Choosing A SaaS SEO Agency

B2B SaaS SEO🕑 Reading Time: 9 Minutes

What’s better than driving people who have a specific need or pain to a place where they can solve it?

Nothing. Well, not in marketing anyways. Vacations, love, chocolate — that stuff is pretty good, but we digress.

When it comes to achieving scalable growth though, search rankings for the right phrases consistently bring ready to act visitors.

Interrupt people all day with ads and outreach, but it will never stack up to people finding you on their own terms. And if turn off the ad spend or stop the outreach – you’re now getting nothing.

We’re focused on SaaS companies here at Insivia and obviously we are huge fans of SEO as a tactic. Whether you are a long sales cycle enterprise software or a transactional B2B SaaS app, SEO is one of the best marketing investments you can make to scale.

Customers are looking, so be found.

SEO is a journey, but once on the path it can consistently produce.

You can see one of our SaaS clients multi-year journey with SEO from essentially zero key phrases in the top 100 results to over 7,400.

While still volatile in that you can win and lose phrases in a day, it is almost impossible to lose it all in a second like when turning off paid advertising or stopping outreach.

Is SEO and optimization to rank a specialized process for SaaS and software companies?

Yes & no. Isn’t that a great non-answer answer.

Search optimization works the same for everyone, but there are three areas where SaaS expertise helps…

Understanding the SaaS Buyer
Knowing how your target audience thinks is paramount to success. What key phrases you choose, how landing pages are designed and the actions you present are all driven by deep audience understanding.
i.e. Does platform or system work better for driving converting traffic? Does a product screenshot or a customer testimonial work better for influencing scrolling?
SaaS Content
Content is a centerpiece of solid search optimization. SaaS companies actually have a wide range of special types of content they can leverage in the right ways.
See some more examples below.
SaaS links & PR
References to your brand through links and mentions is still an indicator of relevancy. Knowing the sites that you can get profiles on, sites that accept post guest content and unique tactics for software companies can make SEO move fast.

One of the core factors of Search Optimization is content and SaaS companies have some advantages.

Here are a few areas where SaaS companies can produce great fodder for search engines.

New Feature Announcements

Creating new content, sharing on social, receiving inbound links and creating focused landing pages can be built off of new feature announcements. When done right, they can really help drive rank for specific pains or solution searches. New feature announcements are great for SaaS companies to leverage on a consistent basis.

Documentation & APIs

For SaaS companies looking to rank in search engines, publishing thorough documentation and information on APIs can produce targeted traffic and inbound links.

Software Directories

Links for popular sites provide benefits not just for direct traffic but also support for search. For newer companies, it’s about creating awareness for search engines and visitors to share. For more established companies, directories are a lot about reviews and validation.

In-App Content Promotion

Great content, distributed to existing audiences, shared, and then linked to is the cycle of building links and ranking. SaaS companies can promote their content in their app and encourage users of the platform to share with their audiences.

Various Media

Software has the opportunity to be visual which means the creation of unique types of content from explainer videos, recorded demos, webinars, product tours and so much more.

All in all, it is beneficial for the person you are working with on SEO to understand SaaS.

Startup SaaS SEO Results Achieved In A 4 Month Quickstart

Startup SaaS companies are often starting at zero and our approach is to start search rank building before the product even launches.

“Beta-period SEO” is how early-stage SaaS companies get a fast start out of the gate. The goal is to get a site up and produce content before the product launches so that upon launch you have consistent traffic.

What factors should you look at when evaluating a company for your SaaS SEO?

Rapport does matter, but metrics and experience trump everything.

We do generally talk about rapport because the journey to create great content, update a website, build backlinks and all of the tactics involved hinges on people being able to work really well together.

The next important factor to explore should be tangible results. Looking at the ranking of the company itself for its target phrases is a good test because if they can’t do it for themselves, they never will for you.

Your Agency Should Understand SaaS Buying Intent

Buyers of software have certain intent when they search and often are looking for options that they compare and often take quick action. SaaS sites include freemium, free trials, or demos, and it is key that they find the right content based on their intent.

Your Agency Should Have Proven Experience With B2B SaaS SEO

B2B SaaS is growing faster and faster. Search rank is still one of the top ways B2B software companies acquire users and leads. Business buyers often use search more than consumers to find a solution to their needs.

Your Agency Should Show Great SaaS Content

Content is one of the most important strategies in growing search rankings. While every software is different, it is important to have expertise with buyers looking for a digital product.

Your Agency Should Understand PLG: Freemium & Trials

Turn-key software drives users to take action right away into free trials or freemium accounts. SEO for SaaS should take into consideration the journey users will take when building landing pages.

Your Agency Should Have Worked On Enterprise Lead Generation

For larger software companies looking to generate leads for sales teams, SEO takes a different path in the types of phrases and journeys you design for visitors to convert.

Your Agency Should Thrive In Agile Environments

SaaS companies work in sprints and often can pivot quickly in their acquisition strategies or target audiences. Our approach is built to work with companies that require an agile mindset.

What results should I expect from a SaaS SEO engagement?

Sales. Period. Is there anything else to say?

It is primarily leads and sales, but yes there is more to say.

Our end outcome is an SQL ( whether in the form of a demo or trial ) and SEO is about driving visitors to our site which leaves multiple steps in the funnel to bridge that gap.

To drive visitors that become SQLs though, we need to determine and test the phrases that have higher likelihood or proof of conversion.

This is where measuring where you rank for selected terms becomes much more important than your overall visibility in Google or other search engines.

Interactive Guide To SEO Ranking Factors

Explore hundreds of search rank factors and save them to create a powerful checklist for SEO optimization.

Want to get a leg up on your SEO game? Explore our list of hundreds of SEO factors, pin them, and share them with your team.

What tactics should my SEO agency execute for me?

At the end of the day, SEO is about Quality and Relevancy which we have explored in detail.

To improve the quality and relevancy of your site, there are typically onsite factors ( things that are on your website ) and off-site factors ( on other websites ) that contribute.

On-Site SEO to improve relevancy, technical optimization, and keyword focus.

Improve your websites foundational search optimization by improving title tags, metadata, speed, coding, landing pages, cross-linking, and a number of other important techniques.

Off-Site SEO to build authority and inbound awareness.

Build authority and relevancy by creating off-site SEO signals such as inbound links, guest blogging, and social media. Authority is a key component to higher ranks.

From audits and strategy to on-site and off-site optimization we provide end-to-end search optimization.

SEO Audits

Search auditing is often the first step in identifying gaps and opportunties to build a game plan for higher rankings.

Analyze current SEO rankings, competitors rankings, technical factors, inbound links and more.

Keyword Research

Find the SEO phrases that indicator visitors ready to buy and are best for results.

We look at volume, competitiveness and buying intent to make sure that we are focused on the right search phrases for you to grow.

Content Marketing

SaaS companies need focused, valuable content that targets the right phrases, gains shares, and builds inbound links.

Content marketing and SEO landing pages are tactics we use to target rankings for specific phrases.

Technical Optimization

Set the foundation for search engines that signal a quality experience for visitors.

Search engines want their searchers to have a fast and quality experience after clicking on a result, so your technical SEO has to be on point.

Link Building

Inbound links to your SaaS website signify relevance and quality.

We help software sites build valuable links that are not spammy and result in increased direct traffic and search rankings.

SEO Distribution

Don’t just create great content for SEO, get it in front of the right people.

Shared content is the first step in developing inbound links and direct traffic. Leverage email and social to build your SEO presence.

Execute an integrated strategy to driving ideal, conversion-ready customers to your site.