Top Enterprise SEO Reporting Mistakes to Avoid

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SEO is complex. Implementing it and bringing in results could be a huge task, but reporting is equally cumbersome. 

Not everybody understands SEO, and you must keep that in mind when you prepare reports. The wrong presentation of your efforts will fail to convey why SEO is essential. 

It should provide in-depth insights into website performance, as an example shown in the screenshot. 

To make an excellent SEO report, you must start with the thought that nobody understands SEO. 

This will give you an idea of what to include and what not to include in your reports. Here are the top 9 enterprise SEO reporting mistakes to avoid.

Top 9 Reporting Mistakes Enterprise SEOs Make

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1. Reporting in SEO Lingo Completely

One of the most significant reporting mistakes Enterprise SEOs to make is using too many SEO terms. It is understandable for those who work on it day-in and day-out. But you have to see to whom you are presenting your SEO report.

You cannot make nerds out too much. Your Enterprise SEO report should be understandable. 

For example, the below screenshot shows a crawling report of a website from the screaming frog tool. Presentation it as is, will baffle them completely. 

So, communicate what they understand the best. If you are using SEO terms, explain to them what it means.

How to include it in your report?

• Present your reports to non-SEO people
• Take feedback from your superiors and peers on your reporting
• Make adjustments and keep your SEO report simple
• Follow a structure for reporting hits and misses

Following these tips mentioned above will make you overcome the nerdy SEO within you.

2. Non-Customized Reports

It matters who you are reporting to. Your audience and their understanding of SEO should be the first criteria for making an Enterprise SEO report. 

Assuming you are presenting an SEO report to a growth manager, they will have better SEO knowledge than a CEO or an investor.

Customize your reports, tailor them as suited for the audience, and present data accordingly. For a growth manager, it could be more detailed and SEO-centric. 

For example, an overview report is shown in the below screenshot. 

But when presenting to investors, talk about returns and investments your SEO efforts have delivered.

How to include that in your report?

• Ascertain what are the objectives
• Identify your audience
• Do proper formatting and make sure your report is accurate
• Give insights and make it understandable

These tips will help you understand what type of SEO report you should make. Customizing them will be easier and faster.

3. Diverting from Broader Strategy

When discussing Enterprise SEO reports, you should know that their marketing efforts aren't restrained to organic growth. 

A lot happens on the marketing front, including PR, paid marketing, brand marketing, etc. SEO can benefit from it, but you must show how content linking, creation, and technical SEO are.

To do that, you must keep a tab on broader strategy, as shown in the screenshot below. 

Analyze what is happening in other marketing channels and how it impacts your efforts. Show the positive and negative aspects. Highlight how SEO saved the day.

How to include that in your report?

• Keep track of other marketing channels and their activities
• Follow through on their results and impact on SEO 
• List down problems faced during the entire tenure or missed opportunities
• Highlight positives and suggest more activities on all fronts

This will establish the role of SEO and other efforts, highlighting the correlation of each marketing effort.

4. Adding too Many Numbers

The biggest mistake in Enterprise SEO reporting can be this one. 

Divulging in numbers will make everything complicated. Numbers are difficult to understand without context. So, while preparing SEO reports, ensure a context to everything.

If you have data, break it down. Help your audience understand what it indicates. Use graphs, pie charts, and other visual aids to simplify it. One of the best ways to create this report is using google data studio. 

As shown in the below image, it helps create visually appealing and easy-to-understand reports. 

How to include it in your report?

• Summarize your data. Try to keep it as concise as possible
• Include context and clear headings for each section
• Create segments and collate your data accordingly
• Keep in mind the knowledge of the audience of your work

These tips will help you make better Enterprise SEO reports. It will help you explain your data better without boring them.

5. Picking Wrong Metrics

Your SEO goals are more than just rank-boosting and link building. You need to find out what metrics align with company revenue goals. Based on the broader goals and strategies.

Enterprise SEO should discuss keyword rankings, organic search traffic data, click-through rate, conversion rate, lead generation, etc.

