5 Most Effective SEO Strategies For B2B Saas Companies
SEO is dead. That's one cliché statement that has been tossed around the internet for a long time.
With chatGPT gaining 100 million followers in 2 months and the increased interest in AI, B2B SaaS companies can only wonder if SEO strategies will retain their relevance in helping them gain visibility.
Should companies continue to invest heavily in SEO strategies, and why should they bother?
Here are some statistics to quell your doubts:
According to DemandGen, most B2B buyers consume between 3-7 pieces of content before reaching out to a salesperson.
The SEO industry is predicted to hit $217,846.0 million in 2030.
81% of B2B companies spend an average of $7,500 on SEO monthly.
Since SEO has existed for over 2 decades, it is simply ridiculous to assume it will suddenly fizzle out because of the hype surrounding new products.
However, despite the obvious relevance of SEO for B2B SaaS companies, you must learn how to attract another business to your product or service.
What is B2B SaaS SEO?
“SEO is a race, not a sprint."- Neil Patel.
B2B SaaS SEO covers all the efforts used to increase the traffic, ranking, and visibility of a SaaS company’s site.
It involves building a solid presence on search engines so your ideal customers can find you and interact with your brand once you’ve optimized for relevant phrases (keywords) within your niche.
SaaS SEO makes it easy for those searching for your software or product to find you easily. Sometimes, people only have to search for information similar to what your software offers to find your company as a solution.
Also, since other businesses consume content before making their decision about your software, the content on your blog can solidify their belief in the expertise of your company to meet their needs.
Why is SEO Important For B2B SaaS Companies?
Search engines serve as an information hub for most buyers, especially B2B buyers. Optimizing your site will only increase your chances of interacting with potential buyers through convincing strategies highlighting why they should trust your product or service among others in the SaaS niche.
Increases Credibility
Imagine you’re running a content marketing agency; if you find an SEO service from Semrush and another from Thruuu, which are you more likely to choose?
Your answer will tilt toward the company with more credibility and user trust. That’s the same effect you can create with your SaaS business.
Investing heavily in your company’s SEO shows that your company has in-depth knowledge of its niche, which gives your audience the impression that you’re capable of solving their problems.
When your brand educates, entertains, and engages potential customers, they consider your company an authority and a go-to solution to ease all their pains.
Cost-Effective
SEO also involves creating evergreen content that keeps driving traffic after many years. Unlike paid advertising which requires companies to pay through their teeth for every click, SaaS SEO helps you reduce the cost of gaining leads since it is now your company's owned media.
Once you create optimized content on your website, it continues to rank higher till it slices through SERPs and gets right in front of your target audience.
Most SEO strategies are a one-time investment that only requires a few reviews in the future so the content remains updated.
Impacts Business Growth
SEO for B2B SaaS companies has a compounding effect which can, in turn, impact business growth. As the content volume on your website begins to increase without affecting quality, your business can leverage this to gain more visibility, increase brand awareness and generate more revenue.
Boosts Conversion Rate
When a potential customer searches randomly for information on your website, there is a likelihood that they might subscribe to your product or service soon.
Committing to creating high-quality content on a user-friendly site gives your audience the impression that you’ll prioritize their needs which keeps them coming for more.
5 Most Effective SEO Strategies For B2B SaaS Companies
The SaaS niche is marked by cut-throat competition between brands, especially the ones providing simpler products or services.
For your company to stand out among the competition, there are certain undeniable strategies that you must implement to maximize the benefits fully that come with SEO for B2B SaaS brands.
1. Study Your Customer Persona
The first step to excelling as a B2B company is having an in-depth understanding of your customers. If you build your SEO efforts around an inaccurate assumption of your target audience, you’re set to fail.
Interacting with professionals and other businesses means taking an inventory of the challenges they’re experiencing and how to tailor your product to the right answer for them.
Who is your target audience?
What are their pain points?
What type of information do they need?
How are they searching for information?
Collecting data around these questions is a solid and effective SEO strategy that will serve as a foundation for all the further efforts you’ll be making to increase your site’s visibility.
2. Perform Detailed Keyword Research
Once you’ve identified your ideal audience and their behavioral patterns, the next step is to create a keyword research strategy that’ll make it easy for B2B buyers to find you on search queries.
Now, different types of keywords are dependent on the various funnel stages which your company can target to ensure potential customers are served at every point in their buyer journey.
Top of Funnel Keywords
These keywords are majorly for customers who might know nothing about your software since they’re simply looking for information online. Keywords at this stage of the funnel are meant to drive brand awareness.
However, they have a low conversion rate since searchers are this level are more concerned about the information than the product or service you’re offering.
Middle of Funnel Keywords
At this stage, prospects explore different solutions, study the features and prices, and decide which is best. The middle-of-funnel keywords help reach those still researching your niche without a solid intent to buy.
Bottom of Funnel Keywords
When a prospect is at this stage, they’re already entertaining the idea of making a purchase. They found the solutions they need and also discovered the different companies offering the solutions.
These keywords have a high conversion rate. When used properly, you can convince a prospect that your platform provides the best services and turn them into customers.
3. Invest In Engaging Content
Since just anyone can own a website in 2023, a lot of content is lacking in depth. To attract other business owners to your brand, you must use the keywords you’ve researched to create engaging content that’s difficult for them to find elsewhere.
Instead of finding the easy way out, invest in tactics showing your expertise to potential customers on topics within your niche.
Apart from the written content on your blog, you should invest in providing customers with detailed video tutorials that help them experience your service. You can consider podcasts to differentiate your company as your budget expands.
Diversifying your content will help your customers find their preferred way of consuming content on your site.
4. Pay Attention to Technical and On-Page SEO
Although content is the most important part of SEO, it is also essential for B2B SaaS companies to prioritize technical and On-Page SEO to ensure their efforts are fruitful.
Your website can only attain full functionality when it is free from technical issues, which keeps it in the good books of search engines like Google and your potential customers.
You need to check if your website is healthy and crawlable using audit tools by Semrush or Ahrehfs, depending on your preferences. These tools will help you get insights into the areas that require improvement on your site to boost performance.
5. Study Your Competitors
The goal behind studying your competitors is not for you to become a copycat. Instead, it will help you identify strategies that are already working so you can find ways to implement them better for your website.
However, B2B SaaS brands must retain their uniqueness and remain laser-focused on promoting their company’s vision while at this.
Find out the keywords your competitors are ranking for, and create more comprehensive content around these keywords that satisfies your audience’s search intent.
Conclusion
Name any giant you know in the B2B SaaS world, Hubspot, ClickUp, and Pipedrive, and you’ll see companies that have used SEO strategies to reach their ideal customers where they hang out the most.
Following these strategies and relying on SEO experts will help you find your place among giants. However, the journey to lasting success in SEO must be long, but with consistency, you can begin to unlock all the benefits it offers.