Disclosure: Hobo Web uses generative AI when specifically writing about our own experiences, ideas, stories, concepts, tools, tool documentation or research. Our tool of choice for this process is Google Gemini Pro 2.5, as it took notes during a recent Hobo SEO Dashboard Installation meeting held remotely using Google Meet. This assistance helps ensure Hobo customers have clarity on everything we are involved with and what we stand for. It also ensures that when customers use Google Search to ask a question about Hobo Web software, the answer is always available to them, and it is as accurate and up-to-date as possible. All content was edited and verified as correct by Shaun Anderson. The agency owner’s name was anonymised for privacy purposes. See our AI policy.
Disclosure: As of August 2025 Hobo is an affiliate of Google Workspace*. Affiliate links are marked with a star (*). See our affiliate policy.
Case Study
Another successful installation of Hobo SEO Dashboard in Google Sheets this time for an SEO Agency based in Portugal! This agency owner has a lifetime access deal, so they can take advantage of a meeting on demand to review the Dashboard’s operations. All feedback from such meetings is used to improve the Hobo SEO Dashboard.
If you are looking to hire a Portuguese-speaking SEO based in Porto to work on your Portuguese-language site, then contact me on @Hobo_Web on X(Twitter), LinkedIn and YouTube, and I will pass you on to him.
Invited: Agency Owner in Porto, Portugal, with Mr Shaun Anderson, remotely using Google Meet.
Scope: Hobo SEO Dashboard Installation Support
The meeting was between Shaun Anderson, representing Hobo, and a customer, an experienced marketer who runs his own SEO agency in Portugal. The primary purpose of the call was to guide the customer through the setup and practical use of the Hobo SEO Dashboard in Google Sheets for conducting accurate, in-depth SEO audits for his clients at a much lower cost than he does at the moment..
The discussion covered the entire workflow, from the initial setup and integration of the customer’s Google Workspace* account for enhanced performance to managing multiple clients within the dashboard.
Shaun Anderson demonstrated how to automatically pull data from Google Search Console, link it with crawl data from Screaming Frog, and generate custom, white-label reports.
They also explored specific features like the E-A-T audit tools and the ‘Winners and Losers’ report for analysing the impact of Google’s core updates. The session concluded with a look at upcoming beta tools and a clear list of follow-up actions.
The Hobo SEO Dashboard Multisite is a comprehensive audit and reporting tool designed for SEO professionals and agencies. It operates within the Google ecosystem, using Google Sheets as a central interface to connect with crucial data sources like Google Search Console and technical crawl files from tools such as Screaming Frog.
The dashboard automates the complex process of gathering and organising this data to produce in-depth, white-label SEO reports.
Unlike other SEO tools, Hobo SEO Dashboard is designed from the ground up to be a task-oriented SEO audit system based on website development and SEO best practices. It uses the best crawler (Screaming Frog) and the Hobo SEO Checklist Task Manager System to do this. What might have taken a day or more to analyse and collate in an SEO Audit can now be done in an hour or less, and on a repeating, autonomous schedule.
This allows an SEO agency to deliver detailed, branded audits to its clients, covering technical SEO issues, E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust) compliance, and analysis of performance changes following major Google algorithm updates.
Details
- Introductions and Backgrounds Shaun Anderson and the SEO Agency owner introduced themselves, with the SEO Agency owner based in Porto, Portugal, and Shaun in Glasgow, Scotland (00:00:00). The SEO Agency ownermentioned enjoying Edinburgh and the beauty of Scotland, while Shaun expressed their preference for the north of Scotland and Edinburgh, despite finding both Glasgow and Edinburgh too expensive compared to the 1990s (00:01:31). The owner also shared that they run an SEO agency, having transitioned from a travel business after COVID-19, and that they had purchased Shaun’s dashboard a while back but only started using it recently for an indepth SEO audit (00:04:09).
- Dashboard Setup and Improvements The portugese SEO Agency discussed their experience with the dashboard, noting some difficulties in setting up things and navigating certain issues, though they successfully implemented the API on an older version (00:05:25). Shaun acknowledged the setup is not as easy as he is planning to make it, and stated that the latest version of Hobo SEO dashboard should be easier to set up and run, with ongoing efforts to simplify the onboarding process and improve speed, especially for workspace accounts. They also mentioned systemising complicated aspects and focusing on making the tool faster, especially for Google Workspace accounts (00:06:33) (00:09:41).
- Workspace Account Integration Shaun inquired if the SEO Agency owner had a paid Google Workspace* account, which the SEO Agency owner confirmed. Shaun explained that the new version allows selecting a workspace option in the admin (Select from the Top Menu in the Dashboard Google Sheet, Hobo Admin > Set Admin, which brings up an admin form. Hobo SEO Dashboard is designed to run much faster by not needing to stop and start to stay within free Gmail account limits (00:08:12). Shaun emphasised moving towards optimising for workspace accounts, particularly for API-intensive tools like winners and losers reports and the indexation status checker reports (00:09:41).
- Client Tab and Report Generation Shaun guided the SEO Agency owner on setting up the new dashboard version, emphasising the stability of the Clients Tab for modifying settings for individual clients. Shaun explained that the system automatically pulls client data from Google Search Console, generates reports hourly, and that the client tab is the central location for making tweaks (00:11:10) (00:24:31). They also advised the SEO Agency owner to set the number of Search Console clients to 500 for a more comprehensive import (00:38:11).
