B2B SaaS vendors that frequently appear at the top of Google’s search results often use SEO. Their top ranking helps them generate traffic from buyers likely to buy their products.
SEO also makes it easier for SaaS companies to convert searchers into leads and customers.
However, you cannot just make your company magically appear at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to invest in smart SEO strategies such as:
- Creating articles that are focused on your customers’ problems but with a suitable solution
- Optimizing your website to rank for most of the search terms relevant to your business
- Earning backlinks that will outrank your competitors’ websites
A typical SEO strategy for a B2B SaaS company
Ultimately, your SEO goal is to make it easy for buyers to find you on Google. Formulating the most appropriate SEO strategy is critical if you want a steady supply of leads and customers.
Here’s how your SEO plan should work:
- Identify your customer’s problem or the particular JTBD (job-to-be-done) by your product.
- Build a keyword strategy that will make use of your buyer’s query and lead to your sales funnel.
- Find the product keywords that you can use on your homepage and other relevant pages.
- Create content that compares similar products and makes yours stand out from the competition.
- Create a content map for your website.
- Use technical SEO and optimize your on-page elements.
- Build links to improve your search rankings.
Why invest in SEO?
There are other strategies and platforms for boosting SaaS business, such as:
- Chatbots
- Emails
- Podcasts
Remember, SEO is an investment that will only produce substantial results after a few months.
So what makes SEO such a good strategy?
Here are three benefits:
- A well-executed SEO strategy can make your SaaS business grow exponentially.
- You can reduce your dependency on paid marketing or ads.
- SEO can boost your marketing efforts; for example, by attracting email subscribers or retargeting former leads and customers.
Integrate your SEO strategy into the marketing funnel
You cannot expect to devise a successful SaaS SEO strategy by simply using a few random keywords.
So, where do you start? How about the customer’s journey?
This journey is a series of steps that a potential buyer will take from the research process to the point when they sign up for your software product.
Examine every stage of your funnel and see where it will fit in with your SEO strategy.
1. Top funnel: Attracting prospective customers
Let us say a customer has a problem and they are searching for an appropriate solution. For example, they are looking for a way that will allow their clients to fast-track their payments.
What is the first thing they do? In all likelihood, they will visit Google and type in “how to get paid quickly”.
The top funnel is the opening where you engage a potential customer at the start of their journey.
Using SEO, you can attract leads and customers by creating content that targets particular queries, such as:
- How to increase online sales
- How to monitor business expenses
- Expand the business
You can also use blogs as a means of educating prospects about your products. Begin by explaining how users can solve their problems or have their needs met.
Next, introduce the solution to their problem, namely the software you are selling.
At this stage, it is unlikely that visitors will immediately convert into customers. Nevertheless, the immediate goal is to create a pool of prospective buyers and leads.
With this in mind, you should create content that is:
- Geared for prospects who are aware of their problems
- Helpful to readers who are looking for ways to solve their problems
- Educational in terms of a specific solution or product feature
- Capable of grabbing the attention of prospects (with tools such as newsletters)
In addition, your strategy should include a way of sending users into the middle funnel.
2. Middle funnel: The prospect is evaluating the product through research
This is the stage where the customer will be aware that there is a possible solution to their problem.
However, they have yet to begin their research into the specific product that will fulfill their requirements.
So, your goal at this middle stage is to:
- Attract traffic from users looking for a solution
- Introduce your SaaS products to them
- Educate your buyers on how the software can be used and integrated into their system
At this stage, the buyer is still researching the product and the particular features they require. However, they will now be more confident of the solution based on the information obtained from their research.
For example, their search queries are probably similar to these:
- The best CRM for 2020
- Invoice processing tool
Bottom funnel: How to differentiate your product from the competition
Your prospective buyers are now aware of the products that will meet their needs. This is now your chance to make your product stand out from the competition.
Here are your goals at this final stage:
- Attract traffic from users who are aware of a product such as yours
- Highlight the essential features of your product and why it is better than the competition
Onsite optimization
You will need to focus on keyword research and implement onsite SEO practices. This means optimizing your website elements, including the sales funnel pages. By doing this, your site can rank higher and obtain more customer traffic from Google. These tools can help with onsite SEO:
- Google Search Console
- Google Trends
- Accuranker – Google
- The Reddit Keyword
- Research Tool
Keyword research can boost your SaaS SEO strategy
For your website to rank highly on search engines, you need a set of relevant keywords. You should identify these search terms and create content and pages on your site optimized for each query.
1. Problem-solution keywords: Top funnel
Begin your keyword research for this funnel page by recognizing the problems that your buyers are experiencing and how they can lead them to your products.
2. Solution-product keywords: Middle funnel
In this SEO funnel, look for keywords that will identify the solution that potential buyers are searching for in a product.
These search terms can be classified into four types:
- Product type keywords
- Product feature keywords
- Industry solution keywords
- Implementation or integration of keywords
3. Product assessment and buying keywords: Bottom funnel
This is the final stage of your keyword research. Create a comparison page that will capture the attention of users who are evaluating specific product features or solutions.
Begin this process by compiling a list of your direct competitors and alternative solutions to your buyer’s problems.
Most of the keywords in the bottom funnel will fall into these categories:
- Brand A versus Brand B
- Direct competitors and possible alternatives
- How to choose the most suitable SaaS software
You can use keyword tools such as Ahrefs and SEMrush to help you with your research. This strategy can also help you determine your prospect’s decision-making process.
Conclusion
Successful SaaS companies obtain traffic from both paid ads and blogs. However, organic traffic is consistently the top source of leads and buyers for SaaS vendors.
This means that you need to implement SEO strategies that will attract buyers to your sites and into the funnel.
You should also devote some time to keyword research and use various SEO tools and methods. Think of SEO as an investment that can reap rewards exponentially by attracting constant and relevant traffic to your site.
