Documentation > White Label > Automated Email Reports

Setting Up White Label PDF Reports

Build your own customized White Label PDF Reports, including multiple sub-reports that highlight the data that is most important to you and your clients.

Rank Ranger White Label PDF reports are automatically sent weekly, monthly or quarterly to your account email address or an alternate address of your choosing.

Our Cover Pages and CSS Templates make it easy to create personalized cover pages and style reports. Similarly, Rank Ranger's PDF Templates provide a simple tool to create the same report for multiple customers without starting from scratch each time. Once you have a layout created that will work for other clients, with the click of a button you can create a new report using the same layout and then change only the necessary campaign-specific fields.

Refer to Account Logos for instructions on uploading Account and Campaign-Specific logos.

There are 3 options for creating the framework that determines the Automated Email PDF Report settings such as report name, language preferences, page size and orientation, cover page, email addresses and message, and schedule:

Create a new PDF Report in the White Label PDF Reports screen
Create from a previously saved PDF Template
Duplicate an existing PDF report

And there are 2 options for adding report, graph, and text content to a PDF Report:

Create new PDF Report Content in the White Label PDF Reports screen
Add a report or graph to an existing PDF Report while viewing that report or graph screen by clicking the gear icon and selecting Add to PDF Report

In order to ensure that PDF reports are generated with all data and graphs and that they'll be accepted by the recipient's email service, it is best practice to keep automated email PDF reports under 2 MB and with no more than 20 report pages ( up to 10 pages if graphs are included).

Video: Create a PDF Report

Account Level Default Settings

Standardize White Label PDF Report Email Settings

These global account level settings will be applied to all White Label PDF Reports that are created after these settings have been saved. The default settings are a time-saving convenience feature and can be changed in the Report Details screen of individual PDF Reports as needed.

To get started click on the Account Settings in the left vertical menu and select Default Tool Settings.

Click to expand the PDF Reports section and complete the fields with the text you want to be the default for the account.

Enter the From Email Address you want to be displayed as the sender of the message that the PDF report is attached.
In the From Name field, enter the name of the company or person you want to be displayed as the sender of the email message that the report is attached to.
Enter a BCC Email Address if you have someone who should receive a copy of the report without displaying it for the other recipients to see. This field could also be used to send yourself a report copy. (Note: Recipient email address(es) must be set in the individual White Label PDF Report Details screen).
Enter a generic email Subject to display in the subject line of the email message (our system default is "SEO Report"). If you want the date that the report is sent to be in the subject line, you can add %DATE% to it. For example:
Your Marketing Report for %DATE% will display in the recipient's subject line as Your Marketing Report for 04-30-2019 (if the report is sent on April 30th)
The email subject line is limited to a maximum of 78 characters including the date. Additional characters can wrap to a second line in the subject or may be truncated by the recipient mail server.
If you have a specific filename you want to be used for all of the reports you send out, enter that in the PDF Filename field (our system default is "SEO Report"). If you want the date that the report is sent to be part of the PDF Filename, you can add %DATE% in the PDF Filename field. For example:
monthly-seo-report-%DATE% will cause the file to be created and named as monthly-seo-report-04.30.2019.pdf (if the report is sent on April 30th). The report filename is limited to a maximum of 255 characters including the date.
Enter Personalized Mail Content if you have a standard message you want to be sent with all of your White Label PDF reports. If this field is left blank, the default Rank Ranger message will be sent. The WYSIWYG editor offers the freedom to format the font, add links and insert images that are hosted on the Internet.
Click the Save button.

