Reporting on SEO results includes more than a few metrics.
An SEO report should be actionable. And clearly outline the steps you’ll take to fix issues and improve rankings.
This means collecting website and search data. But also identifying how you’ll continue to grow a site to meet business goals.
How to Create an Actionable SEO Report:
What Is an SEO Report?
An SEO report summarizes essential SEO metrics to tell a story about a website’s performance. It covers insights related to keyword rankings, organic traffic, backlinks, overall site health, and more.
Effective SEO reports provide actionable steps based on data. Like this report on organic search positions created with Semrush’s My Reports.
An SEO report lets you communicate your efforts to stakeholders. Whether you’re creating a white label SEO report for a client or an internal team.
Focus on the most critical metrics. And include wins and areas of improvement. Along with the actionable steps you’ll take for better results in the future.
The Importance of SEO Reporting
- Creates opportunities to adjust your SEO strategy
- Proves the worth of your work
- Prioritizes the right SEO tasks
- Measures effectiveness
How to Create an SEO Report
Sign up for a free Semrush trial to follow along with the tutorials in this guide. And create an actionable report that highlights your SEO results.
You can manually pull data from Google Analytics or Google Search Console.
But Semrush gives you a consolidated view of website performance. Because it pulls data from both platforms and search engine results pages (SERP).
Let’s get started.
1. Set Objectives
Hundreds of SEO metrics exist. But not all are relevant to your report. Include only the ones that support your business goals.
SEO reports typically cover the following metrics:
- Organic visibility
- Organic traffic (or sessions)
- Branded vs. non-branded traffic
- Keyword rankings and position changes
- Google Business Profile metrics
- Backlink growth
- Organic click-through-rate (CTR)
- User engagement
- Conversions
- Customer lifetime value
- Cost per acquisition
- Return on investment
Analyze the most important metrics for your business or campaign.
For example, you’ve just opened an online flower shop selling sustainably sourced flowers. Which differs you from some competitors. But no one knows about you or how you’re different.
Focus on awareness KPIs like organic visibility and keyword rankings. To ensure more potential customers discover you.
2. Collect Data
Semrush aggregates data from multiple sources. Eliminating the manual process of analyzing data across platforms.
So you can focus on analyzing data, not collecting it.
Keyword Rankings
Reporting on your highest—and lowest—keyword rankings is vital.
But also consider keywords with SERP features, the total number of keywords in Google’s top 10, and the average ranking for all your tracked keywords.
Semrush’s Position Tracking automatically tracks and analyzes keyword positions.
If you’re new to Semrush, start by entering your domain and click “Set up tracking.”
Then, click “+ Create project” to start a new project.
Paste your URL under “Domain” and name your project. Click “Create project.”
Next, specify your targeting parameters.
Select your “Search engine,” “Device,” “Location,” and “Language.” And your business name (optional).
Click “Continue to Keywords →” to specify the keywords you want to track.
If you know which keywords to track, put them into the box under “Only Keywords” or “Tagged Keywords.” Click “Add keywords to campaign” to add them to your report.
Or import keywords from txt or CSV files, another campaign within Semrush, or your Google Analytics account.
Not sure which keywords to track? Click “Semrush suggestions” for ideas. Follow the steps to get keyword recommendations.
Next, click “Start Tracking” to build your report.
Now, view the “Landscape” report. Adjust the date to your desired time frame.
Here, you’ll see a brief overview of how well your domain ranks for selected keywords. Including “Visibility,” “Estimated Traffic,” and “Average Position” on the SERP.
Next, get an overview of how many keywords you have in the Google top 3, 10, 20, or 100. Including how many keywords have improved or declined.
Switch to the “Overview” report to see individual rankings.
Scroll to the “Rankings Overview” report to see individual rankings.
Under the “SF” column, view all your keywords with SERP features. “Intent” tells you how many of your keywords are ranking for buyer-intent keywords. Like transactional (T).
Organic Traffic
Next, report on the amount of organic traffic your keywords send to your website using Semrush’s Traffic Analytics tool. And assess your site’s performance compared to competitors.
Paste your URL into the search bar and click “Analyze.”
In this example, we’re using “chewy.com.”
In the “Overview” tab, you’ll find high-level traffic metrics.
Including “Visits,” “Bounce Rate,” “Average Visit Duration,” and “Unique Visitors.”
But this initial data doesn’t isolate traffic from organic channels. Scroll to the “Traffic Channels by Type” to segment organic search traffic.
Uncheck other source boxes to isolate “Organic Search” and “Direct.” Or view it side by side with other channels.
This shows how your search traffic has changed over time. On the right side of the graph, you’ll see actual traffic numbers for the selected time frame.
Filter by various time spans by clicking the date dropdown.
Or click the frequency dropdown to filter by “Daily,” “Weekly,” “Monthly” or “Quarterly.”
Click “View full report” to see more data on your organic search traffic.
This automatically opens the “Traffic Journey” report. You’ll see high-level metrics that describe how your “Total Search” traffic has changed over the past month.
Scroll down to see a “Traffic Journey” graph, a visual representation of how much traffic enters your site from any given channel. And where web visitors go when they leave.
