Google has said that three main things make up the ranking factors in their algorithm: content, RankBrain (machine learning), and links. You cannot ignore this influential ranking factor when it comes to your reporting, but what's the best way to explain your link building progress, and what metrics matter?

Educate your clients on the value of links. Make sure they understand the basics of how link building works, in addition to how links are correlated to site performance. Use this knowledge foundation to tell a story about the journey of your client’s SEO and link building efforts.

Domain metrics

Which domains link to you matters. Backlinko’s updated list of over 200 ranking factors includes several factors related to domains, such as domain age, number of linking domains, number of linking pages, number of pages from different IPs, anchor text, and types of links.

A quick way to determine the overall value of a domain that's linking to you (or who you would like to get a link from) is by using our own Domain Authority metric.

Domain Authority

We calculate Domain Authority using a variety of factors to determine an authority number on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, meaning it's easier to move from 10 to 20 than it is to move from 80 to 90. This can be a good way to evaluate the value of a domain from a backlink standpoint. (Remember, Domain Authority is a Moz metric, not a ranking factor used by Google.)

Domain Authority can be a good overall metric to provide clients when they want to know at a glance the quality of domains that are linking to their sites.

In addition to looking at overall domains, it's also important to include and analyze the specific pages linking to your internal pages. Feasibly, pages that are highly relevant to the pages they're linking to on a client's site have more value than random pages that don't seem to have any true connection. While a link from a site is usually a good thing, be sure to analyze incoming links to make sure that there aren't any spammy ones that require a removal request or should even be disavowed.

Links lost and acquired

This is an important part of any report. The number of links that are lost and gained throughout a specific reporting period will always vary, often at no fault of those running a link building campaign. There are plenty of reasons why a link may be lost that's outside of your control, from a website 404ing to an indexing error on the linking site and beyond. And by the same token, there are some link gains you'll have no control over, either. This is a positive and expected behavior; ideally, people will be linking to your content naturally if it's useful and valuable. Make sure to educate clients about the difference in link quality and the nuances therein. As not all links are created equal, knowing the basic differences can help set client expectations.

Reporting on acquired links showcases the actions and accomplishments of a link building campaign. We all know how much blood, sweat, and tears (so many tears) goes into earning links — show it off all you can! Whenever new links are acquired, provide commentary on what worked in the campaign process and how those lessons can help in the future.

Additionally, you'll want to highlight the value of specific links over the raw numbers. With no context given, it's easy for recipients to believe fifty random links are better than five. But if it's explained that those five links are topically relevant, high-quality industry publications, then they are likely going to hold more value than fifty unrelated links from lesser-known sites that don't hold a lot of authority.

Anchor text relevance

Links from reputable, well-known sites that correspond with the client’s industry or niche helps give search engines a clue as to what the site is about and which industry they serve. Anchor text can offer further indication as to a site's or page's topics. According to Sergey Brin and Larry Page’s original Stanford paper on Google, anchor text provided search engines with more insight into what the linked page was about. While it’s not a strong ranking factor (and can be considered spam if over-optimized or used incorrectly), having good anchor text for your backlinks is important. When possible, include the backlink anchor text in reports. The wording used also helps you uncover clues about link relevance and value to assist in explaining relevance (and therefore importance/value) to the client.

ROI

It can be difficult to determine the strict ROI of links, especially when there are benefits that go beyond a single conversion, things like brand awareness, quality traffic, and ongoing referral traffic. And if you're practicing white-hat SEO — as you should be! — there's no straightforward cost-benefit analysis; the "price" of an earned link is the price of your time, expertise, and effort. Make sure your clients know that it's against Google's guidelines to purchase links — this is one of the easiest ways to earn a penalty and ruin all your hard work. When reporting on link building ROI, focus on what goes into earning links. Track any direct and tangential costs and make connections as to how they drive revenue.

When considering link value in terms of ROI, consider not only the link itself and the Domain Authority of the URL, but also any adjacent benefits. For instance, an earned link can equate to more earned referral traffic from the linking site that could turn into conversions, especially if the site is contextually relevant. It’s also important to explain the difference between nofollow/follow links and how a nofollow isn’t useless, which is a common misconception. Lots of large publications use nofollow attributes, but the exposure from their traffic can correlate to more sales and revenue.

Reporting on your link building efforts gives valuable insight into the performance of other related metrics. Oftentimes, we will see a correlation between an increase in backlinks and higher traffic or conversions. Keeping track of earned and lost links throughout the year can help you draw conclusions as to which links are the most valuable for your client and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Now that you've checked off links and content from your list of reporting to-dos, it's time to explore one of the most impactful areas you can report on in Chapter 5: Technical Site Reporting.