Here are some of their arguments:
- SEO doesn’t drive immediate or faster results.
- Acquiring users directly from SEO content pieces isn't possible.
- Since SEO is a competitiveness channel, it's difficult for SaaS startups to achieve results
- Since startups usually haven't established Product-Market Fit (PMF), it may not be wise to invest in SEO yet.
- Google may take 6-12 months before it starts ranking a SaaS startup due to a lack of trust towards new startups.
Well, hold on to your hats because I'm about to turn the tables. I believe that the opposite is actually true.
Despite the increasingly saturated nature of SEO, you can still succeed with it as a SaaS startup.
The purpose of this post is to share my perspective on why I believe so, and provide my recommendations on what actions you can take to get desired results.
Here’s what you’ll learn from this post:
- Why SaaS startups should make SEO a priority
- Mistakes that SaaS startups make
- The things SaaS startups should focus on to get desired results
- ROI-driven SEO strategies for startups
Why SaaS Startups Should Make SEO a Priority
If your SaaS startup is yet to implement SEO strategies, it’s missing out on a lot of potential benefits.
Here’s why…
Millions of people searching for software solutions that your company offers but don’t know that your startup actually exists.
As such, they won't be able to explore your website and see what you offer.
Instead, they're actively looking online, particularly on Google, hoping to find a remedy for their problem.
If you’re not prioritizing SEO, you risk losing out on the billions of searches that take place daily on Google alone.
1. SEO is Affordable and Sustainable
As a startup, you want to avoid investing in a distribution channel that will cost you an exorbitant amount of money.
Let's assume that your current primary distribution channel is Facebook Ads. If the Cost Per Click (CPC) in your industry is approximately $3, and you want 1000 people to visit your website from Facebook (without taking action), you will need to spend roughly $3,000 for that Ads campaign.
In most cases, you'll need to run multiple campaigns to achieve desired results.
Moreover, if you want your target audience to keep visiting your website from Facebook, you have to keep running the same Ads. Once you stop running Ads, you won’t get website visitors from Facebook anymore.
However, with SEO, you don't have to keep running campaigns all the time.
Although SEO requires a larger initial investment than Facebook Ads, you will eventually realize that it's a more cost-effective approach in the long term.
2. SEO Results Compound Over Time
Many marketers believe that SEO isn't a wise investment for SaaS startups because it takes time to see results.
While this is partly true, our experience (which I'll discuss shortly) indicates that you can achieve reasonable results from SEO within the first few months of investing in it.
Even if we agree that SEO takes time to produce results, the advantage is that the outcomes gradually build up over time, regardless of the keyword you're targeting.
While it's reasonable for SaaS startups to focus on increasing revenue to sustain their operations or demonstrate to investors that they made a sound choice, it's still advisable to invest in SEO. The reason for this is that SEO investment benefits your business in the long term, particularly if you intend to be in business for an extended period.
Truth be told…
Even if you don’t rank for a particular keyword now, what is wrong with occupying the top spot in 12 months?
Here’s an example from Moz.
In 2010, Moz published its beginners’ guide to SEO. Here's is how their page looked like
Although the article was published about 7 years, it still drives traffic.
According to Ahrefs statistics, the page:
- Has acquired over 377,000 backlinks since 2010
- Ranks for over 20,000 organic keywords
- Costs about $238,000 monthly if they were to invest in PPC Ads
Take a moment…
Imagine if Moz had chosen not to invest in SEO simply because they were still a startup at that time.
Do you think they would have achieved the same level of success they enjoy today? The answer is no.
Despite the significant changes that have occurred in the SEO landscape over the past few years, it’s still a valuable investment for SaaS startups to prioritize.
3. SEO Traffic is Highly-qualified
Many popular platforms including Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube offer options for targeting specific groups of people.
With this, you can tailor your advertising to reach the audience you desire, also known as your target audience. For example, Twitter Ads allows you to focus on followers of a particular brand or individual.
Suppose you are running Twitter Ads to reach content marketers, you can use targeting options to aim your ads at followers of brands like "HubSpot," "Content Marketing Institute,""Jeff Bullas," and similar brands.
However, despite using these targeting options, it’s likely that a significant proportion of people who view your ads may not be interested in your product.
This is not the case for SEO.
Truth is…
If you create superior-quality content for your SaaS business that addresses the audience's needs and ranks high on Google, then you can expect to receive a steady flow of potential customers visiting your website on a regular basis.
Having understood the benefits of SEO for SaaS startups, it's time to learn about what not to do to ensure successful outcomes.
