SEO reporting software is an essential investment for any agency or online marketer.
First, it shows the value of your work, and helps justify a client's investment in your services.
And second, it helps identify issues and opportunities for growth.
But it’s important to remember that while some tools are suitable for reporting on all aspects of an SEO campaign, others are built to track performance in specific areas; e.g. rank tracking, link building, or audits, etc.
With countless SEO reporting tools on the market, I decided to reach out to 52 SEO experts to see which software their agencies and businesses use to report on SEO performance.
I asked the following question:
“List your favorite tool(s) for reporting SEO results to your business and/or clients? And describe the features/functionality you look for in an SEO reporting tool?”
You can use the jump links below to navigate to sections of interest in the post:
Let’s dive in.
Best SEO Reporting Tools (Overall Leaderboard)
Here’s a list of the top voted SEO reporting tools:
#1. Google Data Studio (20 votes)
#2. Ahrefs (12 votes) [7-Day Trial for $7 here]
#3. SEMrush (10 votes) [Free 30-Day Trial here]
#4. Agency Analytics & Supermetrics (5 votes) [Free 14-Day Trial here]
Honorable mentions:
Databox, AccuRanker, Pitchbox, Whatagraph, Swydo, NightWatch Service Provider Pro, SEO Monitor, Mangools Toolsuite, SpyFu, BrightLocal.
Disclosure: There are some affiliate links in this article. If you decide to purchase a tool through one of those affiliate links, I will receive a commission at no additional cost to you.
In the next section, we’ll take a closer look at the top all-in-one SEO reporting software.
Top 7 All-In-One SEO Reporting Tools (Based on Vote Count & Experience)
Below, you’ll find a shortlist of the best (all-in-one) SEO reporting software. Results are based on the vote counts, as well as a couple of lesser-known tools I use for client reporting.
Editor's note: Although most agencies and marketers use tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and other third-party platforms to check SEO data, these tools don’t provide one complete view of everything – e.g. Google Analytics does not show technical site issues or link data.
So in this post, we’ll focus on the software that aggregates all the SEO data into easy-to-digest views of the overall SEO performance for your business and/or clients.
Google Data Studio is an all-in-one reporting tool that lets you fetch data from multiple sources, including first-party connectors; e.g. Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Ads. And third-party connectors (built by the Data Studio community) e.g. SEMrush, Serpstat, and Salesforce.
Plus, there’s an option for developers to build their own connectors.
You can use Google Data Studio to:
- Pull data from multiple sources into a single report; e.g. combine keywords, traffic, links, and sales data.
- Filter data based on locations, devices, channels, etc.
- Automate reporting with customized date ranges.
- Create many types of data visualizations. (There are templates available to get started quickly.)
Pricing: Free
#2. Databox
Databox pulls all your data into one place, so you can track performance and discover insights in real-time. Databox makes it easy to segment different data sources with an intuitive drag-and-drop UI, and even build custom metrics using its Query Builder tool.
Today, over 15,000 businesses are using the platform to report across all aspects of their business, including SEO.
Editor's Note: Databox is the tool I use to create custom reports for my agency clients.
You can use Databox to:
- Pull data from hundreds of sources with one-click integrations – including Google Analytics, HubSpot, Ahrefs, SEMrush, Shopify, spreadsheets etc. – and get data from other sources via custom API connections.
- Choose from a library of hundreds of pre-built templates, filterable by category (eg: SEO & SEM) and data source.
- Drag any of the thousands of pre-built Datablocks into a single dashboard, and give clients an end-to-end view of SEO performance.
- Use the Query Builder to create custom metrics from practically any third party data source (super powerful!)
- Automate client reporting and track performance in real-time.
Pricing: Starts with a FREE plan, and grows with your business.
#3. SEMrush
SEMrush is an all-in-one SEO reporting toolset best known for its competitor analysis. The “My Reports” tool lets you gather any data generated within SEMrush - SEO, PPC etc - and create a single dashboard using its drag-and-drop functionality:
Plus, you can add external data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google My Business:
You can use SEMrush to:
- Create reports from scratch or use customizable templates.
- Pull data from all SEMrush’ toolkits - SEO, PPC, Content Marketing, Competitor Research etc - into a single report.
- Create white-label reports with your brand logo, screenshots, and text.
- Schedule regular email delivery of the reports to key stakeholders.
- Connect with other reporting tools such as Google Data Studio and Databox.
- View historical performance across all key SEO metrics.
Pricing: Starts at $99/month (get a free 30-day trial here)
Editor's note: SEMrush was also voted the top all-in-one SEO tool by 400+ experts.
#4. AgencyAnalytics
AgencyAnalytics is an all-in-one SEO reporting platform that helps agencies create custom dashboards and reports for their clients.
You can use AgencyAnalytics to:
- Integrate with more than 30 marketing data sources, including Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, Google My Business, Bing Ads, and Social Media channels, plus add personalized comments.
- Add your agency branding – logo, color scheme, etc. – to reports and dashboards.
- Provide clients with access to custom dashboards with real-time insights
- Automate reports via daily/weekly/monthly schedules.
Pricing: Starts at $49/month (get a free 14-day trial here)
#5. Moz
Moz Pro is an all-in-one suite of SEO tools that includes keyword research, link building, site audits, and page optimization insights.
The “Custom Reports” tool allows you to run and export PDF reports of Moz data, including search rankings, backlinks, site audits, and competition. And its drag-and-drop interface lets you add notes and branding to the charts and graphs.
