4 replies to this topic

[ipopelizabeth]

I am new to writing reports for clients and have been searching for a good outline and format for presenting the analysis and recommendations in all relevant categories of (mainly organic) SEO.

Does anyone have a good Outline they follow when writing a report?

Thank you!

[adybee]

I guess a good format is the following -

INTRODUCTION -
Objectives of Client Business online - important to let the client know that you understand what they want from their online business, more traffic, better conversions, etc

Why is Search Important (often clients don't really know why they need SEO services - give them some quality stats # of people searching vs. email etc. which will emphasise why they should embark on seo)

WHAT SEO IS -
Short description of what SEO is to help clarify your services to the client

CASE STUDIES -
Examples of how clients have had success with your work

SUMMARY -
Short summary of your research findings

CLIENT SERPS -
Gives a client an idea of where they are in the SE's - espcially in relation to direct competition

SITE OVERVIEW -
more detailed overview of the site and more info about site content, meta content, alternate text etc.

LINK POPULARITY -
Why link Popularity is important.
Research findings on Lik Popularity

RECOMMENDATIONS -

up to you!

REPORTING AND SUPPORT -
Clients need to know what metrics will be used and how you will report successes.

You need to make sure that any reports are short and snappy and remember very often your client will be lost and have no understanding of SEO, or may need to report to someone else so don't blind them with science. SEO can be a very dry subject matter so try and make it interesting by including interesting and relevant stats. There's tons out there!

[Alex Choo]

Just to add on to adybee's reply, I think you should spend the large majority of your time on the summary and recommendations since most people read that and do not go beyond it

Place the recommendations after the summary.

Alex

[adybee]

Just to add on to adybee's reply, I think you should spend the large majority of your time on the summary and recommendations since most people read that and do not go beyond it

Place the recommendations after the summary.

Alex

I'd go with that too Alex - many clients haven't time to get bogged down in the seo - they just want to know exactly what's right and what's wrong.

[MaKa]

When presenting audit results/recommendations I tend to use the following structure:

CODE

Introduction
    Document structure
    Priorities
Technical
Links
Content & Key phrases

I tend to make recommendations for PPC and organic in separate documents - as I see handle them as separate projects.

When it's appropriate I include a more extensive executive summary instead of just an introduction:

CODE

Executive Summary  
    Background
    Goals
    Approach
    Highlights
    Recommendations

I mainly focus on what clients should change to get the best results.