12 Best SEM reporting tools for agencies in 2026

As the saying goes, "The best place to hide a dead body is page two of Google."

Your clients' SERP rankings and paid search campaign performance can mean the difference between visibility and obscurity. That's why digital marketing agencies need the right SEM reporting tools to track search engine marketing efforts across multiple channels, prove ROI, and make smarter decisions about their marketing strategy.

The problem? Tracking keyword rankings, monitoring competitor activity, and pulling performance data from multiple platforms manually eats into your billable hours. When you're managing SEM campaigns for 20+ clients, manual reporting becomes a bottleneck that keeps you from doing the strategic work that actually grows accounts.

In this guide, we'll break down what SEM reporting tools do, how to choose the right one for your agency, and compare the 12 best options available in 2026. You'll also get a step-by-step approach to building client-ready SEM reports that consolidate data from Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and your favorite SEO platforms into one place.

Key takeaways

• SEM reporting covers both SEO and PPC. A complete report combines organic data (rankings, backlinks, traffic) with paid data (CPC, ROAS, conversions) so clients see their full search investment in one view.

• Manual reporting breaks down past 20 clients. Pulling data by hand from Google Ads, GA4, Search Console, and SEO platforms eats 2.5+ hours per client each month. Automated reporting cuts that to under 30 minutes.

• No single tool does it all. Semrush, Ahrefs, and Moz are built for research. Native Google tools lack white-labeling and cross-channel views. Most agencies pair a research tool with a dedicated reporting platform.

• Evaluate four things before you buy. Integrations across every data source you use, automated scheduling, white-label branding, and pricing without hidden per-client fees.

What are SEM reporting tools?

SEM reporting tools are software platforms that help marketing agencies collect, organize, and present search engine marketing data for their clients. They pull data from paid search campaigns, organic search performance, and related marketing channels into dashboards and reports that make it easy to track progress and spot opportunities.

Some SEM tools focus on a specific slice of search marketing, like keyword research or backlink analysis. Others, like dedicated reporting tools, are built to aggregate data from multiple data sources and present it in a format clients actually understand.

It's worth noting that "SEM" has traditionally been used as an umbrella term for search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising (PPC). In recent years, some digital marketers use SEM to refer exclusively to paid search. For this guide, we'll use the broader definition that covers both organic and paid search engine performance.

SEM vs. SEO vs. PPC reporting: What's the difference?

These terms get tangled up often, so let's untangle them. When it comes to reporting, each one focuses on different key metrics and data sources.

SEM reporting gives you the complete picture of search engine performance. Strong SEO campaigns build domain authority and credibility, which can give paid search ads an extra boost. And PPC keyword data can inform your organic content strategy. When you report on both together, clients see the full value of their search marketing investment.

PPC's first objective is to acquire qualified traffic, but as an agency that provides both PPC and SEO services, we also use PPC ads for testing and research. Before earning organic ranks for a keyword, we use PPC to test how users interact with a brand and its products.

Matt Beech, Marketing Director, patch.marketing

Quickly identify issues that could affect your clients' search visibility. Get all of the SEO metrics you need to keep your clients ahead. Try AgencyAnalytics free for 14 days.

Why agencies need SEM reporting tools

Agencies that track search engine marketing across multiple platforms without a dedicated reporting tool know the pain. You're logging into Google Ads, then Google Analytics, then Google Search Console, then Semrush… copying numbers into spreadsheets, taking screenshots, and hoping nothing gets lost in the shuffle. That process might work for one client. For 20+, it's a recipe for burnout and errors.

The last thing you want is to fumble the ball on client questions like, "What was our monthly ROAS?" or "Which keywords should we drive in upcoming organic content?" Automated SEM reporting ensures those answers are ready on schedule every cycle.

Here's what the right SEM reporting tool gives your agency:

• Real-time performance data so you can keep on the pulse of evolving changes across PPC campaigns and organic keyword performance (e.g., a PPC reporting dashboard that highlights clickthrough rate shifts the moment they happen)

• Faster issue detection when something goes wrong with search visibility (e.g., a sudden drop in keyword rankings because of a technical SEO issue)

• Competitor analysis at a glance. Observing what the competition is doing means swooping in at the right time to capitalize on opportunities, like acquiring their broken backlinks or discovering untapped PPC keyword research angles

• Cross-channel reporting that combines data from multiple platforms. Rather than using separate PPC and SEO reporting tools, pull data from Google Ad campaigns, SEO strategies, and website analytics into one report

• Hours back on your calendar. Streamlining marketing data means you won't have to copy and paste numbers into Google Sheets by hand. That's time you can spend on campaign management and strategy instead

How to choose the best SEM reporting tool

With dozens of SEM tools, reporting platforms, and dashboard tools on the market, picking the right one for your agency can feel overwhelming. Here's what to evaluate before you commit.

