Seven Tips to Help You Get SEO Right for Your SaaS Business

SEO is a big deal for any website. The visibility of your website on search engines directly impacts the number of visitors you get. More visitors or traffic means more leads and potential customers. This can quickly increase your customer base and overall business valuation. 

With that in mind, it’s easy to see why so many businesses invest time and money into optimizing their site for search engines. With so many SEO tips on the internet, however, knowing where to begin when creating an SEO strategy for your SaaS business can be tricky. There’s just too much noise out there. 

So how do you create an effective SaaS SEO strategy that addresses the needs of your specific business? Here are seven essential tips:

Look for Informational Keywords

The search intent of a search query that includes informational keywords is usually to find more information about a particular topic. Informational keywords contain words like example, list, tips, or ideas. For instance, if someone is searching for “SaaS SEO tips,” they are looking for information about how to optimize their website for search engines. 

These types of keywords also tend to have a high search volume. Therefore, they can help you get more leads into your marketing funnel.

One of the best ways to use informational keywords is to create blog posts or other types of content that answer frequent queries about your product or service. This will help your online business rank for those keywords and help attract more potential customers.

You can create a list of keywords for your search campaigns using the Google Keyword Planner. This free tool can be used to find new keywords to target your ideal customers that are searching for information online.

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You can also create helpful resources such as guides, tutorials, or infographics to use informational keywords. These types of content can be beneficial for people who are researching a particular topic.

Moz, for instance, has created a comprehensive SEO guide for beginners. The book covers everything a user needs to know.

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Informational keywords are a great way to improve your SaaS SEO. They can also build trust and credibility with potential customers as they allow you to share your expertise.

Conduct an SEO Audit

An SEO audit is a necessary process to help improve your website’s visibility and organic traffic. The main goal of an SEO audit is to identify any areas of your website that need improvement and then create a plan to address those issues. It is a great white-hat SEO technique that ensures longer-lasting SEO results.

To carry out an SEO audit, you’ll need to collect data on your website’s current search engine visibility and organic search traffic. This data can be managed using various tools, such as Google Search Console, SEMrush, and Ahrefs. As seen in this screenshot, these tools provide an overview of your site’s health.

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Once you have this data, you can begin to analyze it and look for areas of improvement. There are two main aspects to consider when conducting an SEO audit: on-page and off-page factors.

• On-page SEO: On-page or on-site SEO refers to the SEO aspects of your website. It includes things like your website’s content, structure, and speed. Make sure your website’s content is relevant and keyword rich. URLs should be optimized for the target keyword as well. Also, ensure your website is easy to navigate and your internal links are optimized for a great user experience. 
• Off-page SEO: This refers to SEO campaigns that are outside your website. This includes things like inbound links from other sites and social media signals. To improve your off-page SEO, focus on building high-quality backlinks from reputable websites. Also, ensure you are active on social media and regularly share exciting and relevant content.

By focusing on both on-page and off-page factors, you can ensure you are doing everything possible to improve your SEO results.

Work on a Content Plan

A content plan is a strategy for creating and publishing content. It includes a calendar of topics, target audiences, and channels to be used. As a SaaS business, you need a content plan to ensure your messaging is on point, you are regularly publishing fresh content, and you are targeting the right audience with the right content.

To give you an idea, here is a content plan template created by Ahrefs:

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To create a content plan, start by brainstorming all the types of content your business could produce. This could include blog posts, articles, infographics, images, videos, etc.

Then, start organizing them by topic or type. Decide on a posting schedule and stick to it. This will help ensure your content is published regularly and that you’re not falling behind. You may also want to consider creating some evergreen content that can be published at any time.

You can use content management systems to help store your SaaS SEO content after working on the plan. 

By using a content plan, you can ensure your online business has a steady stream of fresh and engaging content. 

Focus on Optimizing Your Blog for SEO

Blogging is one of the popular content marketing strategies for software companies. Big SaaS brands like HubSpot and Mailchimp use blogs to connect with customers and promote their brands.

However, making your blog stand out in a crowded online space can be challenging. Luckily, you can do a few things to optimize your blog and improve your chances of being found online. 