This data can help you illustrate how well you convert impressions on SERPs into actual website traffic.
New Inbound Links
Report on the number of new inbound links or backlinks to your site. Using Semrush’s Backlink Analytics tool.
Type your domain into the search bar, and click “Analyze.”
The Overview tab will display high-level metrics. Like the number of “Referring Domains” and “Backlinks” pointing to your site.
The percentages next to the blue numbers indicate how they’ve changed over the past month.
You’ll also see an “Authority Score,” a proprietary Semrush metric that measures the overall quality of a website or a web page.
A higher score indicates a high-quality website. It’s calculated based on the number and quality of backlinks and site traffic.
An increase or decrease in your Authority Score could explain a shift in keyword rankings or other SEO metrics.
Scroll to see a visual representation under “New and Lost Backlinks,” of new and lost backlinks.
Click “View full report” to see the full list of links you’ve gained and to record the actual number of links for your report.
This automatically opens the “Backlinks” report.
You’ll see the same high-level metrics again. Along with two bar charts that segment your links by “Backlink Types” and “Link Attributes.”
Report the difference between follow and nofollow links. Follow links help with SEO. Nofollow links are used for indexing purposes and tell Google not to pass on link equity.
Scroll down to see your site's full list of links. Click “New” in the menu above the list to isolate recently acquired backlinks.
A backlink is considered new if less than a month has passed since Semrush first discovered it. Click “Time period” to filter your report by a specific time frame.
Collecting new follow links from high-authority domains can improve your ranking chances for target keywords. And drive more traffic to your site.
Report on new links and Authority Scores of the domains that link to your site.
SEO Site Health
Regularly audit your website health for technical issues or on-page optimization opportunities as part of your SEO report.
Semrush’s Site Audit tool collects both.
Enter your domain and click “Start Audit” to begin.
Click “+ Create project.” Paste your domain name under “Domain” in the pop-up box.
Click “Create project.”
Specify your site audit settings. The number of pages you can audit depends on your Semrush subscription level.
- Free: 100 pages per audit; 100 pages per month
- Pro: 20,000 pages per audit; 100,000 pages per month
- Guru: 20,000 pages per audit; 300,000 pages per month
- Business: 100,000 pages per audit; 1 million pages per month
Leave the “Crawl source” as-is for now.
Click “Start Site Audit” to begin.
You’ll get an email when your report is ready. This can take up to 24 hours.
Start with the “Overview” report, which provides a snapshot of your site’s health.
View “Site Health” to see a score based on the number of errors and warnings found on your site. A higher score indicates fewer problems with your site, strong SEO, and a user-friendly experience.
Scroll to "Thematic Reports" to view metrics like“Crawlability,” “Site Performance,” and “Internal Linking.” Click "View details" under any report for more information.
Scroll to the “Top Issues” report to find issues and recommended solutions. These are possible actionable next steps to add to your SEO report. Like editing meta descriptions or adding H1s.
Click “View details” to see the full list of problems affecting your site.
Filter by severity, categorized as follows:
- Errors: Issues of the highest severity
- Warnings: Issues of medium severity
- Notices: These aren’t considered issues, but Semrush recommends fixing
Click “Why and how to fix it” to see a full definition of each issue and potential solutions.
These instructions add depth to your SEO audit report.
3. Add Action Items
After evaluating each data set, add action items to your report. Like this:
Keyword rankings:
- Optimize content on pages where you’ve fallen in rank by updating content or adding internal links
- Create content to rank for new keywords by publishing new blog articles
- Seek backlinks from sites with a high authority score, targeting specific pages
- Remove backlinks from sites with a low authority score
Organic traffic:
- Identify pages that are underperforming for organic traffic. Consider content optimizations. Like adding new content or updating content on the page.
- Update titles and meta descriptions with new copy to improve CTR from the SERP
- Create content to rank for new keywords for additional traffic opportunities
Inbound links:
- Identify new backlink targets and send pitches
- Identify toxic links and send requests to those domains to remove them
Site SEO health:
- Update duplicate meta titles or description
- Remove duplicate website content
4. Build Your Report
You could manually create an SEO report in a spreadsheet or Word document. But that would require manually assembling data, insights, and actionable recommendations.
Semrush offers several SEO reporting tools and templates available with a free account.
And automatically aggregate data from Semrush, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other tools.
Automate SEO Reporting with Semrush
Semrush’s My Reports allows you to create beautifully designed and actionable reports in minutes.
It generates a PDF file with data from Semrush’s tools across your marketing channels.
Open the tool to view several template options. And a list of any previous reports you’ve created.
Choose a template. Like “Monthly SEO Report” or “Organic Search Positions” report.
Or click “Start from scratch” to create a report that meets your specific needs.
Organic Search Positions Report
Semrush’s “Organic Search Positions” template automatically pulls your domain’s top 100 keywords on Google.
Click the “Organic Search Positions” template to generate this report.
Add your domain. Select a location in the “Database” field and click “Create report.”
You’ll see a report highlighting your site’s top 100 keywords, displayed in order of highest rankings.
