Your job as an SEO Manager is to turn knowledge into action. But that’s easier said than done. Because while you know what’s best for a site when it comes to SEO – clients or upper management do not. And this is why your SEO recommendations report plays such a critical role.
But developing a data-rich SEO recommendations report is only half the battle…
The real challenge is getting the green light on your SEO recommendations.
So:
To help you turn suggestions into action, we asked experts to share their SEO recommendations report tips.
Let’s dive in.
SEO Recommendations Report Tips
Here’s the list of expert tips:
Now you know how to get your recommendations put into action. But keep reading. Because our SEO experts share why these techniques matter and how to get results using them.
Educating Your Audience
Everyone knows they want to be number one in Google. But few people understand the how or the why.
So, explaining the value of organic traffic, business-driving keywords, and the role of links provides a foundation to build future work on.
– Alex Deckard, SEO Specialist, Aeroflow
Like we said in the intro – you know the power of SEO. But your audience – either a client or upper management – may not. So education is key.
This means conveying the value of SEO from a business perspective.
And Alex mentions a few good points there, let’s cover them in a bit more detail.
- Organic Traffic – Sharing the power of organic traffic will get your audience on board with your SEO recommendations. Convey how organic visitors usually find a product or service by searching for keywords. And when they visit your site, this traffic is free. That’s the most important piece of information to share.
- Business-Driving Keywords – This ties into the point on organic traffic. You have to educate your audience on the value of keywords, and how they trigger site content like products or services, or content marketing material to appear in search engines. And with a higher rank for these business-driving keywords comes higher industry authority.
- Backlinks – Backlinks are another key aspect to SEO. And while they improve your position in search, they’re also great PR from a business development perspective.
Education is an important first step when it comes to turning suggestions into action. Now it’s time to reinforce that education…
Case Studies
Pushback from clients is a daily reality in SEO, especially with larger corporations. It can be a challenge to have your ideas implemented promptly.
I have found that providing clients detailed case studies of previous customers who followed my recommendations is the best way to get them on board with suggestions.
I provide tangible past results that include timing details. This shows a timeframe for when we implemented changes, and when improvement in search visibility occurred.
If a client is having trouble understanding the value of your SEO recommendations report, show them hard data. This will turn your suggestions into action fast.
– Bradley Shaw, Digital Marketing Consultant, SEO Expert Brad Inc.
After educating, it’s time to show your audience the goods. This is where past case studies enter the game.
Here’s where you show exactly how your SEO recommendations report has generated value for clients in the past. For example, you could include Google Analytics data showing performance gains:
This tangible performance data will help audiences buy into your SEO recommendations report. In this example, you’re showing how your suggestions resulted in huge performance gains in terms of organic sessions.
You can also use anecdotes from a third-party source:
The thing that works for me is to use plenty of third-party stories and examples while dealing with clients.
If your focus is on closing the deal, and what you can do for your prospect’s website, it can get awkward. They’ll feel the pressure, and will be a little overwhelmed on the technical side of SEO.
So, find ways to chat about what other companies have done, and the results they saw. There will be no pressure as your prospect will feel like a spectator, not a target. They can see the before and after stats easily and are more likely to grasp concepts from real-life examples.
Most importantly, people want what others have… At some point, they will think “I’ll have a piece of this action”.
– Jason Lavis, Managing Director, Out of the Box Innovations
Jason offers up another great tip for pushing along your SEO recommendations. Point to a few popular success stories. An example of this could be Brian Dean’s SEO campaign case study – where he shows how one Marketer’s SEO campaign generated thousands of social shares, a mention in a newspaper, and a +15% increase in organic traffic.
After showing SEO examples, it’s time to get into your SEO recommendations report. And here’s a few tips for getting the green light on your suggestions.
Showing the Quick Wins
The best thing you can do is showcase ‘quick wins’. Because this will prove to your client that you can get the results and know what you are talking about. Doing so will gain their trust in your knowledge, meaning they will be more open to taking on board your changes and recommendations.
Trust is fundamental to getting your recommendations implemented, especially for larger changes. Without having shown your client results, they’ll be less willing to make changes, so it’s important to build this trust right from the start.
