How to Create an Actionable SEO Report for Clients

How to Create an Actionable SEO Report

If you are creating a SEO report for your client from scratch, it is going to take a lot of work, so be prepared. There are a few steps you should follow to create a comprehensive and actionable SEO report for your client:

Identify Objectives

Of course, the main goal of SEO is to improve ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). But your client may be looking to boost engagement or conversions. You need to determine your clients goals, before you start focusing on the report.

This is often discussed during your first consultation, providing you with a guide to determine the best tools to use in your reporting. Remember, Google Search Console focuses on search visibility data, while Google Analytics focuses on customer-focus, such as measuring bounce rates and session duration.

Select Metrics and KPIs

With you clients goals in mind, you are able to identify what metrics and KPIs you should be tracking. This can include:

• Website traffic – number of organic visitors, traffic by channel, and number of sessions
• Engagement – bounce rate, pages per session, and session duration
• Conversions – cost per acquisition, click through rate, conversion rate
• Keywords – keyword ranking, search visibility, and indexed pages
• Backlinks – number of backlinks, referring domain numbers, authority of referring domains

Technical SEO

The clients website health isn't only determined by keyword and backlinks, you need to identify technical SEO issues and fix them to boost performance. It's not uncommon for this to confuse your clients, as most people don't realise SEO involves behind the scenes work. Provides reporting on:

• Website speed
• Broken links
• Mobile friendliness
• Crawl errors

Take the time to explain how each of these metrics are impacting their website ranking.

Keyword Rankings

Most clients want to drive as much organic traffic to their website as possible, which is why examining the ranking process is important.

Identifying the most valuable keywords and showing your client how their pages rank for them is an important step in the reporting process. The report should highlight the importance of short-tail and long-tail keywords.

Return on Investment

All actionable SEO reports have a section that is dedicated to ROI. It's unavoidable, as your client wants to see results. You can identify the costs associated with the campaign, along with any additional costs. Ensue you highlight the metrics that will impact their bottom line, such as:

• Conversion data
• Number of leads
• Value of each conversion

Backlinks

Link building is an important part of any effective SEO strategy and should be included in your actionable SEO report. Provide a clear picture of the websites backlink profile, including:

• Total number of backlinks
• Authority of referring domains
• Acquired and lost links
• Anchor text

Keep it Simple

It's essential you keep the SEO report as simple as possible, making it easy for your client t navigate and understand. Ensure your report includes a summary of key insights, a breakdown of activities completed and a new action plan, along with results or red flags that need to be addressed.

Conclusion

Creating an actionable SEO report is a time consuming process, but when you get it right, it's worth the effort. A good report will keep your client engaged, ensuring they continue to use your services. If you need an actionable SEO report for your website, get in touch with the talented Genie Crawl team now, taking advantage of our free evaluation and quote.