You can also use Moz to:
- Show a quick snapshot of results or trends over time.
- Schedule automated reports to key stakeholders on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.
Pricing: Starts at $99/month (get a free 30-day trial here)
#6. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is also an all-in-one SEO toolset. Better known for its backlink analysis (15 trillion links in their database), the tool has evolved a lot over the last two years to provide robust keyword research, content analysis and rank tracking functionality.
Ahrefs lets you drill into SEO reporting data at the domain, subfolder, URL, and keyword level depending on the granularity you want. It includes:
- Ranking data
- Traffic data
- Traffic value
- Keyword distributions
- Site Audit reports
However, unlike other tools such as Google Data Studio and SEMrush, Ahrefs doesn’t allow you to build reports that pull information into a single dashboard.
Instead, you’ll have to navigate to reports like Site Explorer and Rank Tracker, and use the custom filters to display results on the screen.
Pricing: Starts at $99/month (get a 7-day trial for $7 here)
#7. Supermetrics
Supermetrics is not a standalone reporting tool in and of itself. Rather, it’s a marketing add-on for Google Sheets, Excel, Data Studio and BigQuery that lets you pull all your third-party marketing data – SEO, PPC, analytics, payments, social media etc – into one place.
You can also use there API to feed marketing data into BI tools and internal data warehouses. It is currently used by 300,000+ users in 120+ countries.
It integrates with Google Analytics, Google Ads, Bing, SEMrush, Facebook, and dozens of other channels to automatically pull data from multiple sources into one repository. From there, you can either use the pre-built templates or segment the data to create custom charts and graphs with your own brand.
Supermetrics is an excellent alternative if you don’t want to spend the higher monthly fees on a more robust reporting tool like Agency Analytics or Databox.
Pricing: Starts at $39/month for Data Studio and $69/month for Google Sheets. (Get a free 14-day trial here).
12 Features to Look for in an SEO Reporting Tool (According to the Experts)
This section calls out 12 features (in no particular order) that the experts thought were most valuable in an SEO reporting tool.
#1. Integration with third-party tools
Image: Databox pulling data from Shopify, Google Analytics and SEMrush into a single custom dashboard.
The ability to pull data from multiple external sources – e.g. Google Analytics, Search Console, HubSpot, SEMrush etc. – and calculate metrics is an essential feature in any SEO reporting software.
And tools such as Google Data Studio and Databox allow you to create even more advanced reports with their query builder.
For example, when you’re running campaigns, you might want to pull in ecommerce data from Shopify, traffic and goal data from Google Analytics, ranking distributions from SEMrush, and display it all in one simple dashboard.
#2. Scalability
Before deciding on a reporting tool, make sure it can scale and grow with your business. As your agency grows and you take on more clients, you need software to handle the increase in demand and complexity of your reporting.
For example, Databox has plans that offer more users, data sources, and dashboards as your requirements grow. Plus, you can scale and add as many clients as you need by purchasing additional packs of ten for your agency plan.
#3. White label reporting
The ability to add your branding and logos to reports is especially important to agencies. Each report they send to their clients needs to be branded with the appropriate logos and color schemes:
(Image: SEMrush branding and commenting features)
#4. Alerts
Not all reporting tools have an alerts feature, but it’s handy to get notified when specific metrics have increased or decreased by a set percentage or passed a threshold.
Rather than waiting until the end of the month, you can dive in immediately, check what’s changed, and take remedial action.
For example, SEMrush allows you to set up email alerts that notify you of any notable changes in a Position Tracking campaign:
(Image: SEMrush custom triggers)
A tool like Databox will allow you to receive SEO performance alerts via mobile, email, Slack, or in-app push notifications.
#6. Usability
The ability to bring new users and team members up to speed quickly is important. The whole idea of these reporting tools is to save you time, so you need a tool that’s easy to use for you, your team, and your clients.
Experts rated these tools because they’re easy to connect to data sources, and easy to build reports and dashboards. Most tools have drag-and-drop functionality so users can quickly move objects and charts around.
Editor's note: one of the reasons I started using Databox for client reporting was the ability to select from a library of thousands of pre-built data blocks, searchable by data source:
If the default metrics aren't enough, Query Builder makes it easy to build custom metrics from dozens of different data sources, without any engineering work.
#7. Templates
The option to use built-in templates and create your own custom templates is another feature to look out for.
Built-in templates let you get up-and-running quickly as you plug in various data sources. But once you’re familiar with a tool, you’ll appreciate the functionality to build custom templates that you can tweak for each client.
For example, Databox comes with over 200 proven, pre-built reports. But you can customize any of the templates using its Dashboard Designer, allowing you to add multiple metrics from different sources.
(Image: SEMrush + GA Organic Traffic Analysis template from Databox)
Free tools like Google Data Studio also provide a library ot pre-built templates to choose from.
#8. Filter/segment data (time frame, dimensions, traffic source, device types, etc.)
Experts want the ability to filter and segment data so they can focus on what they need for each project type. Being able to select the time frame, traffic source or device types can help pinpoint specific results or trends.
For example, the “Dynamic Controls” functionality in Google Data Studio allows viewers to dynamically change the way data is presented, with date ranges and dimension filters like geography, segment, or channel:
#9. Data portability
As well as being able to pull data from any source via APIs, our experts firmly believe that you shouldn’t be locked into any one reporting tool.
For example, if the tool you were using was to stop working or become discontinued or no longer meet your requirements, you should be able to move your saved reports to another reporting tool without any loss of data.