Create New: PDF Report Details

	Navigate to White Label Reports: Click White Label in the left vertical navigation menu. Click PDF Reports. Click the + Create a Report button in the top right corner.
	The Report Settings screen displays.
	Complete the General Settings section: Report Name displays in the title of the report. Report Header (optional) is displayed at the top of your custom report and can be used for an introduction to, or description of, the data in the table immediately below. Maximum length 250 characters. User - by default the user is set to be for the logged-in user; however, the user field can be set as any existing user from the list. Select the desired report Language. Select the Language Direction (Left to Right for most languages, Right to Left for Middle Eastern). Select your preferred Date Format.
	Complete the PDF Settings section: Page Size: select from common paper sizes. Page Orientation: Portrait or Landscape. Cover Template: Select from Default templates of Clean, Blue, Green, or Red, or a Custom Template from your Cover Page Library (refer to Create White Label Report Cover Page). Data Font Size: This is the size of the text used in the data tables and graphs. If your report will be many columns wide, you may choose a smaller font size vs. a report with a few columns where you might want a larger font size. Show or Hide the Table of Contents in the PDF. Check or uncheck Automatic Page Breaks after each report. Checking this box will cause a page break after every report or graph that is added to the Report Content section. It is also possible to manually add Page Breaks where you prefer them to be in the PDF. CSS Template: if you have created a CSS template and you want to apply it to this PDF report, select it.
	Complete the Email Settings section: From Email: select from your account email address, sub-user email addresses, or our default no-reply address. From Name: Enter the name you want to be displayed as the email sender. Recipient(s): you can choose to have the report sent to the Primary Email address associated with your account or enter up to 4 alternate email addresses. Alternate email addresses must be separated by a semicolon ; (e.g., [email protected];[email protected]) BCC Email: (optional) enter up to 4 email addresses that you want to receive a copy of the report, but with the email address hidden from other recipients. Additional email addresses must be separated by a semicolon ; (e.g., [email protected];[email protected], etc.) Subject: enter the text you want to be displayed in the subject line of the email sent to your recipient(s). If you want the date that the report is sent to be in the subject line, you can add %DATE% to it. For example: Your Marketing Report for %DATE% will display in the recipient's subject line as Your Marketing Report for 04-30-2019 (if the report is sent on April 30, 2017) The email subject line is limited to a maximum of 78 characters including the date. Additional characters can wrap to a second line in the subject or may be truncated by the recipient mail server. PDF Filename: Enter a personalized file name or leave blank for the Rank Ranger default file name which is SEO Report.pdf). If you want the date that the report is sent to be part of the PDF Filename, you can add %DATE% to the filename. For example: monthly-seo-report-%DATE% will cause the file to be created and named as monthly-seo-report-04.30.2019.pdf (if the report is sent on April 30, 2017). The report filename is limited to a maximum of 255 characters including the date Don't Include PDF file check box option to be checked in case the PDF report feature is used for email content purposes only (without a need for a PDF file to be sent as an attachment to the client). Note: There is no need to use the checkbox in case the PDF Report has no content (report or text box) because empty files are automatically not included.
	Complete the Automated Scheduling section: Status: set the mail send function to Active or Paused (when a report is created from a layout template, this defaults to "Paused" status and must be changed after the Campaign settings are selected in the Report Content tab). Frequency: select Weekly, Monthly, or Quarterly Schedule Automated Reports: select the Day of the Week, Date of the Month, or Month of the Quarter; this is the date that your report will be sent to the selected email address and not the report data date (which is established in each individual report's settings). Time of Day: Send as soon as the report is ready (any time of day or night) Send after (select time and time zone) Click the Save button. IMPORTANT! If you make changes to the scheduling of the Monthly frequency report, the change will be effective in the next calendar month. So if the value for Month and Year is the same as the current date’s Month and Year then we skip and DO NOT send the report again until next month. It's a safeguard for cases like if you had a report scheduled for the 1st of the month and the report has already been sent on the 1st, and then on the 3rd you change the scheduling to be on the 5th of every month, our system will NOT send it on the 5th of the current month because we’re treating it as a duplicate for the same month and we assume that you don’t want to send it again, so the next time it will be sent is the 5th of the next calendar month. For testing purposes, you can duplicate a report and that will be treated as a fresh new report that doesn’t have the last sent value so it will send on the day you set it to for the current month, provided that day is tomorrow or later. Click Save
	Custom White Label PDF Report Content options: Add Report Add Text Box Add Page Break For more details go to Create New PDF Report Content
	Email Message Tab to an Email Message Select either Default Message - a generic message created in the PDF Default Setting of the account, or Personalized Message - with an option to edit email text. The Email Content Snippets are also available to use for a global text that can be updated in the White Label > Automated Email Reports > Email Content Snippet. All available Email Content Snippets will display at the bottom of this screen Learn more... Report Data Snippets are also available to use by clicking on Add Report Snippets. There are two Report Data Snippets currently available: Organic Search >Google My Business > Highlights: Read more about the Google My Business Highlights Report Number of Highlights - 1-3 highlights. The number of highlights depends on the number of positive (increased data) compared to the previous year/month(s) data Current Period - current year/month(s) highlight data Previous Period - previous year/month(s) highlight data First Highlight Metric - the first metric increase compared to the previous period First Highlight Change - the change between current and previous data of the metric Analytics > Overview > Traffic Summary: Read more about the Google Analytics Traffic Summary Report Sessions Users Page Views Bounce Rate

