health
Think of your website as a car – it needs regular checkups to run smoothly.
Your website’s technical SEO health includes factors like:
- Site Speed – How quickly your pages load
- Broken Links – Dead ends
- 404 errors – Pages that don’t exist anymore
This is your opportunity to identify any potential issues and work to fix them to create a seamless user experience for your visitors.
9. Backlinks
Tracking your backlink profile will aid in identifying opportunities to earn even more. Not to mention, strong backlinks can drastically improve your website’s authority and search engine ranking. Because reputation matters now more than ever, make sure you’re tracking any newly earned links that you’ve helped your clients land.
Highlight this in your SEO report so that they can see that you’re getting the job done, even if the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) rankings or the inbound traffic doesn’t aren’t quite reaching their expectations.
That said, links are one of the more important metrics to keep an eye on—particularly with Google’s emphasis on reputation and authority, as per the EEAT guidelines.
Because reputation matters now more than ever, make sure you’re tracking any newly earned links that you’ve helped your clients land. Highlight this in your SEO report so that they can see that you’re getting the job done, even if the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) rankings or the inbound traffic doesn’t aren’t quite reaching their expectations.
Think about how it reflects positively on the client if other reputable sites are linking back to their content—pretty good, right?
10. Opportunities for Growth
Review search trends using Google Trends or by diving into your analytics. Note how frequently users search for your business name and the services you offer.
Look beyond searches, too – see how many people actually click through to your website or give you a call. This insider information will shed light on your local online presence and help you craft winning strategies to boost your growth.
SEO Reporting Process: 4 Steps to Build Powerful Reports
If you want to build solid custom SEO reports for clients or others, it’s important to follow a set process. Here’s a breakdown of the four key steps that ensure your SEO reporting is on track:
1. Connect All Relevant Data Sources
Think of this as assembling the puzzle pieces. In this step, we’ll connect all the relevant data sources you use to a single platform.
This might include traffic analytics tools, keyword ranking trackers, and even your Google Business Profile data (for local businesses).
By bringing all this information together, we can gain a holistic understanding of what’s working and where there’s room for improvement.
2. Determine Your Client’s Objectives
Great SEO starts with understanding your goals.
In this step, we’ll have a conversation to determine what success looks like for you and your business. Are you aiming to attract more organic traffic? Increase leads and conversions? Boost brand awareness within your local community?
You can get a better feel for where the business is based on the data gathered through an initial audit. From there, you can figure out where to go and how to improve performance.
Knowing which objectives to achieve will help you determine which metrics to track, whether those objectives involve attracting more organic traffic, rising in search engine rankings, or increasing engagement or sales. These metrics will, in turn, guide your SEO reporting.
3. Establish Relevant KPIs
Not all data points are created equal. As mentioned, the goals you set will influence the specific metrics you track, which will factor into your key performance indicators (KPIs).
There are many KPIs you can track based on your objectives. The following are some of those potential KPIs worth measuring:
- Traffic: Direct, referral, organic, and paid traffic metrics will help you figure out what’s bringing in traffic to your website.
- Keyword Rankings: Another crucial metric is your site’s keyword performance. Which keywords are you ranking highly for and which could benefit from some more optimization? What changes do you notice and how can you address any drops in rankings?
- Engagement: Take a look at various engagement metrics that can indicate performance, such as bounce rate, pages per session, average session duration, and time spent on your website. For instance, if you have a high bounce rate, this indicates that people aren’t finding your content relevant or helpful, which can negatively impact your SEO.
- Conversion Rate: This metric will let you know how effective your efforts are at converting people into leads. You can figure out which pages are converting people and which need some tweaks to make them more effective.
These and other KPIs can help you build meaningful SEO reports for clients or others based on the goals in place.
4. Build Reports
After tracking your KPIs, it’s time to build your SEO report. You can do so either manually or automatically, depending on the method that works for you.
Now comes the fun part – transforming data into a clear and impactful report. Avoid information overload and present the insights in a way that’s easy to understand, even for those without a deep SEO background.
This might involve using visuals like graphs and charts to showcase trends and clear explanations to ensure every metric and finding resonates with you. Ultimately, the goal is to create a report that empowers you to make informed decisions about your website’s future.
Tips for Building Effective SEO Reports
Want to build the perfect SEO reports for clients and stakeholders? Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind:
1. Organize Your Information Logically
Consider the layout of the information in the report. It should be in a logical format that’s easy to follow, often based on the goals your client or boss has set. This info should all connect directly to each goal and help indicate progress or setbacks.
2. Focus on Value, Not Vanity
Ditch metrics that look good but don’t reflect progress. Transparency builds trust and avoids confusion down the road. Avoid jargon and tailor reports to each recipient. Executives need high-level summaries tied to revenue. Team members can dive deeper into keyword details.
3. Set SMART Goals Together
Working with stakeholders to define Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals ensures everyone’s on the same page and allows you to showcase progress effectively.
For example, if your stakeholders tell you they want to see an increase in traffic, your smart goal might look like this: “Achieve a top 5 ranking on Google for keyword within 6 months while increasing organic traffic to x product page by 30%.”
4. SEO is a Marathon
Communicate that SEO is about steady improvement, not overnight wins. Set realistic goals and celebrate incremental gains that build a strong organic presence over time.