Mistakes That SaaS Startups Make
You’re probably wondering…
Is it possible to compete against well-funded companies that hire the best talents, and have high domain authority ?
Here's the truth…
Yes, even with little funding, startups can compete with their outspending competitors.
However, instead of startups focusing on effective SEO strategies, most of them chase high-volume keywords that are hard to rank because they are supersaturated.
Such start-ups usually strategy top of the tunnel (ToFu) keywords like:
- Keyword research
- SEO best practices
- Ecommerce SEO
- Link building
- SEO
If you’re prioritizing such keywords as a B2B SaaS startup, you may fail to achieve the desired results from SEO.
The reasons aren’t far-fetched…
The keyword phrase "ecommerce SEO" has already been claimed by several well-known websites, including Crazy Egg, Backlinko, Ahrefs, Neil Patel, and others, who have earned a top spot on the first page of search engine results.
According to Ahrefs, it’s incredibly challenging to achieve a high ranking for this particular keyword. They estimate that you would require a minimum of 224 external websites linking to your page to have a chance of securing a top spot on the first page of Google search results.
As such, targeting this specific keyword and surpassing the top-ranking websites on the search engine results page (SERP) would be a significant challenge. Even if achieved, it would likely require a considerable investment of time and resources over several months or even years.
Focusing on top-of-the-funnel keywords of this nature may result in driving a significant amount of traffic to your website, but this traffic may not convert into a profitable return on investment (ROI) for your business.
Imagine you are searching for information about "What is SEO?"
How likely is it that you’re looking to buy a SEO software for your company?
Most likely not.
You’re probably looking to learn something about SEO.
Established SaaS companies have the means to pursue competitive keywords, even if doing so doesn’t produce immediate revenue for them.
However, as a startup, it’s not advisable to prioritize targeting high-volume keywords.
While it is still possible to do so, focusing on such keywords at the outset of your SEO efforts may lead to frustration and the perception that SEO is ineffective. This, in turn, could lead to your competitors outpacing you in terms of user acquisition.
So, it’s important to develop a solid SEO strategy as a SaaS startup from the outset.
Let's dive into the details of how to do so.
The Things SaaS Startups Should Focus On to Get Desired Results
When devising an SEO strategy as a SaaS startup, it is crucial to concentrate on tactics that have a tangible impact on your business's bottom line.
The simple reason?
Given that your marketing budget is likely limited, it may be challenging to compete for high-volume, top-of-the-funnel keywords at the beginning of your SEO efforts.
That’s why I believe ROI-driven SEO is the best approach for SaaS startups.
Here are some reasons I recommend the RIO-driven SEO approach instead of the over-used approach of targeting high-volume keywords.
1. Ranks faster
It's true that the RIO-driven SEO approach can potentially rank faster than the traditional approach of targeting high-volume keywords.
RIO-driven approach focuses on targeting keywords that are likely to drive the most return on investment (ROI) for a business, rather than just going after the most popular keywords.
By targeting keywords that are more niche and specific, businesses can potentially rank higher and faster in search engine results pages (SERPs) since there is less competition for these keywords.
2. Quality traffic
RIO-driven SEO approach attracts higher quality traffic to a website.
The keywords targeted are more specific and targeted to a business's ideal customer rather than just targeting high-volume keywords that may attract a broad audience.
With targeted traffic, businesses can potentially increase their conversion rates, resulting in a higher ROI.
3. Less competition gurus
This strategy is often underestimated by competitors, particularly big SaaS companies.
This is primarily due to the fact that the keywords targeted in this approach typically have minimal or no search volume in most SEO tools.
However, this presents a significant opportunity that startups can capitalize on.
If you're wondering what some examples of ROI-driven SEO are, let's dive right into them.
ROI-driven SEO strategies for startups
These ROI-driven SEO strategies work for any SaaS startups.
1.Cases and Features SEO
Most prospects search for your SaaS use cases and features more than you can ever imagine.
By optimizing for these keywords, you stand a chance of meeting their immediate needs.
To get this right, ask yourself this question:
What are the specific use cases and features of our SaaS product?
Once you’ve identified them, create landing pages (most preferably) targeting them and optimize them for search engines.
If you check Veed’s website, you’ll see that they have several landing pages targeting the use cases and features that their SaaS solves.
Some examples include:
- Intro Maker
- Outro Maker
- Educational Video Maker
- Instagram Video Maker
- GIF Maker
- Video Resume Maker
- Lyric Video Maker
- Explainer Video Software
- Slideshow Video Maker
- TikTok Video Editor
As you can see, these keywords are ultra-specific, and anyone searching for them is highly qualified and most likely looking for a solution related to what Veed offers right now.
