How to Create a Local SEO Report

Hopefully, you’re already tracking your local ranks.

But what should you be doing with that data?

Even more importantly, how do you use that data to improve your or clients’ ranks?

That’s where local SEO reports come in. Using reports, you can collect all your most essential data in one place and use it to improve your SEO strategy.

This article will examine why local reports are essential, how to use them well, and how to create them in ProRankTracker.

Let’s get started!

We’ll cover:

• Why Reporting Local SEO Is Important
• How to Keep Clients Happy With Reports
• What Should a Local SEO Report Include?
• How to Create a Local SEO Report With ProRankTracker

Why Reporting Local SEO Is Important

Trying to do local SEO without reports is like using a rowboat with no oars — you’re not going to be able to go anywhere.

Why is that?

Well, looking at your rank data every day is a great practice (which can take up hours if you do it manually). But you can’t simply look at your ranks and automatically understand what you must do to improve them.

Using reports, you can compile large amounts of historical data and use what you learn to improve your ranks.

Here are 3 more reasons why local SEO reports are critical for your ranking success.

Reason #1: All SERPs Vary by Location

First and foremost, SERPs can differ depending on where you are when you search.

For example, a person in Brooklyn and another in Los Angeles can search for the keyword “coffee shop,” but they’ll get different results.

Why is that?

It’s because they’re on opposite sides of the country! So Google is trying to show them results that apply to their location.

But few people realize that ALL Google searches consider the searcher’s location. So no matter what you’re searching for, your location will change the SERP you see.

To fully understand what YOUR customers are seeing, you need to generate reports that show you different SERPs for different search locations.

Reason #2: Get More Traffic

What happens when you understand the SERPs that Google is showing your searchers?

You can start to target their needs better, which will help you improve your ranks quickly.

Once you start improving your ranks, you’ll also get more traffic online.

But that’s not where it stops. You’ll also get more foot traffic at your physical store if you rank highly on local Google features like Local Finder, Google Maps, and Snack Pack.

Learning to read your local SEO reports could help you jump from the second page to the first. The difference that makes can be HUGE.

Remember, the 10th position has a click-thru rate of 3.11%, whereas the top position has a CTR of 43.32%.

Reason #3: Beat Your Competitors

Your competitors are already targeting local SERPs in your area, and the only way to beat them is to target them BETTER.

To target local SERPs like a pro, you must generate local reports. 

A local report showing your ranking trends in a particular city over the last 3 months can help you understand if your strategy is working.

A report showing your competitors’ ranks in the same city over the same timeframe gives you an idea of how their newest keywords are helping them.

Using these local reports can give you the in-depth understanding you need to finally beat your competitors on the SERP!

How to Keep Clients Happy With Reports

If you’re an SEO provider, you’ve got to think about how to keep your clients happy.

For many businesses, that means you must keep your clients updated with reports.

Put yourself in their shoes: you’re paying money to some other business to help you get more page views and make more money.

Wouldn’t you want regular updates to see if it’s helping or hurting?

I know I would.

You can do a few key things to keep your clients happy. Happy clients = referrals. Referrals = more clients. More clients = more money.

Send Frequent Reports

Probably the biggest area where new SEO providers fail is in providing ENOUGH information to their clients.

Most clients want AT LEAST daily overview reports showing how their ranks have improved, worsened, or stayed the same that day.

Many will also want weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly reports showing changes over time, comparisons, and other vital details.

The best way to ensure you send enough reports (and not too many) is to communicate with your clients. Ask them if they’d like more or fewer reports or if there’s anything they think you should update them on more frequently.

Send Detailed Reports

What if I sent you a report that looked like this?

• 5 ranks improved
• 3 ranks dropped
• 2 ranks stayed the same

Would you feel like you got a better understanding of your ranks? 

Of course not!

Ensure you’re treating your clients well by sending them reports with LOTS of essential information.

We’ll talk about this more in a moment, but you shouldn’t even consider using a white-label SEO reporting tool that doesn’t allow you to extensively edit the type of data you include in every report. This is why!

Vary Your Reports

Just like you should send frequent reports, you should also send various reports to give your clients a complete understanding of their ranks.

For example, consider sending the following:

• Weekly overview reports
• Weekly historical reports
• Monthly reports comparing ranks this month with last month
• Quarterly reports comparing ranks with the same quarter the previous year

You can (and should!) send so many other reports to your clients.

We’ll talk about notifications, live reports, and the MyRanks app later in this article. These unique reports will help keep your clients updated and happy.

Customize Reports to Fit Your Clients’ Needs

Here’s the bad news:

No SEO tool on the market will have ready-made reports perfect for your clients’ needs.

Here’s the good news:

Some well-made SEO tools give you complete control over what you include in each report. That means you can take a solid ready-made base report and turn it into the exact report that your clients need.

You should communicate with your clients to ensure that you include the information they want in each report.

What Should a Local SEO Report Include?

There are many different types of local SEO reports, but are there specific data points and other features you should include in EVERY local report?

YES!

Including these critical bits of information will ensure that your reports are as helpful as possible without being too overloaded with information. It’ll also help you pick the best reporting tool for your SEO business.

