How can you improve stakeholder communication with transparent SEO data?
Stakeholder communication is a vital part of any SEO project, but it can be challenging to convey the value and impact of your efforts without transparent and reliable data. Whether you are reporting to clients, managers, or colleagues, you need to present SEO data that is accurate, relevant, and easy to understand. In this article, you will learn how to improve stakeholder communication with transparent SEO data by following these six steps:
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Ludwig Makhyan🔍Technical SEO Expert | 🌎 Global Experience | 🕵️♂️ SEO Forensics | 🖊️ Entrepreneur, SEJ & SEL Author
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Amit BhogalStrategic SEO Analyst🚀 | Local SEO Expert 🌍 | Crafting Dynamic Content Strategies 🎯 | Leading Brands to Digital…
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Shalini JainBlockchain | Softwares | Cloud Computing | ZOHO | Mobile Apps | AI and ML | Ecommerce | API | Digital Marketing
Before you share any SEO data with your stakeholders, you need to make sure that it is trustworthy and consistent. Audit your data sources and tools to identify any gaps, errors, or discrepancies that might affect the quality and integrity of your data. For example, you might want to check if your analytics platform is tracking all your website pages, if your keyword research tool is using the same location and language settings as your target audience, or if your rank tracker is updating your rankings regularly and accurately.
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Improve stakeholder communication with transparent SEO data by providing clear and regular reports, setting clear objectives and KPIs, sharing success stories, educating stakeholders, using customized dashboards, conducting interactive sessions, highlighting risks and opportunities, offering real-time reporting, collaborating on goal setting, and establishing a feedback mechanism.
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I prefer to compare data between Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and SEMrush when testing for accuracy. You'll often find that the numbers aren't always precise but pretty close. If they are not, don't write off that tool just yet. Instead, audit your setup to see if you may have made a mistake.
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The reason we audit data is to determine whether it is reliable and comprehensive enough to make decisions with. Understanding the nuances between summarized data like Google Keyword Planner keywords and Google Search Console search terms can mean the difference between a good decision and a bad one.
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Trabalhar operacionalmente nos workflows com squads que se complementam, usando um bom gerenciador de demandas ex: Clickup, informações e comandos curtos, muito claros e com toda a aquitetura detalhada e documentada disponível para todos os envolvidos direta e indiretamente.
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Simplify language exchange by focusing on the outcome, not every detail. Transparency is crucial, but serving relevant, refined material maintains clarity. Keep it simple, keep it clear. Keep clients in the loop without overwhelming them—serve up outcomes and production cuts instead of drowning them in the full data. It's like offering a curated experience, providing what matters most for clarity in communication. Avoid handing over the entire data load; it's like a messy jigsaw puzzle.
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Firstly go with right tools like semrush, ahrefs & spyfu. Semrush & ahrefs can provide accurate data for organi things And spyfu for more better paid keywords data & traffic
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- Clearly define SEO objectives aligned with business goals and emphasize its contribution to overall success. - Tailor reports to meet the specific needs of stakeholders and highlight relevant key performance indicators (KPIs). - Use visualizations to make complex SEO data more accessible and easier to understand. - Focus on impactful metrics that directly affect business outcomes, such as organic traffic, conversions, and revenue. - Provide context and insights alongside data to explain the significance of changes and trends. - Establish a regular reporting schedule to track progress - Create interactive dashboards for stakeholders to explore and gain deeper insights - Educate stakeholders about SEO principles - Include benchmarking data
Once you have verified your data sources, you need to align your data with your goals and expectations. This means that you need to select the most relevant and meaningful metrics and indicators that reflect your SEO strategy and objectives. For example, if your goal is to increase organic traffic, you might want to focus on metrics such as impressions, clicks, click-through rate, and bounce rate. If your goal is to generate leads or conversions, you might want to measure metrics such as conversion rate, revenue, and return on investment.
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Data, in its essence, is a flexible storyteller, defined by the scope it covers and the controls placed during collection. To morph data into actionable insights, we must strategically tailor it to our goals. Consider its application: Is it more insightful to arrange data in a numerical table, track the percentage change, or develop an index for better comprehension? For a multi-lingual website, debate whether to measure each language independently or to assess each page and its variants as a unified entity. Decide if it's more effective to compare arbitrary snapshots or to observe daily fluctuations. Each choice molds the data to serve our specific objectives, turning raw numbers into valuable, goal-aligned knowledge.
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Customize Metrics for Different Stakeholders as they may have different interests. Customize the data presentation to align with what each stakeholder group finds most relevant. Include Predictive Analysis and show how current trends might impact future performance, helping in long-term strategic planning.
