Most SEO agencies provide their clients with a monthly SEO report, and Australian Web Experts are no different.
Each and every month, our SEO reports showcase just how well our SEO campaigns are tracking and provide our clients with integral information. These important data points show our clients exactly what is happening across their SEO campaign.
SEO Reports Are Integral To Track Progress
An SEO report is integral to track the progress of your SEO campaign. A good SEO report will include information such as monthly organic traffic, Google analytics information, keyword rankings and other important information (that we outline below).
Without seeing these monthly progress reports, it is almost impossible to figure out how well your SEO campaign is tracking.
Let’s dive into the most important information that should be included in your monthly SEO report. As a side note, if your SEO company isn’t including these; you need to ask why.
A Quality SEO Report Template Includes:
Website Views/ Sessions
Typically imported from Google Analytics, your SEO report should outline website views and website sessions for the month. In addition to this, a SEO report will usually outline organic search traffic, and show you exactly where the website traffic is coming from.
On this note, it is important that SEO reports clearly show the traffic data source. For a business that is running other types of digital marketing – such as a PPC campaign – it can be tricky to understand just how well your organic keywords and organic traffic is performing.
This is why a SEO report produced by Australian Web Experts will always break down the specific traffic source – since reporting on SEO is exactly that; reporting on organic traffic and organic search improvements.
Keyword Tracking
Keyword tracking is highly important in SEO reporting. Every SEO report should outline your keyword rankings, and how they are progressing on a month to month basis.
In general, an SEO package or SEO campaign will be designed to increase the overall organic search presence of specific keywords. With that in mind, it is important for business owners to see how their keyword rankings are progressing each month.
Keyword rankings will typically jump from month to month, and sometimes they may even fluctuate downward. However, with the correct keyword tracking and keyword ranking report, business owners will be able to monitor the trend of their keywords overtime through their monthly SEO reports.
Backlink Monitoring
Link building is an important part of any SEO campaign or SEO strategy. If you are interested in reading more about backlinks, you can view our full backlink guide here.
Monitoring your backlink profile and your overall domain authority is integral. A quality SEO agency will always provide you with updates on your overall link acquisitions and new link placements in your monthly SEO report.
There are a bunch of reporting tools and SEO tools that agencies will use to relay this information to you through your SEO report. SEO tools like Ahrefs are perfect for communicating backlink data to business and website owners.
Google Search Console Data
Google Search Console data is an important data point that should be relayed to you through your SEO report.
In essence, Google Search Console will show business owners how well their website is performing in search engines and outline the keywords and search terms that are performing best in search results.
Google Search Console can provide other important information, such as the amount of daily impressions daily clicks your website is receiving, and top performing pieces of content.
This vital information provides a great understanding for any further enhancements that need to be made across your SEO campaign, and assists with your website resonating in search engines further.
Google My Business Data
Google My Business data is often not spoken about when it comes to SEO reports, however we believe that the perfect SEO report should include Google My Business data.
Particularly relevant for business owners pursuing local SEO, Google My Business (GMB) data provides important information such as monthly views, local pack impressions and even data such as calls and website clicks.
Since Google My Business is so closely linked to the overall success of a local businesses SEO campaign, we believe Google My Business data should be relayed to every SEO client.
Bounce Rates, Click Through Rates & Session Duration
It’s one thing to rank for your desired keywords, but it’s another thing to actually convert that website traffic into paying customers.
This is where click through rate and bounce rate information comes into play. Typically derived from tools such as Google Analytics, bounce rate, click through rate and session duration provides business owners and SEO companies with the information they need for further optimisations.
In scenarios where organic traffic and keyword rankings are increasing substantially, but the phone still isn’t ringing – you may have a conversion issue.
With this important information, your SEO strategy can be refined further and your overall SEO efforts can be further enhanced.
Monthly SEO Goals
It is best practice to include monthly SEO goals in an SEO report. If your SEO company isn’t including these SEO metrics in your report, it can be difficult to understand where your campaign is headed.
Monthly goals are typically outlined in your SEO report to show you exactly what is being done for the month ahead.
Whether it’s completing technical optimisations, such as site speed or building out important landing pages, you should be kept in the loop regarding the happenings of your SEO strategy for the month.
Monthly SEO goals and upcoming plans are something Australian Web Experts always include in an SEO report to all of our clients.
Campaign Wins & Progress Updates
Campaign wins and progress updates are vital to include in an SEO report. These integral pieces of information tie the SEO campaign together from month-to-month.
At Australian Web Experts, it doesn’t matter if it’s a huge keyword ranking increase, or a landing page that is delivering strongly; we always communicate these campaign wins to clients.
Since SEO can move slowly, and SEO is tied so closely to a business owner’s overall business goals, it is important to relay wins and performance to clients on a monthly basis.
If Your Agency Doesn’t Provide SEO Reports
If an SEO agency is unwilling to provide you with SEO reports, ideally on a monthly basis, they may not be delivering the work required. It is integral to ensure you are receiving SEO reports to track the progress of your campaign.
Some SEO companies rely on the naivety of small business owners who don’t understand the jargon or information they should be receiving on a monthly basis.
While we hope you don’t fall into the trap of working with a SEO company like this, we recommend checking out these warning signs, since not providing clients with monthly reports is definitely a red flag.
Understanding Campaign Metrics
If you’re a business owner that’s new to working with SEO companies, or new to receiving SEO reports, it is important to take the time to understand the information included in your monthly SEO report.
Each data point provides you with important information to track the overall health and progress of your SEO campaign.
Without an understanding of these important campaign metrics, it can be nearly impossible to see if you are receiving an ROI on your SEO efforts.
SEO Reports Should Be Delivered On Time
A reputable SEO agency, like Australian Web Experts, will deliver SEO reports on time, every single month. Typically speaking, we provide our clients with SEO reports on their monthly SEO renewal date.
The information provided in our SEO reports is vital to check the health of a businesses overall SEO strategy, and if they aren’t delivered on time to each client, critical performance information can be missed.
If you’re in a position where you have to follow your agency up for SEO reports and updates, you may be dealing with a rogue agency or an agency that isn’t willing to provide you with an overview of their SEO work.
24/7 SEO Reporting By Australian Web Experts
At Australian Web Experts, we don’t just deep dive into a campaigns performance once a month – we provide all SEO clients with 24/7 access to their campaign overview and dashboard.
With this 24/7 campaign dashboard, our SEO clients can access their reporting at any time of the day. This allows our clients to keep track of the work being completed on their website, organic traffic data, backlink information, domain authority, conversion rate and more.
Our 24/7 SEO reporting is just one of the many differences that make our SEO team stand out from the crowd. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any further questions on SEO or SEO reporting for your business.