Edit the data displayed in the table by clicking the pencil icon at the top-right corner of the “Organic Search Positions” report.
Adjust your data as needed. For example, “Position Type” gives you the option to show organic or paid keywords.
The “Organic Search Positions Report” is a good snapshot of the keywords driving your visibility and traffic.
Backlinks Report
The “Backlinks: Full Report” in Semrush’s My Reports analyzes a website's backlink profile. And highlights actionable link-building opportunities.
This report requires you to compare yourself to a competitor. But also allows you to review your isolated data.
In the popup, enter your URL and your competitor’s.
Automatically import data from an existing project in Semrush. Or choose between importing Semrush’s Traffic Analytics or Google Analytics data.
Click “Create report” to build.
The generated report features an “Overview” section that includes your overall number of backlinks, referring domains, and referring IPs.
And your Authority Score, along with a definition to provide context for those who might not be familiar with it.
Scroll to the “Follow vs Nofollow” link breakdown to see a graph that displays the number of links gained and lost within the last six months.
Your report includes a list of your referring domains—or those that link back to your site the most. These should have high Authority Scores of their own for the best results.
A list of “Top Indexed Pages” below shows the pages on your site that have attracted the most backlinks.
This report automatically generates tables that include comparison info between your site and your competitor’s.
Site Audit Report
The “Site Audit: Full Report” template automatically pulls information from a previous Semrush Site Audit.
If you haven’t run an audit, you’ll need to do so before running this report.
Once you do, Select your site from the project dropdown list. Then, click “Create report.”
The report includes high-level site performance metrics like “Site Health,” “Crawled Pages,” “Errors,” “Warnings,” “Notices,” and “Top Issues.”
Scroll for a detailed site issues description. Including definitions and actionable recommendations.
This example surfaced duplicate meta descriptions, organized by type.
The tool shows you a full list of those pages and when they were first flagged.
The template automatically repeats this pattern throughout the audit. For things like duplicate title tags, duplicate content, broken internal links, and more.
Monthly SEO Report
Semrush’s “Monthly SEO Report” template combines data from several Semrush tools for a high-level view of your SEO performance.
Including data such as organic traffic, search positions, backlinks, and more.
Enter your domain.
Select your preferred “Device,” “Database,” and “Project” if relevant. And select Semrush or Google Analytics as your traffic source.
Click “Create report.”
Semrush will automatically generate monthly SEO with “Traffic” analytics first.
This includes a high-level overview of your site’s:
- Visits
- Visitors
- Pages/Visit
- Avg. Visit Duration
- Bounce Rate
Your report's “Traffic” section includes an overview of your traffic channels and unique visitors by device.
Under “New vs Lost Organic Keywords,” view keywords you’ve won and lost over the past month.
Under “Improved vs Declined Organic Keywords,” a graph displays how your position has changed in the past 30 days.
An additional chart visualizes backlink types. And how many links you’ve gained and lost over the past six months.
Consider this report a customizable starting point for understanding your SEO performance.
Custom Reports
Don't want to use a template? Create a custom report featuring the most important data for your site by clicking "Start from scratch.”
You can build your report using over 200 different widgets. Such as “Position tracking” or “Organic traffic.”
After creating a blank report, select a “Widget” from the left-hand menu to populate your report.
For instance, click “Domain Analytics” find widgets to detail your site’s traffic and more.
Drag and drop any widget onto your report.
This will open a dialogue box to customize your widget's data parameters.
Enter a “Domain or URL” and select your “Scope,” “Device,” “Database,” and “Database Date.” Then, click “Apply.”
A widget will appear in your custom report, populated with data based on your selections.
Customize your report’s design to match your branding. Or your client’s, if applicable.
Click your report’s title or logo to edit them. Or add additional text boxes and images to your liking.
Add additional text or images by using “Formatting” widgets. Click the image icon on the left-hand menu in Semrush’s My Reports to open the “Formatting” menu.
Drag and drop modules to customize a “Heading,” “Image,” “Text,” and more.
Inserting a text box allows you to add insights to your report and communicate action items based on the data presented.
Customize your report’s color, font, and design using Semrush’s themes. Select the wand icon from the menu and choose a theme.
Some themes contain a few basic colors. Others allow you to customize further using your brand images. Like the example below.
Semrush’s library of widgets and customization features empower you to create an SEO report that suits your custom needs and focuses on the most actionable recommendations.
Share Reports Regularly
When you’re ready to share your SEO report, click “Generate PDF Report” in the top-right corner of the My Reports screen.
Choose from several customization features. Such as the ability to schedule reports, include a table of contents, or remove Semrush’s branding.
Toggle “Email Report.” Then, customize the subject line and body text.
Click “Generate and send” at the bottom.
Build an Actionable SEO Report
The most effective way to build an SEO report is to focus on actionable insights and high-quality data.
Whether creating SEO reports for clients or an in-house team, Semrush’s My Reports provides the best of both worlds by integrating data from multiple Semrush tools and third-party sources.
Even better? It automates the process of collecting and analyzing data and report creation.
Get started with a free Semrush trial.
