Why SaaS Companies Need SEO To Have Sustainable Growth

Many SaaS companies employ performance marketing like PPC, affiliate marketing, and social ads to get many new customers. However, one disadvantage is that if you reduce the budget for paid advertising, traffic peters out or stops altogether. To keep business coming in and increase your Google ranking, you need a strong SaaS SEO strategy. Search engine optimization can drive consistent traffic and steady organic growth for SaaS businesses. 

Optimization puts you in front of several types of customers. First, you have people searching for your software who want to learn more about the company. Then, there are people searching for information on software like yours. They might not know who you are, but they are looking for solutions that you could provide. Some people want to learn more about software like yours and are not yet ready to buy, while there are people ready to buy and are actively looking for deals. Finally, some browsers only consume content; they are not looking for new software but think that they might need it in the future.

Whatever type of customers you want to reach, you need to develop an SEO strategy for your SaaS business. Here are reasons why you should invest in a strategy for search.

SEO Facilitates Exponential Growth For Website Traffic

If you do content-led SEO correctly, you can drive growth month after month. It is not confined to large companies either. This increase in leads and traffic happens to businesses of all sizes, as long as they have a solid SEO strategy. Like SEO for other types of businesses, SaaS SEO involves creating valuable content with relevant keywords and promoting this article to gain links. The traffic and data obtained from this help refine succeeding strategies.

SEO Can Help To Reduce Your Cost-Per-Acquisition

When you acquire new leads through paid social or PPC ads, you have to pay for each click. When you have more clicks, you pay higher. This system typically results in the cost-per-acquisition steadily increasing over time since you reach fewer and fewer users likely to convert. The best-case scenario is having a steady CPA, but you eventually reach a point when you can no longer reduce a campaign's cost.

Although you need ongoing investment for search engine optimization, the amount you spend does not increase with every click, unlike paid media. If you use both PPC and SEO, your cost-per-acquisition could remain flat if your on-page optimization efforts are good enough.

SEO Allows For Cross-Channel Marketing

Any SaaS optimization strategy involves investment in content creation. Great content is shareable across platforms, and you can drive traffic through social media, email, or even paid social media ads by repurposing your SEO content. You can condense long-form content like in-depth essays, detailed guides or reports, and promote your website by posting these on social media. When you know where your target audience likes staying online, you can convert even when people are outside your website. Keep in mind that no matter where you target your audience, you have to use the right keywords at the right time. Make sure you use top-of-funnel phrases at the start of the customer journey, middle-funnel phrases for when they’re deciding whether or not to purchase your product, and so on.

What Are The Top-Of-Funnel Keywords for SaaS?

For software-as-service providers, the customer's journey starts with keywords they use to find a technological problem. There is a high chance that they aren't familiar with the SaaS provider that can address their problem. For instance, a project manager wants to implement a faster way of delivering outputs in his team. He would likely search for "efficient project management," "workflow optimization," "online collaboration," and other similar keywords.

These keywords make up most of the searches and clicks, but they have the lowest conversion rates. However, these keywords improve the SEO for your website. They drive awareness to your business and make people aware of a software company. Target these queries with helpful blog content that incorporates the phrase while presenting the service as a viable option. Empathy is essential when coming up with titles or topics for this kind of content.

What Are The Middle-Of-Funnel Keywords For SaaS?

These phrases are for those aware that there are solutions for their problem but don't know their options. People in this part of the customer journey have not explored their choices extensively and are searching for keywords that will help them narrow things down. Phrases like "project management software," "online productivity tools," and "software for managing projects" help point them to your business.

Middle-funnel prospects intend to purchase or subscribe, but they aren't looking to do so just yet. This stage is where they determine what choices they have, so visibility is critical. Product or Features landing pages are the ones that rank for queries like this. SEO articles that walk them through how to use a product are also helpful. 

What Are The Bottom-Of-Funnel Keywords For SaaS?

A prospect is said to be at the bottom of the funnel if they are sold on the benefits of a particular software and are making their final evaluations. They need to determine which provider can address their needs. These searchers know about your product, the features your product has, and media coverage of it. They are also probably aware of what is out there about your direct competitors.

Keywords like "[your software] pricing," "[your software] reviews," and "[your software] integrations" are typical at this stage. They might also compare you and your direct competitors by looking up "[your brand name] vs. [your competitor's brand name]." Produce content that matches these keywords. For example, you can come up with a list of apps or websites that integrate with your software and why it matters for project managers. If you have the data, you can also write a side-by-side comparison showing why you’re the better option compared to other brands in your industry.

Conclusion

If you want to increase your Google ranking, incorporating SEO in your marketing strategy should be one of your priorities. The sooner you put an optimization plan in place, the sooner you will see your cost-per-acquisition decrease. For SaaS companies, SEO is arguably more critical than for other types of businesses. Besides persuading prospects that you are the best choice, you often have to inform them what your software can do for them.

Figure out your SaaS SEO strategy when you partner with Ranked. We provide data-driven, affordable, and high-quality SEO solutions designed to help you build a robust online presence. Get in touch with us or activate your account today!