A Beginner’s Guide to SEO Reporting

How are you going to show to your boss, shopper, or different stakeholders that you simply’re not losing your time along with your search engine optimization efforts? One of the simplest ways is to share common search engine optimization experiences with them that observe the efficiency of your search engine optimization marketing campaign.

search engine optimization reporting mixes insights, actions, knowledge, technique, and communication all into one doc. It appears like so much to soak up—however as soon as the fundamentals, you’ll have the ability to report on search engine optimization in your sleep.

On this newbie’s article, I’ll cowl the fundamentals of reporting for search engine optimization and present you what to incorporate in your search engine optimization experiences.

So what makes a very good search engine optimization report?

Previously ten years, I’ve created and skim many experiences, and I’ve observed one factor: one of the best search engine optimization experiences are data-led, actionable, and persuasive.

1. Knowledge-led

Good search engine optimization experiences are grounded in high-quality data. You must get as near the “fact” as potential. The excellent news is which you can get all the knowledge you want from three free instruments.

2. Actionable

Studies have to result in helpful actions. Put your self within the sneakers of your stakeholders—they’ll anticipate you to supply an motion for each perception you uncover.

Listed below are a number of widespread examples:

3. Persuasive

If you wish to have interaction your boss or shopper in search engine optimization, you should be persuasive in your search engine optimization reporting.

Aristotle most likely isn’t the primary individual you assume can assist you with search engine optimization reporting, however an Aristotelian triangle is an efficient reminder of what to contemplate if you wish to make your experiences extra persuasive. 

• Pathos: use logical reasoning, info, and knowledge to current water-tight arguments. Use search engine optimization instruments to again up your reasoning.
• Ethos: set up your credibility and ethics by means of outcomes. Should you work with different shoppers in an identical {industry}, you need to use this to assist set up your credibility. If you wish to make modifications on the web site, share quotes from Google’s Search Essentials to point out that what you might be suggesting is a part of SEO best practices
• Logos: make your experiences inform a narrative. If opponents have sturdy efficiency, use it to set off your shopper into motion

Lastly, use excessive modality language. It sounds sophisticated, however if you write your report, keep in mind to make use of larger modality phrases like “would” and “will” as an alternative of decrease modality phrases like “might” and “would possibly” if you assume one thing is definite or doubtless.

For instance:

Should you’ve been requested to create a daily search engine optimization report, it’s exhausting to know what to incorporate for those who haven’t made one earlier than.

search engine optimization experiences might be introduced in numerous codecs: spreadsheets, dashboards, and Phrase paperwork, however often, the preferred format is slides. Select no matter format you assume most accurately fits your shopper or boss.

To start out your report, break it down into sections and decide which elements are essentially the most related to the web site you’re reporting on.

Listed below are a very powerful issues it’s best to embody in your report:

That is the primary part I might have in my report, but it surely’s additionally the final one I write (it’s exhausting to summarize the important thing factors of a whole report for those who haven’t but created it).

Govt summaries are designed for senior stakeholders who don’t have time to flick by means of an extended report. They wish to know a very powerful factors. So it’s essential to preserve this part simple to grasp.

In bullet factors, an govt abstract summarizes the important thing factors from your entire report.

Natural visitors and analytics knowledge give a fowl’s eye view of a web site’s efficiency over time. This knowledge is commonly visualized in a graph close to the beginning of many search engine optimization experiences.

Most search engine optimization experiences visualize efficiency utilizing GSC, GA, or Ahrefs’ Overview knowledge. This knowledge might be displayed as a screenshot or exported and changed into a chart.

Right here’s an instance of evaluating Google Search Console (GSC) clicks yr over yr (YoY). You should utilize GSC when reporting on a website you personal or have entry to the GSC profile.

And right here’s one other instance of Site Explorer Overview displaying YoY efficiency:

Should you can’t get entry to GSC or GA, then Ahrefs can present your web site’s search engine optimization efficiency over time. That is helpful for monitoring opponents’ Natural visitors efficiency.

The important thing level you wish to talk at this stage is the web site’s whole efficiency over time. Is the motion constructive, unfavourable, or someplace in between? And, crucially, what does this imply for the web site?