#10. Exports
The ability to export reports in PDF, CSV, or XLS format via email or a direct link is essential.
Although clients or stakeholders may have unrestricted access to their online dashboard, they won’t necessarily use it. So it makes sense to have an audit trail of reports that you’ve sent each month.
#11. Access and/or automation
Tools with the ability to automatically send reports on a recurring basis (daily/weekly/monthly) will save you time and money, and allow you to use resources elsewhere.
For example, in SEMrush you can schedule reports to be sent by email on a set day and frequency:
(Image: SEMrush automatic email reporting)
Again, clients will have different requirements in their reporting frequency, so check your reporting tool can handle that.
As well as sending reports, you may also want to share interactive dashboards with clients and stakeholders, so check the software allows different access levels/user roles to the data.
Administrators should be able to grant individuals and groups the access levels to create, edit or view.
#12. Breadth of coverage
Generally, users don’t want to invest in multiple tools to track KPIs across different SEO campaigns.
They want one reporting tool that pulls in data from all areas of the campaign, and saves time hopping from tool to tool.
For example, your SEO reporting tool should be able to report on analytics, rankings, backlinks, traffic, call tracking and site audit action items in a single easy-to-understand dashboard.
52 Experts Reveal Best SEO Reporting Tools
(and "Must-Have" Features)
That’s a quick recap of the top SEO reporting software (and features to look for). Now it’s time to dive in and find out how the experts are using the different tools to track and report on SEO performance.
Christina Blake
I love using Google Data Studio (GDS) as my reporting aggregator.
Saving time and reducing user error is really important to me and GDS has so many great ways to set up and really automate reporting with customized date ranges. Knowing that a monthly report is always set up to show last month’s data saves a huge amount of time – which means I can focus on analysis & strategy instead of pulling data.
There’s tons of great connectors for GDS – I probably use Google Analytics, Google Search Console and SEMrush most frequently – but I’ve also found that creating a custom data source is really easy. I’ve created custom data sources for Salesforce or Hubspot that pull into GDS – it really helps tell the real story by getting closer to closed loop (although GA360 + Salesforce integration is totally amazing via GDS for true closed loop).
Really – any data you can export and drop into a Google sheet on a monthly basis can be pulled into GDS. Supermetrics, STAT, Conductor, any custom data can be pulled in.
I definitely became a true believer when GDS added Data Blend – it makes it really easy for me to set my monthly goals in a custom sheet and blend that data with live metrics to show our progress to goals over time.
Felipe Bazon
Hedgehog Digital | CSO – Chief SEO Officer
Nowadays we only use Google Data Studio integrated with Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEMrush and sometimes BigQuery. What we are always looking for is to integrate and automate. Therefore, it is vital for us that the tools we use have an integration with Google Data Studio or has an API so we can integrate from our end.
The only thing we still do manually is link reporting. From brand mentions and follow-ups to link acquisitions. But we still integrate the Google Sheets with Google Data Studio so there is a bit of automation there too.
From a technical standpoint, we use a visual report which is mix of Site Audit from SEMrush and Lighthouse. The idea is to report the evolution of technical enhancements in the least technical way possible.
Tyler Tafelsky
Hands down, SEMrush is the most comprehensive SEO reporting tool I use on a regular basis. It provides high-level overview insights that are easy for clients to digest, but also offers more granular features, from pinpointing toxic links, providing competitive insights, and daily keyword ranking updates.
Of course, Google Analytics is a go-to SEO reporting tool for traffic, but it doesn’t deliver the same caliber of strategic intelligence as SEMrush.
Andy Crestodina
Moz for reporting of rankings and Domain Authority. But also…
Alexa is an awesome tool for reporting. The audience overlap tool has a “competitive keyword matrix” that shows instantly and visually where the battle is being fought. At a glance it shows which sites are winning and losing for which phrases within any niche.
It pulls the competitors for you (you just need to pick from a list) and it grabs the keywords automatically. If you have an account, you’re minutes away from a clear look at winners and losers across the entire battlefield.
Amanda Schack
Google Analytics is essential. While there are many functions and reports within the tool, I have a few favorites:
1. Goals: I have this set up individually tailored to each of my clients. Essentially, the goals section is what matters most to clients. While sessions and clicks are great, speaking to the goals has been most effective for me in proving the value of my SEO work. From button clicks to e-commerce conversions, showing the progression of these metrics quarter-over-quarter resonates with clients.
2. Assisted Conversions: It can be hard to show the benefit of a blog. By setting up goal tracking for your main KPIs, I now easily show my clients that X percent of people that viewed the blog then went onto convert on the site. In most instances, this number has been shockingly high and a very impressive metric to report on.
3. New Users vs. Returning Users: This gives visibility into whether we are effectively reaching new customers, while still captivating and engaging with returning customers. This helps to drive the strategy conversation, and what is working or isn’t.
To pull all the data together for the final report, my company uses Data Studio. The biggest advantage to Data Studio is that if you connect it to Google Analytics you can manipulate the dates in real-time.
That way, when/if a client asks during a reporting overview, ‘what the numbers looked like last month or last year’, you can easily change the date and show them the data. This enhances the conversation and makes a reporting session more collaborative.
Greg Mischio
We like to use SEMrush to show the keyword a client is ranking for, and Ahrefs gives great historical data on an individual basis. We also like to show the number of keywords they rank for on a quarterly basis, which is another great attribute from SEMrush.
