How to Build a Great SEO Client Dashboard? A Step-By-Step Video Tutorial

Author's avatar Analytics UPDATED Apr 23, 2024 PUBLISHED Jun 14, 2022 13 minutes read

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    Peter Caputa

    To see what Databox can do for you, including how it helps you track and visualize your performance data in real-time, check out our home page. Click here.

    Managing SEO campaigns for clients can come with its fair share of challenges! Not only do clients struggle to understand the complexity of this ever-changing field, but it also takes time to measure impactful results. 

    In short, there is no step-by-step guide that you can follow that will guarantee that your clients rank higher on SERPs. So, how can you communicate your ongoing efforts and avoid the “What am I paying you for” talk…?

    …By developing a relationship with your client that promotes transparency, provides proof of results, successfully communicates the value of your efforts, and aligns the achievement of goals with the overall vision – AKA an SEO client dashboard.

    This article will explain how to create an SEO dashboard to communicate your marketing efforts effectively. This includes exploring:

    ga_seo_dashboard_template_databox

    What Is an SEO Client Dashboard?

    An SEO client dashboard helps track and monitor organic search performance in real-time. By combining crucial SEO elements in one comprehensive view, marketing teams can quickly identify new opportunities to optimize long-term results. At the same time, clients will gain more visibility into what was achieved (short-term goals) through easy-to-understand data visualizations.

    What Should Be Included in an SEO Dashboard for a Client?

    Dashboards are a great way to highlight the current performance of your campaign. With this in mind, here are several essential SEO metrics that you should track in your client’s dashboard: 

    1. Keyword Ranking 

    Keywords are the backbone of your SEO strategy! Search engines will use keywords to identify the most relevant pages to a certain search query. With this in mind, regularly tracking your keyword ranking will help you identify any fluctuations or further improvements that can impact your performance. 

    Keyword Ranking visualization

    2. Organic Traffic 

    Organic traffic measures the number of sessions your website receives from search engines like Google. In other words, it measures how successful your content is at attracting organic visitors. A good SEO strategy will focus on improving the visibility of a website in the SERPs to ultimately bring more organic traffic.

    Organic traffic visualization

    Related: 9 Ways to Break Through a Website Traffic Plateau

    3. Organic Conversions 

    This metric highlights the conversions generated from organic traffic and should be what drives your business goals. Conversions can be anything that relates to the success of your campaign (form submissions, downloads, online purchases) and will provide a general indication of your performance.

    Organic Conversions  visualization

    Related: Are Your Website Conversion Rates Dropping? Try These 20 Tips

    4. New/Lost Backlinks 

    Authoritative websites rank higher on Google. Your SEO strategy should incorporate ways to increase your website authority through referring domains. Monitoring new/lost backlinks will highlight the success of your outreach strategy. Too many lost backlinks may affect your search engine performance.

    New / Lost Backlinks visualization

    5. Domain Authority 

    Domain authority gives an overview of likely search engine performance. In other words, it will give you an indication of how credible your website is to SERPs. Domain authority can be used to assess the performance of your website in relation to your competitors.

    Domain Authority visualization

    6. Top Landing Pages

    Monitoring organic traffic is not enough! It’s important to understand where this traffic is going. By tracking your top landing pages you can quickly see the pages that are driving the most traffic for a client, giving you more clarity on the content you should optimize for conversions. Your clients can also reference this data to get a better understanding of their current performance, helping you highlight the impact of your work. 

    Top Landing Pages visualization

    4 Things to Consider When Building an SEO Dashboard For Your Client

    Here are a few best practices to keep in mind when creating your dashboard:

    1. Focus on the Metrics that Matter 

    Your data dashboard should only include the metrics that are most beneficial to your client. When thinking about what metrics you want to include, it’s important to pick the ones that will highlight the success or failure of accomplishing a set of goals. To keep your dashboard focused, we recommend including a maximum of 9 metrics. 

    2. Educate Clients

    When creating your dashboard, keep in mind that your client is not the SEO expert, you are! Make sure to introduce each metric and its value by using clear and  ‘relatable’ language. Ask yourself: 

    • Have I included confusing metrics? 
    • Have I used appropriate naming conventions?
    • Have I explained the metrics and their importance to my client?

    Related: 9 Ways Agency Reporting Can Help Create Transparency with Clients and Boost Client Retention

    3. Select Meaningful Data Visualizations 

    Think carefully about how you want to present this information to your client. Remember, the way the data is presented is equally important as the data itself. When creating your dashboards, visualizations should be simple, effective, and easily digestible. You should be careful about the use of color in your charts. Your focus should be on how you want to aggregate the data, the values that are worth including, and what date range is the most relevant to show. 

    4. Start from an SEO Template 

    With the staggering amount of data available in the digital world, it can be overwhelming to think about building an SEO dashboard from scratch. SEO dashboard templates can be used as starting points and customized to fit your needs better. Dashboard templates also implement reporting best practices and help visualize the data in a digestible manner.

    How to Build a Client Dashboard? A 6-Step Guide

    We’ve created a step-by-step guide outlining how to build the best SEO dashboard for your clients. Watch this quick video or go through the breakdown of each step below.