Integrations and cross-channel data coverage

Your agency likely manages paid search campaigns on Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) and Microsoft Ads, tracks organic performance in Google Search Console and Google Analytics, and runs keyword tracking through platforms like Semrush or Ahrefs. The right SEM reporting tool should connect to all of these data sources, plus your other marketing channels, without you needing to build custom workarounds.

Ask yourself: Can this tool pull data from multiple ad platforms, SEO platforms, and analytics tools in one place? If connecting data sources requires manual CSV exports or data warehousing, it's probably not built for agency speed.

Automation, scheduling, and white-labeling

Automated reporting is the single biggest time-saver for agencies. Look for tools that let you schedule monthly reporting (or weekly, for high-touch accounts), so reports go out without you lifting a finger.

White-labeling matters, too. Your clients should see your agency's branding on their reports, not the software vendor's. If your reporting tool doesn't support white-label dashboards and reports, you'll spend extra time customizing exports.

Custom dashboards, templates, and client access

Every client has different goals. A good marketing reporting tool gives you customizable report templates and a drag-and-drop editor so you can tailor each report to the metrics that matter. Client portals with login access are equally valuable because they let clients check real-time data visualization between scheduled reports.

Reusable templates save even more time. Build one SEM dashboard that works, then replicate it across your client base.

Pricing structure and hidden costs

Watch out for per-client fees, limits on unlimited data exports, and add-on charges for features like rank tracking or advanced analytics. Some SEM reporting software looks affordable on the surface, but adds up fast once you connect 20+ client accounts.

Factor in what's included at each tier. Does the price cover data from all your marketing channels? Or will you pay extra for each integration, each user, or each additional data source?

Compare the 12 best SEM reporting tools for agencies

Quick comparison table

12 best SEM reporting tools for agencies

Here's a closer look at each tool, including what it does, what it costs, and which type of agency it fits best.

1. Semrush

There's no talking about SEM without mentioning Semrush. This powerful tool operates as a centralized hub for SEO data and paid advertising insights. Looking for ways to expand an existing Google Ad campaign? Semrush's PPC keyword tool and Google Keyword Planner alternative features are a great place to start your PPC keyword research.

Semrush's reporting features include backlink monitoring, competitor insights, changes in SERPs, site audit reports, and search volume data across organic and paid search campaigns. Their Pro package starts from $139.95/month and has a free 7-day trial.

 Agencies that need a single research platform for keyword research, competitor analysis, and content marketing planning. Keep in mind that Semrush is a research tool, not a dedicated client reporting platform. For client-facing reports, many agencies pair it with a reporting tool.

If you want backlink monitoring insights in an easier-to-understand format, try a visually appealing Semrush dashboard that pulls Semrush data alongside your other SEM platforms.

2. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the most respected SEO tools for backlink analysis and keyword performance tracking. This SEO reporting software provides your agency with SEO reports for clients that include changes to keyword rankings, competitor backlink insights, and link-building opportunities. Their unlimited domain overview PDFs feature is helpful for quick competitive research.

Ahrefs offers a Starter plan at $29/month and a Lite plan starting at $129/month, and offers free access to their Webmaster tool for website audit insights.

Best for: Agencies where SEO and backlink analysis are a core service. Ahrefs is strongest on the organic side of SEM. For cross-channel reporting that includes paid search, you'll want to pair it with a dedicated reporting tool.

Got multi-platform SEM insights to track? Start with a fully customizable Ahrefs report and pull data from other platforms to see the big picture.

3. SpyFu

SpyFu is a competitive intelligence tool built for digging into your competitors' paid and organic search strategies. With features like competitor insights, PPC keyword research, and SERP monitoring, SpyFu helps identify opportunities to increase search visibility based on what's already working for others in your clients' space.

Their Basic plan starts from $39/month, making it one of the more affordable SEM tools on this list.

 Agencies that rely heavily on competitor analysis to shape their SEM strategy. SpyFu is a research tool, not a complete reporting solution, so plan to pair it with a reporting platform for client deliverables.

4. Moz

Moz is an SEO tracking tool that helps marketing agencies do keyword research, conduct link analysis, and identify notable changes in search engine results (such as dips in organic traffic).

Their auditing feature surfaces technical issues that could impact overall search engine performance. And their Domain Authority metric remains a widely recognized benchmark for site credibility.