We also share number of links and the sites people are linking from. Naturally, we use Search Console via Google analytics to see what keywords are bringing people to the site (and to see our branded vs non-branded impact.)
One issue that gets a little difficult with different tools is their data is all slightly different, which tends to make results a bit questionable.
Alex Chris
Google Data Studio.
Features of a good reporting tool:
- Easy of use
- Combine data from multiple sources, especially Google Analytics and Google Search Console, SEMRush or Ahrefs
- Scheduled Reports (and email as PDF)
- Collaboration features (create report, share with others to make changes)
- Drill Down functionality (click on page to get search queries)
- Pivot Tables
- Templates (common headers, footers)
- Low monthly fee
Craig Campbell
The reporting process can be different client to client, but I tend to use SEMrush for a lot of the reporting process as you can provide a nice ranking report with your own logo on there, but at the same time you might be site auditing and using other features within SEMrush as part of your reporting process. And, the fact they have 40+ tools you can pull data from makes it a great all-in-one tool for client reporting.
In most cases, a site audit will have to be done, and the interface there is a lot tidier and easier to understand than some of the other auditing tools on the market, which is always going to stand you in good stead as I feel keeping it simple is key when reporting to clients.
But if a client is doing Paid Search I would tend to use a 3rd party tool like Swydo for reporting as it does allow me to pick the data I provide the client, rather than taking screenshots from the Google Ads dashboard, or using the data SEMrush provide.
If I’m reporting at all on speed then I will use a number of tools for that. GTMetrix and Pingdom are two examples that I would use to show a client improvement in speed, if this was an area I was working on.
A.J. Ghergich
Google Data Studio
We use Google Data Studio for our monthly client reporting. It’s one of our favorite tools for client-facing reports due to its interactivity, versatility with data sources and customization options. We connect data from Google Analytics, Ads and Search Console, client social media accounts and other third-party tracking tools. This allows us to create easy-to-read data visualizations that provide our clients with a clear understanding of their most important KPIs on a regular basis.
Ahrefs & Moz Pro
We regularly use both Ahrefs and Moz Pro to report on our ongoing link building efforts with clients, from monitoring current backlinks to outlining new opportunities through competitive analysis. We also use their backlink profile/popularity metrics to help clients understand off-page optimization performance and opportunities within reach.
SEMrush
SEMrush is a reporting tool that we use in tandem with Google Search Console to review client performance in organic search. We regularly use their Organic Research and Advertising Research reports to review top competitors and outline any keyword/content gaps that could provide future value to our clients.
Clint Butler
Over the years we’ve tried several different reporting platforms. The problem is that there were gaps, and if you have ever worked with clients, they seem to love to find them for you. So we ended up combing the best reporting tools aspects into one based on our customer interaction.
Today, we use a modified version of Ryan Stewart’s Google Data Studio reporting tools for our reporting. Our analytics team modified them to meet our needs which was a lot easier because of the robust nature of Google Data Studio.
The benefit for us is that we can create the report just one time and then update the data on the fly for the next month. The client can also update the data on their copy to see any facet of the data they need without creating custom reports in analytics just by changing the dates.
Data Studio is getting better with more and more integrations and is keeping decent page with Microsoft Power BI, which is also great for reporting in much the same way as Data Studio.
For rank tracking reporting, we use Rank Tracker from SEO PowerSuite. The software is set up to run a rank check once a week and automatically email the report to our Project Managers.
Suganthan Mohanadasan
I report SEO KPI’s using the following tools.
1. Accuranker + Google Data Studio – Accuranker’s Data studio integration makes it easy to report on keyword ranking progress. The stats are automatically updated for the client dashboard.
2. I use Agency Analytics to automate traffic and conversion data. Agency Analytics taps into Google analytics and sends stats to clients on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
Alexandra Tachalova
We have a strong focus on link building and digital PR. So, this means we’re focusing on tools that help you see how growth of referring domains are affecting the growth of organic traffic.
Among my top 3 tools are:
1. Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Both tools show whether there are any changes in traffic and the general visibility of particular pages. Throughout our link building efforts, I love checking recently boosted pages in Google Search Console to see how they’re growing in terms of visibility and traffic.
2. Pitchbox makes all our link building efforts 100% transparent for our clients as some want to be sure that all acquired links were built naturally without any paid placements.
3. SEMrush‘ position tracking tool allows us to show how acquired links move the needle in terms of visibility in SERPs. Some of our clients don’t give access to their GA accounts, and this is the only way to track progress and understand that we’re moving in the right direction. Plus, we use this data to show our current and potential clients as it’s always good to back our claims with real data.
Robb Fahrion
When building SEO reports, we stick to four main reporting tools: Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, SEMrush, and our Flying V Group dashboard.
Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools give us the raw data that we need to make decisions on how to improve current site performance, or to show clients the improvement in raw metrics that their website has experienced.
With Google Analytics, we can track overall trends in terms of how traffic is performing on the site, where the traffic is coming from, and what metrics we need to improve on whether it be bounce rate, problem exit pages, and more.
I personally love Google Webmaster Tools more than any other tool because it gives me quick and easy-to-digest raw data. With Google Search Console, a user can see average ranking position based on keyword, overall impression numbers, clicks from the specific keyword, and click-through-rates. The tool helps to identify keyword opportunities and gives an excellent indicator of the trending direction of the site.
Be sure to use the compare tool as well, which allows you to compare things like the past three months results vs. prior three-month results.