Establish a consistent reporting schedule (monthly is a good start) with a dedicated call to discuss insights and recommendations. This keeps stakeholders engaged and drives action.
5. Tell a Story with Data
To help ensure your client or boss fully understands the contents of your report, add any contextual elements that can clear things up.
Go beyond raw numbers. Weave data into a compelling narrative that highlights opportunities and next steps. These could include comments or notes that complement the data and let people know more about what the data actually means.
6. Keep it Clear and Concise
Lead with key takeaways, use visuals, and eliminate unnecessary details. Focus on surfacing insights and explaining “so what?” for your audience.
To help organize the information in your report, use separate sections with headers that clearly establish what each piece of data is about. This can significantly help with making your report highly readable and easy to understand when presenting it.
7. Be Visual
When it makes sense to do so, visualize the data in your reports using charts and graphs that showcase progress and trends. For example, a chart can show how rankings for a keyword rose or fluctuated within a specific period of time, making it clear what kind of results you’re getting.
What Are Some of the Best Tools for SEO Reporting?
If you want to produce high-quality reports, you’ll need to enlist the aid of one or more tools. There are a variety of SEO tools out there and each of them has different strengths. Here is a list of some of our favorites:
- Google Search Console: Think of this as a free website checkup from Google itself! It reveals how Google perceives your website, how other sites link to you, and how your content performs in search results. Search Console also offers valuable reports on indexing, mobile usability, and more.
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4): GA4 uses machine learning to uncover the complete customer journey, providing insights into user behavior, conversions, clicks, page views, and more. With GA4, we can see exactly how organic traffic interacts with your website, allowing us to refine your SEO strategy for optimal results.
- SEMRush: One of our absolute favorite sites, SEMRush, allows you to create custom reports with drag-and-drop features. Beyond that, you can produce out-of-the-box reports about keyword rankings and on-page SEO.
- Screaming Frog: This website crawler acts like a digital inspector, scanning your website for technical SEO issues like broken links and slow loading times. The free version is perfect for smaller websites, while paid plans offer more extensive features.
- Moz Pro: Moz offers a robust SEO toolbox with features for keyword research, search volume data, on-page SEO analysis, link building insights, and competitor comparisons. Moz Pro is a well-rounded platform ideal for agencies and businesses that need in-depth SEO data and reporting.
SEO Reporting FAQs
1. What is the best tool for SEO reporting?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer! It depends on your needs and budget. All-in-one tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs manage campaigns, find keywords, suggest content, and track competitors – all from a single platform. These are great for comprehensive SEO strategies.
2. Why should I use an SEO reporting tool?
Imagine trying to navigate the SEO world without a map. These tools act as your guide, helping you track progress and identify areas for improvement. By measuring specific KPIs, you can see the impact of your SEO efforts and make data-driven decisions to optimize your website’s performance.
3. What are the different parts of SEO reports marketers should create?
- SEO Audit Report: This is your website’s health check, analyzing things like search engine ranking positions, domain authority, and the number of unique pages on your site. It helps you understand overall website progress over time.
- Keyword and Competitor Analysis Report: This report dives into keywords, uncovering potential opportunities and keeping a pulse on what your competitors are targeting. It helps you stay ahead of the curve.
- Traffic and Ranking Report: This report focuses on organic search ranking and traffic data, showing you how well your website is attracting visitors through search engines. By analyzing click-through rates and other metrics, you can refine your SEO strategy for optimal results.
4. How do I handle local SEO reporting?
Here are some tips for producing local SEO reports:
- Include location-specific keywords – Make sure that your keyword reports include relevant location names. For example: “Dentist in Columbus” or “Raleigh plumber.”
- Focus on devices – Often, people searching for local businesses do so with a mobile device. Make sure your reporting includes a breakdown of reach by device.
- Use local-specific tools—Screaming Frog, Moz Local, and Whitespark immediately come to mind, but you’ll want to make sure you’re tracking citations, local keywords, NAP consistency, and customer feedback.
- Embrace social listening—Local businesses depend on a comprehensive Google Business Profile—and a big part of that is collecting customer feedback. Tools like Brand Mention, Sprout Social, or Tailwind can help you listen in on what people are saying about your brand across channels like Facebook and Instagram, as well as Yelp, Google, and more.
5. Should you hire an in-house SEO team?
SEO reports can tell you the best way to produce content, but they’re not going to produce content for you.
In-house SEO teams are not right for all businesses. You could also hire a digital marketing agency to produce a tailored SEO report and action plan, work with a freelancer to provide insight and guide SEO deliverables, or have your marketing team go off of a third-party SEO tool to develop your future strategy.
See Clear Results with Ignite Visibility’s SEO Reporting
Ignite Visibility provides comprehensive SEO reporting that goes beyond vanity metrics. We translate complex data into actionable insights, empowering you to see the tangible impact of your SEO strategy.
We use them to:
- Identify trends
- Highlight opportunities
- Look for areas for improvement,
- and more!
Let’s work together to refine your SEO strategy and ensure it aligns with your overall marketing goals. Contact Ignite Visibility today for a free consultation and learn how our SEO expertise can help your business thrive online.
