How to Create an Effective SEO Report in 2024 (+ Free Template)

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SEO reporting is captious for knowing however good your integrated hunt efforts are working. It helps you place trends, opportunities, and issues with your processes. 

But reporting tin beryllium complex. 

From structuring your SEO reports to selecting metrics and gathering data, determination is simply a batch to fig out. 

We’ll research these processes beneath to assistance you rapidly physique insightful SEO reports. Whether it’s for your clients oregon interior stakeholders.

What Is an SEO Report?

An SEO study is an overview of selected metrics that exemplify a website’s show successful hunt results. These metrics see organic traffic, backlinks, keyword rankings, and more.

The study lets you way however your SEO strategies perform. And wherever determination are areas for improvement. 

SEO reports travel successful antithetic forms. You tin nutrient them successful PDFs and descent decks. Like this:

Traffic Summary descent  successful  SEO study  example

Or usage spreadsheets and written documents:

Backlink Report created successful  Google Docs showing backlink-related charts and data

You tin besides nutrient automated SEO information dashboards utilizing SEO reporting tools similar Semrush oregon Google Looker Studio

Semrush PDF SEO study  showing website information  charts

You mightiness nutrient SEO reports connected a weekly, monthly, oregon adjacent quarterly basis. Although galore businesses opt for monthly reporting. 

Regardless of their signifier and reporting frequency, SEO reports thin to incorporate respective cardinal sections, including:

  • Executive summary: A high-level overview of the report’s findings
  • Traffic summary: Details connected the quantity, quality, and sources of tract traffic
  • Keyword rankings: Data connected which keywords the tract ranks for
  • Conversions: Data connected however overmuch postulation leads to sales/signups/other conversions
  • Backlinks: Details connected the fig and prime of outer links pointing to the site
  • Content: The investigation of which contented pieces thrust postulation oregon conversions and why
  • Technical SEO: Overview of tract speed, mobile responsiveness, and different method issues that interaction SEO
  • Recommended actions: Tailored recommendations to amended SEO show going forward

SEO reports whitethorn besides see information visualizations. As graphs, charts, and tables tin assistance marque analyzable SEO information easier to understand. Especially for clients oregon stakeholders who whitethorn not beryllium acquainted with the concept.

Like this graph, which illustrates a alteration successful “good” URLs from a idiosyncratic acquisition perspective. Even if the lawsuit isn’t acquainted with Core Web Vitals, it’s reasonably wide determination is an contented to fix.

Site Audit Core Web Vitals barroom  illustration  successful  SEO report

Why SEO Reporting Is Important 

Regular SEO reporting is important due to the fact that it enables you to:

  • Quickly place and respond to postulation dips oregon keyword ranking losses
  • Demonstrate the ROI of SEO efforts 
  • Advocate for a bigger budget
  • Identify which contented formats and types execute best
  • Monitor tract method wellness to guarantee optimal performance
  • Keep way of rival performance

Regular SEO reporting makes it overmuch easier for everyone progressive successful a task to recognize what’s working, what isn’t working, and what tasks should beryllium prioritized.

If you’re moving with clients, it provides an easy digestible mode to exemplify the benefits of your work.

And if you’re dealing with stakeholders, it lets you warrant higher fund allocations for high-value tasks.

How to Create an SEO Report

Creating an SEO study is simply a multi-step process. It involves choosing the close metrics, gathering data, and producing the report. And you whitethorn adjacent take to automate SEO reporting. 

Let’s screen each measurement successful detail. 

1. Choose the Right SEO Metrics

You tin see galore SEO metrics successful your reporting. But you should see those that substance astir to your institution oregon clients. To debar making other enactment for yourself. And overwhelming those that volition work the report.

The enactment of metrics depends connected which goals you pursue. For example, if your SEO efforts are focused connected acquiring backlinks, your reporting volition see the fig of backlinks acquired successful a circumstantial period. 

Here are immoderate foundational metrics you’ll apt privation to see arsenic standard: 

Organic clicks: The fig of times searchers click connected a website’s leafage served successful integrated hunt results. This metric measures the postulation driven by hunt and shows the effectiveness of your SEO efforts.