Put yourself in the shoes of someone searching Google for “Tiktok video editor.”
They most likely want to upload a video on Tiktok and need a software to edit it before doing so.
By going after this keyword, Veed can attract people ready to use a software like theirs now.
Right now, they occupy the number 1 position for this high-intent keyword.
Not only that, they’re targeting a keyword that would most likely lead to conversions and ROI for the business in the long run.
Veed has 121 use cases and feature pages on its website.
In total, they drive around 61,000 organic traffic visitors every month, according to Ahrefs.
2. Comparison [X Vs Y] Posts
Let me ask you a question.
The last time you were undecided about a product to buy (due to the many options available), what keywords did you search for on Google?
I’m pretty sure that you compared the different products before making a buying decision.
That’s exactly what your prospects do before becoming a user of your software.
This is where creating comparison posts comes in.
With this content type, you compare your SaaS to the top competitors in your niche. That way, you can show them the specific features of your software.
This strategy is two-fold.
One, you create comparison posts comparing your company and its top competitors.
Let’s say that I’m doing SEO for Sendfox. I’ll use Google to identify some comparison posts to go after.
A quick Google auto-suggest search shows the following:
As you can see, some keywords to go after include:
- Sendfox vs. Aweber
- Sendfox vs. Convertkit
- Sendfox vs. Mailchimp
- Sendfox vs. Sendinblue
- Sendfox vs. GetResponse
- Sendfox vs. Activecampaign
The second part of the strategy involves comparing two or three company competitors.
Still using the examples above, some keywords I’ll target include:
- Aweber vs. Mailchimp
- Convertkit vs. GetResponse
- Sendinblue vs. Aweber
- ActiveCampiagn vs. Mailerlite
- Mailchimp vs. Convertkit
- And so on.
Here is the most interesting part…
The competition for these keywords is non-existent in most cases.
This is because most growth-stage and matured SaaS brands don’t go after them.
3. Alternative Posts
As a SaaS startup, you should target and create alternative pages for your top competitors.
Let’s say you’re competing in the SEO industry; some alternatives page you could create include:
- Semrush alternatives
- Ahrefs alternatives
- Moz alternatives
- Spyfu alternatives
- Mangools alternatives
- And so on
Like the previous example, most established SaaS brands do not target keywords like these.
4. Best X JBTD Posts
If someone searches for the solution you offer but knows nothing about your software, what keywords will they type on Google?
Those keywords and phrases are your Jobs To Be Done.
Most users looking to sign up for a tool they can use would most likely include the prefix “best” before keywords like this.
This is where the “Best X JBTD pages” come in.
Friday App is an excellent example of a SaaS startup that excelled at using this strategy (before it closed down).
And by going after these keywords, they drove about 100,000 organic traffic visitors every month from Google.
As a remote work tool, here are some best X JBTD pages that they targeted and ranked high for:
- Best daily planner apps
- Best digital planners
- Best digital journals
- Best online to-do lists and apps
- Best online daily checklists
- Best organization apps
- Best productivity tools
- Best personal management tools
- Best website blockers
Take the keyword “Best Planner App” as an example.
Put yourself in the shoes of someone searching Google for it. What do you think is going on in their mind?
They’re looking for several best planner apps that they can use. Chances are that this person knows exactly what they’re looking for but has no idea of tools (software) they can use for that purpose.
Right now, Friday occupies the top spot on Google for this keyword which has a monthly global search volume of about 6,000, according to Ahrefs.
As you can see, best X JTBD SEO is a strategy you should leverage to rank high for high-quality keywords on Google.
There you have it…
4 ROI-driven SEO strategies you can focus on as a SaaS startup.
With these, you can rank faster, drive qualified traffic, acquire more users, and grow MRR.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re a SaaS startup, don’t sleep on SEO.
Truth is…
Most marketing experts say that you shouldn’t focus on SEO.
But as I’ve shown you in this post, that’s not true.
SEO is the best distribution channel out there. Here are some advantages of going all-in with it.
One, investment in SEO pays you dividends for months and years to come.
And if you’re in business for the long haul, you understand that this is important.
Two, the best form of traffic is from SEO.
If someone visits your website because you’re ranking on Google for a specific keyword, then they’ve pre-qualified themselves.
And if they have a burning pain point that keeps them awake at night, and you solve that with your content, you become their hero for life.
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