One area where many agencies are generally lacking, especially in local SEO, is reporting.
Unlike large or international companies with C-level executives and shareholders, many local companies only care about getting people to their doors.
So by simplifying our approach and focusing on reporting only relevant data, agencies can better serve local businesses and build stronger relationships.
Here are seven tips to improve your local SEO reporting and serve your local clients.
1. Simplified reporting
Simplifying your SEO reporting is not only a tip your local SEO agency should follow, but one that any agency in general should follow.
Our first impulse as marketers and communicators is to provide as detailed a report as possible. This is even more so when marketers have to bury bad campaign results under a mountain of information.
However, your report should clearly and concisely describe the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
Complicated reports with unnecessary data can hinder campaign success and lead some people to read them blindly.
Google Analytics screenshot, September 2022Follow these tips to keep your local SEO reports simple and easy for your clients to understand.
- set clear goals: Outline your campaign goals at the top of the report and cite the most relevant metrics to communicate your progress towards those goals.
- Eliminate unnecessary metrics: For SEO beginners, metrics like total keyword volume, impressions, and backlinks are of little importance unless they’re driving traffic to your store.
- Use a single reporting period: Try to track a single reporting period (for example, last 30 days or 2 weeks) based on when reports are distributed regardless of how many tools you use.
- Visualize your data: Tools like Semrush provide pie charts and line charts of key keyword metrics to help clients visualize campaign progress. Google Analytics also provides visuals for metrics such as new and returning users.
- Split the report into different sections: Do not skip directly from user metrics to social media metrics without clearly dividing the report into sections. For example, I like to organize my reports into chapters such as “Traffic Overview”, “Local Keywords Overview”, and “Social Media Overview”.
- tell a story: Don’t flood your clients with metric after metric. Instead, describe the metric in a short paragraph above or below the graph. I sometimes include his brief one-page SEO primer at the beginning of reports and audits so people can see what value we’re adding.
2. Choose the right metrics
To tell a story with data, you must choose the right data to relate to that story.
Most local businesses only care about two key metrics:
However, this does not mean that you should ignore all important metrics, but rather choose ones that are relevant to your story.
Even metrics like overall traffic don’t tell you how good that traffic is or from which channel it originates.
As such, we would like to include the following key metrics from Google Analytics:
- Top landing pages.
- Location by city (users, new users, sessions, bounce rate, etc.).
- overall session.
- Top traffic channels by session.
- Traffic Source/Medium.
- new customers and repeat customers.
Google Analytics screenshot, September 2022These metrics tell clients which campaigns are driving the most important traffic flows and from which cities and sources.
I also like to include Google Search Console data in my reports to track SERP (search engine result page) data such as clicks, impressions and CTR (click-through rate).
You’ll also need a tool that reports on your keyword data, like Semrush or Ahrefs. Semrush also provides great tools for easily creating reports and creating templates for future clients.
3. Categorize keywords by location
You should dig deeper into the local side of SEO and properly optimize your reports to report only local keyword data.
This section requires an advanced keyword tool such as Semrush, Moz or Ahrefs.
In this example, I created a new project with Semrush and implemented location tracking for the most strategic keywords.
As you can see below, I’ve set up location tracking specifically for searches in the Houston metropolitan area. You can then upload the keywords you are tracking from Semrush or Google Analytics and create reports.
Screenshot from Semrush, September 2022To filter the keywords you’re tracking, you can also add tags that separate them into specific categories.
Screenshot from Semrush, September 2022You can refine the list as much as you like by searching for keywords as interrogative or “nearby” or including city-based keywords in the list.
Once you’ve set up location tracking and tags, you can easily export or add those keywords to CSV or Semrush’s reporting tools.
4. Segment traffic by device
Equally important for tracking local SEO campaigns is filtering the data by device.
That’s why we like to include sections in our reports that give an overview of traffic by device, and even more detailed sections by location and device.
Google Analytics screenshot, September 2022When it comes to local SEO, mobile search traffic is arguably more important than desktop traffic when you consider click-to-call and mobile ordering, which is common on smartphones and other mobile devices.
5. Track Local SERP Results
Another big difference in how Google approaches local search is through tools like the Local Search Pack and Google Business Profiles.
For some local businesses, a Google Business Profile listing can drive significantly more conversions and foot traffic to your business than your physical website.
To track your Google Business Profile data using traditional reporting tools, you’ll need to sign up for a connector.
Google Data Studio screenshot, September 2022However, many keyword tools such as Semrush provide detailed keyword information about local search results, such as local pack results and featured snippets.
Screenshot from Semrush, September 2022This information is very relevant for businesses trying to rank in “near me” searches that generate a lot of traffic to their business.
Export this data to CSV or upload directly to Semrush’s reporting tools.
6. Go beyond standard SEO tools and metrics
Beyond the local pack, you can add some additional KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to your local SEO reports that are relevant to your business.
Screenshot from Semrush, September 2022For example, consider including the following metrics in your local SEO report:
- review.
- Mentions of unlinked brands.
- Backlinks (if relevant to your campaign).
- Social Media Engagement.
Screenshot from Semrush, September 2022To track social media mentions and engagement, you may need to purchase social listening tools or upgrade your Semrush account.
However, you can also manually investigate changes in social media engagement to review ratings, unlinked brand mentions, and trending posts and add them to your reports.
7. Provide Actionable Information
Finally, based on the data you provided, we would like to wrap up the report by adding a section at the end summarizing campaign results and future actions.
This section will help you complete the story using the data provided and understand what the client has presented.
Since many campaigns can be hampered by low budgets or reluctant clients who are unwilling to go through all the steps required to change their site, we might add a final section of recommendations. I think it’s important.
So if your campaign is stalling because a local business isn’t updating their site or implementing the recommended changes, be sure to properly remind them at the end of your report and explain the benefits of your recommendations.
Other resources:
Featured image: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock
