A Simple Approach to SEO Reporting

Building monthly reports on your SEO efforts can be a truly daunting task. Breaking down your SEO metrics to demonstrate progress can be just as difficult. How do you go about proving that a month's worth of work contributed to greater search engine rankings and increased traffic? Making sure that the data you wish to present is organized as simply as possible should be a high priority.     

In grade-school English lessons, everyone learns about the six basic question words: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Focusing on three of these words can lead us to an incredibly simplistic foundation for reporting your SEO efforts.

For starters, you have to answer "What" questions in your reports. Presentation of your most important metrics and data is critical in building a basic understanding of SEO contributions. Krista LaRiviere provided a great article on SE Watch regarding SEO reporting, in which she cited organic rank and traffic along with conversions by keyword as a few key data points to emphasize.

The next step in this process would be to answer "How" questions by reviewing the data in a bit more depth. How did the majority of people find your site? How did visitors navigate your site before initiating a conversion? Providing answers to questions like these in your report initiates greater understanding into the inner workings of your SEO efforts.

Once all the data has been presented and basic reasoning has been established, the next step is to answer the tough "Why" questions. Take an inquisitive look at why certain keywords performed better in select markets, or why traffic brought in from a certain social outlet declined. A question many may be asking, following the recent release of Google Penguin 2.0, would be "Why are my rankings falling?" Analyzing the data is one of the most significant steps in establishing progress in SEO, and your report should provide a greater understanding of these key points.

Taking smaller steps and approaching the process of SEO reporting with a broader, simplistic view can be a viable option, but never forget that the goal is always to show results. Share your views and approaches on SEO reporting on the Fission SEO Facebook page!