If you’re paying a search engine optimisation (SEO) company, regular performance reports should be a basic expectation.
Without regular performance reports or updates, how do you know what work is being done on the site? More importantly, how do you know whether the work that is being done is benefiting your business?
Regular SEO reports, whether they’re received monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly, help you verify whether your investment is producing meaningful results.
It’s important to note that what is considered a ‘meaningful result’ may differ from business to business.
For example, for an ecommerce website, meaningful results may mean an increase in online sales, whilst for a local dentist or solicitor, this could mean more qualified enquiries, phone calls or contact form submissions.
One business may want to see an increase in organic traffic from Google, whilst another may want to reduce reliance on paid advertising by increasing the number of organic enquiries through the site.
The right metrics depend on your business goals.
This is why SEO reports shouldn’t be a generic data dump. Your reports should be tailored to your business and focus on the key performance indicators (KPIs) that matter to you.
These KPIs could include organic traffic, online sales, enquiries, keyword rankings, etc.
For example, if you run an ecommerce website and organic sales are up 400% year-on-year, you’re less likely to be concerned by small keyword ranking fluctuations.
In this case, your performance report should go into detail on the commercial impact od SEO, including how many transactions have been generated, which traffic sources have contributed to this, and which products are driving growth.
If your business relies on enquiries, your report should demonstrate how ongoing SEO activity is helping to generate these enquiries. It should detail which pages are performing well and which pages are contributing to phone calls or contact form submissions.
A good SEO report should explain what work has been completed, what results have been achieved, how this compares with previous periods, which KPIs are improving and what actions are planned next.
Likewise, a good SEO report should be easy to understand and free from any unnecessary industry jargon. It’s not your responsibility to try and interpret data or charts. Your SEO company should include commentary that explains what the data shows and what it means for your business.
Regular performance reporting should be a standard part of any SEO service.
If you’re investing in SEO and you’re not receiving regular performance reports, how are you expected to measure the value of that investment?
At Engage Web, we provide our SEO clients with monthly performance reports, providing visibility and transparency over the work being carried out and the results being achieved. Get in touch with our team to find out more today.
