Is your SEO Agency sending you performance reports without fail?
I am shocked at the number of clients who do not receive and demand periodic performance reports from their SEO agency and Digital Marketing companies. Also it's surprising why SEO companies don't do it themselves. Unfortunately a very large number of SEO experts in India run their businesses from home without the setup or manpower required to drive a marketing campaign AND create a good reporting structure.
Every client is entitled to at least one report a month from their SEO agency. More active campaigns could require more frequent reports but sometimes a month is a good period to view the trends that need to be captured in the reports.
An SEO reports should have at minimum the following parameters:
- Measurement Keyword Ranking in search engines
- A record of submissions and link building activities (optional, a summary might also do).
- A tabulation of visitors to the site
- Tabulations of goals accomplished during the month and their ratio to visitors.
- A qualitative assessment of the SEO effort.
This should be followed up with a meeting or a telephone conversation with the agency representative which should be a discussion at length on strategy and tactics and future goals and plans.
Accountability must be ensured by clients by demanding reports and explanations of performance factors both positive and negative. If you let the seo agency of the hook then it's your own fault. You then cannot complain about lack of results at the end of the marketing period.
One caution I would throw in for website owners is that many times performance may not be up to the market or negative for many reasons. At this time do give your agency the benefit of doubt and discuss possible steps to recover. This will ensure that the agency does not hide bad news from you or doctor their reports to show themselves in good light. Good or bad, you should build trust with the agency.
The burden on results should not only fall on the SEO agency. The client must also take active interest and contribute their thoughts and ideas. That makes a profitable partnership.