Relevant Keyword/URL Information

First, reports should include the most relevant keyword/URL information.

In other words, each line of data should include the following:

• URL
• The keyword being tracked for that URL
• The device type being tracked
• The search engine that the keyword/URL combo is targeting
• Any relevant rank changes
• Search volume

Why do you need all this data?

Because it can drastically change how you approach your data. If you look at your reports and learn that your Bing keywords rank better than your Google keywords, that might change your strategy!

Don’t settle for reports that don’t give you ALL the relevant info on each keyword!

Customizable Data

The best reports are customizable. 

Like we talked about earlier, you should be able to customize reports to fit your clients’ needs. But what data should you be able to customize on each report?

One type of data essential for local reports is the location data of each keyword/URL combo. You should be able to customize a report to show only ranks from a particular location or 2 locations.

You should also be able to customize the report to show specific details like:

• Search language
• Search volume
• Search engine
• Campaigns to which each report belongs
• Any other data point that appears on a report

For example, here’s what the ProRankTracker report customization screen looks like:

You can customize ANY data that appears on the report and choose what data appears and in what order. That gives you total control over what you send your clients!

Local Data 

Finally, your local reports should (obviously) include local data.

In other words, what area/s are you tracking for each URL/keyword combo?

Your reports should show that information to help you compare and contrast different target areas.

For example, you might be targeting 2 neighborhoods in the same city. Showing local data on your reports allows you to make that comparison effectively.

This goes hand-in-hand with the customizable data since you should be able to change each report’s locations. You should be able to issue one report that compares 2 locations and another report that compares a different 2.

You shouldn’t be limited by what your software allows you to customize regarding reports.

How to Create a Local SEO Report With ProRankTracker

ProRankTracker offers 20+ different types of reports that you can generate with just a few clicks. 

Beyond that, each report is white-label ready, meaning it’s fully customizable to allow you to show your company’s:

• Logo
• Colors
• Header
• Cover letter

If that sounds like a lot of information to consider, don’t worry. It’s pretty easy to generate reports on ProRankTracker. 

In this section, we’ll show you how to create, customize, and send a local SEO report with ProRankTracker. We’ll also show you some unique reporting options available to use with your clients.

Add Location Data to Your Keyword/URL Combos

Before you can generate any local SEO reports, you need to have some keyword/URL combos with location data attached.

There are 2 places you can do this: 

• Add Wizard
• Advanced Add

In the Add Wizard tool, just type in the location you want to attach to the combo and select from the dropdown menu.

In the Advanced Add tool, scroll down to step 3 and follow the same steps. You must have one of the localized options selected in step 1 for the location box to appear in step 3.

Select the Report You Want to Generate

ProRankTracker has reports for almost anything you might want. 

Go to the Reports Center, and you’ll find a list of all the available reports, along with a short description of each report.

Select the report you want to generate, then click “Add New Report.”

It’s worth noting that all the reports are white-label ready, meaning you can fully customize the look and the data itself.

Customize the Report

Speaking of customization, let’s talk about how to get the report just like you want it.

After you click “Add New Report,” you’ll go to a page with many customization options. 

In the top half, you’ll see many options to change the ranks in the report.

Using these options helps you filter the report to only include certain ranks that meet your set criteria. For example, you can filter the report to include only ranks that match a specific location. That makes your reports much more potent for understanding your local SEO.

In the bottom half, you’ll see options to help you include or remove specific columns of data from the report. 

Use these options to show only the data points your client is interested in.

Regarding white-label reports, you can customize the look of these reports by selecting a template. You can make templates in the Reports Center, which you can then apply to any white-label report in the future.

MyRanks App

White-label reporting is all about providing your clients with the best possible experience. Since so many people use their phones for everything, delivering your clients’ ranks through a mobile app helps you stand apart from your competition.

The MyRanks App is a fully white-label-ready app that allows you to give your clients access to their ranks in the form of an app branded with your company’s logo and info.

Giving your clients a branded mobile app makes you look more professional and better resourced than your competitors.

Live Reports

Live Reports use a unique web page (with a URL you can customize to show as hosted under your domain, and the report can display your brand’s logo and colors) to give your clients access to fresh ranking data anytime.

To generate a Live Report, go to the “Shared” tab in the Reports Center.

The web page comes with a search bar, an interactive interface, and a dropdown menu to select the ranks you want to look at.

Like the other reports ProRankTracker offers, the Live Reports are white-label ready, and you can customize their colors by applying templates like with the other reports (the colors you set in the template will be applied).

Ready to Build Your Local SEO Report?

Reporting local ranks effectively can make the difference between keeping your best clients and losing them. That’s why it’s worth investing in a good reporting tool to ensure you can meet your clients’ expectations.

ProRankTracker offers industry-leading white-label reporting features so you can satisfy even the most stringent clients. We recommend trying a 30-day free trial to try out the reporting features for yourself.

Following the steps in this article should help you generate amazing local SEO reports for your clients or your own business. You’ll be on top of the local SERP in no time!

Happy tracking!