The Subtle Art of Reading an SEO Budget

Generally, when clients ask for SEO reports for their projects, agencies download the Google Analytics report, which includes the client’s total organic visits to the website. We weren’t any different until an argument with a client led us to dig deep.

The Backdrop

A prestigious client recently complained that they weren’t getting the best value for their SEO marketing budget. Being in a highly competitive industry, they were spending on multiple marketing channels and weren’t convinced that Search Engine Optimisation was helping them bring revenue. Only when we decided to rework our reporting process did we realise the huge mistake we had made all along.

When analysing the client’s revenue earned through Search Engine Optimisation marketing, we used the one-dimensional Google Analytics report.  The report includes brand keyword searches as well, rather than picking out the exact SEO visits or SEO clicks.

However, a better way to analyse SEO results is to use the Google Search Console.

Here’s How To Do It

• Go to Google Search Console.
• Click Performance from the left side of the menu.
• Select the date range either the last 30 days or any desired date range.
• Check the Total Impressions and Total Clicks on the Table Header.
• Export the file to an Excel Sheet by clicking on the top right side.
• You will get a comprehensive report for the first 1000 keywords. This includes brand name searches.
• Delete the brand name clicks from the total clicks.
• What’s left is the SEO click data.
• You can also save the data on brand keywords, impressions, and clicks in a separate Excel Sheet for a better comparison.

To explain this better, I’ve compiled sample data from an actual January 2024 report for the said client.

From the above image, it is clear that:

• Total impressions: 1,43,000
• Total clicks: 3,920
• Brand keyword impressions: 3,633
• Brand keyword clicks: 587
• SEO keyword impressions: 1,39,337
• SEO keyword clicks: 3,333

It’s not hard to imagine what has helped the client bring users to his website. The client’s SEO marketing efforts have yielded considerable results compared to other channels like advertising and influencer marketing.

This revamped report helped convince the client that SEO was a sustainable marketing channel that brought in revenue. Here are other key takeaway points from the experience:

• By calculating month-by-month improvement (in percentage), you can track the performance of the SEO agency you have hired.
• And if you’re looking to hire a new agency, get them to show this report for a current project they are working on. This should help you pick the best SEO company in Chennai.
• Separating brand keyword clicks and SEO clicks helps you analyse ROI on different marketing avenues.

This report prevented a potential conflict with the client. And it certainly helped us showcase our work to potential clients. I hope this helps you as well. Call us at +91 8939 6909 23 to learn why our clients believe us to be the best SEO agency in Chennai. Stay updated with all things digital! Follow our Instagram @wizi.digital for tech trends and insights.