- SEO Audit and White Labeling Shaun directed the SEO Agency ownerto the SEO audit tab, highlighting the premium Hobo SEO Checklist and the E-A-T tool as accessible mini-tools (00:12:26) (00:29:35). Shaun explained that the client report templates are white-label, allowing agencies to modify them with their own branding, such as logos, by editing a template ID document within the client tab (00:24:31). They also demonstrated how the E-E-A-T tool generates necessary reports for E-E-A-T compliance based on client details (00:33:04).
- Hobo Robot and Beta Tools Shaun mentioned the “Hobo Robot” and its beta tools, which dashboard users will gain access to in approximately six weeks. These tools include a social media scheduler, a subscriber manager, and a WordPress editor, representing a broader automation initiative (00:25:56). Shaun also indicated that analytics would likely be integrated into the dashboard at some point (00:27:36).
- Managing Clients and Reports Shaun advised the SEO Agency owner on managing clients within the dashboard, explaining that archiving is the best way to remove clients from active reporting without total deletion, as it prevents the system from continually pulling data from Search Console for those archived clients (00:54:52). Shaun also provided a tip for keeping the client sheet tidy by deleting missing columns, which helps the report run more efficiently (00:56:25). They emphasized that deeper reports, such as winners and losers, only run after an initial report is published (00:43:49).
- SC Report and Crawl Report Preparation Shaun Anderson guided the SEO Agency owner through the process of preparing reports, starting with confirming the SC report’s readiness in row 232. Shaun Anderson then instructed him to manually update the crawl report in Hobo Controls > Dashboard > Update Dashboard Crawl Report, which checks Google Drive for Screaming Frog files related to the client to gather crawl overview files. (00:57:55).
- Client Report Publishing Shaun Anderson informed the SEO Agency owner that with the SC (Search Console) checks and crawl checks (Screaming Frog) reports ready, the client report could be published via Hobo Admin, which will automatically update the client’s report going forward. The agency owner confirmed he had no Screaming Frog crawl set up yet, and Shaun pointed out that’s fine, the Dashboard will see this, and mark the checks as complete so the Dashboard reporter can continue. Shaun Anderson mentioned that the initial publishing of a Client Report (from the top menu Hobo Admin > Client Report > Publish Client Report) takes about two minutes and that the client report link would appear in the Clients tab row 45 (00:59:29). Upon successfully running and publishing his first Client Report the SEO Agency owner noted that the client report is essentially a duplicate of what they were already viewing in the master Hobo SEO Dashboard sheet (01:01:32).
- Manual Audit and Automated Checks Shaun Anderson explained that the priorities in the client report are based on Screaming Frog data and demonstrated a manual audit process by checking for server errors (01:01:32). Shaun Anderson showed how checking off items in the audit updates the “reviewed” tab and impacts the hourly amount, emphasizing that this helps clients understand the scope of work (01:02:53). The SEO Agency owner learned that while some checks are manual, many are automated once Screaming Frog data is loaded, and the system collates it into priorities and reviewed tabs (01:03:54).
- Client Report Automation and Overwriting Shaun Anderson clarified that the system automatically updates the client report without overwriting manual work, except for the Screaming Frog data, which is automatically updated (01:05:02). Shaun Anderson highlighted that the report is white-label and the aim is to automate as much as possible, with future integration of AI like Gemini to handle tasks, though currently, the focus is on the robot aspect for continuous client report updates and basic data collection (01:06:27). The SEO Agency owner noted that while most processes are automated, some manual review is still needed (01:05:02).
- Keyword and URL Management Shaun Anderson confirmed that the system defaults to grabbing the top keywords, but the SEO Agency owner can change targeted keywords in the clients tab (01:09:04). Shaun Anderson explained how to adjust keyword and URL bank iterations, suggesting an increase to 10 for a site with a couple hundred pages to pull more keywords (01:20:07). Shaun Anderson assured the SEO Agency owner that the setup for pulling keywords can be fully automated, and the data is stored in Google Sheets, allowing for a history of keywords and domain trends over time (01:22:38).
- Winners and Losers Report & Core Updates Shaun Anderson guided the SEO Agency owner on activating the winners and losers report, explaining that it compares traffic data from two weeks before and after a core Google update (01:28:27). the SEO Agency owner expressed concern that the latest available data was from March, which they felt was too old to be useful for current client discussions (01:29:50). Shaun Anderson addressed this by stating that the June core update (July update) would be integrated within the next day or two, making the report more current (01:30:55).
- Beta Menu and Future Enhancements Shaun Anderson revealed a code word for activating a beta menu, which displays upcoming tools in Beta like Hobo Socialbot and the rank tracker (00:59:29) (01:37:06). Shaun Anderson also noted that the system will automatically clean reports, and they plan to provide documentation on how to reset winners and losers reports to allow for up-to-date reports (01:33:49). Shaun Anderson promised to follow up with the SEO Agency owner regarding the updated winners and losers reports and any bugs or questions (01:24:01) (01:35:06).
Suggested next steps
- Shaun Anderson will send the SEO Agency owner the meeting notes and a link to the Hobo robot timeline after this call. (Completed)
- Shaun Anderson will share prompts to generate EAT reports and create an FAQ section on the site for issues like the reporter sticking.
- Shaun Anderson will update the June core update today or tomorrow and ping the SEO Agency owner within 24-48 hours to inform him when the winners and losers reports are updated to the latest Google core update.
- Shaun Anderson will send the SEO Agency owner a note when the beta tools can be accessed.