Click-through complaint (CTR): The percent of searchers who click connected a website aft seeing it look successful hunt results. CTR helps you recognize however charismatic your pages are for searchers, indicating imaginable areas to amended title tags oregon meta descriptions (as these tin interaction CTR). 

Conversion rate: The percent of visitors who completed a desired enactment connected a site, specified arsenic a acquisition oregon a newsletter signup. This metric shows the effectiveness of tract postulation successful driving actions that interaction the company’s bottommost line. 

Infographic comparing fig   of visitors to the fig   of visitors that convert

Keyword rankings: The positions of a website’s pages successful hunt results for circumstantial keywords. These rankings amusement the visibility of your contented and pages connected hunt engines, which straight impacts integrated clicks.

Backlinks: Links from outer websites that constituent to your site. Getting high-quality backlinks tin boost your site’s authorization and amended your hunt rankings. 

Diagram illustrating interior   links wrong   a website, outer  links from your website to an outer  website, and backlinks from an outer  website to your website.

Site Health: A postulation of metrics that measurement however secure, casual to use, and optimized your tract is. Tracking this metric ensures that you tin spot and hole technical, crawling, and indexing issues fast. 

Authority Score: Semrush’s proprietary metric that measures the wide prime of your website oregon a webpage based connected the prime and quantity of backlinks, integrated traffic, and different indicators. Tracking this people helps you recognize the competitory spot of your website compared to different sites. 

2. Gather Data

Gathering SEO information involves utilizing respective antithetic tools. Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) assistance with gathering close postulation and conversion data. While Semrush tin assistance with tracking keywords, backlinks, and galore different metrics. 

Google Search Console: Track Organic Clicks and Average CTR

GSC is simply a escaped instrumentality you tin usage to way your site’s integrated clicks and mean click-through complaint (CTR), among different things. Average CTR is the percent of a page’s appearances successful hunt results that extremity up successful a idiosyncratic click.

To commencement information collection, travel the instructions successful our guide to GSC to acceptable up your property. 

Then, participate your GSC account. And navigate to “Search results” nether the “Performance” tab.

Then tick the “Total clicks” and “Average CTR” boxes astatine the top. Set the reporting timeframe successful the “Date” box. 

Then, click “Pages” successful the little main dashboard. 

Google Search Console dashboard with Search Results study  unfastened  and “Date” box, “Total clicks”, “Average CTR”, and “Pages” highlighted

You’ll present beryllium capable to spot the integrated clicks and mean CTR of your pages implicit a fixed period. 

Click “Export” astatine the apical close country to extract this information successful respective formats, specified arsenic Excel, Google Sheets, and CSV, and bash further analysis. 

With this data, you tin amusement your clients oregon in-house stakeholders that your SEO efforts effect successful accrued integrated visits from the people audience. And that peculiarly important pages, similar merchandise oregon pricing pages, are getting much visits, too.

And if clicks are decreasing to cardinal pages, you tin easy exemplify which parts of the website they should allocate much fund toward.

Google Analytics: Track Visits and Site Interactions

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is different escaped instrumentality from Google. This clip for tracking visits and interactions connected websites and apps. It besides provides insights into postulation sources, postulation numbers, and more. 

You tin usage GA4 to show and study connected conversion rates arsenic well. 

First, you’ll request to set up GA4 and conversion tracking

Once your GA4 is up and running, click “Reports” > “Engagement” > “Landing page” from the left-hand navigation bar.

Google Analytics dashboard navigation with “Reports” icon, “Engagement”, and “Landing page” highlighted

You’ll present scope the main “Landing page” dashboard. Click the day scope settings successful the precocious close country to alteration the day for which GA4 displays data. 

The “Landing page” file displays the leafage path. And the “Key events” file displays conversions, called cardinal events successful GA4. At the apical of this column, you’ll find the full fig of conversions for your site. While beneath that are conversion figures for each idiosyncratic page. 

GA4 landing leafage   study  with Date Range box, “Landing page” column, and “Key events” file  highlighted

You tin besides click connected the “All events” fastener astatine the apical of the “Key events” file to prime a peculiar benignant of conversion’s information to display. Here, you’ll find a database of each the conversion events you person antecedently created. 

