Reporting problems are people problems – how you report on SEO should differ depending on who you’re reporting to. This talk covers methodologies and technologies agencies could use when reporting to clients and in-house SEO teams could use when reporting to various stakeholders in the business – what to automate and how. Author: Stephen Kenwright - Co-founder and Technical Director at Rise at Seven.

1. @stekenwright
How to report on SEO to your
boss and their boss

2. “All measures suck,
and they all suck in
their own way.”

3. There are 2 types of SEO metrics

4. Performance metrics

5. Predictive metrics

6. Predictive metrics Performance metrics
These metrics are on either end of a scale

7. Revenue
Performance metrics
This measure sucks the least

8. Performance metrics
…but how do you track and value?
RevenueConversion

9. Traffic
Performance metrics
90%+ don’t convert?
RevenueConversion

10. Click
Through
Rate
Predictive metrics
“How are we doing?” starting to become
“what do we do next?”

11. Untrustworthy data
Click
Through
Rate
Predictive metrics
Rankings

12. Page
Speed
etc.
Click
Through
Rate
Predictive metrics
Rankings
¯_(ツ)_/¯ number of factors

13. “Ranking factors” like
Page Speed don’t cause
ranking drops

14. …they predict them
(long-term* correlation)

15. Longterm
Page
Speed

16. Longterm
Page
Speed
User
metrics
Bounce rate, time on site…

17. Longterm
Page
Speed
User
metrics
Link
metrics

18. Shortterm
Rankings
A ranking drop is a good indication that
traffic will be down this week/month

19. Shortterm
Rankings
Site
health
Redirects, error codes…

20. Shortterm
Rankings
Site
health
Indexing

21. Shortterm
Traffic

22. Shortterm
Traffic Conversion

23. Shortterm
Traffic Conversion Revenue

24. Technical
SEO
ShorttermLongterm

25. Technical
SEO
ShorttermLongterm
Link
profile

26. Technical
SEO
ShorttermLongterm
Link
profile
Content
quality

27. Shortterm Long term
Short term
Predictive Performance
Indicators Tracker
Warning Trading

28. Shortterm Understands your job
Doesn’t understand your job
Doesn’t control
your budget
Controls
your budget
UX
PR
Manager
Client
IT
Boss
Boss’ boss

29. All 4 can be automated

30. 4
1
2
3
Warning

31. Your boss should know about issues
before the trading report

32. Get alerts for major issues

33. Create custom email alerts

34. Schedule crawls (and email them)

35. Share reports instantly in Slack

36. Assign JIRA tickets automatically

37. 4
1
2
3
Tracker

38. Deliverables in reports say
“we did this. You didn’t help.”

40. Track progress with crawls/assign tasks

41. Use Supermetrics to pull into Data Studio:

42. Monitor links going live using Buzzsumo

43. Get better media reporting with Vuelio

44. 4
1
2
3
Trading

45. Seasonality

46. Use custom reports to reduce clicking

47. Remember: Data Studio connectors exist for everything

48. My boss’ boss never sees my
Data Studio dashboard

49. 4
1
2
3
Indicators

50. Sprint for the finish line

52. Watch on Vimeo

53. Bounce
rate
Scroll
depth
PageSpeed
What metrics will affect us most in 6-12 months?

54. I want us to stop having this conversation

55. 3s +3ps ??? ??? ??? Profit
We think loading 3s faster could mean +3 to
our average position

56. My boss doesn’t value SEO

57. 3s +3ps +80% ??? ??? Profit
This will increase CTR by 80%

58. 3s +3ps +80% 5,000 ??? Profit
Which means 5,000 more visits/month

59. 3s +3ps +80% 5,000 120 Profit
That’s 120 more conversions

60. 3s +3ps +80% 5,000 120 £12k
That’s £12k more revenue

61. Executive problems last
longer than 1 month

62. 3s £432k
I can increase revenue by £432k over 3 years
by improving PageSpeed by 3 seconds

63. So close

64. I can increase revenue by £432k over 3 years
with £2k of development resource

65. Rule 1: use their dashboard
Rule 2: use their language
Rule 3: get them on their own
Rule 4: only show them what they care about
Rule 5: overestimate your contributions

66. Rule 1: use their dashboard
Rule 2: use their language
Rule 3: get them on their own
Rule 4: only show them what they care about
Rule 5: overestimate your contributions

67. Rule 1: use their dashboard
Rule 2: use their language
Rule 3: get them on their own
Rule 4: only show them what they care about
Rule 5: overestimate your contributions

68. Rule 1: use their dashboard
Rule 2: use their language
Rule 3: get them on their own
Rule 4: only show them what they care about
Rule 5: overestimate your contributions

69. Rule 1: use their dashboard
Rule 2: use their language
Rule 3: get them on their own
Rule 4: only show them what they care about
Rule 5: overestimate your contributions

70. Got a question?
@stekenwright
Where are the gifs from?
giphy.com