SEMrush is an incredible SEO tool, especially when it comes to keyword research, position tracking, and competitor research. SEMrush keeps a constant monitor on your site and highlights opportunities to improve the site.
I love that SEMrush allows you to give clients a chart that displays keyword rankings and improvements over time. The keyword position tracker is a great metric to show clients actual data that either indicates positive or negative performance.
Finally, we use our dashboard at Flying V Group. Each client is given a login to our site that allows them to see a comprehensive visualization of their entire online digital marketing efforts. We pull in data from Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google Search Console, social media networks, call tracking metrics, form submissions, link acquisitions, and much more.
The tool also allows us to distribute weekly and monthly reporting metrics and KPIs, which means we never run into the “I never got the email” scenario.
The Flying V Group dashboard tool has been incredible and has allowed us to be fully transparent with our clients and show them the amount of work we are doing on a month-to-month, week-to-week, and day-to-day basis to improve their SEO results.
Kosta Bankovski
SEO monitoring and reporting are part of my job as a Growth Hacker, and I use several tools to complete these tasks. The most important one is Google Sheets.
I use it to aggregate data from other tools like Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Netpeak Spider (on-page issues), Ahrefs (backlinks), and Serpstat (keywords). Then I complete the report with graphs and charts for better visual perception.
When I need to create a great looking report for my colleagues I use Google Data Studio.
The features I look for in every SEO reporting tool:
1. Ability to filter and segment data (I want to focus only on the data I need).
2. Customized reports (I want to be able to export the exact parameters I need. Kudos to all the services that provide a decent API).
3. Built-in diagrams, charts, or pre-made PDF reports.
Sam Thomas Davies
I love Ahrefs for a few reasons.
First, their organic keywords report. With it, I can see what keywords our competitors are ranking for and generate a list of potential blog post topics we can write on.
Second, their Site Audit feature. This feature allows me to see errors on our site, such as broken links—and gives me inputs on how to fix them.
The third reason? Their blog is one of the best online. Period.
Russell D Jensen
My favorite method for reporting SEO results is using a combination of Google Search Console, Big Query and Google Data Studio.
The reason I prefer Google Search Console is that it doesn’t require you to hand select keywords to track, it just tracks the keywords your website ranks for automatically. There is always a limitation with other tools when they cap you out a pricing tiers for the keywords you track.
The downside is it only tracks keyword and URL data for 16 months, a huge improvement from the 3 month window they used to provide, but still not good enough for enterprise level reporting. That’s where Google Big Query comes in.
In Big Query, or any other data warehousing, you can pull in keyword and URL data from Google Search Console and store it for as long as you would like. That enables you to show year-over-year trends for as many years as you need. This comes in handy when reporting to CEOs and other business executives.
You will have to pay for the data storage though. That price can vary depending on the traffic volumes to your website.
After all this data is collected and stored, a data visualization tool comes in handy to create automated reports for you bosses. Google Data Studio is my current choice only because it’s free. Data Studio has some serious limitations, and I am on the hunt for a new visualization tool.
Jordan Choo
Noah Learner
Google Data Studio. We integrate marketing metrics from different data sources (Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Google Ads, Google My Business, our proprietary Cart Abandonment Recovery Tool, BikeBasket, with the aid of Zapier, webhooks, Google Sheets and Supermetrics to be able to report on and monitor performance.
We, like other agencies, tried a number of different solutions including Klipfolio, that we found had too steep a learning curve for our needs.
Dash this was very easy to use, but had two drawbacks: cost and a lack of responsive dashboards before gravitating to data studio. We love its ease of use, flexibility, and low cost (that is driven by the cost of our Supermetrics Connectors).
Chris Erickson
The biggest challenge with SEO reporting is finding a way to make the information useful and meaningful to someone that isn’t a digital marketer. I also don’t want to spend hours putting together reports, when I could be spending that time working on a client’s website or content. For these reasons, I’m a big fan of Whatagraph.
Whatagraph allows me to easily create digestible nuggets of information for my clients. It integrates with CallRail, Search Console, GA, SEMrush and more. I can create templates and reuse them for other clients, which saves me time.
The clients love it, because they don’t have to sift through pages of information to understand where they stand.
Cassy Richardson
We use a plethora of different premium tools for our internal use, but when it comes to demonstrating ROI to clients in monthly meetings, our team relies heavily on Google Data Studio.
Google Data Studio is a great, free data visualizer that offers easy integration with different reporting platforms (Analytics, Ads, Search Console and many other third party connectors), nearly unlimited customization capabilities, and great scalability and automation.
Finding a way to visualize the data and customize reporting to each one of our client’s goals and SEO maturity is essential.
Some reports need to be extremely basic, defining SEO terms/industry jargon and adding explanatory text under each chart, while others can be much more granular, interactive and pull in data from a wide range of sources.
Trivera offers a large variety of digital solutions so our reporting software has to be as versatile as our team and the work we do. Google Data Studio is the best way for us to demonstrate our value in the most efficient and understandable way.
Stacy Caprio
Chris Castillo
Venchito Tampon Jr.
Corey Northcutt
For end of month reports, we aggregate data using the Google Drive API from all the best in class data providers (Analytics, Ads, Moz, SEMrush, Ahrefs, our custom tools, etc.) to provide expert context around each metric.
The same basic tech works throughout the month using custom Google Data Studio dashboards for more instant gratification.