Moz Pro offers packages starting from $49/month for the Starter plan ($99/month for the Standard plan), and there's a free trial available.

Best for: Agencies that prioritize SEO monitoring and domain authority tracking. Like Ahrefs and Semrush, Moz is an SEO analysis tool rather than a full SEM reporting platform.

Stream Moz data into a data-driven dashboard for quick insights on backlinks and domain performance.

5. Google Ads

Any agency running PPC campaigns likely has Google Ads in the mix. And for good reason.

This tool includes features like:

• Targeted advertising (including geographic and demographic ad specs), which helps reach users searching for your clients' products and services

• Remarketing and Smart Bidding for competitive pricing and re-engaging potential customers

• Google Keyword Planner, a free tool that identifies relevant keyword terms, forecasts potential traffic based on ad spend, and helps plan effective paid search campaigns

The cost of Google Ads is variable and usually depends on your client's budget. Google Ads could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 per month.

Best for: Every agency running Google paid search campaigns. That said, native Google Ads reporting is limited when it comes to client-ready, cross-channel reporting. The built-in reports are designed for campaign management, not for showing clients how paid search fits into their broader SEM and digital marketing picture.

Want to view Google Ads metrics alongside other valuable SEM insights? Filter Google Ads data into an intuitive dashboard for easy reference.

Don't get lost in a numerical haystack. Use a pre-built Google Ads report template and customize it to include other SEM metrics. Try it on AgencyAnalytics with a free 14-day trial.

6. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free SEM tool that aids search visibility by tracking website performance, highlighting technical issues, and surfacing keyword data directly from Google search.

GSC shows you which queries drive impressions and clicks, which pages perform best, and where technical issues like crawl errors might be hurting your clients' organic rankings. It's one of the most accurate data sources for Google search performance because the data comes straight from Google itself.

Streamline Google Search Console data into a dashboard that automatically populates that information for you, so you aren't toggling between platforms.

Best for: Every agency doing SEO work. GSC is essential, but it's a data source rather than a full reporting platform. Agencies outgrow native Google tools when they need to combine GSC data with paid search insights, sales data, and reporting from other marketing channels.

Another great and often overlooked tool is Google itself. Type your keyword into Google and see what comes up. What are the high-ranking websites talking about on their site? Do YouTube videos come up in the search? What content do they have? Also, look at the 'people also ask' section in Google, as this will give great insight into what topics you should have.

Will Mullins, SEO Specialist at Will Mullins Search Engine Optimisation Services

7. Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics is a staple in any agency's marketing toolkit. GA4 is a must for tracking SEO data (e.g., organic traffic) alongside paid search analytics insights (e.g., conversion rates for PPC search ads). It's where SEM measurement comes together because you can see how both organic and paid channels contribute to conversions and revenue.

While those web analytics numbers are available directly on the Google Analytics platform, it's often complex to navigate. GA4's reporting interface can frustrate even experienced data analysts. Instead, use an automated GA4 reporting tool to see these SEM metrics at a glance.

Best for: Every agency tracking website performance and conversions. GA4 provides the performance data foundation for SEM reporting, but you'll need a layer on top for client-ready presentation.

Monitor organic and paid search insights at the click of a button. Use a customizable Google Analytics dashboard that you and your clients can easily understand. Try it on AgencyAnalytics with a free 14-day trial.

8. Majestic

If you've got a large volume of backlinks to keep track of, Majestic comes in handy. In addition to backlink analysis, Majestic's SEO software also identifies link-building opportunities, gauges website credibility through its Trust Flow and Citation Flow metrics, and supports competitor analysis. Their Lite package starts from $49.99/month.

Best for: Agencies managing large-scale link building campaigns where detailed backlink data is a primary deliverable.

Track new or lost backlinks, referring domains, and other SEO insights at the click of a button. Simply integrate Majestic with AgencyAnalytics to pull data and report on important insights.

9. Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools is essential if you're optimizing content for Microsoft search or running Microsoft Ads (formerly Bing Ads). It gives you a granular understanding of top inbound links, individual web page performance, and search queries from the Bing search engine.

Best for: Agencies running Microsoft Ads or serving clients whose audience skews toward Bing users. Don't overlook it. Microsoft's search engine market share is growing, especially with AI-powered search features.

Use these insights to optimize your client's website or even to create Microsoft Ads campaigns based on top-performing organic content.

10. Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is a handy tool for crawling websites to surface technical SEO issues. It helps you identify broken links, duplicate content, and metadata gaps that could affect search engine rankings.

Their free version has a crawl limit of up to 500 URLs, while their paid version ($259/year) offers unlimited website crawls.

