What separates a perfect SEO report for a low-quality one?
Low-quality SEO reports are complex and packed with technical jargon. They include way too many KPIs and metrics and do not explain them to a client. Just because you are tracking clients’ SEO performance via multiple tools, copy-pasting a bunch of stats to Excel, and then extracting them to monthly client reports does not mean you will deliver value to your clients.
An average business hiring you has little or no SEO knowledge. Precisely because of that, the SEO reports you create should be concise, simple, and to-the-point. They should explain how your services are meeting clients’ goals and how they impact their company’s revenue.
In the article below, you will learn the basics of creating an SEO report your clients will love.
Define Your Goals
Before you select the metrics to track and start creating reports, you should first understand what a client’s goals are. If a client already understands the basics of SEO, they will know what they are setting out to achieve. On the other hand, if they have little SEO knowledge or they set unrealistic expectations, you should educate them.
A client should understand how the SEO goals they set impact their revenue and business growth. They do not want to waste money on tactics that will not deliver the results they expect. Telling a client that you want to increase their organic rankings or generate quality inbound links will not help them understand why this is important. By explaining the why behind each tactic, you will build trust with them and make sure you are on the same page.
Include the Right KPIs
Now that you have set clear goals and metrics in your report, it is time to show the results of your work in your “Results” section.
Your clients have different levels of expertise, knowledge, and preferences. When creating an SEO report, you should focus on the metrics and results they are interested in. In many cases, clients are interested in their ROI and revenue, but they also care about their traffic, conversions, and rankings for specific keywords. Only by creating reports that are relevant to your clients will you be able to communicate your achievements.
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to client reporting, there are a few crucial KPIs every SEO report should include:
1. Google Analytics SEO KPIs
Those are KPIs you can measure directly from GA.
For example, organic traffic itself does not guarantee you any SEO success. Your clients want to know whether the traffic their sites generate converts. To track organic traffic conversions in GA, click on Conversions > Goals > Overview > Add Segment > Organic Traffic > Apply.
Or, you could measure the client’s bounce rate that tells clients how many visitors leave their website after viewing only one page.
2. Google Search Console SEO KPIs
This amazing SEO tool will help you stay on top of a wide range of metrics important to your client, including mobile usability, crawl errors, the total number of click, page indexed, index status, inbound and outbound links, etc.
3. Other KPIs to Implement
Start with keyword rankings, as most of your clients want to appear their rankings high in organic searches for their major keywords. There are many excellent keyword ranking trackers, including SEMrush, Ahrefs, Rank Ranger, etc.
Keep SEO Reports Visually Appealing and Consistent
You are creating highly relevant, accurate, and valuable reports, but your open rates and click-through rates are poor. In this case, you should pay attention to the mere design of your reports. Never overlook the power of visuals. For your clients that have little or no SEO knowledge, reading a bunch of complex explanations and statistics may be difficult.
When choosing the right design for your reports, keep it simple. Make your reports easy-to-follow, consistent, and easily digestible. When opening a report, a client should know what to expect. Always include the same sections – a brief introduction, key points, straightforward takeaways, and clear graphs. Include tables and charts to visualize the most important statistics. Yet, make sure that the textual and visual content is in harmony.
If graphic design is not your thing, you could hire professionals to help you create on-brand and gorgeous SEO reports. Using an SEO reporting tool may also help you here. They usually offer a wide range of digital marketing reporting templates their subscribers can use for free.
Keep Your Writing Style Clear and Simple
Confusing and complicated reports will only distract a client and discourage them from reading them in the future. That may harm your relationship on multiple levels. Therefore, before you send your new report to a client, you need to carefully edit it.
First, ask yourself whether the report illustrates the results of your labor and explains its impact on the overall business goals? For example, bombarding a client about a bunch of link building statistics does not make sense if their focus is on on-page SEO.
Next, customize the report based on who you are writing it for.
For example, if you are sending a report to a small business owner, keep in mind that they are no SEO experts. Therefore, using industry-specific jargon will not cut it. Try to review the report from a client’s SEO viewpoint. All definitions, explanations, and statistics should be written in a concise and simple language, helping clients see the value of your work in a bunch of data you are showing. Above all, the focus should be on the impact of your SEO efforts on their revenue. On the other hand, when delivering your SEO report to a company’s marketing team, you can skip basic explanations and offer technical and detailed insights.
Explain What You are Going to Do Next
Once you explain the results of the SEO tactics you have been implementing so far, you want to emphasize what your course of action will be in the next few months. Based on the data you have previously outlined, you should explain what tactics worked for your client’s online presence the best and how you will help them get the most out of them.
Send Reports Automatically to Boost Consistency
One of the most effective ways to build trust with clients and inspire them to read your reviews is to keep them consistent. You should also ensure your reports are delivered to your clients consistently on a monthly or weekly basis.
Fortunately, you do not need to send each report manually. That is where using an automated reporting tool is a godsend for all marketers. With these tools, you can set up your report to be sent weekly or monthly and the reporting tool will send it to a client automatically.
Over to You
Your SEO agency helps its clients improve their online presence and, in this way, grow their business faster. So, why not create weekly or monthly SEO reports that will highlight the amazing results you bring? By creating consistent, branded, easily digestible, and relevant SEO reports, you will improve trust and business relationships with clients and help them understand how their investments in SEO are impacting their bottom line.
How do you create relevant SEO reports? Let me know in the comment section below.
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