SEO content for SaaS is content written specifically to be extremely helpful to Users and as a result, extremely helpful for search engines. It is highly optimized written content that ranks in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) due to the way it addresses questions that Users put into Google and other search engines (keyword research and search volume).
Key Takeaways
- SEO content for SaaS is content written specifically for search engines and Users to both be extremely optimized for search engine crawlers and be extremely helpful (according to Google’s helpful content guidelines).
- SEO content can be somewhat costly, usually sitting in the $5,000 to $10,000 per month range to hire a professional team of copywriters.
- SEO content for SaaS can be difficult to produce since it requires domain expertise, knowledge of the industry, knowledge of the problem sets in that industry, and knowledge of the software solution itself.
SEO Content for SaaS (5 Strategies That Work)
SaaS companies have the most challenging type of content writing to produce. Aside from medical, there’s a steep learning curve when it comes to creating content that actually converts visitors.
For example, in most cases, a User or visitor is really going to sign up for a free trial when you can solve a nearby customer problem of theirs with the software (or SaaS tool) that’s getting promoted.
The three types of keywords that SaaS companies should be going after are:
- Top-of-funnel SEO content: This is awareness around the brand, a problem, or just simply increasing share of voice for a SaaS company. In more modern SEO, top-of-funnel content can be used to generate topical authority.
- Middle-of-funnel SEO content: Usually considered more of the consideration phase. This is when the User is either aware of a problem that they have, aware of a few software solutions in the market, or actively researching your SaaS product.
- Bottom-of-funnel SEO content: When a User is looking up your specific brand name and looking for insights or answers to their questions. For example, pricing, reviews, who the company is, and more.
For SaaS companies, our favorite strategies for writing SEO content and driving leads usually result in the following:
1. Software Lists and Reviews
Let’s say someone is searching for “best inventory management software” and this fits your ideal customer persona (ICP), creating a more comprehensive list than what’s on the market, while including your own software solution, can be a great way to target in-market buyers.
These software lists are extremely useful and can generate a significant amount of trial sign ups, MQLs, and SQLs when done correctly.
Related: SaaS SEO Guide
2. Tutorials
Tutorials can be really impactful and useful SaaS SEO content to produce. In short, it allows you to get in front of Users who have specific problem sets that are aligned to what your software solution is.
As a result, this gives you the best opportunity to showcase what problems the SaaS product solves. And try to surprise the visitor with a resource that solves their problem, too.
However, getting just any content writing service to try and produce these is usually where SaaS companies fail with SEO. You’ll need to hire an expert team that can produce truly helpful content for the visitor. If you’re looking, we’re a great agency to do this.
3. Free Resources
Let’s say you’re a SaaS company that’s targeting consumers. For example, one of our favorite companies to highlight is BeamJobs. They’re a SaaS product that helps people create resumes. Their highly SEO-friendly pages like this one are very effective in highlighting what the product can do for consumers.
In their case, they produced a number of free resume templates that people can use. Not only does this help generate organic search visitors, it aligns with highlighting what the software does.
Other common free resources usually include spreadsheet templates, form templates, boilerplate contracts, and much more.
4. Addressing Competitor Questions
In many cases, Users that know what problem they have, what solution they want, and don’t want—have additional questions. For example, let’s say someone is looking for a HubSpot alternative, they’ll probably put into Google, “HubSpot Alternatives.”
This would make a great article to produce because you know the visitor is in-market, you know that they have a fairly good understanding of their own problem, and are actively searching to purchase another solution.
If you can look up all your other competitors, think of the questions that Users might have, and create a variety of SEO-friendly resources around them, these are wonderful content marketing tactics to execute.
Related: B2B SaaS SEO Guide
5. Thought Leadership
While it’s not always the best SEO content to produce, usually just given how few people search for topics that are thought-leadership style, it’s still a great way to ensure that any recycled visitors that come into the property are seeing where you and the company stands.
Generally I like to say that people buy software from other people, not from companies. And especially in the early days of your SaaS product journey, you may need to be a slightly louder voice than you’d expect. Sharing your vision and perspectives on the space that you’re solving problems in.
In many ways, this is like creating news content for SEO. Speaking about the latest challenges, changes, and needs in the industry you’re building in.
Related: On-page SEO Factors
Questions About SEO Content for SaaS
Common questions that we see about SEO content for SaaS companies:
1. How much does it cost to get SEO content produced for a SaaS company?
The truth is that getting written-content produced from a team of copywriters that are professional can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 per month. While, on the other hand, you can hire just about anyone from services ranging from Fiverr to UpWork. And those services can be as little as $10 per article.
What I would recommend is that you seriously consider your overarching SEO strategy, consider how impactful it could be to long-term growth of your business, and consider the implications of hiring low-cost writers to represent your business.
2. Why is writing SEO content for SaaS companies so challenging?
Just like medical content, writers need to comprehend a great deal about “the space.” They need to be able to write about the industry, the software, and how to solve customer problems through the writing itself. As a result, copywriters may actually have to go through a pretty tough learning curve to educate themselves before they can truly write and produce content that has “an edge.” Meaning, it’s unique, insightful, and helps visitors.
Related: Building a Topical Authority Map
3. Does SEO content work for SaaS companies?
Absolutely. Our favorite case study is still BeamJobs. A smaller SaaS company started by two brothers who have scaled it to beyond 500,000 visitors per month, only using organic search. Their entire product-market fit and “traction” is all coming from organic search.
Paid advertising, while effective, will always eat into your CAC:LTV ratio (customer acquisition to lifetime value). Meaning, you’ll always be spending more to make more. Unless you have a strategy to be able to turn your average SaaS churn down to 0% and plan to turn off paid advertising, your marketing costs will always continue to rise along with your user base.
However, with SEO and organic search, this is the reverse. The more you invest in it, the longer the return timeframes are. While marketing costs can still rise until you reach that “pinnacle threshold” to where you can’t invest anymore, you’ll still be able to see your CAC:LTV ratio deviate (in a good way).
Other SaaS SEO Resources
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This article was fact-checked for the accuracy of the information it disclosed on:
November 9, 2024
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