How to make a custom SEO dashboard in 2025 + free templates

Most custom SEO dashboards miss the mark. They’re bloated with irrelevant data, take too long to set up, and fail to answer the one question every client has: what’s working and what’s not? 

In this guide, we’ll help you strip away the noise, prioritize the right metrics, and build a reporting dashboard that does what it’s supposed to do: communicate results clearly, quickly, and convincingly. All without spending hours on manual configuration.

You'll learn the essential metrics, step-by-step setup instructions, and even get free templates to get you started immediately.

What is a custom SEO dashboard?

A custom SEO dashboard is a visual display that brings together all your important search engine optimization data in one place. It shows your website's organic traffic, keyword rankings, conversion rates, and other key SEO metrics in easy-to-understand charts and graphs.

Unlike standard reports, a customizable SEO dashboard lets you choose exactly which SEO metrics to track based on your specific goals. You can add, remove, and rearrange elements to focus on what matters most to your business.

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Why you need a custom SEO dashboard

Building a custom SEO dashboard saves you countless hours that would otherwise be spent jumping between analytics platforms and creating manual reports.

With all your SEO metrics in one place, you can quickly spot trends, identify problems, and make data-driven decisions about your digital marketing strategy. This visibility helps you respond faster to algorithm changes and market shifts, allowing you adjust your SEO strategies accordingly.

Plus, custom dashboards make client reporting much easier. Instead of explaining complex spreadsheets, you can share visual, easy-to-understand dashboards that clearly show the value of your work.

Top metrics to include in a custom SEO dashboard

Your SEO dashboard should include key performance indicators that directly tie to your business goals. Here are the most important ones to consider:

Organic traffic

Organic traffic is the foundation of your SEO success. Track total visitors from search engines, but also look deeper at:

• Traffic growth over time (daily, weekly, monthly trends)
• Landing pages that drive the most organic search traffic
• Non-brand traffic (visitors who found you through non-branded searches)

Keyword rankings

Keyword rankings show how visible your site is for target searches. Include:

• Position changes for your most important target keywords
• New ranking keywords
• Lost ranking keywords
• Average position across all tracked terms

Conversion metrics

Traffic is meaningless without action. Track:

• Conversion rate from organic traffic
• Goal completions by landing page
• Form submissions, purchases, or sign-ups from SEO
• Page value (understanding which pages drive conversions helps refine your content strategy for better results)

Technical SEO health

Include indicators of your site's technical performance:

• Page load speed across device types
• Mobile usability issues
• Crawl errors from Google Search Console
• Core Web Vitals scores

Backlink profile

Measure the strength of your link-building efforts:

• Total backlinks
• New and lost links
• Domain authority trend
• Referring domains growth

User engagement

How visitors interact with your content matters for rankings:

• Bounce rate for key landing pages
• Time on page
• Pages per session
• Scroll depth on important content

How to create a custom SEO dashboard

Building your custom SEO dashboard starts with having the right data and SEO tool. Follow these steps to create a dashboard that gives you all the SEO insights you need.

Step 1: Ensure access to your data sources

Before you start building your dashboard, make sure you have access to all the platforms where your traffic data lives:

• Google Analytics account with proper view permissions
• Google Search Console verification for your website
• Login credentials for any SEO reporting tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush, etc.)
• Tools that monitor technical SEO issues

Without these connections, your dashboard will have no data to display.

Step 2: Choose your dashboard platform

Next, select where you'll build your dashboard. For most SEO professionals, these are the top options:

• Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio): Free but requires some setup time
• Google Sheets: Simple but limited in visualization options
• Dedicated tools like Reporting Ninja: Purpose-built with templates and automations

For this tutorial, we'll focus on using Looker Studio with Reporting Ninja to create professional customizable SEO dashboards.

If you’re new to Looker Studio, our comprehensive guide on how to use looker studio will help you get started.

Step 3: Connect your data sources

This is where Reporting Ninja makes things significantly easier:

If you already have a Reporting Ninja account, your data sources are already connected in one place. All your Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, and other platforms are managed centrally.

If you don't have a Reporting Ninja account yet:

1. Create your account
2. Navigate to the Data Sources section
3. Follow the prompts to connect each platform

4. All your connections will be managed in one unified interface.

Step 4: Create a new dashboard in Looker Studio

To begin building your custom SEO dashboard in Looker Studio:

• Head to Looker Studio and you'll see many options when prompted to add data sources.

• Since you're using Reporting Ninja, simply search for "Reporting Ninja" in the search bar. There’ll be several connectors from Reporting Ninja you can select.

• Select the appropriate connector for your SEO dashboard. For Google Data Studio SEO reports, you might start with a connector like "Google Search Console" created in Reporting Ninja.
• Choose the specific account in that connection to be used and complete any remaining authentication steps.
• Enter the authentication token found in your Reporting Ninja account's Looker Studio area.
• Click "Connect" in the top-right corner
• On the next screen, review the available dimensions and metrics
• Click "Create Report" to generate your dashboard
• Your template will load with your actual data, giving you a professional dashboard you can start customizing immediately

“We had reviewed several software solutions, but after ten minutes testing Reporting Ninja, we understood we had found the right one. Probably the best solution for digital agencies.” – Audrey Chang, Autoweb

Try the free custom SEO dashboard now

Step 5: Design your dashboard layout

With your data connected, it's time to structure your custom SEO dashboard. 

