If the thought of starting your next monthly SEO report from scratch fills you with dread, you\u2019re not alone!<\/p>\n
A few years ago, we asked our customers working at agencies about the top things that they wished were automated about their job.<\/p>\n
The top answer by a large margin was reporting, collecting data for reports, and report updates.<\/p>\n
In this post, we\u2019ll show you how to make your own SEO progress report template and automate your reporting process.<\/p>\n
The Semrush\u00a0My Reports tool<\/a>\u00a0lets you aggregate data from dozens of tools, build and save your own PDF report templates, and set up recurring emails.<\/p>\n This tool also gives you the ability to:<\/p>\n Creating templates for your reporting, whether you\u2019re in-house or at an agency, can help you:<\/p>\n Of course, saving time is always important for business, and the stress of starting a report from scratch every time can be crushing.<\/p>\n But another reason you should use templates is that it\u2019ll make it a lot easier for you to onboard new team members and clients. Instead of just throwing your new team members the task of coming up with their own report, you\u2019ll be giving them an easy format to follow so they\u2019ll feel ready to contribute.<\/p>\n Lastly, your clients appreciate consistency. Using a template lets whoever is receiving the report know what to expect. They won\u2019t have to relearn how to navigate through your reports each month, which saves them time.<\/p>\n Every contract and campaign has its own unique set of goals and KPIs.<\/p>\n Likewise, your client will want their report to feel personal, with specific guidance.<\/p>\n So, how can you keep your clients happy, while also making your reporting process smoother?<\/p>\n Here are some tips:<\/p>\n The beauty of using a template for your SEO report is that the automation gives you more time to personalize the report.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s possible to automate some\u00a0SEO KPIs<\/a>\u00a0with dashboards and tools like Semrush, you wouldn\u2019t want to automate your opening statements and commentary.<\/p>\n Think of the KPIs and data as the \u201cwhat\u201d of the report and your commentary as the \u201cwhy.\u201d Why does 15% organic traffic growth matter? You can explain in one of the comments areas of your template.<\/p>\n When you build a template on Semrush My Reports, you can automate the input of data with Semrush and Google data widgets.<\/p>\n These widgets can automatically populate your report with metrics like:<\/p>\n To add a personal touch to your reports, you can include space for your comments and explanations, as well as images and branding.<\/p>\n With Semrush, you can drag and drop widgets for text blocks to include your comments on each section of your report.<\/p>\n You can also add images like your client\u2019s logo, or even fully customize your report with a theme if you sign up for the\u00a0Agency Growth Kit.<\/a><\/p>\n Because there are so many areas of SEO that you can work on, there will be different things to report.<\/p>\n So, you should have specific templates for the different services you offer. For example, you could set up unique templates for your:<\/p>\n The nice thing about My Reports is that we have a handful of\u00a0preset templates<\/a>\u00a0to start with.<\/p>\n Just open one up and start adding widgets to make the PDF report your own.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of what you\u2019d see automatically by using some of the templates above:<\/p>\n This is a perfect starting place for general monthly reporting on an SEO client. Preset widgets include:<\/p>\n This SEO audit report template dives deep into the results of a Site Audit, which could be great for technical SEO clients or prospects. Preset widgets include:<\/p>\n This template goes into the organic search performance of any website, which is an easy way to create a competitive analysis report in minutes. Preset widgets include:<\/p>\n Now, what if you want to make your own templates from scratch, or change a preset template and save it as new?<\/p>\n This is also easy, by editing any report in the report builder and saving it as a template on the My Reports home page.<\/p>\n You can add more data from Semrush or Google to your report to highlight your specific KPIs, as well as text blocks, images, and formatting to add room for your comments on each section.<\/p>\n To add Google Analytics data to your report, Semrush currently offers over a dozen widgets from the classic Universal Analytics version of GA, and a handful of connections for GA4 properties.<\/p>\n Universal properties:<\/p>\n GA4 properties:<\/p>\n For specific steps on integrating your Google Analytics with your Semrush report templates, visit our\u00a0Knowledge Base<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve built your report on Semrush, hit the Generate PDF report button on the top right to save it.<\/p>\n Then, you can save this report from the My Reports home page as a new template. Just find the gear icon beside the report you\u2019ve made, and select Create Template.<\/p>\n Now that report will be saved in your templates list so you can access it and customize a new report for a new client starting from the same structure.<\/p>\n Once your report is ready to go, you can schedule this report to be sent to your client\u2019s email on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.<\/p>\n You can include a template for what you want to put in the email text itself and make sure to update that email text before it goes out each month.<\/p>\n How should you customize your template?<\/p>\n The bare minimum you\u2019ll want to cover in an SEO progress report is:<\/p>\n After those basics, you might want to include any links to related reading or articles that explain some of your processes, in case the client would be curious to learn.<\/p>\n Most SEO clients won\u2019t be SEO experts, so you may want to include client education in the reporting process. When you do, it can help build more trust and engagement in the relationship.<\/p>\n Follow some of these do\u2019s and don\u2019ts to make the template perfect.<\/p>\n We have a whole blog post dedicated to\u00a0the anatomy of a perfect SEO report<\/a>\u00a0to dive deeper with more examples of how to report on each aspect of SEO.<\/p>\n\n
Why You Should Use SEO Report Templates<\/h2>\n
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Structuring Your SEO Report Template<\/h2>\n
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Automating Data for Your Report Templates<\/h2>\n
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Personalizing Templates with Text and Images<\/h2>\n
Templates for Each Type of Report<\/h2>\n
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Monthly SEO Template<\/h3>\n
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Site Audit: Full Report Template<\/h3>\n
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Full Organic Research Template<\/h3>\n
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Customizing Semrush Report Templates<\/h2>\n
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Generate and Schedule Your Report<\/h2>\n
Perfecting Your Template<\/h2>\n
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