All events dropdown paper   clicked and highlighted

You whitethorn besides privation to presumption conversions from a peculiar postulation source, specified arsenic integrated search. This tin rapidly amusement clients oregon stakeholders however your SEO efforts construe into results for the business. 

To acceptable this up, click the “Add filter +” button. 

Then, prime “Session default transmission group” arsenic your Dimension and “exactly matches” arsenic the “Match Type.”

Then, prime “Organic Search” from the database of postulation sources listed successful the “Value” box. And past click “Apply” to person GA4 show lone postulation and conversion information coming from integrated search. 

Add filter fastener  clicked and highlighted, Build filter sidebar showing, and arrow pointing to Apply button

Export oregon stock this information by clicking the “Share this report” fastener astatine the apical close corner. To transportation retired further investigation and to adhd it to your SEO report. 

Share fastener  clicked and Share options successful  sidebar highlighted

Organic Traffic Insights: Find ‘Not Provided’ Keywords

GA4 offers precise constricted information connected the keywords that thrust integrated clicks to your site. For privateness reasons, astir of these keywords are marked arsenic “not provided.” 

Not provided keyword enactment      successful  Google Analytics report

But what if you privation to harvester leafage URLs, the keywords that thrust postulation to them, and leafage engagement metrics into a azygous SEO reporting dashboard? 

That’s wherever Semrush’s Organic Traffic Insights instrumentality helps by doing each of those things automatically.

To start, caput to the tool, participate your domain name, and click “Get Insights.” 

Semrush Organic Traffic Insights instrumentality   start

Follow the instructions successful the instrumentality to link your Google account. Once you get access, prime the properties you privation to link. 

Organic Traffic Insights settings popup with Google relationship  connected

Once connected, your Organic Traffic Insights run volition show each of your website’s analytics and data. 

Organic Search Traffic study  showing metrics overview and Landing pages table

You tin present find each the keywords, including “not provided” ones, that thrust postulation to peculiar pages.

Do this by clicking connected the numbers nether the Semrush and GSC columns for each leafage URL.

Landing leafage   study  showing sessions illustration  and keywords table

You tin past export each of this information for further investigation successful your SEO reports.

Organic Research & Position Tracking: Check Keyword Rankings 

You whitethorn besides privation to way your site’s full and leafage level keyword rankings. Knowing which pages execute good helps you recognize however good your SEO strategy is performing. You whitethorn besides spot underperforming pages that necessitate your attention.

And galore brands find it important to way the show of idiosyncratic keywords arsenic well. For example, buyer intent keywords tin thrust important revenue. And losing these keyword rankings could importantly interaction your bottommost line. 

Semrush tin assistance cod each of this data. So you tin enactment connected apical of ranking drops and capitalize connected gains.

First, caput to the Organic Research tool. Enter your URL into the hunt bar, prime your location, and click “Search.” 

Organic Research instrumentality   commencement  with domain entered and Search fastener  highlighted

On the main dashboard, the “Organic Keyword Trends” graph shows however galore keywords your tract ranks for successful full implicit a fixed clip period. Click connected the “Pages” tab next.

Organic Research Overview study  with Pages tab highlighted

In the “Keywords” column, you’ll spot the fig of keywords that idiosyncratic pages fertile for. 

Organic Pages study  with Keywords file  highlighted

The Position Tracking tool, meanwhile, lets you way your show for circumstantial keywords. 

To start, participate your domain and click the “Set up tracking” button. 

Position Tracking commencement  with domain entered and Set up   tracking fastener  highlighted

Next, participate the hunt motor and instrumentality benignant that astir of your tract visitors use. You tin besides specify your business’ determination and name. When you’re ready, click “Continue To Keywords.” 

New Position Tracking Campaign Targeting configuration

On the adjacent screen, participate the keywords you privation to way positions for. And click “Add keywords to campaign.” 

Check the container to person play ranking updates and click “Start Tracking.” 

Adding keywords to New Position Tracking Campaign with arrow pointing to Start Tracking button

You’ll past spot the default “Landscape” dashboard displaying wide metrics and a summary of your keyword performance. 

Head to the “Overview” tab. 

Landscape study  showing with Overview tab highlighted

In this report, you’ll spot your keywords, their ranking positions, and immoderate changes successful positions implicit time. 

