As an SEO agency, your ability to perform the different tasks required to achieve the results you and your clients desire and also be seen to be doing same depends largely on the quality of tools you use. In this industry, your tools will make or mar you.
One of the most important resources that any agency will require for smooth operations is an SEO reporting tool. Any agency that functions or rather tries to function without this very important tool will only be making a mockery of itself, its work and its clients.
It’s not just about having this resource, but about having the right one. One that offers a bouquet of solutions that significantly increases your efficiency and ability to get stuff done quickly.
In this post, we will be taking a critical look at this resource so that anyone thinking of starting an SEO agency will have a better understanding of the role this resource can and should play in the day to day operations of the agency.
Table of Contents
What are Reporting Tools?
These are software or platforms that offer you the ability to monitor your different search engine optimization efforts across different media. They help you create a summary of these activities across these different media, showing the extent of effort made, the resources spent and the results achieved.
To put it in a pictorial form, reporting tools are like those machines in the hospital that are connected to a patient to provide data that shows what is going on with the patient at all times.
Why is Reporting an Important Agency Resource?
From the explanation given above, it should be pretty obvious that such a monitoring tool is critical to the operations of any business or venture. To put things in proper perspective, at least with regards to SEO agencies, we will list a few points to show why this resource is very important to an agency.
We shall look at it from two different perspectives. First from the agency’s perspective and then the client’s perspective.
Agency Reporting
Monitoring Use of Resources
Effective SEO practices include keeping a close tab on how much is spent on what and how efficiently these funds are being spent. You cannot just be paying for ads without checking to see if they are effective.
With proper reporting, an agency can consistently check how well the resources available to them are distributed. You can see exactly what is spent on each campaign and the exact effect of each spend.
Monitoring Results
There is the need for an agency to constantly monitor the results it is getting across different channels. Having access to these results helps with optimal resource allocation. You do not keep on funding something that is not working, but you focus your resources on the things that are yielding positive results. You can however only make such a decision when you can monitor the results in real time.
Providing Data for Proper Strategy
In the information age, any decision made should be backed by data. In an SEO campaign, an agency needs to be tactile so as to quickly rejig its strategy for increased efficiency. Being tactile is however not a function of a whim but a response to the constantly emerging data.
The data shows what is working, what is not working, what can be improved and what should be totally discarded. Without the right data, you cannot formulate the right strategy. See how important data is in today’s world here: https://www.inc.com/aj-agrawal/4-ways-big-data-is-changing-seo.html.
Client Reporting
You know what you are doing or so you claim. Your client does not know what you know or what you are doing until they begin to get your reports. With client reporting, you are showing the client the following:
- What you have been doing in pursuit of their SEO goals.
- Where their funds are being invested.
- The results that are being achieved.
- Why their investment and decision to work with you is worthwhile.
With this, you achieve the following:
Client Trust
When you carry your client along, giving them periodic reports that are clear and concise, the client gradually comes to trust you as an agency. The process of reporting educates the client on your operations so nothing is ambiguous. Once your client trusts you, you have set the tone for a wonderful working relationship.
Improves Transparency and Accountability
Proper reporting ensures accountability and transparency. This is still linked to trust building because it is at the core of it. The fact that you will be reporting expenses to your client will help ensure resources are judiciously allocated.
Show Your Worth
Your reporting shows your client that you know what you are doing. The more your worth rises with your client, the more business you are sure to get from them directly and via referrals.
How to Choose the Right Reporting Tool
The number of SEO agency software that are robust enough to practically meet all your reporting needs are not much. However, finding one that does can be a lot easier if you know exactly what to look out for.
There are a lot of different features that can be offered by different tools. There are however some features that are more important than others. Some of these highly important ones include:
Third-Party Tool Integration
As an agency, you will be working with many different tools. The right reporting platform should seamlessly integrate with these other resources. This will help keep your operations streamlined and efficient.
Report Customization
It should also offer you the ability to configure each client’s report based on their stipulated goals and KPIs rather than just sending them out with the same format.
Scalability
The right tool will grow with you as your needs grow. This means you can have different levels of subscriptions from which you can choose based on your needs at the time. This ensures you save money by not getting services you do not need while also being able to increase your requirement as your client base increases.
Ease of Use
This is a very important feature that the right reporting tool has to possess. It has to be easy enough for you and your team members to be able to use it without too much time spent learning how to use it.
You can read more about this here: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-tools/reporting/.
Conclusion
If as an agency you are serious about growing and improving your performance, you must invest in a good quality SEO reporting tool. Do this, and you will be pleasantly surprised at the results you will begin to see.
The information we have shared above can act as a guide that will help you find the tool that is right for your agency.