Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is undoubtedly a key business model in modern IT, whether you sell your product in the B2B or B2C market. However, what separates ordinary SaaS companies from successful ones is not the product.
On the contrary, it is marketing strategies that come to the fore. You need to find ways to increase interest in your brand and offerings.
Our answer to these needs? SEO for SaaS.
Here's everything you need to know about SEO strategies for SaaS and, more importantly, why SEO in general should be considered when developing SaaS websites and how to approach it. Read on!
What is SEO for SaaS?
That's a good question to start our little guide with. From the outside, SEO for SaaS is not much different from traditional SEO in other industries.
If you want to increase your visibility on Google and other search engines, you need to build links, create content that ranks well, avoid technical SEO issues - and you'll enjoy increasing organic traffic as a result.
However, the devil is in the details.
As a SaaS business owner, you are probably well aware of how complicated this market is. Even if you're selling a seemingly unique SaaS product, you're still competing with other companies in surrounding niches.
The same goes for your SEO efforts for SaaS. Your content can't just be good, it must go beyond what your actual and potential competitors can achieve. The links you use for SaaS branding must not come from any website. They must be acquired from sites actually related to the SaaS industry - or the one for which you are preparing your offering.
In other words, effective SEO for SaaS means a robust SEO strategy designed to address the very specific and precise needs of your SaaS brand.
Why SEO is important for SaaS companies
At this point you may be wondering why SEO is important for SaaS companies. After all, SEO is all about raising search engine positions, right?
In the traditional sense, yes. But modern SEO campaigns for SaaS are about much more than just ranking on Google.
Take a look at these two case studies.
- 689,135 more visitors for FinTech SaaS site
- SaaS website traffic growth of 141.68% due to US expansion
They illustrate the importance of SEO in SaaS. The message is quite simple: without good visibility, your SaaS website does not reach its full potential, and with it your business goals.
What makes SEO for SaaS different?
In addition to more specific business and marketing goals, SEO for SaaS is unique in two additional respects: what opportunities content provides and what you need to know when creating links.
SEO content for SaaS: complexity and opportunities.
Content for SaaS is difficult to create. Very often they require detailed knowledge and in-depth understanding, not only of the product or service you are offering, but also of the use cases that potential customers may have in mind.
SaaS companies also have many more options when it comes to content types than other industries. You probably have at least some of these on your SaaS site:
- Changelogs - lists of updates to your product or service.
- API documentation and knowledge bases - a point of interest for developers and programmers, a unique audience for SaaS.
- Use cases - tell the story of how your SaaS product can help solve real-world problems.
- Technical explanations - explain how your tools work and what problems they solve, another great opportunity for your SaaS content marketing strategy.
- User reviews - you can also use user-generated content in your content strategy - they're great proof of your credibility!
This content naturally occurs with many SaaS products. Use SEO to expand their visibility and build your authority! After all, the E-E-A-T principles apply not only to people, but also to brands.
Link building for SaaS: the crux of an effective SEO strategy for SaaS
Your digital authority and brand image are at the heart of an effective SEO strategy for SaaS. To create credible PR for Google and your visitors, you need quality backlinks.
However, you can't optimize your SaaS website with links from random sites!
Of course, you can argue that a lifestyle blog can publish an article talking about modern payments and link it to your payment gateway service - this will help your SaaS website a bit, but it may turn against you in the future.
Instead link building strategy for your SaaS company should be much more focused.
For example, think about directories or review sites. A link from such a site will be much more natural than a link from a site focusing on topics only slightly related to your niche, such as the aforementioned lifestyle blog.
The link building opportunities for your SaaS company don't end here. You can also get backlinks from:
- Press releases announcing new features, products or services.
- Trade publications and specialized digital magazines.
- Webinars and digital conferences.
- Partnerships and collaborations with other SaaS companies.
- User-generated content platforms such as Quora, Reddit and Medium.
- Specialized forums and discussion boards where your target audience hangs out.
Implementing such a link-oriented SEO strategy for your SaaS website may seem time-consuming. However, investing in SEO for SaaS is a long-term strategy with measurable results.
Trust us - as an SEO agency that has helped build many SaaS brands, we know it's worth the effort.
SEO for SaaS vs. marketing funnel
By creating content, managing on-page SEO, and developing off-page SEO through link building, you grow your SaaS business in terms of sales.
We already have an in-depth article on the stages of the sales funnel, so there's no point in repeating the basics here. Instead, let's talk about how SEO affects the marketing funnel, specifically for SaaS companies.
