SEO is one of the least-understood forms of marketing. Although Google is one of the most comprehensive and trusted information platforms on the internet, few companies invest in holistic SEO. SaaS companies often stand to gain the most from SEO, as the key decisionmakers at companies who are looking to implement software products often already know what they are looking for. Because of this, SaaS companies need to work very hard to appear in the search results for target keywords, particularly against larger SaaS competitors that have dedicated content marketing departments. With that in mind, here is what SaaS companies need to keep in mind when looking to implement an SEO SaaS strategy.
Create Better and Niche Content
It’s very unlikely that you are going to be able to compete with larger SaaS companies. For example, if you are a marketing automation software, it is unlikely that you will be able to compete directly with the content marketing department of Hubspot or ActiveCampaign. Instead, you should focus on the keywords you can beat them on, and create better content for these more niche keywords. This particularly works if you focus on longtail keywords and try not to compete directly for the type of software solution you are providing.
By doing this, you’ll open up creative freedom for your content marketing team to come up with something that actually is helpful to users who are searching for those keywords. Furthermore, many decision-makers at target businesses are likely to be looking for smaller SaaS companies to work with. It helps a lot if you can consult with and customize your SaaS solution for a specific type of business, as this will help you win a lot of business that may have otherwise gone to a larger SaaS competitor.
Build the Right Amount of Links
While SEO may be the least-understood form of marketing, link building is even less well-understood. Simply put, link building involves the somewhat tedious process of getting other websites to link to pages on your website. There are many ways to do this, but for SaaS companies, they need to take a data-driven approach and make sure that the types of links they are getting fit their content. This means that SaaS companies should focus more on editorial link building and less on placements in directories, link exchanges, or older pieces of content. Because SaaS companies need to be providing comprehensive problem-solving content, an editorial link is a perfect way to showcase to Google and other search engines how their company is positioned to solve particular problems for particular types of businesses online.
SaaS businesses may be reluctant to invest in a holistic SEO SaaS strategy, but creating this strategy will save them a lot in the long run when it comes to implementing SEO best practices on their website, with their content, and with their links. When engaging in SEO, a SaaS company needs to keep their greater goal in mind of gaining a slice of a larger SaaS company’s businesses, and using niched content and an editorial link building strategy will help to better realize these goals.
