One of the toughest things about running a digital agency is staying on top of the latest trends and strategies. A big part of this is keeping track of your clients' website performance with accurate and comprehensive SEO reports.
Insights like keyword rankings, organic traffic patterns, performance metrics, and conversion rates give you the data you need to make informed decisions about your SEO campaigns. But to do this, you’ll need the right tools in your arsenal.
In this article, we'll give you the rundown of eight SEO reporting tools for agencies you can't live without.
A lot goes into search engine optimization:
To do all this, you need powerful software that helps you stay on top of the trends and make data-driven decisions. With the right set of insights, you can optimize your campaigns for maximum success.
SEO reporting tools are designed to give you the data and insights you need to make informed decisions about your SEO campaigns. They work by collecting data from multiple data sources, such as keyword rankings, organic traffic patterns, SEO metrics, and conversion rates. This data is then analyzed and presented in an easy-to-understand format that allows you to make more informed decisions about your SEO strategies.
Google processes at least 8.5 billion search queries per day, and its main job as a search engine is to supply the most relevant results to its users. To do this, it uses complex algorithms that constantly update and evolve.
Because it is the primary source of organic traffic on the web, a business's appearance on search engine results pages (SERPs) determines the success or failure of its website and online presence. As such, businesses need to have an optimized SEO strategy in place to make sure their content is ranked as highly as possible on SERPs.
And SEO health is central to just about every content marketing, PPC, and on-page strategy.
But SEO can be a tricky beast to tame—it’s easy to get lost in all the technical jargon and lose sight of your ultimate goal. And your clients probably aren't the digital marketing wizards that you are.
That’s why client reporting is so important. It's essential to have a comprehensive understanding of both the success and health of each campaign and how your competitors are performing.
The right stack of SEO tools will vary depending on your agency size, budget, how many clients you manage campaigns for, and the scope of services you offer.
Realistically, you'll probably need more than one SEO reporting software for your agency, but there are a few must-have features that you should look for in any SEO reporting software.
The best SEO reporting solutions will collect accurate data from multiple sources and present it in an easy-to-understand format.
Most SEO tools will track keyword rankings, organic traffic trends, and different technical SEO elements, such as page speed and meta tags. But the best tools go beyond that to give you insights into backlinks, SERP features (such as image carousels), competitor analysis, and SEO audits.
The software should be easy to use, with features that make it simple to drill down into the data, generate reports, and share them with your clients.
If your SEO software is straightforward and has a drag-and-drop interface, you’ll be able to save time and energy while producing high-quality reports. You'll also be able to train your team on how to use the software to minimize time spent on client reporting.
Your SEO reporting tool should integrate seamlessly into your daily workflow and be compatible with other solutions in your tech stack.
Look for SEO software with API integrations that allow you to pull data from third-party sources and automatically generate reports with accurate, up-to-date information.
The ability to automate reporting can also save you a lot of time and energy when it comes to producing client reports.
Look for software that allows you to customize reports with your brand colors, logos, and other visuals. This will make creating branded reports easy and presenting them to your clients.
Custom reports also make it easier to track KPIs and monitor progress over time. They can be used to inform decisions and make sure that your clients are getting the most out of their SEO campaigns.
Look for software that allows you to export reports into PDFs, CSV files, and other formats. This will make it easier to share information with clients.
Most keyword research and agency analytics tools have these features. For example, Ahrefs and SEMRush both enable users to generate custom reports, export data into multiple formats, and put that data into a CSV file.
Look for software that offers features like A/B testing, predictive analytics, and automated reporting. These features will help you stay up to date with the latest trends and make data-driven decisions.
Ensure that the software you choose can also scale with your agency. If your agency grows or takes on more clients than your tool can handle, switching to a new one after your standardized processes have been set up will be difficult.
Manual reporting is cumbersome, error-prone, and time-consuming. Look for software that offers features such as automated alerts, keyword tracking, and workflow automation so you can be more efficient and accurate with your reporting.
To get the most out of your SEO reporting software, look for solutions that offer features such as custom report templates, easy-to-read dashboards, and data-driven insights. These features make it easier to present meaningful data in a way that’s understandable and digestible.
Look for SEO reporting software that integrates with other popular digital marketing tools, such as Google Analytics, SEMRush, and Ahrefs. This way, you can connect your data points to create a comprehensive report without inputting everything manually.
Integrations also make it easier to compare data from multiple sources and quickly spot any discrepancies.
White-label agency tools allow you to add your logo, colors, and unique branding to create reports that are specifically tailored to your agency while saving you time. A third party generates them, but they look like you created them yourself.
Some of the most popular white-label reporting tools include StatusLabs, QlickView, and Moz Pro. These solutions make it easy to generate customized reports for each client without having to start from scratch every time.
Not every software solution is built with agencies in mind. Agencies need to track website KPIs for multiple businesses in real-time, and platforms that limit the amount of SEO data you can collect might not be the best for agency owners.
Look for features such as multiple user accounts, project management tools, and collaboration features that make it easier to run multiple campaigns simultaneously.
These features are invaluable for agencies that handle a large number of clients as they provide transparency and help streamline processes.
Local SEO is a type of search engine optimization that focuses on optimizing website content and visibility for local searches. It involves using strategies to help increase the visibility of a website in a particular geographic area or region.