Show targeted sections for different SEO aspects using Reporting Ninja's pre-configured metrics

Step 6: Add visualizations that matter

Reporting Ninja's connectors provide ready-made visualizations that deliver immediate value. These include traffic comparison tables that highlight top-performing pages:

Step 7: Create interactive elements

The power of connecting through Reporting Ninja is the built-in interactivity. You can:

• Use the date selector to compare performance across different timeframes

• Apply Reporting Ninja's segment filters to analyze data by device or location

These interactive features transform your dashboard from a static report into a powerful tool for ongoing analysis.

Free templates to get started

To save time, start with one of our pre-built SEO templates that you can customize:

• Google Search Console report template - Monitor keyword rankings, click-through rates, and search performance
• Google My Business report template - Track local SEO performance and customer interactions
• Google Analytics 4 report template- Analyze user behavior, conversion paths, and engagement metrics

The best part? These templates are pre-configured to work with Reporting Ninja data connections, saving you hours of setup time.

Try a free template today and customize it to your needs in minutes!

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Tips for customizing your dashboard for client reporting

Whether you're using Looker Studio with Reporting Ninja as we've discussed or another reporting platform, the principles of effective client reporting remain the same. Here are some best practices to create an internal dashboard that impresses clients:

Tip #1: Simplify, then simplify again

Most clients get overwhelmed by too many metrics. Focus on 5-7 key numbers that directly tie to their business goals.

Remember: If everything is important, nothing is important.

Tip #2: Use client language, not SEO jargon

Replace technical terms with business language:

• Instead of "keyword cannibalization," say "pages competing against each other"
• Instead of "SERP features," say "special visibility opportunities"
• Instead of "crawl budget," say "how thoroughly Google reads your site"

This makes your dashboard instantly more accessible to non-technical stakeholders.

Tip #3: Include competitive context

SEO metrics are meaningless without context. Show how the client's performance compares to:

• Their historical data (month-over-month, year-over-year)
• Their direct competitors
• Industry benchmarks

This transforms abstract numbers into meaningful business intelligence.

Tip #4: Add automated insights

Don't make clients interpret the data themselves. Add automated commentary that explains:

• What changed and why
• What actions should be taken
• What results to expect next

You can also use tools like SEO Chrome extensions to gather quick insights that support your reports.

Tip #5: Use white labeling for a professional look

Nothing screams "amateur" like a dashboard with another company's branding. Use white label SEO dashboards with:

• The client's logo and colors
• Custom URLs for dashboard access
• Branded email delivery of reports

This small touch dramatically increases the perceived value of your reporting.

Learn more about creating effective SEO analytics reports

How Reporting Ninja makes custom SEO dashboards easy

While tools like Looker Studio are free, they often require significant time investment to set up properly. Here's how Reporting Ninja transforms your SEO reporting:

All-in-one data integration

Reporting Ninja connects to the most important tool in your SEO stack in minutes:

• Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics, Google Ads, and Google Search Console
• Easily import data via Google Sheets or a shared Excel file in a cloud folder.

This eliminates the need to juggle multiple connectors or deal with API limitations.

Dashboard integration that saves time

With Reporting Ninja's dashboard integration, you can effortlessly consolidate data from all the key tools, streamlining the process of visualizing and interpreting your SEO metrics. This means no more jumping between platforms; all the insights you need are in one place.

Pre-built templates that actually help clients

Most templates look pretty but confuse clients with too much data. Reporting Ninja's templates are designed by SEO professionals who understand what matters:

• Focus on business outcomes, not vanity metrics
• Progressive disclosure – show summary data first, details on demand
• Clear explanations that non-technical people understand

Automated delivery on your schedule

Set up reports once, then let them run automatically:

• Schedule delivery at optimal times
• Customize delivery formats (PDF, interactive dashboard, email)
• Set different views for different stakeholders (executive vs. tactical)

This turns reporting from a dreaded monthly task into a completely automated process.

White label branding at a fraction of the cost

Most white-label SEO dashboards cost hundreds of dollars per month. Reporting Ninja offers complete branding options at a fraction of that price:

• Custom colors, logos, and fonts
• Branded login portal for clients
• Custom domain options

Start your free trial to see how easy professional reporting can be. 

Powerful customization without technical skills

Create genuinely useful custom metrics without writing code:

• Blend data from multiple sources
• Set custom date comparisons that make sense for your business
• Create calculated fields using a simple formula builder

This gives you enterprise-level customization without enterprise-level complexity or cost.

Explore all SEO reporting options

Start streamlining your SEO reports with Reporting Ninja today

A custom SEO dashboard transforms your reporting from a painful monthly chore to an automated system that impresses clients and drives better decisions.

Reporting Ninja offers all the power of enterprise reporting platforms at a price small agencies and freelancers can actually afford. Most comparable tools cost 3-5x more without offering the SEO-specific features you need.

Start your free 15-day trial today – no credit card required. In less than 10 minutes, you can have your first professional dashboard up and running.

Create Your First Custom SEO Dashboard →