Create New: PDF Report Content

	Your Company or Client's Logo: Click the existing logo if you want to select a different logo that was previously added to your account. and use the slider to re-size the image for this report. If no logos have been added to your account, or if you want to add a new one, complete the remaining Report Content steps and then refer to Account Logos documentation. You will need to return to this screen to select the desired logo if more than one logo exists in your account.
	Custom White Label PDF Report Content options: Click Add Report to select a campaign, report, or graph type and type of data to include (selections include all the options available throughout the Rank Ranger interface for each report). Click Add Text Box to insert comments and/or a page break in your report. (Refer to Add Text Box section below for further instructions.) Click Add Page Break to insert a new page before or after a report or text section. (Note: if you have already checked the box in the Report Details screen to Add Automatic Page Breaks, this manual option will add another page break).
	Add Report & Select the Options: Click the Add Report button. Select Campaign from the list Select the desired Report and set the Report Options (refer to Rank Ranger Reporting Documentation for instructions specific to the report you've selected). In the example screenshot, we have chosen the Dashboard report, the options you see will be dependent on the report you select. Click the Add button. Repeat the Add Report and Report Options steps for all the reports you would like to include. IMPORTANT! When selecting the report date settings it is important to keep in mind that in Rank Ranger a week starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday. If you select "Show Report data ending on Sunday of last week" and the report is scheduled to send on Monday, August 31st, then the report data will end based on Sunday, August 23rd, and not August 30th. If you want your report to be sent out every Monday with data for Sunday (the day before), then you should select "Show Report data ending on Sunday of this week".
	Add Text Box (optional): Click the Add Text Box button. The Add Text Box function is similar to many WYSIWYG text editors, allowing you a variety of fonts, sizes, colors, and styles. You can use this space to include an explanation of the data in the table immediately below or above this text box. Self-hosted Images can be added to a Text Box. In order to insert the image as the PDF report is generated, the image file size must be small enough to load quickly. If your site is changed from HTTP to HTTPS (SSL) server, you will need to change these image URLs. After entering your content, click the Add button.
	Add Page Break (optional): Click the Add Page Break button to force a page break between reports. (Note: if you have already checked the box in the Report Details screen to Add Automatic Page Breaks, this manual option will add another page break). You can drag the Page Break element to a different position in the report as desired.
	Rank Ranger displays the Report Layout preview; from this view, you can do any of the following: Change the Logo Click the Add Report button and select another report to insert into the automated PDF report. Add Text Box to insert comments between report elements. Add Page Break between report elements. Make changes to any report element by clicking the Edit button beside any Report or Text box. Preview an individual report element. If the campaign is new or was added less than a month ago, no data will display if the report options are set to month (and the same is true for weekly reports if the campaign is not yet in the system for an entire week). Remove an individual report element. Drag and Drop to change the order of the report elements. Click the Report Details tab and change settings including sender or recipient email address, report name, size and orientation, cover template, etc.
	Set Campaign, Save as Template, Sent Test Email, Preview your Report: Set Campaign to set a campaign for the entire PDF Content, Reports, and email Snippets. To set the name of the report to be the same as a campaign Name, be sure to check the "Set Campaign Name as the Report Name" box in the "Set Campaign" popup window. Save the Template to create future reports that might only require a different name and campaign assignment. Send Test Email to preview the report: click the Send Test Email button, enter your email address and click the Send button. Hover over the Export button and select HTML Preview or PDF Preview. If you want the report based on today's data, be sure to check the Current Date box. If the campaign is new or was added less than a month ago, no data will display if the report options are set to month (and the same is true for weekly reports if the campaign is not yet in the system for an entire week).