Best for: Agencies that run regular technical SEO audits. Screaming Frog is a technical audit companion tool, not a central reporting platform. It's great for data collection on site health issues, which you can then fold into your broader SEM reports.

11. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is a versatile digital marketing platform for keeping tabs on keyword tracking, competitive research, rank tracking, and content marketing add-ons. It's useful for agencies that want a broad SEO monitoring tool with built-in keyword performance tracking.

Their Core plan starts from $103.20/mo (annual), and there's a free 14-day trial. With the API add-on, it's easy to integrate SE Ranking data into comprehensive AgencyAnalytics dashboards.

Best for: Agencies that need affordable rank tracking combined with broader SEO monitoring features.

12. AgencyAnalytics

No list of SEM reporting tools would be complete without AgencyAnalytics. This is the tool built from the ground up for marketing agencies that need to consolidate data from multiple platforms into professional, white-label client reports.

Where other tools on this list are research or campaign management platforms, AgencyAnalytics is a dedicated reporting tool. It connects to over 85 marketing data sources, including Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Microsoft Ads, and dozens more. That means you can pull data from every SEM platform your agency uses into a single dashboard or report.

Here's what makes it stand out for agencies:

• White-label everything. Add your agency's branding to dashboards, reports, and even login portals

• Automated reporting on a schedule. Set it up once, and reports go out monthly (or weekly) without you touching them

• Custom dashboards and templates. Use the drag-and-drop editor to build customizable SEM report templates that match each client's goals

• Cross-channel reporting. Combine PPC data from multiple ad platforms with SEO metrics, social media data, and more in one view

• AI-powered insights. Let the platform flag anomalies in your clients' performance data so you catch issues before your clients do

• Client portals. Give clients login access to their real-time dashboards so they can check historical data and current performance between meetings

Unlike other PPC reporting tools or SEO reporting software that offer fragmented data, AgencyAnalytics integrates all your marketing reports into one system. The platform streamlines the SEM reporting process, making it easy for account managers to navigate digital marketing metrics and create customizable SEM report templates. This ensures you're never in the dark about your client's campaign performance.

Plans start at just $25 per month, with an affordable SEO keyword ranking tool add-on.

Best for: Agencies of any size that need to consolidate data from SEO platforms, PPC campaigns, and other marketing channels into branded, automated client reports. If your team is spending more than 30 minutes per client on manual reporting each month, this is the tool that gives you that time back.

Impress clients and save hours with custom, automated reporting.

Join 7,000+ agencies that create reports in under 30 minutes per client using AgencyAnalytics. Get started for free. No credit card required.

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How to create an SEM report for clients

With so many search engine marketing platforms and SEM tools to choose from, you may be wondering how to consolidate all those insights into one place.

It's a real concern, especially when you've got multiple end-of-month reports to produce. The last thing you want while developing an SEO or PPC marketing strategy is to waste time building manual SEM reports from scratch.

The better approach? Use a client reporting tool to consolidate SEM data across multiple platforms. Automated reporting pulls in all of your client's SEO and paid advertising metrics into a single, custom report so you don't accidentally omit information or drop the ball on meeting client expectations.

Set goals and KPIs first

Before building any SEM report, do the groundwork. Consider your client's OKRs and KPIs to understand their specific needs and tailor their SEM report accordingly.

Common SEM goals include:

• Hitting a monthly conversion rate of 10% for ongoing PPC search ads

• Generating $1,000 in revenue from paid search ad clicks

• Increasing average organic SERP ranking for priority keywords from 5th to 3rd

• Appearing in the top 2 results for local SEO listings

Make sure that you're actually doing good keyword tracking! If you don't have an accurate idea of what keywords your ideal clients are searching for, you may spend time optimizing your content with the wrong keywords.

Jessica Tappana, Founder of Simplified SEO Consulting

Connect SEO and PPC data sources

Next, connect your client's marketing platforms to a reporting tool like AgencyAnalytics. The goal is to get all search engine marketing data flowing into one environment, so you're working with accurate data from every source.

Platforms like Ahrefs, Excel, and Semrush are great tools but best used for internal use. AgencyAnalytics puts all the important parts of client reporting into a nice presentable document with many integrations available.

Deniz Doganay, Managing Director, Digital Debut

It's as easy as:

• Signing into your AgencyAnalytics account and clicking on "Integrations."

• Choosing from the list of over 85 marketing data sources, including:

  • Ahrefs

  • Amazon Ads

  • Google Ads

  • Google Analytics

  • Google Local Service Ads

  • Microsoft Ads

  • Semrush

  • Moz

• Successfully connecting your data sources and streaming insights into dashboards or reports

Build an internal SEM dashboard

To keep your team up to date on client progress, filter those SEM insights into an internal dashboard. Reusable templates are your best friend here.