Depending on whether you operate in a B2C or B2B SaaS model, the stages in your sales funnel may differ, but your SEO efforts apply to all of them:
Awareness
Engaging and original content attracts leads at the beginning of the funnel. The right SEO tactics can improve organic visibility and attract relevant traffic to your SaaS site.
It's worth noting that the awareness stage of your content plan should focus on more than just potential customers. Building awareness of your SaaS brand among others in the industry (who are unlikely to buy from you) can also be valuable. They may share your content, invite you to a joint webinar or mention your brand online. This builds your authority and attracts new visitors to your site.
Consider
SEO-optimized product descriptions, customer reviews and case studies can highlight the unique value proposition of your SaaS product or service. It's obvious: SEO is key here. It's where it helps increase the lead generation potential of your SaaS website and moves website visitors down the sales funnel.
Decision
This is where on-page optimization comes into play. The potential customer is already on your site, so you need to make sure everything is running smoothly. From internal links to site performance, everything counts. Your on-page SEO metrics - such as rejection rates - depend on it.
Maintenance
Successful SEO strategies for SaaS make your website a source of valuable information, a place where users can find solutions to their problems. The right content strategy keeps your customers engaged and reassures them of your SaaS brand's expertise and authority. This is the path to customer loyalty and brand promotion.
Our four-step SEO strategy for SaaS.
Now that you know the importance of SEO for SaaS websites, you're probably wondering what it takes to create a solid SEO strategy for SaaS.
Given how complicated the process is, we could say that SEO for SaaS companies can be quite different for each of them - and there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Instead, we decided to break down our SEO strategy for SaaS into four steps. Here's a comprehensive guide to help your SaaS business grow through highly targeted organic traffic.
Step 1: Research and planning
It may sound trivial, but the fact that research is the foundation of a good strategy is especially important when it comes to SEO for SaaS.
The more you know about your site and competitors, the better. This research is part of our SEO discovery package.
When we customize an SEO strategy for you, we need to know what needs to be done on your site - what content you should develop or improve, what keywords are best for your products or services, whether there are any technical SEO issues that need to be fixed, and so on....
This is also where your competitors come into play. If they hold the position you're aiming for, we need to know how they achieved it and why.
This data allows us to create an SEO strategy for your SaaS. And when we're done, we can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Implementation
Then we move on to that interesting part of the SEO campaign. At this stage, we deal with the initial strategy and make changes.
Here you publish content created for SEO, nurture relationships with other websites (thus gaining links!) and fix any technical issues affecting on-page SEO.
Easier said than done. But implementing SEO for SaaS can be smooth and doable if you have a good SEO agency or an experienced SEO expert on your team. And remember, SEO is a long-term strategy. You can't rush it. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was your online presence.
Step 3: Monitoring and management
Once your SEO strategies are implemented, it's time to carefully analyze and evaluate the impact of the implemented measures.
In the context of SEO, this means analyzing your website's KPIs, tracking how selected keywords are performing, checking analytics and reporting on what's working and what's not.
This detailed report, along with numerous smaller reports produced during the second step, gives you a clear picture of what is working and what is not. This leads to the next step.
Step 4: Review and updates
The final step in our four-step process is to act on what we learned from step three.
Did the initial strategy fail to deliver the expected results? This is a sign that something is not working and needs fixing.
On the other hand, if it worked, you want to investigate what specifically worked. Can it be replicated in another area of your SEO project? Maybe that's a sign that you should push it even further.
In this way, the fourth stage dovetails with the first, creating a continuous loop of revision-update-implementation-monitoring that we maintain throughout our cooperation.
Continuous development: the PDCA cycle
It is the PDCA cycle, or Plan-Do-Check-Act.(PDCA), which we discussed earlier.
As part of your long-term strategy for SaaS growth, SEO is in constant development. Your needs change, the market changes, Google's algorithm changes. This constant volatility requires regular SEO updates and audits, whether you're a SaaS startup or a company with years of experience.
Our role in on-page SEO transformations, off-page optimization and keyword decisions becomes an ongoing process of planning, implementing, monitoring, revising and updating your SEO strategy.
Summary
It's a small understatement to say that SEO is important for SaaS companies.
SEO for SaaS is the long-term process of making your SaaS brand more visible to potential customers. Whether you're a SaaS startup or have an established SaaS business, a successful SEO strategy must be part of your overall plan. At the end of the day, the game is about increasing visibility, attracting relevant traffic and converting that traffic into paying customers.