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If your goal is more conversions then follow transactional keywords, if your goal is just traffic then mix of informational + transactional keywords. Choose according to goals
One of the best ways to communicate your SEO data effectively is to visualize it with charts, graphs, tables, or dashboards. Visualizing your data can help you highlight trends, patterns, and insights that might otherwise be overlooked or misunderstood. For example, you can use a line chart to show the growth of your organic traffic over time, a bar chart to compare the performance of different keywords or landing pages, or a pie chart to illustrate the distribution of your traffic sources.
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Both Google Analytics and SEMrush offer great visualization tools. You can easily us their charts and graphs to display data that easily shows long-term growth. You can also use tables in SEMrush to show pertinent keyword data, including rankings, volume, and difficulty.
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In SEO, the true power often lies in simple tools like pivot tables and content tagging, which are surprisingly underused. You don't need advanced data visualization software to tell a compelling story. Tagging can be done manually in minutes across various datasets. For example, you can tag a sitemap by template, classify keywords by themes, intent, or search engine, and categorize blogs by their content. Then, by pivoting this tagged data, you can uncover growth areas, spot underperforming content, and even create a practical task list. While expertise in advanced platforms is valuable, the ability to skillfully use pivot tables can be equally, if not more, beneficial in the world of SEO.
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Use properly structured charts, numbers & goals to show your reports. A clear report is a sign of clear work. Never mess reports just with numbers, go with more visuals to share reports.
While visualizing your data can help you make it more appealing and engaging, you also need to simplify your data to make it more clear and concise. Simplifying your data means that you need to remove any unnecessary or redundant information, use plain and simple language, and explain any technical terms or acronyms. For example, you can use filters, segments, or categories to group your data by relevant criteria, use percentages or ratios to show proportions or changes, and define terms such as bounce rate, domain authority, or SERP features.
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SEO data often comes with an abundance of information, yet the real challenge lies in distilling it to actionable insights. Our objective isn't merely to generate work, but to identify the most efficient actions with the best ROI, be it in awareness, engagement, or revenue. For example, website errors often stem from a single issue in a template file. Instead of overwhelming stakeholders with a long list of errors, it's more practical and effective to focus on the root problem, simplifying both the data and the solution.
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Use Comparative Analysis and simplify complex data by comparing it with familiar benchmarks or historical performance. Provide Summaries and Key Takeaways
Another important step to improve stakeholder communication with transparent SEO data is to contextualize your data. Contextualizing your data means that you need to provide background, explanation, and interpretation for your data, as well as compare it with benchmarks, targets, or competitors. For example, you can use historical data to show how your SEO performance has changed over time, use industry standards or best practices to show how your SEO performance compares with others, or use competitor analysis to show how your SEO performance differs from your rivals.
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Include information on recent market trends or search engine algorithm updates that might affect SEO performance. Provide context that is specific to each stakeholder's area of interest or responsibility.
Finally, you need to actionize your data to show your stakeholders how your SEO data can inform your decisions and actions. Actionizing your data means that you need to provide recommendations, suggestions, or next steps based on your data, as well as show the expected outcomes, benefits, or impacts of your actions. For example, you can use your data to identify opportunities, challenges, or threats for your SEO strategy, propose solutions, improvements, or experiments for your SEO tactics, or forecast results, outcomes, or impacts for your SEO goals.
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Remember, SEO is part of marketing, and marketing is communication. It's often more prudent to base decisions on relative expectations rather than solely on hard numbers. For example, if your website lacks content in a highly-searched area, and there are minor improvements to be made for speed, prioritize publishing the content. This approach is about weighing options relatively. It's better to take action, communicate, and then review first-party performance data, rather than getting lost in potential scenarios based on third-party data. In SEO, progress is about making relative, informed choices and continuously moving forward.
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Use real-life examples or case studies to illustrate how similar actions have impacted SEO efforts. Include a risk assessment for proposed actions, providing a balanced view of potential outcomes.
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Additionally, you might want to consider: Education and Training: Offer sessions or resources to help stakeholders understand SEO fundamentals. This can improve their engagement with the data you present. Feedback Mechanisms: Implement a system for stakeholders to provide feedback on the data reports. This can help in refining future communications to be more effective and relevant. Regular Updates and Meetings: Schedule regular meetings to discuss SEO performance and strategies, ensuring continuous engagement and alignment with organizational goals.
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Consider incorporating a regular cadence of reporting and feedback sessions with stakeholders. This creates an ongoing dialogue, allowing you to address questions, gather insights, and align SEO efforts with broader business objectives. Share success stories, and lessons learned, and collaborate on strategies to continually refine and optimize the SEO approach.
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Consider Setting up proper goals Steps to achieve those goals Reports to show achieved goals Steps you would follow in further work And last but not least recommendations from your end
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