SEO reporting is almost akin to building client relationship. A business that reports regularly will be able to explain the results of the activities and provide a clear roadmap that aligns with clients’ SEO objectives. The value of a consistent, high-quality SEO report will give you a solid foundation for building relationships and will help you retain clients in the long run.
Like everything else, consistent results require a roadmap. A well-thought-out process informs a robust digital marketing plan and helps to identify which efforts are driving results and where improvements need to be made. In addition, it ensures service providers are right for every client every time.
However, not all reporting insights are the same, and each client is unique, so it is important to demonstrate expertise through presentation of metrics to each client’s needs. These insights are also important for local SEO reporting, but it is more regional in nature. The following insights are usually the most important to remember and share with clients.
Organic traffic
Considered by many to be the single most important metric for SEO, tracking organic traffic will help you understand how your SEO strategies are working. This section of the report gives a client an indication of which of their web pages is getting the most organic traffic.
Conversion rate
Identify what site visitors are searching for on your client’s site to increase conversion rates. The insights on which pages are driving most and least conversions, along with the rationale behind the hypothesis, should be the focus of the report. Customer conversion rate is one of your clients’ top priorities, so it should be at the forefront of the report along with organic traffic.
Top performing pages
Page traffic analysis gives the client insight into what content is resonating with their customers. This provides clients with an opportunity to optimize low-performing pages using a template to work off of their higher performing pages. An analysis of top performing pages in your SEO reporting will reveal trends over time with respect to what visitors are clicking on.
Page speed
According to ThinkWithGoogle, the likelihood of a customer returning to a web page decreases by 32 percent when the page’s loading time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds. Page loading speed is important, and it’s easy to slow it down. There are a number of factors that can slow down loading time, such as the size of an image or video file, the host of the website, and the type of page.
Bounce rate
Your clients want to know the length of time customers stay on your page. If they land on your page and then leave immediately, that’s telling a story. Generally speaking, high bounce rates can be avoided. If people stay on your page, it’s a good sign that the information they’re looking for is relevant. Instead of creating pages with lots of content, focus on creating pages that have lots of other links that help visitors find the content they’ve actually come to the site for.
Keyword rankings
Keyword rankings should include keywords and ranking on SERPs. It is important to monitor keyword rankings on a weekly basis as a tool to identify what could be the source of any traffic fluctuations as this could be related to search volume. The average keyword ranking position will provide a historical trend line for keyword rankings that will provide clients with a larger picture. Comparing month to month trends will reveal any dips in traffic as well as keyword ranking. Comparing the same month in SEO reporting will provide the client with a more accurate view of what to expect. This could include lulls in traffic during the holiday season or summer and traffic escalation in big months in the client’s industry.
Backlink profile
The link quality is the most critical part of your backlink profile. Make sure to include a table of all links created in your SEO report so you can show your client which pages are linked to their site. When you’re building backlinks for your clients, you’ll want to be able to demonstrate the quality of your links. Domain authority (DA) is the best way to do this. Use a tool such as Ahrefs to figure out the DA of your sites before beginning your link-building process.