How to include it in your report?

• Establish a tracking system for every activity
• Start by making weekly reports
• Keep going back to company goals and KPIs to fall back on the right metrics. Look at the screenshot below that shows a business's crucial KPIs. 

• Collate and summarize your reports for final Enterprise SEO reporting

Keeping track will help you form better reports. It will prevent you from picking the wrong metrics for performance measurement.

6. Skipping Insights

There is a misconception about people loving data and numbers. Yes, they love it, but it has no value if you can't provide valuable insights. 

You should always consider that data is just a number if presented without valuable insights.

Your audience will access it, but what do those numbers reflect? 

Tell them how those numbers should be interpreted and how your strategy has improved results. You need to give context, problems, and solutions to understand the data better.

How to include it in your Enterprise SEO report?

• Include all the questions that relate to your data
• Track all the metrics and simplify them for a better understanding
• Use visual aids to stimulate a better understanding; for example, most SEOs ignore heatmaps data, but it offers valuable insights, as shown below. 

• Show patterns and how they help in meeting end goals

Including insights will make your enterprise SEO reports more impactful. You will be able to communicate your achievements better.

7. Focusing on Just One Type of Keywords

Of course, you can summarize your keyword ranking report. You can talk about the number of keywords ranking on top pages and their performance. 

But can you hoard them all in just one report? 

Certainly not. 

Your audience may have little idea about the number of pages, keywords, or tasks you have worked on. So, you will have to be precise. 

Tell them those numbers but segregate the keywords into branded and non-branded keywords. This will give an idea of how well the company brand is recognized.

How to include it in your Enterprise SEO report?

• Keep track of PR activities to analyze trends for branded keywords
• Segregate branded and non-branded keywords to rank for multiple queries and enhance conversions from repeat visitors 

• Try to capture customer journey through your keywords
• Study and make a separate list of focus topics that are important for your brand

Even if your audience understands keywords and their performance, they will get an idea about their brand performance.

8. Missing on Broader KPIs and Goals

When you form Enterprise SEO reports, you need to know what your audience understands. The company stakeholders may not fully understand SEO. 

They may get lost if you go all in explaining technical SEO changes and on-page and off-page efforts. While preparing an SEO report, talk about the best terms they understand. 

Take a look at the below screenshot; it shows the number of visitors, deal value of opportunities created, and other metrics that clients will easily understand. 

Then you should mention your efforts but focus more on what they resulted in. Were you able to drive to broader goals? If yes, then how? Show them numbers. Show them the business they got from your SEO efforts. 

How to include it in your Enterprise SEO report?

• Spend time understanding company goals
• Analyze broader KPIs
• Check how SEO helped in achieving those goals and meeting KPIs
• Give numbers and insights

Your Enterprise SEO report will surely grab many eyeballs if you follow this diligently.

9. Not Including Challenges Faced

When presenting your SEO reports, you should never miss out on mentioning the challenges you faced. It will give an overview of what challenges came through and solutions to beat them. 

It will highlight the problem-solving ability of the enterprise SEO team and present a broader sense of how SEO can be challenging.

How to include it in your Enterprise SEO report?

• Make a list of challenges you faced
• Jot down which was the most challenging task
• Summarize the solution you came across
• Explain the execution and results

It is essential to highlight this aspect in your Enterprise SEO report for your audience to understand the importance of SEO.

Key Takeaways

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• Do not talk in all-SEO terms. Make your Enterprise SEO reports understandable.
• Customize your reports based on your audience.
• Keep broader strategy and goals in mind while compiling enterprise SEO reports.
• Do not add too many numbers. Try to include relevant data only.
• Pick the right metrics only. Select which metrics align with overall company goals.
• Avoid skipping insights. If you are presenting data, give valuable insights along with it.
• Focus on all types of keywords - branded and non-branded.
• Do not miss out on broader KPIs. They will help you keep track of SEO efforts and their direction.
• Don't forget to include challenges, problems, and solutions in your report.