Table of Contents

Introduction

When you sign up for a SaaS product, chances are that the first thing you do is search online to find solutions. If your initial search doesn’t return information relevant to your requirements, you will seek out alternatives. And there won’t be just one search query but multiple. There’s no doubt that people who are looking for SaaS products online are in search mode.

What is SaaS SEO?

Search engine optimization (SEO) for a SaaS company is all about improving the visibility of your site in search results. If you want to be found, you have to start optimizing your content and website for search engines as well as make use of other traffic-driving tactics. Some companies do this very well while others fail miserably.

As a SaaS business, you should focus on attracting such prospects by optimizing your site for better rankings and driving more qualified traffic to it. But apart from understanding the needs of your target audience, there are other important things that you need to take care of:

Before we get into actionable tips that will help you grow your SaaS business, let’s first look at some of the factors that influence the rankings of any website.

Factors that influence the rankings of any website

Keyword Intent

Keyword intent is all about how people plan to use their words. If they are looking for a product or service with the word “boots”, what would they use next? Probably they will look for a boot store so they can purchase a particular boot. So, keyword intent is about understanding what comes after the word you are optimizing for and how people plan to use it.

It is also important to understand that different search engines have their own criteria for measuring keyword intent. In Google, the keywords with more monthly searches are ranked higher than those with fewer.

In the case of Bing and Yahoo, the keywords that fit into user queries and answer their questions are ranked high along with the ones that have more search results.

There is a simple way to find out how people use their words – look for related terms in the Google Keyword Planner. You can use the keyword planner in the case of other search engines too.

Traffic

The next factor that influences the rankings is the number of visitors you get on your site. This means more traffic means better rankings, right? Wrong! With search algorithms becoming smarter day by day, it takes several factors into account to decide how relevant your content is for any given query.

If you are wondering how to increase traffic, there are many ways to do so. Start by coming up with original content that people will actually read for starters! It doesn’t have to be long but should be informative and actionable items. You can then share it on social sites like Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

This will further help you to reach relevant people who are interested in your products or services. You can then promote it using PPC or social media ads. This way, your content marketing efforts not only create awareness but also help you continue to attract more visitors via other channels like email marketing.

Linking Domain Authority

The site that you are trying to get a better ranking for has to have the authority to support the content you are going to add. This means, if your site doesn’t have good domain rankings and backlinks, it will be difficult for you to rank higher even if there is great content on your site or blog.

However, creating outreach strategies and campaigns should not be the first step. Instead, you must take care of the basics – optimize your site for better rankings and focus on creating better content before trying to drive external traffic to it.

Direct Traffic

Direct traffic refers to that from bookmarks, links within a site, or offline activities like print material or exhibitions. This type of traffic gives a positive boost to your site rankings and you should try and increase it.

The best way to do this is by providing such users a better experience when they visit your site for the first time. They would then bookmark it or add it to their favourites, which will ultimately influence your position in SERPs. You can also look for opportunities to enter offline directories for better rankings.

Search Engine Friendly Site Architecture

An informational SEO guide will show the working strategies that will help you in improving your websites. The way your website is structured plays a major role in how it ranks on search engines. The first thing you need to take care of is an XML sitemap that helps Google crawl and index your site easily. It also makes it easier for users to understand the structure of your site and plan their navigation accordingly.

Other things you can do are use more headings and subheadings (H1 and H2 tags) and focus on internal linking. Proper link building will also help you get a better domain authority for your blog posts, which will again impact your rankings positively.

Let’s now look at the actionable and practical tips that you can use to improve your rankings and drive traffic for your B2B SaaS company:

Tip 1: Analyze Competitor Sites

Your first step should be to analyze the sites of direct competitors. If you are offering, say CRM software for marketing agencies, look at their offerings closely. Are they getting more traffic than you? Why? Make a list of all features that you think are better than yours and work on adding them to your website.

Every once in a while, do an audit of the sites that are getting traffic from organic search channels for this particular keyword (e.g., CRM software). Check out their pages and see how they rank in the SERPs. If you find one that is not moving up or seems to be stuck, try out some link-building strategies to improve the ranking of your site.

It will also help if you take a look at their content strategy and how they are earning links naturally. Link-building strategies are discussed in the next tip.

Tip 2: Focus on Quality + Relevancy

If you want to improve your site rankings, start with creating better content. It should be easy for users to understand and address their pain points. The best way is by using a mix of user feedback and keyword research to create contents that are unique, informative, and highly relevant.