Here are some tips:

• Ensure your content is keyword rich. Include relevant keywords in your titles, headings, and throughout your blog content. Software like SurferSEO and Clearscope is excellent for ensuring your blog posts are optimized with relevant keywords.
• Avoid keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing can turn off potential customers and may have your website penalized.
•  Link to other relevant blog posts and websites when possible. Use internal linking to link each post to other valuable content pieces within your site. You should also link to external sources where readers can find more information about some concepts discussed in your content.
•  Use images and videos to break up the text and make your posts more engaging.
• Use a conversational tone, storytelling, and plain language to ensure your audience can consume your content easily.
• Promote your blog on social media and other online channels. The more people who know about your blog, the more likely you will get organic traffic from search engines.

By following these simple tips, you can ensure that your SaaS business’s blog is optimized for SEO. This, in turn, will help you attract more site visitors and potentially convert them into customers.

Create a Content Distribution Strategy

A distribution strategy is your plan for getting your content out to the right people in the right way. It involves deciding what channels you’ll use to distribute your content. It may also cover how frequently the content will be distributed. For example, how many blog posts will be published per week? 

Lastly, a distribution plan shows the metrics or KPIs to be tracked.

One of the best ways to create a content distribution strategy is to compile a list of your top distribution channels and then map out how you will use each one. 

Take a look at the detailed Semrush example below. 

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Your top distribution strategies may include social media, email marketing, paid advertising, and PR. For each channel, you’ll need to create specific content and messaging that aligns with that channel’s audience and style. You can also repurpose content to align with the different goals and audiences found in each channel.

The publishing frequency will depend on the channel and your goals. For example, if you’re using social media to drive website traffic, you’ll want to publish more often than if you’re using it to build brand awareness. 

Generate Backlinks

Generating backlinks is one of the best ways to improve your website’s search engine ranking. Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your website. By obtaining do-follow backlinks from websites with high domain authority, you are telling Google that your site is an authority on the topic at hand. 

However, you must gain high-quality backlinks—and a substantial number of them—to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). So what are the most efficient methods for creating backlinks?

There are several ways to generate backlinks, including:

• Creating great content that people will want to share like authoritative articles, infographics, guides, videos, etc.
• Guest blogging on high-quality websites
• Submitting your website to directories and other online listings like AboutUs and Spoke.com
• Creating free tools that other sites will want to link to
• Publishing reputable studies with data and stats that other sites will want to quote

It is crucial to get backlinks from high-quality websites to improve your SEO. These backlinks will help improve your website’s ranking on Google and boost your visibility online. Hiring a SaaS SEO agency is a good option for businesses that cannot execute a link-building strategy in house.

Track Your SEO Results 

SEO is a critical piece of any SaaS business. By tracking your SEO results, you can ensure you are making the most of your marketing efforts and improving your website’s rank and value.

You can track the progress of your website’s search engine optimization through several SEO metrics:

• Search engine ranking: This is the position of your website in the search engine results pages (SERPs). You can track your ranking for specific keywords over time.
• Website Traffic: This is the number of visitors your website receives. Tracking this metric can show you the pieces of content generating the most traffic for your site.
• Conversions: This is the number of visitors who take action on your website, such as signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. You can track conversions by page and keyword.

Use SEO tools to track your SEO results. For example, you can use Google Analytics to track your website traffic, conversions, sessions, and traffic source, among other KPIs. From these metrics, you’ll identify areas that need improvement, allowing you to scale your business.

In Closing

Investing in SEO is vital for SaaS businesses that want to scale. SEO is the foundation for your site’s rise to the top of search engine results. 

Follow the tips discussed above to achieve optimal results. A content plan will guide you on how to churn out high-quality content. Conduct an SEO audit to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Create a guiding content distribution strategy. Next, optimize your blog, generate backlinks, and track your SEO results.

You can also hire an expert SEO company with an elaborate plan and execution in case you can’t do this in house. All the best!

Matt Diggity is a search engine optimization expert and the founder and CEO of Diggity Marketing, The Search Initiative, Authority Builders, and LeadSpring LLC. He is also the host of the Chiang Mai SEO Conference.