    1. Create a Client Account
    2. Connect Your Data Sources
    3. Create a New Dashboard
    4. Customize Your Dashboard
    5. Include Annotations and Goals
    6. Share Your Results

    Let’s dive in.

    1. Create a Client Account 

    The first step is to create a Client Account in Databox. Client Accounts are available in Agency Accounts and can be used to secure, customize and organize your client’s data in one place. We recommend creating a separate account for each client. 

    You can create a Client Account by navigating to the Client Page > + New Client.

    2. Connect Your Data Sources

    In order to monitor and track your client’s SEO performance, you can connect 100+ Data Sources in just a few clicks. By connecting popular SEO Data Sources like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Semrush, and Moz, you can easily sync your SEO data with Databox’s templates.

    Connect Your Data Sources

    You can connect a Data Source to your Client Account by navigating to the Data Manager > +New Connection. 

    3. Create a New Dashboard

    As the focus is on tracking SEO data,  you will want to create a dedicated SEO dashboard in your Client Account. You can choose to create a dashboard by starting with a Blank Databoard, using the Wizard, or by selecting an available template in our Public Template Library. The Wizard is a great tool to use if you already have a list of metrics in mind.

    Create a New Dashboard

    In this case, we will use the Wizard by selecting + New Databoard > Use Wizard. You will then be prompted to select the Data Source and the Basic Metrics that you would like to add to the dashboard.

    4. Customize Your Dashboard 

    Now that the data has been added to your dashboard, you can further customize it to better fit your client’s needs.

    Customize Your Dashboard

    This can include: 

    • Resizing the Datablock
    • Readjusting the layout 
    • Adjusting the visual settings 

    5. Include Annotations and Goals

    A key step in reporting on the performance of your client’s SEO campaign is to include interactive annotations to help better interpret KPIs and provide more context into any trends that have impacted search performance. 

    Include Annotations and Goals

    Additionally, adding Goals to your visualizations is a great way to stay up to date with the progress towards the overall business objective. Creating a Goal from within the Designer will signal Notifications to help you monitor your client’s performance in real-time. Notifications will be sent to your email address to alert you when your goals have been hit or when your goals won’t be hit.

    6. Share Your Results 

    Share Your Results

    Lastly, there are various ways to share your results with your clients. This includes: 

    • Shareable Link 
    • Scheduled Snapshots
    • Stream to TV
    • Embed a dashboard

    You can share your dashboard by selecting the Share option from within the Designer.

    Databox Free SEO Dashboard Templates

    With Databox you have access to 25+ ready-to-use SEO dashboard templates. Don’t waste time creating your dashboards from scratch! 

    Here are just a few examples of the free dashboards we offer: 

    1. SEO Overview Dashboard 

    If you are looking to track the overall performance of your SEO efforts, then the SEO Overview Dashboard is the perfect template for you!

    By combining data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Semrush, and Moz, you can easily answer questions about your keyword ranking, search queries, ranking distributions, and much more.

    SEO Overview Dashboard

    2. SEO Campaign Performance Dashboard

    To monitor the impact of your SEO strategy, the SEO Campaign Performance Dashboard will help you identify areas of your campaign that can help you maximize your results. 

    SEO Campaign Performance Dashboard

    This template can help you answer questions like: 

    • What channels are generating the most traffic?
    • How many landing pages are ranking in search results?
    • How many visitors did the website receive?
    • Are the visitors converting?

    3. Google Analytics SEO Dashboard 

    The Google Analytics SEO Dashboard is one of the best ways to track the pages that are driving the most traffic to your website.

    Google Analytics SEO Dashboard

    By downloading this free template you will learn more about: 

    • Search queries people are using to find your website 
    • Landing pages that can be optimized to boost ranking and organic traffic 
    • The overall health of your SEO strategy

    4. Ahrefs (Website Audit) Dashboard

    You can use the Ahrefs Audit Dashboard to track your website’s overall health.

    Ahrefs (Website Audit) Dashboard

    This dashboard will provide valuable insights to help you answer questions like: 

    • What was the total number of backlinks generated?
    • How many referring domains does my website have?
    • What is my website’s rank?

    5. Semrush (Keywords and Organic Traffic) Dashboard

    If you are looking to understand how your rankings translate to traffic, the Semrush Keywords & Organic Dashboard is just what you need! 

    By downloading this dashboard you are able to track and monitor metrics like sessions, top keywords by position, users, pageviews, and much more. 

    Semrush (Keywords and Organic Traffic) Dashboard

    Automate Client Reporting with Databox

    We all know that it can take months to start seeing the results from your SEO strategy. But it’s still important to regularly monitor metrics to ensure you stay on track with your targets. 

    With Databox, you can seamlessly create dedicated SEO dashboards to help you track your client’s performance regularly. By automating SEO analytics, you will have more time to focus on the things that matter, like finding new ways to improve campaign performance and communicating its results to your clients.

    Databox can help your agency make SEO analysis a regular part of your daily routine through its fully automated system! Start a 15-day free trial now.

    ga_seo_dashboard_template_databox

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    Article by
    Monise Branca

    Product Marketing Specialist at Databox

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