Create a PDF Report Template

Rearrange Report Elements

Report elements can be dragged and dropped in place. If your browser gives you difficulty with this, you can use the arrows to the right of report elements (reports and text boxes) to move the element up or down to obtain the desired layout. In this example, a Text box was added after the first report, it contains a page break and some explanatory text and can easily be moved above the first report by hovering over the move icon of the section to be moved and dragged to the preferred location.

Save as Template

When your layout is exactly the way you want it, you can save it as a template for use in creating future reports that might only require a different name and campaign assignment. Simply click the Save as Template button, enter a name and click the Save button.

Edit PDF Template

After a PDF Template is created, you can move report elements and use them for future reports, but that change will not apply to existing PDF reports created using the template. You cannot change the settings within the elements of a PDF Template, if you need to do this then we recommend creating a new PDF Report and saving the layout as a new template.

To Edit an existing template, click the PDF Template Name or the wheel icon, move desired sections by clicking arrows down or up, and click the Save button.

Add Report or Graph to Existing PDF Report Content

Add to White Label PDF Reports

While viewing a report or graph, hover over the gear icon and select the option to Add to PDF Reports

Select the White Label PDF Report

Simply select the automated White Label Report you want to add the individual report to.

Select a PDF Report to add new report or graph

The PDF Report Content screen opens, providing you with an opportunity for further customization.

You may also create custom White Label Report Cover Pages to be included in your reports.

Bulk Update PDF Report Details

Bulk Update Settings
All of the settings that are found in the Report Details screen of a PDF report can be changed and applied in bulk to multiple PDF reports.

In this example, the Recipient Email address is being updated, however, you may check the box for any of the settings and then enter or select the new setting.

1. Select the PDF reports that you want changed and click the Bulk Update button.
2. Check the Recipient(s) box (you must check the box for the item you want changed)
3. Enter your new email address(s) (or other data as appropriate per item)
4. Click the Bulk Update button

Bulk Update PDF Reports Template

Report Details Update
If you want to apply a different PDF report template to than one PDF report then follow these steps (after creating the new template)

Select the individual reports and click the Bulk Update button
Check the box to the left of Template and select the new template in the list
Warning: doing this will delete any report content that was in the old PDF settings
Make any other changes you want to the settings and click the Bulk Update button
Select the Campaign
If a campaign was not previously set for some or all of the reports in the updated PDF, then you'll be prompted to Set Campaign when you open the PDF report's settings.
Click the Bulk Update button.

PDF Reports Missing Data

White Label PDF reports are generated based on two variables, automated scheduling settings and individual report content settings. If a PDF report is received with data missing, please check the following settings:

Automated Scheduling Settings
Confirm that the Frequency and Day of Week are not in conflict with the individual report's date rules.

Report Date Rules
In the scenario of the weekly report scheduled to be sent weekly on Friday, these Date rules settings are in conflict:
Show Report data of the last 2 weeks ending on Saturday of this week. This will result in a report generating on Friday with no rank data for this week because Saturday hasn't yet happened at that time.

Causes of Blank Reports
Check the PDF Report Content screen and confirm that a Campaign has been set for the specific report. If not set hover over the Report element and click the wheel icon to set up the campaign.

Set the Campaign

Third Party Data Reports Blank
In the case of third party data reports and graphs (e.g., website analytics, webmaster tools, social analytics, and a variety of other integrations), if the PDF report displays a title with no data below it or a faded report or graph image, that means the integration is not valid. It may not have been authorized, or authorization may have been revoked (by the account owner), or expired. Confirm correct connection in the corresponding Campaign Connect screens. You may need to renew or create a new authorized connection (learn more...)

