Anyone who has experience running a business knows that it is important to know how well the business marketing campaign is doing, preferably in real-time, so that the business trajectory can be changed if it’s spiraling out of control. If the business marketing campaign is conducted online, the business owner may need an SEO report.

But before we explore more about this SEO report and what you can learn from it, let’s find out first what SEO means.

What Is SEO?

The acronym SEO stands for search engine optimization. This means employing strategies that will get your website to the top of search engine results pages. Most Internet surfers do not go past the first page of search results so SEO is important to get the attention of this chosen group.

If a digital marketing campaign relying on SEO is well planned and well-executed, a business will rank higher in search results and can possibly bring in more sales for the business owner.

So now that we know that, let’s check out the definition of an SEO report.

What Is An SEO Report?

An SEO report or SEO report template, which may also be referred to as an SEO audit, involves an expert in search engine optimization who is responsible for monitoring the digital marketing efforts of a business. Essentially, the report will provide details about whether the business’ online marketing campaign is effective.

If the business marketing campaign online is not doing well, that should also go in the SEO report. For this reason, some SEO reports are done on a monthly basis. However, the business owner has to be aware of what an SEO report means, otherwise, it’s just another effort that won’t support the company performance at all.

What A Business Owner Can Learn From An SEO Report?

The SEO report should provide a bird’s-eye view of the performance of the business online. The metrics it includes will help a business owner figure out whether there should be more effort given towards marketing online, or whether the effort is not worth the money being spent on it at all.

Here is what a business owner should pay attention to in an SEO report:

1. Amount Of Traffic That Comes Through Your Site

This refers to the number of visitors that went to the business website, as well as their behavior while there, whether they surfed around, searched for products and/or services, or availed of these products and/or services. Ideally, a visitor will become a customer and buy something. However, in less than ideal conditions, the website might only get visitors and little to no customers. This is the biggest concern of a business owner.

Ideally, the website should have steady traffic flowing to it. If traffic is dull or even zero, then the SEO campaign is not working at all. On the other hand, an effective SEO campaign should trigger a rise in traffic. Sometimes, traffic is measured on a per-page basis. This shows that some pages of the business may be more attractive to visitors. Through the SEO report, you may be able to identify why some pages seem to be bringing in more traffic than others.

2. How High Your Bounce Rate Is

The bounce rate pertains to visitors who simply glance in then leave. Their visit is literally measured in seconds. For a business owner, the bounce rate can be a difficult pill to swallow as it may mean that the website’s content is not appealing or attractive enough to grab a visitor’s attention for more than a few seconds. The task for an SEO professional facing a large bounce rate is to make sure such visitors will want to stay longer and possibly buy something.

For example, many websites now have videos playing on their page when a visitor enters. If the content of the video appeals to the visitor, then the visit will be a long one. But if the video encounters problems such as slow Internet connection, then the user experience will not be memorable and, most likely, the visitor will soon leave. Having an SEO report can help determine which factors may be causing your website’s high bounce rate. 

3. Keyword Rankings

A keyword string is a series of words linked together logically that are then integrated into the content of the website. This means that the keyword string used for SEO purposes may help the website rank higher (or lower) in search results for that specific keyword string. An SEO report can help identify which keyword strings work and which don’t. Theoretically, if the SEO expert chose the correct keyword strings, that will grab the attention of more visitors, or the right kind of visitors, so that sales go up.

Some problems that can affect rankings can include the following:

• One problem could be the inability to create unique content that interests many visitors, thus resulting in duplicate content. This is when keyword strings are redundant in a website’s pages. This only allows your own pages to compete with each other for search rankings, which is wasted effort.

• Another problem could be content with a low word count. Generally, search engines will prefer content with a higher word count. Low word count content will not be able to contend with the competition.

• You might also be dealing with a slow Internet connection in your area. Yes, this will affect your website’s visibility and there’s not much an SEO professional can do about this on their end except recommend that the business website be hosted in a community where Internet access is more robust and faster.

4. Clarity Regarding Figures And Statistical Data

The SEO report template will also allow the business owner to make sense out of all the numbers, percentages, and SEO data so that a pattern will emerge, which can indicate whether or not the SEO campaign is working. The figures that you can get from an SEO report can help your business get leads and/or conversions.

• Conversions - This means that visits are converted into actual inquiries from visitors, or even sales—with sales being the ultimate goal of all digital marketing. This kind of pattern means that the SEO campaign is having a positive effect.

• Leads - This refers to a visitor who turned into a customer or has initiated an inquiry while on the website. Every business wants a lot of leads so that they turn into conversions, which will eventually boost sales. If there are a lot of leads, this shows that the SEO campaign is also having a positive effect.

5. Recommendations And Points For Improvement

The last page of the SEO report should always have a list of recommendations. This is where a business owner could better understand SEO-related problems in more detail. At the same time, they will be able to ask for suggestions on how these SEO-related problems can be solved.

Nowadays, SEO experts may recommend the following strategies:

• Brainstorming User Intent - This means checking out user intent instead of just putting out more content. It’s likely that users visiting your website are looking for something else so it’s best to find out what kind of content they want or expect before creating the content itself.

• Figure Out Revenue Sources - This means you have to identify which content and pages seem to be bringing in the most revenue. This allows non-performing or low-performing pages to either be deleted or have their content replaced with better ones.

Will The Business Survive If There Is No SEO Report?

An SEO report simply explains to business owners why their digital marketing campaign is effective or not. But while the business might be able to survive online even without a regular SEO report, some business owners are more comfortable if they have something tangible to refer to. The report can be filed for further study and the SEO professional will probably welcome that so that the business owner always knows who is on top of the situation.

Final Thoughts

An SEO report is a very valuable document if you understand it. It pays to educate yourself about the data in an SEO report if you are a business owner so that you will understand what’s working and what’s not working in your SEO campaign. Ideally, the SEO expert will be able to assist a business owner in comprehending just what an SEO report is saying, and how this applies to sound business practices online.

Some key parts of the SEO report that need to be understood include the traffic that is sent to the business website daily, the bounce rate, keyword rankings, and percentages of conversions and leads. The business owner and SEO professional ought to collaborate on user intent as well so they will know how to bring in more visitors and conversions. Leads are always welcome so the SEO expert must also aim for that. Ideally, all these should work towards solidifying the business’ online presence, which can translate to increased sales.