The global SaaS industry is set to be worth $908.21 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 18.7%, meaning if you want to stand out, you’re going to be facing some tough competition. You might’ve dabbled in SEO strategy, but the time has come for you to get real about it. If you want to make your mark on this rapidly expanding industry, you need to not only be implementing a SaaS SEO strategy, but perfecting it.
Why is SEO important for SaaS companies?
Basic SEO only takes 3 months to deliver an ROI, and a more advanced SEO campaign takes only 4-6 months to generate leads. There’s a reason we keep talking about SEO; it’s because it works, and it’s more than worth the investment. Only 0.44% of users get to the second page of search results, meaning ignoring SEO can be fatal for brand visibility.
Whilst SEO is definitely changing as technologies like AI and machine learning advance, one thing it isn’t becoming is obsolete. In fact, these changes mean it’s all the more important to keep up with SaaS SEO best practices to stay at the forefront of new updates and features that can give your content a considerable boost.
That’s why we’ve put together your SaaS SEO checklist for 2024.
Define SaaS SEO goals
When setting an SEO strategy, you need to start right at the beginning. Why are you doing this, what are you looking to get out of it? Are you a start-up looking to make a name for yourself, or an enterprise looking to grow your audience?
Asking yourself these questions lays the groundwork for everything that comes next. You can set a clear roadmap for your SEO strategy, with key KPIs and goals to measure success. It’s important to be as specific as possible with your goals, as most other SaaS companies will have the same big-picture targets. If you want to increase leads, how many? If you want to improve engagement, which metric are you using to measure this?
The more specific you can get, the more likely you are to see results rather than approaching your SEO strategy with an ambiguous idea of what you would like to see from it.
Don’t skip keyword research
Keyword research is an essential part of SaaS SEO. By narrowing down the key terms and phrases you would like to target, you can understand your audience better, and ensure your content is targeting exactly who you need it to.
The first step is to define the personas you’re targeting. Determine the challenges and interests they have and might be searching for. Then, with the help of handy keyword research tools such as Semrush or Moz, you can find the keywords and phrases you should be using to target your various personas.
It’s also wise to consider where your target personas are sitting in the sales funnel. Someone right at the top might need some more general, introductory content, with keyword phrases such as ‘what is xxx’ or ‘benefits of xxx’. Someone further down the funnel will need more tailored and specific keywords that can answer any lingering questions about your SaaS offering. Whilst initially it might seem like this will only hurt your traffic volume, using long-tail keywords can actually attract a much more targeted and high-quality audience. If your keywords are too short or generic, you might see a lot of clicks but a lack of results like leads.
Optimize your existing content
Now you have your keywords, it’s time to put them to work. You likely already have a wealth of useful content, and whilst you should create new content with SEO in mind, don’t let your old content go to waste. Across your landing pages, blogs, and other important web pages, you should be utilising relevant keywords to drive more traffic. SEO optimisation of an existing title can increase page clicks by more than 437%, so it’s more than worth revisiting pages already live on your site.
Your target keyword/s for a webpage should be included in the URL, title, subtitles, meta description, and opening content. It’s important not to turn to keyword stuffing, though; ensure that it is included naturally without going crazy and including keywords in every sentence. If a very specific phrase is showing up a ridiculous number of times, not only will a reader realise what’s going on, but so will Google and your rankings will take a hit.
Other key SEO optimization tactics are using external and internal links with keyword-rich anchor texts and using keywords in alt texts for any images included as well.
Conduct a technical SEO audit
It might seem like your SEO optimization is done, but there’s more than what is simply on the webpage. And whilst it might be tempting to ignore technical SEO, it is crucial to boosting your organic traffic. But what is it?
Technical SEO relates to how search engines crawl and index your webpages. On-page SEO is like shining up the outside of a car, buffing out the scratches, and making sure it’s eye-catching to everyone it drives past. Technical SEO is like popping the hood and making sure the car can actually drive in the first place.
The first place to start is by conducting a technical SEO audit. This will identify potential issues such as duplicate content, loading times, indexation, canonical tags, and other technical elements that can impact your SERP rankings. From here, you can work out what changes need to be made to improve not only the user experience but ensure that your content is visible and ranking.
Start your SaaS SEO journey
Don’t let your SaaS organisation fall to the wayside due to poor SEO strategy. Take your place at the forefront of this burgeoning industry with SEO that makes sure you get the eyes and engagement you need.
Want to know how we can help? Reach out at hello@isolinecomms.com