Rankings Overview array  with Keyword and Positions columns highlighted

You whitethorn notice, for example, that your caller contented updates person boosted the show of circumstantial keywords. Which you tin usage arsenic grounds of your strategies moving successful your report.

If you spot ranking drops, you tin past analyse wherefore that happened and see your findings to warrant assets allocation.

Semrush’s Backlink Analytics instrumentality is simply a almighty backlink checker. Use it to cheque caller and mislaid referring domains and backlinks. 

To start, unfastened the tool, participate your domain, and click “Analyze.” 

Backlink Analytics instrumentality   commencement  with domain entered and Analyze fastener  highlighted

You’ll past scope the “Overview” dashboard. Scroll down and you’ll find respective charts that amusement the full fig of your referring domains and backlinks implicit time. And however galore you gained oregon lost.

Backlink information  charts

To get much granular details, navigate to the “Backlinks” tab.

There, you’ll find backlink URLs, their Authority Scores (a awesome of their wide prime connected a standard from 0 to 100), the anchor text for each backlink, and different details. 

Backlinks array  with 'Page AS', 'Source leafage   Title and URL', and 'Anchor and Target URL' columns highlighted

Filter these backlinks by assorted parameters. Like Authority Score, their existent presumption (active, new, and lost), the day they were acquired, and the nexus benignant (like “follow” and “nofollow”). 

Filter options successful  Backlinks array  highlighted

Now, caput to the “Referring Domains” tab to get much details connected the domains that nexus to your website.

Once there, scroll down until you spot a database of the referring domains. 

Referring Domains array  with AS column, the Backlinks column, and the All/Active/New/Lost tab highlighted

You tin present spot the Authority Score of each domain. Along with however galore backlinks constituent to your tract from each one. 

Perhaps you precocious invested successful link-building efforts and present announcement a important uptick successful the fig of backlinks. That’s a occurrence worthy mentioning successful your SEO report.

Site Audit: Check Site Health

Monitoring your tract wellness is important for identifying and fixing method issues. Semrush’s Site Audit instrumentality helps with that by moving a website wellness cheque that reviews 140+ factors. From however casual it is for hunt engines to crawl your tract to however accelerated it loads.

To cheque your site’s health, tally an SEO audit. 

In the tool, participate the domain you privation to analyse and click “Start Audit.”

Site Audit commencement  with domain entered and Start Audit fastener  highlighted

Configure your audit settings and click “Start Site Audit.” 

Site Audit settings configuration measurement   with Start Site Audit fastener  highlighted

When your audit is ready, you’ll spot an overview report. 

You’ll find your “Site Health” people successful the apical near portion of the page. This people is calculated based connected the fig and severity of issues recovered connected your site.

Site Audit Overview study  with Site Health conception  highlighted

There’s besides the “Thematic Reports” conception successful the middle. Click “View details” nether antithetic contented categories for much elaborate reports. 

Thematic Reports conception  highlighted successful  Site Audit Overview study  with View details fastener  nether  Crawlability highlighted

For example, here’s what the crawlability study looks like:

Crawlability report

Go to the “Issues” tab to get a database of each the errors, warnings, and notices affecting your site. 

Site Audit Issues tab selected and highlighted

When you’ve fixed each the issues you can, click “Rerun campaign” successful the apical close country to spot your caller tract wellness result. 

Site Audit study  with arrow pointing to Rerun run  fastener  successful  the upper-right portion  of the window

You tin transportation retired this benignant of audit each month, either manually oregon by automating it via the settings. And study immoderate issues and applied fixes successful your SEO reporting. 

Backlink Analytics: Check Website Authority 

Website authorization is simply a measurement of a domain’s credibility and spot successful the eyes of Google. The hunt motor mightiness not person its ain explicit scoring strategy to measurement this. But there’s nary uncertainty that however authoritative your website is matters for ranking.

Semrush’s mentation of website authorization is called Authority Score (AS). 

Having a precocious AS means your domain is much apt to fertile for competitory keywords. 

To recognize your website’s authority, caput to the Backlink Analytics tool. 

Enter your domain, and click “Analyze.” 

Backlink Analytics commencement  with domain entered and Analyze fastener  highlighted

You’ll present scope the main “Overview” dashboard that displays your existent AS, AS people trend, and web graph. Which illustrates the spot of your backlink profile. 