The goal of local SEO is to help a business stand out from other businesses in the same area, thus increasing its chances of being found by potential customers who are looking for a product or service. If your service offers or specializes in local SEO, look for a tool that offers these capabilities to help you get the best results.
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If you can't add multiple users to your software account and you can't give them different levels of accessibility, the software isn't going to work for your agency.
Look for solutions that allow you to specify user roles and permissions to keep everyone in the loop and ensure that only authorized users have access to sensitive data.
Let's take a look at the eight most essential tools for SEO analysis and reporting.
AgencyAnalytics is a comprehensive reporting tool designed specifically for agencies. It allows you to automate your client reporting in minutes with customizable dashboards that connect all your client's data in one place.
This software platform replaces spreadsheets with visual data, helping you save time and money. And since it can generate SEO, PPC, social media, eCommerce, call tracking, and sentiment analysis reports, it is useful for just about any digital marketing agency owner.
SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO platform that has a rank tracker, website audit tool, and extensive reporting capabilities. It is a white-label reporting solution that allows you to customize and brand your marketing reports with your own logo, colors, and contact information.
SE Ranking is the ideal choice for agencies looking to upgrade their operations, improve agency efficiency, and provide superior results. Agencies can streamline client campaigns, brand their business image, and offer detailed SEO reports with SE Ranking's tailored features.
Databox helps SEO professionals make data-driven decisions by allowing them to create custom reports and dashboards from numerous sources. It allows you to track, monitor, and report on progress with the help of analytics from platforms such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Moz Pro, and more.
Databox also enables marketers to instantly benchmark their clients' performance against their competitors. This helps agencies find high-growth opportunities by comparing the performance data of multiple websites.
By enabling agencies to track thousands of metrics and label reports with graphs and visualizations already built in, Databox is a must-have reporting solution for agencies, especially if they run numerous types of marketing campaigns.
Dashthis is a marketing analytics platform that provides powerful reporting and dashboard capabilities. It allows you to watch, compare, and report on your clients' data from multiple sources with ease.
The best thing about Dashthis is its scalability. The software offers plenty of customization options to help freelance marketers and agencies of any size brand their reports quickly. And its drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create striking SEO performance reports.
SEMRush is THE analysis tool for rank tracking, keyword research, and site audits. Chances are, you already use this tool to analyze your clients' websites. And if you don't, you've at the very least heard of it.
This software pulls from the most up-to-date Google data available in order to offer you valuable insights into your clients' SEO campaigns. Then, you can export reports to spreadsheets and show your clients actionable results in a visual and easy-to-understand format.
For those who need local SEO, social media management, content optimization, or any number of additional features, SEMRush also has customized pricing options with those add-ons.
Ahrefs is another keyword research tool that offers vast insights into a website's performance. It provides keyword rankings, backlink analysis, position tracking for all your clients' websites, and real-time data.
The platform also allows you to easily spot SEO opportunities and dive into the link profiles of your clients and their competitors. It helps you identify penalties and track the Domain Authority of your clients' campaigns with detailed reporting tools.
Compared to SEMRush, it is less feature-rich (it does not have social media management, content optimization, etc.). But it is certainly the best link-building and organic search tool for SEOs. And according to Aira’s 2022 State of Link Building Report, most of the SEO community agrees.
Moz is famous for its link-building and keyword research tools. But the software also offers powerful reporting features that help you better understand your clients' SEO performance.
Its powerful enterprise analytics engine gives deep insights into search engine rankings and keyword performance. It also provides helpful metrics that you can use to compare the performance of a website against its competitors on multiple keywords.
Moz's reporting feature makes it easier for marketers to track and report on their clients' campaigns over time, helping them see how their work is impacting a business’s search engine presence. It also makes it easy for them to export only the most critical data into a spreadsheet for reporting.
Some people use SEMRush and Ahrefs interchangeably with Moz. Some people use Moz instead of the two. It really depends on which features you want and your budget.
Google Analytics is the gold standard in web analytics. It offers invaluable insights into a website's performance. You can use its reports to track organic traffic, identify trends and opportunities, understand how visitors interact with your clients' websites, and more.
Looker Studio, formerly Google Data Studio, is an extension of Google Analytics that lets you create professional-looking reports quickly and easily. Using this tool, you can combine data from SEO, Google Ads, and other marketing campaigns into a single dashboard using clear widgets and visualizations.
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Building strong client relationships is all about meeting them where they need you. The eight tools above should provide you with the essential information needed to report on your clients' SEO campaigns, but there are other tools that may also benefit your business:
Carefully consider the software functionality that can help you do your job best, and don't be afraid to test out different tools to see which ones best fit your business needs.
Now that you know what software and tools you need, what should you include in them?
Your SEO reports should summarize all the activities completed during a reporting period, including:
Additionally, you'll want to provide evidence of success with each activity and comparison metrics for month-over-month performance. This will include the following:
To make your reports more actionable, you should also highlight trends that can be further optimized and include future recommendations.
SEO is a continuous and iterative process—if you want to provide excellent work and results for your clients, you need to make sure you have a comprehensive reporting strategy in place. The right SEO tools can help you do that quickly and efficiently.
Finding the ideal combination of tools for your business may take trial and error. But if you spend time researching different options and considering functionality, you'll find the perfect fit for your agency's needs.
