Why Search Traffic Is Still the Top Driver for Software Companies

Searchers have a need or a problem which means that traffic from SEO are visitors ready to convert.

Search traffic for software and SaaS companies is still one of the most coveted growth strategies for user acquisition because it flat out works.

Here is why SEO for SaaS works:

• Intent - searchers have intent to take action. To solve a problem, fix, learn, or do.
• Targeted - when you rank for the right terms, you get the right people.
• Frictionless - when targeted intent meets the right content and actions, the funnel more easily moves people through it.

These statistics show some of the trends in B2B SaaS user awareness:

• Almost half (48%) of customers uncover B2B tech brands they haven't heard of before through search engines.
• After watching an online advertisement, 71% of B2B tech customers ended up researching the product.
• 78% of all search referrals to B2B tech sites are from non-branded searches.

Without SEO, you must rely on interruptive marketing techniques like advertising and outreach. While these can be targeted, they often don't have the intent which makes the funnel have a lot more friction.

After all, there are thousands and thousands of software companies on the Internet - and all of them have websites. You're going head-to-head with these companies.

So you need SEO to work in your favor and beat your competition in Google rankings. The higher you are in Google results, the better the chance you have of scoring that prospective customer.

After all, does anyone really look past the first page of Google? Very rarely.

Advertising is an interruptive tactic - even search advertising is often interrupted even if it matches the searchers intent.

Ads are often showing before, in or around the content or media we really want.  On YouTube we watch an Ad before the video we want, on a news site the ads are around and in the content we want, and for search the ads come before the organic results we often trust more.

This is an approach that needs the to convince the person to go off their course and into a funnel.  We talked about Search traffic being frictionless and if we think about advertising, there is friction from the start which drags on the prospect through the process.

This doesn't mean that advertising can't work, it just is a point to how search has the opportunity to be superior when it comes to reducing friction and increasing conversion.

The caveat is that it can take time to get top rank in organic search whereas advertising gets you in front of people right away.

Gathering More Leads

SEO is one of the best ways to gather new leads for your software company. The more people who come to your website, the more questions you'll get through phone calls or emails. The best part: You'll have a continual wave of customers coming through without ever dropping a single penny on advertising.

No matter how successful of a software company you are, you still need SEO. There will never be a time in your career when you'll stop trying to better your SEO. Why? Because the markets change at the drop of a hat. Various different kinds of technology is developed and changed, so your competitors can easily drop in and steal your customers. Need an example? How about when Facebook overshadowed MySpace? Or when Google took Yahoo's spot.

Point blank, you need a constant flood of new customers to help you stay above all the rest - and the way to do this is through SEO.

Keep It Effective

In order for your SEO campaign to be successful, you need to come up with a list of keywords your prospects will use. That way, you can build your website around that list.

Let's say your company is based around email marketing software. Stick with the proper keywords - like email marketing - over the more generic choices, like "program" or just "software."

Offer more than one type of software? Then make sure to include all of the important keywords to cover each category.

Is It Fast Enough?

We've all been there - you clicked on a website, but it didn't load within the first three seconds of you arriving on it. So you go elsewhere. You aren't the only person who does this - your prospects do it, too.

In fact, one study found that 40% of people leave, and 80% of those people will not visit your website again if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. That's a lot of pressure.

This goes to show, a slow website isn't just damaging to future customers - it's also damaging to your company as a whole. Make sure your site is running quickly and isn't being bogged by any unnecessary features.

Make It Count

One of the best-kept secrets of all time: the power of the meta description. This is one of the first things people see when Google gives their results. This is your chance to sell yourself without actually speaking to the customer yet. Tackle it like you would any other strategy and use it as an opportunity to both attract and sell to possible customers.

Finally, what's the point of all that juicy SEO if you aren't going to track it? Once you've set your goals, it's time to invest in a solid web analytics software. This way, you can always keep a close eye on your ranking. If you want to get your feet wet without jumping all the way in yet, give Google Analytics, Google Search Console or Crazy Egg a try. They'll give you a clearer idea of how each customer is responding to your products, services and marketing campaigns.

SEO is your long-term solution to just about everything, from generating more leads and long-term traffic to better sales. If you want to bring sustainable traffic to your site, look no further than SEO. Not only does it deliver usable traffic - with most people having the intention of buying - but it can also add to your ROI over the years.

According to a study conducted by Covario, advertisers paid 23% more per click than they did the year before. All of this points to one thing - it's going to cost more to get new visitors via PPC - and it's not going away anytime soon.

With most companies, the higher the PPC cost, the lower the ROI. PPC is just not a long-term solution for getting useable traffic, because the cost per click is on a steady increase.

But with SEO, you'll find your ROI getting better over time. You'll see a bigger jump in your customers, leads and overall traffic. Needless to say, this marketing channel is a much better bang for your buck than PPC. Studies show that on the whole, SEO is around 12% of a marketing budget, and it generates around 14% of leads. However, if you take a look at PPC, you'll see a big difference in numbers. While it is only 8% of a marketing budget, it only generates 6% of leads, making it hardly worth the effort.

So if you're looking for short-term marketing goals, PPC might be the better choice for you. But if you're like most companies, and you're looking to get a long-term source of steady traffic, SEO is the way to go. That's why it's important to bring on a company who knows exactly what they are doing. You need a dedicated professional who has the skills, knowledge and experience to help you manage your SEO campaign.

Of course, these are just a few important factors to consider when it comes to search traffic and your company. The process can be tedious and lengthy - but you don't have to take stabs in the dark and hope you get it right the first time around. Our SEO professionals at Insivia will help you come up with the best SEO practices and implement them into your day-to-day routine.