You can:

• Choose a pre-built dashboard template to avoid building one from scratch

• Create a custom SEM dashboard and tweak it to your preferences. For example:

  • Drag and drop widgets to view SEM insights side by side

  • Add dynamic goal progress bars to see exactly how things are developing over time

  • Choose an appropriate data visualization (e.g., switching from a pie chart to a bar graph)

  • Create custom metrics that reflect your client's unique SEM goals (e.g., calculating total website traffic across organic and paid search efforts)

Access a range of agency-specific reporting features to save billable time. Try AgencyAnalytics today, it's free for 14 days.

If clients want access to these real-time metrics (or historical data), consider creating a login profile and setting user permissions. That way, clients know what's happening without multiple lengthy check-in meetings.

Export and share client-ready reports

Once your data is connected and your dashboard is set, you're ready to create client reports. You have a few options:

• Export your live dashboard as a downloadable PDF or email report

• Use a pre-built report template, make tweaks where needed, and replicate these custom reports for future use (e.g., building a custom PPC report and later adding side-by-side SEO data)

• Create a shareable link so clients can access an always-current version of their report

Choose the reporting format that suits your clients best. Download it, email it, or create a shareable link. It's all possible on AgencyAnalytics, free for 14 days.

Wondering which SEO analytics or PPC metrics to include in your SEM report? Here are the key metrics to consider:

• Organic and paid search metrics: clickthrough rates, conversion rates, website traffic

• Ad quality score

• Referring domains

• Number of new or broken backlinks

• Average cost per click (CPC)

• Cost per conversion

• ROAS and total ad spend

Common SEM reporting mistakes to avoid

Even agencies with solid SEM strategies can stumble when it comes to reporting. Here are the most common pitfalls to watch for:

• Relying only on free native tools. Google Ads, Google Analytics, and Google Search Console are essential data sources, but they weren't designed for client-ready reporting. Once your agency manages more than a handful of clients, you'll need a dedicated reporting tool that can consolidate data and save your team from hours of manual reporting each month

• Skipping integration testing. Before committing to a new SEM reporting platform, test that the data integration actually works with your clients' accounts. Broken connections mean inaccurate data in your reports, which erodes client trust fast

• Ignoring hidden costs. Some reporting platforms advertise low starting prices but charge extra for connecting data sources, adding team members, or enabling features like white-labeling. Calculate the real cost based on your agency's client count before you sign up

• Overcomplicating reports. Clients don't want three pages of raw data. They want to know what went up, what went down, and what you're doing about it. Focus on the key metrics tied to their goals and use clear data visualization to tell the story

• Reporting on the wrong metrics. Vanity metrics look impressive, but they don't move the needle. Make sure every metric in your SEM report connects back to a client goal, whether that's revenue, leads, or search visibility for priority keywords

Keyword research will tell you what your prospects care about, and competitor analysis will give you information on how to stand out.

Warren Thompson, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Ollo Metrics

Revolutionize your SEM reporting with AgencyAnalytics

When your agency manages search engine marketing across multiple channels and clients, the right reporting tool makes the difference between spending your week on strategy and spending it on spreadsheets.

AgencyAnalytics consolidate data from Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs, and dozens of other search engine marketing platforms into one reporting environment. Account managers can see PPC data and SEO metrics from multiple sources on a single dashboard. Advertising data, from campaign costs to marketing performance, is always accessible.

Whether you're creating a data-blended dashboard or a custom white-label report, AgencyAnalytics handles the data collection and presents those insights for you.

Most of our clients run many services with us across advertising and SEO. It was complicated to combine all of the data before AgencyAnalytics. Now, it's much easier to condense the results of our efforts into dashboards or automated reports. It paints a better picture of the entire marketing funnel and has all the features we need.

Graham Lumley, Director of Marketing at Blackhawk Digital Marketing

From the broad strokes of SEO to the finer details of an existing Google Ads campaign, AgencyAnalytics takes raw data and turns it into reports that clients actually read. If you need to combine PPC and SEM metrics in a single report, you can do that with a few clicks. Access a variety of customizable report templates and use the drag-and-drop editor to tailor the reporting format to each client's unique needs.

Equip your team with the right digital agency tools, and you can stop spending time on manual reporting and start spending it on the work that grows accounts.

No more manual data collection from multiple platforms. Use AgencyAnalytics to create customizable SEM dashboards and reports, free for 14 days.