4 SEO Strategies for SaaS Brands

Ensure your SaaS SEO strategy is on par for long-term success with these expert tips and insights.

Here you’ll find: 

• What defines SaaS SEO 
• The importance of SEO for these companies
• Overcoming common SEO challenges
• Ways SaaS brands can improve their SEO

Are you familiar with companies like Google, Slack, Shopify, Zoom, and Square?

Then you’re familiar with the software-as-a-service industry, or SaaS. 

With an annual growth rate of 18%, SaaS brands have become one of the fastest-growing business models in recent years. In fact, experts project the global SaaS workload will reach 380 million in 2021. 

Because of how quickly technology changes, goals and strategies often evolve quickly in the SaaS world. That’s why having a strong SEO strategy as part of your digital marketing plan is essential to stand out from the competition. 

With SaaS being the competitive space that it is, an effective SEO strategy is imperative if you want to stand out. (Image via Unsplash)

What is SaaS SEO?

Of course, SEO is important for all businesses with an online presence. It helps your website and content have the best chance of ranking in a potential consumer’s organic search results. It’s also a cost-effective way to position your brand as a thought leader and grow your reach. 

The main goal of SaaS SEO is to increase your organic website traffic by securing high rankings for a list of relevant keywords people might use when searching for something that matches or is similar to what you offer. With SaaS being the competitive space that it is, an effective SEO strategy is imperative if you want to stand out. 

PPC, social ads, and affiliate marketing are often used by SaaS companies to rapidly grow their customer base, but it can sometimes result in higher acquisition costs. This is due to more competitors entering the market and targeting the same audience as your brand. A strong SaaS SEO strategy is a proven way to drive consistent traffic, which results in organic growth and lower cost-per-acquisitions (CPAs). 

The importance of SEO for SaaS companies

SaaS companies have seen a whopping 5,000% growth from 2011 to 2020, according to Scott Brinker’s Annual Martech 5000 analysis. With so many players vying for leads and attention across a variety of markets, it’s more important than ever to be sure that your SEO is where it needs to be. 

More than just helping your organic rankings, a strong SEO strategy can help you:

• Scale your growth: When you focus on producing helpful evergreen content, you can reap exponential growth that will benefit your brand for years to come.
• Reduce CPA: With paid media, such as all types of advertising or sponsorships, your CPA usually increases over time as most-likely to convert audiences are exhausted. While SEO requires ongoing investment, the costs rarely increase with each click. This results in reduced CPA over time.
• Bring customers from other marketing channels: The SaaS content created for SEO purposes can also be used as part of other marketing strategies such as social media and email campaigns. Work smarter, not harder, by repurposing this content for a multi-channel approach that helps drive and convert consumers. 

Overcoming a common SaaS SEO challenge

To paraphrase Spider-Man, with great opportunity comes great responsibility. Most SaaS companies have robust tools at their disposal (not to mention unparalleled access to their customers). But working so closely with a tech product isn’t without its challenges, from outages to data breaches and plenty of unexpected setbacks in between. 

The same goes for SEO. One common SEO challenge SaaS companies face is consistently creating and optimizing high-quality content. Creating better content that provides consumers with more benefits is key to outranking competitors in the SaaS world. 

Taking the time to create engaging blog posts and product content that positions you as the expert will differentiate your SaaS brand from others. Tips for creating strong SEO content include:

• Leveraging the right keywords
• Ensuring your pieces are formatted thoroughly and consistently
• Only publishing accurate, up-to-date content
• Including engaging images or videos with your posts
• Styling content in an easy-to-read way (with section headers, bulleted lists, and concise copy)
• Including internal links along with external links to relevant, credible sites

Need more assistance with a digital marketing strategy for your SaaS company? We can help.

The more time you spend on digital marketing for your SaaS brand, the more you realize things never stay stagnant for long. (Image via Unsplash)

5 SEO strategies for SaaS companies

1. Leverage knowledge centers

Along with an active blog schedule, it’s wise to consider having a knowledge center on your website. Similar to blogs, these centers often feature granular, in-depth content about your SaaS platforms functions and features. It’s a great place for tutorials, how-to videos, and screenshot-heavy walkthrough posts.

2. Promote your content

While creating engaging content is crucial, your posts shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. Prioritize backlinking, which helps improve search rankings through other websites and online sources. This tactic illustrates that others trust your brand. You should also have a consistent practice of content promotion, whether thorough paid channels, on social media, via your newsletter or all of the above.

3. Include tools on your website

Having linkable assets and helpful tools on your SaaS website is another proven way to build your linking strategy and improve SEO. Tools can include calculators, downloadable checklists, product comparisons, or other items that provide value to visitors and make sense for your niche. This is a tangible way to provide value to visitors while they actionably engage with your site.

4. Ensure mobile optimization

Mobile-friendly websites are no longer a “nice to have.” They’re a must. Having a responsive web design ensures your website will render and work properly, regardless of the device your customers use to view it. Not only that, but Google’s mobile-first indexing has made a mobile-optimized website a top factor for ranking in search results. 

The takeaway 

The more time you spend on digital marketing for your SaaS brand, the more you realize things never stay stagnant for long. Goals evolve, rules change, and new competitors crop up all the time.

Luckily, building a strong SEO foundation can set your brand up for long-term success, without the fear of having to scrap everything and start from scratch because of a new, unexpected industry development. 

The idea behind SaaS is to make it easier for people to solve problems. By maintaining your SaaS brand’s SEO, you can be sure that the solution you’re providing connects with as many members of your audience as possible.