Performance reports offer visibility for optimizations and boost rapport with clients. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a long-term marketing strategy. It uses various elements to reach customers and generate brand awareness through organic search. With many factors in place, reporting SEO is vital to tracking and communicating progress.
Read on to learn all the ins and outs of how to report SEO success and what you need to get started.
What is an SEO report?
An SEO report summarizes site performance across SEO metrics. SEO efforts gain value over time. So, monitoring performance is essential on both the marketer’s and client’s sides.
Think of monthly SEO reports for clients as ongoing conversations with the data. Regular check-ups make it easier to adjust strategies based on performance data. They also keep the client informed and confident about their website’s goals.
Why are SEO reports vital and what should they include?
SEO reports are valuable because they help develop a successful digital marketing strategy. Collecting data and tracking performance can easily flag trends and opportunities where many clients may lack the knowledge to interpret their meaning.
Marketers do good to invest in clean, concise, and user-friendly report design. Metrics like “overall organic traffic” and “conversions” can show progress that aligns to business goals being met.
Clients have objectives and want to see a return on their investment. SEO marketing reports can address common questions such as:
A proper report structure helps clients understand your strategy. Plus, clearly communicating your work builds trust and rapport with your products and services. So, how do you make an SEO report? A complete and perfect SEO report should cover the following:
- Organic traffic
- Traffic source
- Page-level traffic
- Audience engagement
- Lead conversion rate
- Page speed
- Keyword rankings
- Referring domains and backlinks
- Organic click-through rate (CTR)
- Bounce rate
- Crawl errors
- Monthly, quarterly, or yearly comparisons
- Average position
Common mistakes to avoid
As in all things in life, mistakes happen. Our experts can help you avoid them when building and delivering SEO reports. Use this quick list of “do’s and don’ts” to help guide you through the process on how to report SEO success.
- Don’t assume that your client understands SEO, the terms, metrics, and results you share. Be sure to walk through definitions and explain how each metric relates to another.
- Generate and share reports regularly. We recommend making it a monthly catch-up with your client. Remember, SEO builds over time. So, constant updates will help both you and your client feel like you are always on the same page.
- Don’t skip over setbacks. Acknowledge and explain accomplishments and negative trends each month. Then, show your client how you will be adjusting your SEO campaigns to these learnings.
- Keep your reports simple and clean. Avoid extended definitions and unnecessary industry jargon. The more comfortable your client feels, the more patient they will be with your efforts.
To get started, determine your objective
Your client’s goals will determine your objective. If they are investing in marketing, they have a (vague) idea of what it can do for their business. Draw out this idea for them; they will appreciate your help in doing this. It’s crucial to outline what you are working towards and why.
Common goals include:
- Increase website SEO ranking
- Increase page speed
- Improve SERP
- Reduce bounce rate
- Gain more new website users and sessions
These objectives will guide your SEO strategies.
For example, suppose that your client wants to boost their site traffic. The most appropriate response is to work on keyword ranking and link building. Each of these requires its plan and should be monitored as such.
If your client is overly ambitious, make a case for a shortlist of goals. As you get familiar with the accounts, each will reveal what it offers and how it needs to be managed. You will want a clear picture of how each contributes to performance. Our SEO reports make your goals easier to track, whether you have few or many. Our recommendation is to add goals as you get familiar with your accounts.
What are KPIs and which will you include in your report?
KPIs, short for key performance indicators, measure your progress towards your SEO targets. KPIs aim to understand your journey to hit your goals. They are a vital element of reporting SEO, so you should always include them in your reports.
Many marketers struggle in choosing KPIs, but for reports, stick to a “need to see” basis. Too few metrics will cut off too many corners to be able to appreciate the image at all. On the other hand, having too many KPIs will be like zooming in too close, blurring the entire picture.
Don’t get mixed up with either of these mistakes. Focus on the KPIs that follow your client’s campaign and goals. Be true to your reports; a local SEO strategy will be very different from an ecommerce one, but we can help you narrow it down. Our reports demonstrate the KPIs that resonate with your ideal strategy.
Use software to speed things up
Marketing technology software shortens processes and generates accurate materials upon request. That way, you can focus on what matters, building rapport with clients and optimizing their campaigns.
Automated tools address many of the hangups that come with manual reporting processes. With them, you can:
- Use expert-approved pre-built templates to create reports
- Automate reports and pull any amount of data in minutes
- Set up KPI metrics, comments, and customized branding
New to marketing tools? Learn more about AdClicks reporting, Google Analytics, and how to create an SEO report with them can be very convenient.
SEO Report FAQs
What is an SEO report?
SEO reports summarize activity on your site and how it relates to your SEO metric and marketing strategies. It details where progress is being made and what is holding you back from reaching your goals.
Why are SEO reports important?
SEO reports are important because they inform marketers (and clients) how well their strategies work. Reports reveal the impact of marketing activities through metrics.
What should an SEO report include?
How to report SEO success and what you include in your SEO report will depend on your client’s objectives. Standard metrics include: rankings and tracked Keywords, conversions, backlink profiles, overall organic traffic, Technical SEO, and top-performing pages.
What should an SEO report look like?
The best SEO reports are easy to read, branded, and have snippets to help guide the reader. Keep your objectives in mind when creating reports and make the data connection. Don’t assume your client knows how the metrics contribute to each other.