– Emma White, Marketing Executive, Multi Layer Media
SEO is all about improving your site’s performance. So, share with your clients or upper management exactly how you’re going to do that.
But diving in head first with massive site revamps may be intimidating. Instead, start your SEO recommendations reports with the quick wins. These are baby steps towards SEO improvements.
They could be as simple as internal linking in blog posts, or building backlinks through guest posting.
Mentioning Potential Downsides
As SEOs and digital marketers, it’s important that when we make SEO recommendations, we show not only the end benefit and value of implementing recommendations, but the potential downside of *not* implementing recommendations.
For instance, implementing this change is projected to result in an increase of XX% organic traffic, while if we don’t implement, we’ll lose organic visibility for key queries and searches, giving them up to (insert competitor name). Be sure to present examples or case studies of companies who did implement changes and how it improved organic performance. Doing so will show that you did your research and have taken time to prioritize your recommendations based on the potential impact of implementing and not implementing.
– Patrick Delehanty, Marketing Manager, Marcel Digital
Patrick raises an interesting point. If your SEO recommendations aren’t getting the attention they need, try working from a business perspective. And Patrick’s technique for doing so is spot on. Let’s break it down.
- Start with the Positive: First he mentions how X recommendation will have Y positive effect.
- Mention the Downside: From there, he mentions by not implementing recommendation X, the site will lose out on Y benefits.
- Share Potential Loss To Competitors: He adds extra oomph to his point by mentioning how this opens opportunities for competitors. And from a business perspective, this the real attention grab.
The “Why”
When it comes to getting your SEO recommendations implemented, it’s important that you provide your client or boss with a clear view of why they need to implement your recommendations.
Don’t just provide your client or boss with a list of recommendations. Provide them with the problem and why it’s a problem, as well as the solution and why the solution will remedy the problem.
By laying out the reasons behind your recommendations and how they will improve SEO, the client or boss is far more likely to understand what you’re trying to achieve. And they’ll take your recommendations seriously. This is going to improve your odds of getting your suggestions passed on time.
– Matt Edstrom, Head of Marketing, BioClarity
Matt’s points touch on a common point made throughout this post:
Your audience is not an SEO expert like you.
And this means you have to explain the big picture. Otherwise, your SEO recommendations report may look like a time-suck rather than valuable business improvements.
So:
What does sharing the “why” look like?
Well, you can start by mentioning why SEO is important from a business perspective. If a site isn’t taking SEO seriously, there’s a ton of potential opportunity missed. You can also mention how the increase in organic traffic leads to higher industry thought leadership. Search visibility means more traffic, which means higher potential shares. This type of awareness is invaluable for a business.
SEO Recommendations Report Tool
I know getting the green light on your SEO recommendations report isn’t easy. So, to help turn your suggestions into action, we created the SEO recommendations report feature.
Here’s a quick run-down on how it works:
First, use the SEO analysis report to scope out low-performing pages for your site or client site. These are pages that have a low SEO score, are targeting incorrect keywords, or aren’t taking advantage of key on-page SEO elements. You can do that using Pagezii’s SEO analysis Report – Project Pages feature. Here’s what it looks like:
After analyzing the site’s SEO landscape, click on pages you want to improve and share recommendations on. When you do, it will look something like this:
In the top right-hand corner of the SEO page breakdown, click the “suggestions” button.
You’ll then go to the SEO suggestion tool. Here’s where you can add text bubbles to a screenshot of the page, and edit meta elements which show SEO score improvements in real-time. When you’re all done, generate the report. It will look something like this:
You’ll also see your on-page SEO suggestions in the report.
The features make building your SEO recommendations report a breeze. Give the suggestions tool and other SEO reporting tools a test-drive today.
SEO Recommendations Report Tips and Tools for Getting the Green Light
You now have the techniques for getting the green light on your SEO recommendations report. And not only that, you also have the tools you need to get the job.
So:
Use these SEO recommendations report tips the next time you make suggestions upper management or clients. And if you have other tips to share, make sure to start the conversation in the comments below.