Subsequent to the chart, present a number of traces of commentary on the efficiency.

For instance:

• Natural visitors is up 5.5% MoM however down 3% YoY
• Natural visitors was larger than anticipated this month. This is because of {motive}
• There was a Google algorithm update at {date} that impacted our natural search visitors

When you’ve established the state of natural visitors, the subsequent process is to dig into the key phrase rankings to grasp which key phrases are driving essentially the most visitors.

Shoppers or stakeholders not often wish to see all the tracked key phrase rankings for his or her website.

Often, they wish to see:

• Winner and loser key phrases from the time interval – which key phrases improved and which declined?
• A key phrase place unfold – for instance, XX key phrases rank in positions 1-5, XX place rank in positions 6-10)

You should utilize varied keyword tracking tools to do that, however you’ll want a software like Rank Tracker to repeatedly observe your key phrase rankings.

Let’s see how we will embody these components in our report utilizing Rank Tracker.

To search out key phrases which have improved:

• Head to Place
• Choose Improved

To view loser key phrases, repeat the method however choose Declined.

After getting exported the key phrases, you may current them in a easy desk and add a bullet level commentary. 

To see a key phrase place unfold, choose a time interval, then click on on the Positions tab, and it’ll present what number of key phrases rank in every place.

You’ll be able to visualize this in a chart over time like beneath, or you may take a screenshot from Ahrefs and embody it in your report. 

On the identical dashboard, you will get the headline metrics like share of voice, common place, and SERP options.

Should you’ve dabbled in search engine optimization, you’ll know that hyperlinks are a reasonably large deal for search engine optimization. So, how do you report on them in an search engine optimization report?

search engine optimization shoppers and stakeholders often wish to know two issues:

• The variety of exterior hyperlinks you acquired through the time interval
• The standard of these hyperlinks

Fortunately, Ahrefs’ Site Explorer can assist you report on each components.

However earlier than we dive an excessive amount of into the main points, let’s see how we will get an summary of the final calendar month.

To do this:

• Head to Calendar on the sidebar
• Click on on the Referring domains tab
• Test Dofollow
• Finest hyperlinks: Solely

You would embody a screenshot of this heatmap in your report to supply a normal overview of the final time interval.

To search out the variety of hyperlinks acquired from the final calendar interval, do the next in Site Explorer:

• Choose Dofollow
• Choose New
• Set the time interval (I’ve used the final 30 days, however you need to use a customized vary to get the precise dates for the earlier month)

When you’ve added these settings, you may see we’ve acquired 3,446 domains throughout this era.

If we wish to spotlight the standard of any of the hyperlinks, we will do that within the report as nicely. Simply scroll right down to see all of the domains.

Right here’s an instance of a high-quality link Ahrefs.com acquired throughout this era. It has a site ranking (DR) of 93. That is the kind of hyperlink that will be value sharing in an search engine optimization report.

As soon as we’ve proven this is a vital hyperlink, the primary query stakeholders would possibly ask is, what’s the Washington Put up linking to on Ahrefs?

If we click on on that hyperlink, we see they’re linking to our SEO basics article.

This could be a priceless perception to share within the search engine optimization report as a result of it exhibits that this sort of content material is able to incomes high-quality hyperlinks.

Enterprise circumstances for creating new content material might be exhausting at one of the best of instances. By highlighting high-quality hyperlinks in your search engine optimization report, the worth of content material turns into extra apparent to stakeholders, and so they’ll be extra inclined to extend funding in search engine optimization.

In addition to reporting on hyperlinks you’ve acquired, it’s worthwhile to report on hyperlinks you’ve misplaced.

Typically, you may lose hyperlinks unintentionally by making website modifications. You’ll be able to report on this utilizing Ahrefs’ Damaged backlinks report.

We will see that Ahrefs has a damaged backlink from Neil Patel… alas.

Reporting on technical search engine optimization is commonly tougher than it appears to be like. For SEOs, it’s simple to get misplaced within the particulars, however most stakeholders aren’t as within the particulars as you might be and simply wish to know one factor: is their website in good technical well being?

To reply this query, you may run a Site Audit crawl and test the website health score.

