How to Create an SEO Report in Tableau

Building an informative SEO report in Tableau allows you to see the full story of your performance, moving beyond the siloed dashboards of individual tools. This guide will walk you through the essential steps to connect your SEO data sources and create a dynamic dashboard that surfaces actionable insights.

First, Pull Your SEO Data Together

Tableau is powerful, but it needs data to work its magic. Before you even open the application, your first job is to gather the raw materials for your report. Your goal is to get a complete view of SEO performance, which often means pulling data from several different places.

Start by collecting data from these core sources:

• Google Search Console (GSC): This is your bedrock for organic search performance. Export data about your queries and pages, which includes clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average position. To get the most granular data, navigate to the Performance report, select your date range, and export it as a CSV.

• Google Analytics: GA4 tells you what visitors do after they click through from search results. You need data on sessions, users, engagement rate (the new 'bounce rate'), and crucially, conversions. You can connect Tableau directly to GA4, but exporting reports as CSVs is often simpler to start.

• Third-Party SEO Tools (Ahrefs, Semrush, etc.): These tools provide valuable off-page and competitive data. Export data on your backlink profile (like Referring Domains and Domain Rating) and your target keyword rankings. A simple CSV export works perfectly here.

For your initial build, focus on getting at least your Google Search Console and Google Analytics data. Saving each export as a CSV or Excel file is the most straightforward way to get started.

Connecting Your Data Sources in Tableau

Once you have your data files, it's time to bring them into Tableau. Tableau can connect to hundreds of data sources, from simple flat files to complex databases.

1. Connect to a File

Open Tableau Desktop. In the "Connect" pane on the left, you'll see options under "To a File." Since you saved your data as CSVs or Excel workbooks, this is your starting point.

• Click on "Text File" to connect to a CSV file (like your GSC export).

• Click on "Microsoft Excel" to connect to an .xlsx file.

Let's start with your Google Search Console data export. After connecting, Tableau will take you to the "Data Source" screen, where you'll see a preview of your data in a familiar spreadsheet-style layout.

2. Bringing in Additional Data (Joins and Relationships)

A single data source is helpful, but the real power comes from combining them. For instance, you’ll want to see which landing pages from your GSC data drove the most conversions according to your GA4 data.

You can do this by creating a relationship between your data sources. Think of it as telling Tableau how the different files relate to each other.

• From the Data Source screen, click the "Add" button next to Connections.

• Select your second data source (e.g., your Google Analytics export file).

• Tableau will likely prompt you to create a relationship. Drag your new data table onto the canvas.

• Tableau is smart and will try to guess the relationship, but you'll often need to define it manually. For combining GSC and GA4 data, the common field is typically the "Landing Page" URL. Select "Landing Page" from both tables so Tableau knows a specific URL in one file corresponds to the same URL in the other.

Now, you can use metrics like "Clicks" and "Impressions" from your GSC data and "Conversions" from your GA4 data together in the same chart.

Building Your Key SEO Report Visualizations

With your data connected, you can start building the actual report. In Tableau, each visual is built on its own "Sheet." You'll build several sheets and then combine them into a final dashboard.

Viz 1: The 'At-a-Glance' KPI Scorecard

Every good dashboard starts with the big numbers. These are the key performance indicators (KPIs) that stakeholders can check in seconds.

Goal: Display total Clicks, Impressions, Sessions, and Conversions for your selected time frame.

1. Open a new sheet in Tableau and name it "KPIs".

2. From the "Data" pane on the left, find your Impressions metric and drag it onto the "Text" block in the "Marks" card.

3. You'll now see a large number representing your total impressions. You can edit the text to add a title like "Total Impressions."

4. Repeat this process for Clicks, Sessions, and your main Conversion goal, placing each on the same sheet or creating separate sheets for each KPI that you can align later on the dashboard.

Viz 2: Organic Traffic and Conversions Over Time (Line Chart)

This classic chart is essential for tracking progress and spotting anomalies. A sudden dip could indicate technical issues, while a steady increase validates your SEO efforts.

Goal: Show the trend of organic sessions and conversions daily or weekly.

1. Create a new sheet and name it "Traffic Trends".

2. Drag your Date dimension to the "Columns" shelf. Right-click it and choose the level of detail you want, like "Week" or "Month."

3. Drag your Sessions measure to the "Rows" shelf. You now have a line chart showing sessions over time.

4. To add conversions, drag your Conversions measure onto the Rows shelf as well. Tableau will create a second line chart automatically. For a cleaner look, right-click the "Conversions" axis and select "Dual Axis" to overlay them.

Viz 3: Top Performing Pages (Bar Chart)

Here, you identify your workhorses - the pages that bring in the most organic traffic. This helps you know what content is resonating and where to focus your resources.

Goal: List your pages by the number of clicks or sessions they receive.

1. Create a new sheet called "Top Pages".

2. Drag your Landing Page dimension to the "Rows" shelf.

3. Drag the Clicks or Sessions measure to the "Columns" shelf.

4. Tableau will generate a horizontal bar chart. Click the sort icon in the toolbar underneath the main menu to instantly order your pages from highest to lowest performing.

Viz 4: Identify Low-Hanging Fruit (Scatter Plot)

A scatter plot is perfect for finding hidden opportunities. By mapping impressions against click-through rate (CTR), you can quickly pinpoint keywords that are getting a lot of visibility but aren't earning the click.

Goal: Find keywords with high impressions but low CTR, which could benefit from title tag or meta description improvements.

1. On a new sheet, drag CTR to the "Rows" shelf and Impressions to the "Columns" shelf.

2. Drag your Query (keyword) dimension to the "Detail" block on the "Marks" card. This will create a dot on the chart for every keyword.

3. Look for dots in the bottom right quadrant - these are your key opportunity keywords with high impressions and low CTR. You can add average lines for Impressions and CTR to make these quadrants clear.

Assembling Your SEO Dashboard

Once you've built a few essential charts (sheets), it's time to pull them together into a professional, cohesive dashboard.

1. Click the "New Dashboard" icon at the bottom of the screen (it looks like a four-pane window).

2. You'll see a list of all your created sheets on the left panel. Simply drag and drop them onto the dashboard canvas.

3. Arrange your visualizations logically. A common layout is putting the high-level KPIs at the top, followed by trend charts in the middle, and more granular tables or charts at the bottom.

4. The final touch is to add interactivity. Drag a Filter object onto the dashboard and link it to your Date field. This will let anyone viewing the report select their own date range (e.g., "Last 30 Days," "This Quarter"), and all the charts on the dashboard will update automatically.

Final Thoughts

Building an effective SEO report in Tableau transforms static numbers from individual tools into a dynamic, interactive resource for making better decisions. By combining GSC, GA4, and other data sources, you move beyond simple metrics to uncover the larger story of your organic marketing performance.

This process gives you total control, but manually exporting CSVs and configuring dashboards can also consume hours you could be spending on strategy. For teams that need answers instantly, we built Graphed to streamline this entire workflow. Instead of joining tables and building charts button by button, you can just ask questions in plain English like, "show me a dashboard of my top performing pages from Search Console vs conversions from Google Analytics for the last quarter." It builds live, interactive dashboards in seconds, not hours, so you and your team can get straight to the insights.