If you have confirmed all of the above settings and are still experiencing an issue, please contact [email protected] with the account username, PDF report name, and a description of the issue you have experienced.

PDF Report Delivery Issue

Rank Ranger's automated White Label PDF Reports are sent out on a schedule based on the settings you select, however, it is possible that your message could be blocked by your recipient or their email service provider.

Possible Reasons for Clients Not Receiving Reports:

Spam Detected

Too many emails have been sent with the same subject or content.
Too many messages sent too often from the same email address.

Blocked by Client Email Hosting Provider

Client has manually blocked your email address; ask them to whitelist the email address your reports are sent from (i.e. the one selected in the PDF report settings) and *@sendgrid.net

Junk Mailbox

Client did receive your message, but it was routed by their email program to the Junk Mail folder; ask them to check and if they find it in their junk folder, they should use their software's option to route all future messages from that email address to their inbox.

What you can do...

To reduce the chances of your messages being flagged as spam:

Use the Personalized Mail Content option (refer to the Email Settings section of White Label PDF Reports documentation)
Enter a Personalized Subject line when you set up each report
Schedule automated PDF reports to go to the same recipient no more than once a week, and add multiple reports and graphs to one White Label PDF Report rather than sending multiple emails each period.
Add a different "from" email address (e.g., an address at your domain) in the White Label section of your Account Localization Settings, but refrain from using generic addresses that begin with admin@, mail@, info@, etc.

Whitehat Email Service
Rank Ranger's automated PDF reports utilize SendGrid's email delivery platform because of their whitehat sender reputation and excellent service quality. SendGrid is the world's largest Email Infrastructure as a Service provider, delivering billions of emails every month for small, mid-sized, and large businesses.

Display Notes Report in PDF Reports

There are 3 types of Notes that can be displayed in PDF Reports: Single Date and Date Range display text in a PDF based on the report date setting. Fixed notes can be used to display a message for a single campaign, specific multiple campaigns or account-wide continuously and the content can be changed as needed (in the Campaigns > Toolkit > Notes screen).

Notes displayed in a PDF Report

Add Note to PDF Report
After creating a Note (in the Campaigns > Toolkit > Notes screen), click the Add Report button in a PDF report that you want notes to display in and scroll down to Custom Suite > Reports and select Notes Report

Display Settings
Select the options that you want displayed:

Custom Report Title (optional): enter text that you want displayed at the top of the Notes list
Show Colors: if selected, then a color border will display to the left of the note
Show Dates: if dates are associated with the note and you want that displayed, then enable this option
Show Users: if you want the name of the person who created the note to be displayed, then enable this option

Filters
Select the Type of Note(s) you want displayed in the dashboard

Single Date displays text for a single date on a graph hover or in reports that support this feature
Date Range displays text across a date range on a graph or in reports that support this feature
Fixed can be used to display a message for a single campaign, specific multiple campaigns or account-wide continuously. This note type is not limited to specific date(s), it can be set to display in white label marketing dashboards, client dashboards and PDF reports, and then the content can be changed as needed, in the Campaigns > Toolkit > Notes screen.

Campaigns
Select the Campaign(s) for which Notes were created that you want displayed in this PDF Report (e.g., if this is a corporate report that summarizes 10 branches of the company, you might select all of the campaigns that are associated with it).

Users
Select the Users who created Notes that you want displayed in this report

Click the Add button and drag the Notes section to the position you want them display in the PDF.

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Setting Up White Label PDF Reports

Video: Create a PDF Report

Account Level Default Settings

Create New: PDF Report Details

Navigate to White Label Reports:

The Report Settings screen displays.

Complete the General Settings section:

Complete the PDF Settings section:

Complete the Email Settings section:

Complete the Automated Scheduling section:

Custom White Label PDF Report Content options:

Email Message

Create New: PDF Report Content

Your Company or Client's Logo:

Custom White Label PDF Report Content options:

Add Report & Select the Options:

Add Text Box (optional):

Add Page Break (optional):

Rank Ranger displays the Report Layout preview; from this view, you can do any of the following:

Set Campaign, Save as Template, Sent Test Email, Preview your Report: