The truth is that SEO is a completely optional channel for SaaS businesses. However, it can be an extremely effective marketing channel when performed correctly. Usually, though, SEO for SaaS is not performed to the caliber that’s required in order to see ROAS (return on advertising spend). Meaning that it can also be an incredibly ineffective channel if executed poorly. Like much of the world around us, execution truly matters.
Key Takeaways
- SEO and organic search is very important for mid-sized to mature SaaS businesses who have an omnichannel marketing strategy.
- Organic search can be a powerful way to attract customers and generate leads.
- Most software shoppers are going to go to Google, Bing, and other search engines to discover solutions to their pain points. Rather than going to social media, forums, or other places where a SaaS business may promote their product or service.
Importance of SEO for SaaS Businesses
The truth hurts marketers: SEO is an optional channel for SaaS. However, it’s a very strong channel and one that most SaaS businesses will eventually take up investing in. And here’s the reason why: in-market software buyers usually use Google to discover solutions to their pain points.
Is SEO important for SaaS businesses? Yes, I would say that it is. However, the true answer is, “it depends.”
Here is why SEO can be extremely effective for SaaS businesses:
1. Paid advertising can be limiting
If you’re using Instagram or Facebook and you have a SaaS business that’s made those advertisements effective—I give you a lot of kudos! You might have a software business that’s more consumer-like than one that’s more B2B. Thus, advertising on social media platforms has been effective. If that’s the case, you’re truly lucky!
Otherwise, when it comes to paid advertising, paid search is going to be one of the top places to go. That’s because software shoppers (your ideal customer persona or buyer persona) most likely go to Google to find something.
Whether it’s “inventory management software” or “oem partner portal” or another type of keyword that indicates software shopping—there’s a strong chance it happens through Google and not anywhere else.
If you’re only doing paid advertising in search, then you’re going to be limited by the people who click on paid advertising. However, many people avoid paid advertisements at times. And, paid advertising limits the type or style of conversation you can have with your prospect.
2. You can educate Users and solve real problems
One of the main failures of any SaaS SEO campaign is that they start from the angle of writing blog posts that are purely informative. Let’s clarify that real quick: when we refer to informative here, the idea is definitions or something where a User is going to get what they need from the blog post and then leave.
What you want to do is keep the Users engaged in the website or product. For example, if you can truly help to solve a problem through your content, then you can get the visitor more invested into discovering the SaaS product.
Enterprise and B2B SaaS products might need a different approach. However, if you have a fixed-price SaaS product with a free trial or demo-schedule format, then using tutorial-style blog posts is a great way to get out there.
Try to help the User to solve a problem they have. And then show how your SaaS solution assists in the process. This can really speak to a particular pain point and give the User a great excuse to try out your software.
Going the other way, where it’s merely informational content that the User needs to see, read, and then leave—won’t benefit you very much.
3. SaaS companies can reduce their CAC
While SEO has a very strong up-front investment cost, which is the inverse to paid advertising, the LTV of the marketing channel can be quite long. In fact, let’s say you spent $100,000 to complete a large-scale SEO campaign. And it deemed itself to be successful, meaning that you’re driving real leads and converting those leads into customers. Then SEO a channel will most likely continue to pay itself back to the business.
That’s because for as hard as it is to get SEO to work in the first place, it’s nearly just as hard for it to take an immediate nose dive. Usually, if the organic traffic starts to die out, it’ll do it slowly over time.
Think about the lifetime value of that marketing channel. Your initial SEO investment could pay itself back in 3-to-6-months and then keep paying for the next two to three years or longer.
By thinking in this way, SaaS companies can reduce their CAC (customer acquisition cost) quite substantially by offsetting paid advertising with organic search as a channel.
4. Help to acquire natural backlinks
While backlinks aren’t really a great way to measure SEO success any longer, acquiring references in other blogs, websites, and material can help to build your brand. And sometimes, those referrals from other websites can lead to actual customer acquisition.
If you have a SaaS business that’s getting referenced in another tutorial somewhere online, the chances of those readers going to your SaaS site and signing up is exponentially increased. It gives a type of “social trust signal” to the brand.
Common Questions
Questions and answers about the importance of SEO for SaaS:
How important is SEO for a SaaS business?
If you have a SaaS business that’s deploying omnichannel marketing, then SEO becomes a major function in the importance of your entire marketing blend. Each marketing channel will play off each other. From a prospect seeing the brand mentioned on a TV ad to seeing the brand appear in organic search. The frequent touch points for a prospect only encourages them to get closer to making an important conversion-based action (like requesting a demo or signing up for a trial).
Is SaaS SEO different from other forms of SEO?
Yes, it is. However, there are some similarities. The functions like performing on-page optimizations, creating content, and other asset-creation tasks are going to be very similar. Though, your strategy should be entirely unique to SaaS. That includes thinking about informational content that’s around product comparisons, tutorials, pain point solutioning, and much more. It’s important to attract visitors who are going to be in the buying funnel rather than visitors who only want information.
SaaS SEO should consider the ideal customer persona and needs of that ideal customer persona before putting together any type of SEO strategy.
Other SaaS SEO Resources
Written by Joshua Davis
VP of SEO
September 9, 2024