Site Audit scores your web site from 0-100 after the crawl primarily based on its technical search engine optimization well being standing. If the rating is low, it means there are some technical points to be fastened.

In addition to working a Web site Audit crawl, you may test in GSC to see if there are any technical points with web page indexing or web page expertise (like core web vitals or HTTPs).

Often, if the whole lot is ok, there isn’t any have to report on it. Until your stakeholder or shopper is technically targeted, retaining the technical a part of your report as concise as potential is finest.

Should you create content material repeatedly, assessing its efficiency in your search engine optimization reporting is vital—in any other case, you received’t know whether or not you might be losing your time.

In my expertise, relating to content material, stakeholders wish to know:

• What the best-performing content material was through the time interval
• What natural visitors it drives
• What alternatives exist within the content material area

For smaller content material tasks which have lower than 1000 URLs, you need to use Portfolios to trace these key phrases.

I take advantage of Portfolios myself to trace the efficiency of my articles in Ahrefs.

When you’ve arrange your Portfolio, head to the High pages report and click on on Evaluate pages. On this web page, you will get a very good visible screenshot to share in your report of content material efficiency, or if you would like, you may Export the information and chart it your self in a spreadsheet.

Along with reporting in your website’s efficiency, it will probably additionally assist to report in your competitor’s efficiency.

This provides stakeholders a greater understanding of the digital panorama they’re working in: who they’ll compete with in SERPs, and who they need to look to for inspiration.

You are able to do this in 30 seconds by heading to Site Explorer and typing in your competitor within the search bar.

Then click on on the Natural opponents report, and also you’ll get an summary of the highest opponents in your area.

If you wish to add particular opponents, you are able to do so utilizing the Customized tab.

This report is useful because it offers you a client-friendly visible illustration of your opponents’ efficiency. However extra importantly, it exhibits your opponents’ key phrases and their overlap with your personal website, serving to you to make strategic search engine optimization selections to outrank them.

Within the search engine optimization report, I might screenshot the highest half to incorporate in my report after which export the information from the underside half of the desk to filter out the extra detailed data that will curiosity the stakeholders.

Ahrefs makes it simple to seek out issues to enhance in its Alternatives report. This report can establish content material, hyperlinks, and technical alternatives in a single click on.

Right here’s an instance of the content material alternatives it will probably discover:

• Low-hanging fruit key phrases: exhibits key phrases between positions 4-15 in Site Explorer that might be simple to rank for.
• Featured snippets: exhibits key phrases between positions 2-8 in Site Explorer the place the goal doesn’t rank for a featured snippet
• High options from Content material hole: exhibits key phrases that the goal’s high 10 opponents rank for, however the goal doesn’t
• Content material with declining visitors: exhibits pages with declining visitors within the final six months that would do with an replace
• Pages solely printed as soon as: exhibits outdated pages which have low visitors which may want an replace

Should you work by means of this report, it’s simple to identify alternatives for the web site you’re reporting on which you can share with stakeholders.

Lastly, most search engine optimization experiences will share an replace on the progress of their search engine optimization marketing campaign: the work that’s been accomplished thus far, the subsequent levels of the method, and the milestones you intention to hit.

One of the simplest ways to do that is to share progress by means of an SEO roadmap Gantt chart displaying your whole search engine optimization marketing campaign.

Somewhat than messing round with a spreadsheet, I often head to Canva and use one in every of their premade templates.

However if you wish to go down the spreadsheet route, you need to use our Google Sheets template.

You’ll be able to rapidly adapt these templates in your functions, giving stakeholders a good suggestion of what work has been carried out on the account and what’s coming subsequent.

Remaining ideas

search engine optimization experiences are vital as they act as your digital paper path, documenting your progress to the highest of Google. With out them, it may be exhausting to show all of the work you’ve put in to get to the primary spot.

However for a lot of shoppers, search engine optimization is only one small ingredient within the advertising and marketing combine. They aren’t as within the trivia of search engine optimization as you might be. So, if you wish to win your shoppers over on the worth of search engine optimization, present them the chance, attraction to their feelings, and floor your selections in industry-trusted knowledge—like Ahrefs.

Acquired extra questions? Ping me on X. 🙂