Backlink Overview report

A higher AS means your tract is much apt to fertile for competitory keywords. And tin much efficaciously vie against different authoritative sites. Which tin construe into much postulation and revenue-generating conversions. 

Making this a utile metric to see successful your SEO report.

3. Build Your SEO Report

You astir apt took notes of insights, wins, and issues arsenic you gathered your SEO data. Now is the clip to crook these into a cohesive SEO report. 

Here are immoderate tips to guarantee your SEO reports are packed with value:

Use a Logical Structure

Your study should commencement with an enforcement summary and extremity with recommended actions. Sections successful betwixt should study connected the cardinal metrics that substance for your concern and selling goals. 

For example, ecommerce startups whitethorn predominantly absorption connected income and conversions. So it makes consciousness to see these 2 metrics successful your SEO report. 

Infographic comparing what a bully  and atrocious  SEO study  looks like

Provide Helpful Context

But your study shouldn’t simply stock data. You besides request to supply discourse and insights for each information point. 

Is a peculiar metric trending downward? Explain wherefore that is the lawsuit and what should beryllium done to reverse the trend. 

Or possibly you item a important postulation increase. Elaborate connected wherefore it happened and what relation your caller effort played. And however you tin emulate that occurrence elsewhere connected the site.

Use wide connection to picture SEO information and insights. If you’re unsure if the lawsuit oregon stakeholder is knowledgeable astir SEO, supply adjuvant definitions of cardinal presumption similar backlinks, domain ratings, and others wherever appropriate.

Choose a Reporting Frequency and Layout

Some companies whitethorn similar to get play SEO reporting updates successful descent decks. Others whitethorn similar monthly oregon quarterly updates delivered successful lengthy Google Docs files. 

Choose a reporting frequence and layout and instrumentality with them. To guarantee everyone is updated regularly connected your SEO wins and opportunities. 

End Your Report connected a Positive Note

Your reporting volition not lone beryllium astir wins. It volition besides incorporate immoderate challenges you’re dealing with. Like underperforming pages oregon method issues. 

But marque definite your study ever ends connected a affirmative note. You should database actions you’ll instrumentality to determination SEO efforts successful the aboriginal and beryllium assured successful your quality to present results. 

SEO is simply a agelong game. So you request to support cardinal stakeholders motivated with affirmative notes and decisive actions. Don’t conscionable contiguous a database of problems without solutions.

Infographic detailing the dos and don'ts of SEO reporting

4. Automate SEO Reporting

SEO reporting tin instrumentality time, truthful it’s adjuvant to automate the process arsenic overmuch arsenic possible. Semrush’s My Reports instrumentality tin assistance with that.

To get started, caput to the instrumentality and click “Create report.” 

Semrush My Reports instrumentality   commencement  leafage   with Create study  fastener  highlighted

In the near “Widgets” navigation, you’ll find assorted information sources you tin use. Drag and driblet applicable widgets to the report. Like Google Analytics 4 oregon Site Audit.

Widgets navigation highlighted successful  Semrush study  exertion   dashboard

When you adhd a widget, configure the applicable settings and click “Apply.” 

Widget settings configuration with domain entered and Apply fastener  highlighted

Drag and driblet each the widgets you privation to see successful your report. 

You tin besides usage assorted ready-to-use templates.

Ready-to-use templates connected  My Reports instrumentality   commencement  page

When you’re ready, click “Generate PDF report” successful the apical close corner. 

My Reports instrumentality   exertion   dashboard with demo study  and arrow pointing to Generate PDF study  button

You tin acceptable the reporting to beryllium updated daily, weekly, oregon monthly. And person the study emailed to circumstantial email addresses. Further streamlining the process.

Generate PDF popup with Schedule study  toggle activated and arrow pointing to Generate PDF button

Streamline Your SEO Reporting Efforts

SEO reporting helps you show the show of your SEO efforts. 

But this reporting doesn’t person to beryllium analyzable and time-consuming. 

Semrush tin assistance you stitchery and visualize cardinal metrics. From keyword rankings and backlinks to tract wellness and website authority. You tin adjacent automate the process, including the transportation of reports. 

Try it retired for yourself by signing up for a escaped trial.