Include links within the post whenever possible not just because it will improve your ranking but also to keep users on your site for a longer period of time, which ultimately means better conversions.

A common mistake that most website owners make is ignoring Google Webmaster Tools and focusing only on Analytics. As an SEO-conscious company, you should also track the keywords that are driving traffic to your site (from all sources, not just Google). Not to mention that GWT will also help you understand how search engines see your site.

Internal linking helps users find their way through your website while driving more traffic for specific keywords. You can easily do this by creating a page that lists out the different services that your firm provides. You can also create links within the content itself, which is slightly more difficult but highly effective for better rankings.

The effective way to build links is by focusing on natural link-building strategies instead of using black hat SEO tactics. This not only creates a good impression with search engines. But also helps you get quality backlinks that boost brand image.

Tip 4: Optimize Your Site for Speed

The faster your website loads, the better your CTR will be. Whenever users visit your website and it takes too long to open the page, most of them will leave out of frustration. Page speed is ranked as a major ranking factor by Google. So improving site speed will also improve your site rankings over time.

Most browsers show loading icons or greyed-out text until the site is finished loading. This gives you the opportunity to grab their attention with other types of content or CTAs so they are encouraged to stay on your page and visit again.

Tip 5: Improve Social Media Marketing

Your social media profiles should be updated frequently and filled with relevant information about your brand and services. People should also know how to connect with you on social media. Avoid using your accounts for spamming other people’s posts or sharing every random post that comes your way.

Because SEO is becoming more competitive by the day, you should copy all of your competitors’ strategies and improve them further to stand out from the crowd. Start off by analyzing their posts and the types of audience they are targeting. Also, make sure that you are following the right people with similar interests.

In addition, use push notification tools such as the Truepush tool to send web push notifications to your prospects whenever you publish a new post.

Tip 6: Encourage User Engagement

To make sure that your site is SEO-friendly, you need to encourage user engagement from the start. A good way of doing this is by adding social sharing buttons at a place where users can see them easily. This will help you generate more traffic from social media, especially if you have a lot of active users.

Instead of using annoying popups or constantly asking for feedback, use strategies that are less disruptive to the user experience. For example, you can create content that will encourage your prospects to interact with you via comments or sharing on social media.

The best way to encourage user engagement is by creating content that appeals to the visitors’ emotions. Include images and videos whenever possible because they can boost CTR and increase your social media shares.

Tip 7: Create a Mobile-friendly Website

Even though most modern websites are already mobile-friendly, it’s still important to optimize your site so you get better rankings. This is because new pages and content will always eventually get indexed by Google and other search engines, but they need time to do this. Your page speed has a major impact on the rankings for mobile searches, so it’s important to speed up your site to increase CTR.

Start by using a responsive theme that fits all devices and screen sizes. Next, use Google’s Mobile-friendly Test tool to find out if any of your pages are not mobile-friendly. If they aren’t, you’ll need to identify the problem and fix it as soon as possible.

Tip 8: Use Schema Markup

Schema markup is an important ranking factor when it comes to Google searches, especially for businesses that use local SEO strategies. Since schema markup gives search engines more information about your site and its content, you can expect higher CTRs in the short term.

To implement schema markup, you’ll need to create specific tags using data attributes. You can use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper tool for this purpose. After creating your tags, verify them with Google before implementing them on your site.

Tip 9: Create New Content Regularly

Having great content is not enough. You should also make sure that it’s updated frequently because search engines crawl the web regularly to find new pages and content. If you want your rankings to improve, you need to create new content on a regular basis.

Ideally, this will keep users engaged and return more often, which can improve your site’s CTR and rankings in the long run. You should also avoid publishing content that will be irrelevant in a few weeks or months.

Tip 10: Carry out a technical SEO audit

Your site doesn’t have to be perfect for getting better rankings. However, you should still do a technical SEO audit to find out what’s working and what’s not. This way, you’ll know where your biggest problems are so you can fix them as soon as possible. Use tools such as Screaming Frog to scan all the pages on your site.

Look at the HTML code of each page and check for any errors or problems that can be fixed quickly. A non-optimized site will have a tough time ranking well in the long run, so you need to improve your SEO strategy as soon as possible.

Final Thoughts

SaaS companies rely heavily on their websites to generate leads and revenue. You can’t afford to lose traffic because of poor SEO practices. If your site is not performing well, follow the tips mentioned above. It’s better to start working on these strategies today than lose customers in the long run.