Nick Dimitriou
Ahrefs, Alexa and Google Data Studio connected with Google Analytcs, Google Search Console, and Pitchbox
The most prominent feature that I look for when investigating SEO reporting tools is:
-Data Visualization
-Custom Reports
-Clear and Concise UI
-How often to they track keywords and update them
Jesus Meca
Email, Google Docs, Sheets and Google Data Studio.
We do frequent checkups and reporting with simple emails to keep clients informed and have a fluid conversation about what’s going on.
Google sheets and docs are where we store all our data and actions, and clients have access to them as well.
Every month we compile everything into a data studio report to present and discuss with clients.
We’re building our own tool for reporting to close the gaps we have in our reporting process and make it more efficient.
Conrad O’Connell
Swydo and Basecamp.
We’ve been using Swydo after moving away from Klipfolio a year or so ago. Swydo has been great for the level of integrations they have with the core platforms we report from (Google Analytics, Ads, Facebook, Instagram, ect) and also easy to use.
The templates feature allows for us to kick off a new report with much of the needed data flowing in in just a few minutes, saving us time.
While Swydo provides the “numbers”, we send reports each month through our client project in Basecamp with notes, tasks that were worked on, projects for the following month, and other report analysis.
This allows a simple PDF or even one-click link dashboard to be referenced again and again by clients. And, it keeps client communications in one place.
Ryan White
Google Data Studio.
When reporting on traffic, overall visibility, rankings and other results, it is usually quite tedious and time consuming to get in place within commentaries.
With Google Data Studio it can all be done in a matter of moments and allows our clients to have an interactive bespoke report which not only helps them find exactly what they are looking for, but also helps them understands the reports more easily.
Devin Schumacher
Currently I am using Agency Analytics, which is okay. It integrates with a lot of tools, but most of what I can see it just reports on top/mid funnel metrics: Rankings, Traffic, Calls, etc.
So, I am experimenting more and more with Google Data Studio to build my own reports that can show the client the numbers they actually care about – # of leads, revenue, and ROI.
Sujan Patel
Stephen Barringer
When choosing tools for SEO reporting, the most important thing to keep in mind is the data needs to be accurate. Building reports off of incorrect data defeats the whole purpose.
Secondly, you need to be able to show key factors, exhibit progress on work that has been done, and add commentary to provide explanations, recommendations, and insights.
Google Analytics
I mainly use Google Analytics to report conversions. It’s also good to dive deeper and show reporting on audience demographics, including: location, device, browser, etc. This can help you determine if there’s a reason why certain audiences convert, and others don’t.
Instapage (used for our landing pages) has its own conversion reporting, but I still prefer to use Google Analytics when creating conversion reports for landing pages. In reference to landing pages (especially for more in depth reporting), I feel it’s important to mention the Google Page Speed insights tool since it can be very impactful on your conversion rates.
SEMrush
SEMrush is a great solution for an “out-of-the-box” technical site audit that catches most SEO issues as far as on-site content, links, and other errors. SEMrush also has great reporting for keywords and organic traffic movement. It’s cost-effective, and provides custom report functionality that allows you to add your own notes to.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs really shines in competitor backlink reporting. The “lost and new backlinks” reporting is a feature I use often to check for broken links. It’s also very simple to create backlink and traffic reports to cross reference with Google Analytics and SEMrush.
Konstantine Gegeshidze
1) Traffic & Conversions: Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, Amplitude/Mixpanel.
1. Google Analytics
– Goal Conversions of the pages that drive organic traffic.
Here is how you can see that:
Acquisition > Overview > Organic Search> Landing Page—Choose the Goal Conversion.
– Multi-Channel Conversions— To better understand how many touch points a visitor needs before they become a customer and to see which Sources/Medium Path (paid, organic, etc.) and specific landing pages combinations work well.
Here is how you can see that:
Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels > Top Conversion Path > Primary Dimension “Source/Medium Path” > Apply: Secondary Dimension “Landing Page URL Path”.
Custom-built dashboards in Google Data Studio and Google Analytics are great sources to connect data from different sources and draw actionable insights
2. Amplitude/Mixpanel are great tools for Cohort Analysis – These tools enable you to see how “Organic Traffic Conversions” from different pages engage with your solution.
Website Audit: Custom built Google Sheets—To map out data from different sources to draw data-driven insights.
Tools and Data sources that I use depending on the actual project are Screaming Frog, Google Search Console, Website Auditor, Sitebulb, DeepCrawl, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Google Analytics: Landing Pages: All traffic, Organic traffic, Goal Conversions, Page Speed, etc.
3) Link Building & Backlink Analysis: Ahrefs andGoogle Sheets.
4) Keyword Rank Tracking: Google Search Console, Ahrefs and Accuranker.
To better understand which pages and search queries bring the most conversions. You can connect your SEMrush account with Google Search Console and Google Analytics. Or in case you don’t have a SEMrush account, you can map out the data in Google Sheets/Excel.
Here is how you can do that:
1. Export the search queries (Position, Search Volume, Keyword Difficulty, Page)—From your rank tracking tools. If you don’t have any external paid tools, you can pull the data from Google Search Console—Use this free Search Analytics for Sheets add-on.
2. Export Goal Conversions from Google Analytics: Acquisition > Overview > Organic Search> Landing Page—Choose relevant Goal Conversions and click “EXPORT”. (Apply advanced filters if needed to filter out some irrelevant pages)”
3. Use “VLOOKUP” function to map out these data in G-sheets/Microsoft Excel
Joe Williams
I use Google Analytics for traffic and conversions reporting, and AccuRanker for tracking keywords. Both can be integrated into Google Data Studio, which makes for one handy SEO dashboard.
