An effective SEO report template will help marketers track their search marketing efforts, keep tabs on the performance of their content and keywords, and assist in illustrating potential optimization opportunities. The highlighted analytics within an SEO marketing report should be aligned with existing keyword strategies, with each metric connected to a meaningful objective and/or outcome.
SEO is the holy-grail for most businesses because…who doesn’t like “free” traffic?! Of course, any SEO marketer will tell you that organic traffic comes with a lot of strategy and work behind the scenes; it rarely just magically happens. In fact, agencies and brands in the U.S. pay close to $80 billion annually on SEO services. Whether it’s on-page, off-page, qualitative or quantitative, agencies and their clients know that search marketing and SEO are critical components to a successful digital marketing strategy. And there are a multitude of SEO reporting tools for agencies and brands that can help monitor, track and measure these critical data points. Since SEO is so reliant on performance analytics, SEO reporting is an essential step in visualizing the value of search, optimizing campaigns, and informing strategy.
There are many data points to consider when building an SEO marketing report. It’s important to keep dashboards and reports free of cognitive challenges and focused only on the performance metrics that inspire marketers to take action.
Start your SEO Report with a high level summary of the most important KPIs for search marketers. Some metrics that are commonly used to measure SEO performance:
Report on the same metrics consistently so you can show the change each time you build a new report. You might use a scorecard to present the core KPIs, a graph to show the traffic trend over time–a great way to help the reader visualize progress.
Pull back a layer and show the specific keywords that are drawing the most clicks and traffic. Carefully analyzing this data can help you make critical optimization decisions. For example, if you notice Keyword A has a high volume of impressions and is ranked in position 2, but the CTR is close to zero, you might deduce that the copy appearing on the search page needs a rewrite. Make sure the preview copy is well-written, aligned to the keyword intent and has a compelling call to action included.
Data visualization can help with report comprehension. Plotting the impressions and clicks of a few of the top keywords in a graph can really bring the insights to life. A simple donut chart to illustrate the breakout of branded vs. non-branded keywords can provide at-a-glance understanding.
Round out your SEO Report with a listing of the top pages on your site that are attracting organic traffic. This helps draw the connection between the keyword strategy and actual traffic results. Don’t forget to provide context to your report with qualitative insights and narrative throughout.
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