I’m starting to play with Notion , which is a bit like Airtable, so it lets you create relational databases which I use for link building and prospecting. So far, I absolutely love it!
Harris Schachter
Lately I’ve cut down my SEO stack for simplicity sake.
Ahrefs: Backlink data.
Google Analytics: Site data.
Search Console: Google search data.
Botify: Crawl stats and technical optimizations.
Sitebulb: Mainly for examining internal link structures with crawl maps.
There are too many keyword tools to mention here, but I’m always trying new ones.
Adam Chronister
We have always done custom client reports but updated our processes about 6 months ago. We switched from a manual report to a more dynamic report built with Google Data Studio.
We utilize the Supermetrics module which provides easier setup and broader data integration from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Ads, and Google My Business.
For the keyword tracking portion of our reports, we iframe in ranking reports from RankTracker Pro.
Anna Ilyina
Although I use familiar tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console, SEMrush and Ahrefs, I want to highlight Nightwatch, which helps to monitor a range of key data so that I can make quicker decisions about my strategy.
In addition to detailed keyword ranking, Nightwatch analyzes website data, Google Ads statistics, competitor rankings, and provides the information in beautiful data visualizations.
For me, it’s important to save time and minimize effort, and that’s what Nightwatch allows me to do
Steven van Vessum
Google Data Studio: it’s very flexible and allows for pulling all sorts of data, and creating whatever report you need.
If the tool containing your data has an API, you can pull it into Google Data Studio. If there’s a Google Data Studio connector available, that becomes even easier.
Important data sources that I want to be able to pull at the very least: Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Ideally, the reporting tool also allows for pulling website health metrics (e.g. ContentKing), backlink data (e.g. Ahrefs), rank tracking data (e.g. Ahrefs / SEOMonitor), and SEO visibility scores (e.g. Ahrefs / Sistrix / SEMrush).
I firmly believe that tools should allow for pulling data, they shouldn’t force you to use their system.
At the same time, you shouldn’t get locked in with your reporting tool either.
Say Google Data Studio becomes obsolete for whatever reason, I want to be able to switch to a different reporting tool.
TL;DR:
1) Your data should be portable.
2) You should have the flexibility to plug it into any reporting tool.
Paul Granger
Ilan Shabad
Google Data Studio combined with Supermetrics – We’ve been using Data Studio for the past 12 months and never looked back.
Whilst the tool is not perfect, and lacks some functionality, it’s completely free and easy to use. Google has made significant improvements already, so I’m confident it will get even better. For data sources outside of Google, we use Supermetrics and import the data through Google Sheets.
Leslie Gilmour
We use Agency Analytics for all client reporting.
We settled on this platform about two years ago and they keep improving the functionality.
Cube Digital is primarily an SEO company but we work with clients on some social ad, Google Ads, and local SEO.
Agency Analytics can do all of the following for us:
Rank tracking – local, national, and city level.
Track Google My Business results.
Monthly high-level SEO audit.
Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools integration.
Report traffic and compare month on month and year on year.
Conversion tracking for all channels.
Reporting for all major ad platforms.
Call tracking and newsletter email integration.
Automated monthly reporting.
Google sheets and docs integration.
Monthly reporting still takes two days each month, but this platform automatically sends out all the reports and pulls the backup data from our Google Drive.
Clients are very impressed with the quality and look of the reports, and ability to log into the platform and check stats.
Agency Analytics has made monthly reporting much easier using automation, and clients being delighted with high quality PDF reports that they can share internally.
It is worth noting that using Agency Analytics does not do away with the need to store data in shared Google Drive folders.
Mike van der Heijden
Since Local Visibility focuses on small to medium businesses we prefer to use Agency Analytics as it allows us to tie in all our important data sources (GA, GSC, Google Ads, Bing, Email and GMB/Reviews). It also allows us to make notes and include a “to do / action list” at the back of every report.
Till this date, I have not found an easier solution.
Eric Siu
Supermetrics – Supermetrics is easy-to-use and convenient — we use it as a Google Sheets add-on, but you can use it with Google Data Studio or Excel. It pulls data from Google Analytics, as well as ad platforms.
You can use it on multiple Analytics accounts at one time. Supermetrics lets you customize data and makes it easy to create charts/visuals. Easy reporting tool with great templates.
Clickflow – This SEO A/B testing tool pulls high potential pages — those with high reach and low CTR — and recommends optimizations. You can make and test changes within the platform.
I like this tool to show clients the opportunities they’re missing out on and the low-hanging fruit they can immediately capitalize on. Because you can do experiments within the platform you can easily show results of the changes you make, including the revenue associated with the additional traffic.
(Disclaimer: I’m the founder of Clickflow. That being said, I wouldn’t recommend it unless it was a great product.
Shane Barker
Google Analytics is always my go-to tool for basic SEO reporting. But, as we all know, there are some limitations with the level of information it provides us.
So my favorite all-round reporting tool would have to be SpyFu, as it gives you a comprehensive list of all the keywords for which your site is ranking and how many clicks you’re getting for each keyword.
It shows you both paid and organic keyword results, as well as all the backlinks coming to your site. The best part is that you can get the same insights about your competitors, so it’s also a great tool for conducting competitor research.
This comes in handy when we have to compile an initial report for clients and give them an idea of where they stand against their competition. And later on, it gives them an even better picture of how much progress they’ve made.
I also like HubSpot’s Website Grader. It examines just how easily people and bots can find your website, taking into consideration factors like meta descriptions and page titles. It also analyzes the level of security on your site, page speed, page size, mobile readiness, and more.
An effective SEO reporting tool should have the ability to give you a complete picture of your SEO performance. This includes general page rankings, click-through rates, top performing keywords, backlinks, and competitor benchmarks.
For agencies, white labeling is definitely an important feature too look for.
Maros Kortis
When it comes to SEO reporting, I mostly use two tools: SERPWatcher and Linkody. Of course, except for Google tools.
SERPWatcher – keeps me updated about our keyword rankings via scheduled reports and alerts, but I tend to check the rankings daily (call me an addict :D). You can set up a tracking projects in a few seconds and all the reports are on one screen so you don’t need to click through a bunch of tabs.
Linkody is a backlink reporting tool I use for finding new backlinks for our websites and competitors’. You can schedule reports for your projects depending on your needs.
The reports include do-follow/no-follow attributes, so I can quickly ask my outreach specialist to reach out to these people. One last thing to mention is that you can track your competitor’s new backlinks, and then replicate them.
Pete McAllister
Justin Herring
Rank Tracking – We use BrightLocal and KWFinder for ease-of-use and accuracy. Both have a simple interface to show clients where their current keyword rankings are.
Analytics and Ads – If a client wants a weekly or monthly report we use Whatagraph since the visual infographic is easy to understand and explain. It can pull directly from Google Analytics, Google Ads, Facebook, or Google My Business to give a visual report.
Link Building – Just good old Google Sheets to show links with DA, DR, and RD.
Call Tracking – We use CallRail for all call tracking on websites and Google My Business Listings. It can also track form submissions. Nothing better than being able to show the calls coming in from Google to prove ROI.
SEO Audits – To show completed technical SEO items, we use Screaming Frog. This allows us to pull updated titles, meta tags, and other errors we fixed quickly.
Heatmaps and Website Video Recording – We use Lucky Orange for conversion optimization to understand and show our clients we are making adjustments to prevent visitors from leaving their websites.
Khushal Khan
Real-time traffic insights: Google Data Studio (easy integration with Google Analytics & Search Console)
Keyword Rankings Insights: SEO Monitor (Seasonality Trends, Keyword rankings shifts)
Visibility Impact: SISTRIX
Link Building: Ahrefs
Brodie Clark
I mainly use Google Data Studio for presenting data.
Favorite tools that go into my audits/reports at the moment are GatherUp, Sitebulb, SEMrush and Ahrefs. Only use SEMrush keyword data to integrate directly with the GDS reporting, the rest are just my go-to data sources.
Stephen Jeske
SEO reporting tools that I use are for in-house use to track blog performance.
MarketMuse for tracking rankings. It’s not a rank tracker, it’s a content intelligence platform. And with a recent update I can see how my content strategy and plans are performing in terms of ranking.
Clickup for tracking link building activities. Since we employ this app company-wide to track various projects, everyone can easily see the results of our PR efforts.
SEMrush for tracking the number of keywords for which we rank on a monthly basis.
Google Analytics for tracking traffic, conversions and other metrics.
Georgi Todorov
I send simple PDF reports to my clients. Sometimes, when they want a fancy report I use those tools – SERanking and SEMrush.
Also, Pitchbox has solid reporting capabilities for link building campaigns.
Adrian keth olita
Contactout – I used it for a direct report / Email finder tools.
Loom – Video recording for weekly reports.
Which Reporting Tools Are You Going To Try?
OK, there you have it – 52 SEO practitioners revealed the tool they rely on most to track and report SEO performance to their business and/or clients.
You should now have a field-tested shortlist of tools (and features) to consider in your selection process.
As a recap, here’s the list of the 5 best SEO reporting tools (by vote count):
Best SEO Reporting Tools (Overall Leaderboard)
Here’s a list of the top voted SEO reporting tools:
#1. Google Data Studio (20 votes)
#2. Ahrefs (12 votes) [7-Day Trial for $7 here]
#3. SEMrush (10 votes) [Free 30-Day Trial here]
#4. Agency Analytics & Supermetrics (5 votes) [Free 14-Day Trial here]
Honorable mentions:
Databox, Accuranker, Pitchbox, Whatagraph, Swydo, NightWatch Service Provider Pro, SEO Monitor, Mangools Toolsuite, SpyFu, BrightLocal.
Which tool(s) are you going to try?
Leave a comment below.
Bilal says
Great Post Robbie. I always love Expert roundups and i did few roundups as well. Keep it up great work.
Thanks
Bilal
Robbie says
Thanks Bilal! Appreciate it.
Ronaldo Stewart says
We LOVE using Ahrefs primarily for data analysis and then using AgencyAnalytics for client reporting. Just a strong combo using these 2.
Robbie says
Thanks for sharing, Ronaldo!
Zohair says
Thanks Robbie, article like this are big help. I get to know what the industry is using to get results.
Any way ahrefs data can be integrated in Google Studio?
Robbie says
Hey Zohair! Not sure on a direct connector. Maybe check Supermetrics?
Dmitriy says
Thanks for your tips. I recently created a blog and read a lot of information from different sources, but I didn’t see some of this tools.
I hope they will turned out to be useful for me.
Robbie says
Thanks Dmitriy!
Sarkar Ashik says
Knew new tools with brief information. I was bounded on Kwfinder, SeoMarsh and Ahref.