Search engine optimization (SEO) has become crucial for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies looking to acquire new users and grow revenue. With more businesses turning to Google to find solutions, ranking high in search results is key to driving qualified sales-qualified leads (SQLs) and monthly recurring revenue (MRR).
While an in-house team can manage basic SEO, complex SaaS SEO requires working with a specialized agency. The right SEO partner understands the SaaS industry, and buyer journeys, and has the technology to scale campaigns to drive SQL and MRR goals.
This guide will cover:
- Benefits of working with a dedicated SaaS SEO agency
- How to select an SEO agency to match your goals
- Building an effective data-driven SEO strategy
- Optimizing pages for lead generation and conversions
- Tracking keyword rankings, traffic, SQLs and revenue
Benefits of Choosing a SaaS-Focused SEO Agency
A SaaS SEO agency that focuses solely on complex B2B strategies will provide advantages over generalist agencies. Key benefits include:
Industry Expertise
SaaS is complex – personalized content, technical integrations and advanced lead gen tactics are all par the course. You need a SaaS-focused SEO partner.
This gets you granular SaaS expertise:
- Buyer psychology and journeys specific to SaaS evaluations
- Optimizing self-service trials and demos that compel
- Integrating chatbots to capture contacts
- Building account-based SEO targeting key prospects
Access to Advanced Strategies
With MarTech evolving rapidly, it takes full-time concentration to test and integrate innovations correctly. Specialized agencies obsess over what’s new to expand their clients’ advantage.
From schema markup to overlay content, expect proven expertise in:
- Interactive elements to inform and excite visitors
- Structured data, reviews and visuals that build trust
- Category-leading technical integrations
Dedicated Team Focused on Your Growth
Rather than splitting focus across client verticals, your agency team will concentrate efforts just on your SaaS SEO growth. This leads to better optimization and increases relevancy for your brand over time.
Also Read: Best Social Media Channels for SEO of SaaS Companies
How to select an SEO agency to match your goals
Vetting a SaaS SEO agency goes beyond initial interviews and proposals. Evaluate credibility by examining their body of client work and measurable achievements.
Checking Credibility and Reputation SaaS SEO Agency
- Review public SaaS case studies detailing their strategies and quantified results. Measure actual ROI rather than vague claims.
- Read direct feedback from clients through testimonials, reviews, and third-party publications. This validates abilities to meet expectations.
- Verify track records of ranking improvements and site traffic lift through historical reporting data and analytics platforms. Tangible metrics build trust.
Ultimately the fit also depends on budget, desired level of support, cultural alignment, and communicating expectations upfront between both teams.
Asking the Right Questions to Qualify SaaS SEO Agencies
When evaluating SaaS SEO agencies, go beyond basic credentials and ask specific qualifying questions:
Q1. What experience do you have in the SaaS industry? Ask for case studies and examples of past SaaS clients to gauge their expertise.
Q2. What SEO technologies do you directly control and integrate? Prioritize agencies that own or develop proprietary martech to better optimize and report.
Q3. How will you fix technical barriers on my site to earn search visibility? Specific crawl improvement tactics should be shared.
Q4. How will you generate insights and optimize our strategy? Look for detailed analytics, clear reporting cadences, goal tracking, and optimization protocols.
Q5. What core metrics and Key performance indicators (KPIs) will we track? SQLs and revenue influence should factor in heavily.
Q6. What does expanded or enterprise-level support include? Factor in your long-term goals and needs beyond a basic package.
Q7. Are there minimum commitments or contracts required? Understand engagement models, terms and next steps.
Validating Past Performance
Proof lies in the pudding. Objective achievements validate pitching prowess. Expect transparency reflected through:
1. SaaS Case Studies
Published examples detailing their strategies and results behind client wins. Look for contextual relevance and quantified organic revenue growth.
2. Client Testimonials
Direct video and written reviews from brands detailing working relationships, strategic vision and meeting benchmarks. Seek authenticity.
3. Performance Metrics
Evidence of earned rankings, traffic gains, SQL rates and pipeline influenced over multi-year engagements. Evaluate both faster quick hits and long play growth.
Prioritizing Fit
Technical expertise is just the start – long-term SEO success requires blending cultures and work styles through trust and transparency.
Also Read: Tracking the 11 Crucial SaaS Marketing Metrics for Growth
Crafting a Data-Driven SaaS SEO Strategy
An effective SaaS SEO strategy aligns to wider sales and marketing initiatives while drilling down into granular keyword details tailored for your business. Developed properly, it serves as a blueprint to target users at each stage and compel them to convert.
Conduct Keyword Research
Keyword research illuminates gaps between what prospects are searching versus how your SaaS is positioned currently to capture that demand. Expanding your keyword portfolio leads to increased visibility and website traffic.
- Identify misaligned and missing keywords that prospects search but your pages don’t rank for. This presents new optimization opportunities.
- Group keyword variants and long-tail combinations by topics and target pages. Categorize whether they relate to top, mid, or lower-funnel priorities.
- Expand your keyword portfolio with related and frequently searched question variations. Answer these comprehensively in your content to build relevance.
Create Personalized Content Models
Model out frameworks detailing the core pages, supporting content, and optimized messaging to engage each user segment. Map these to their buyer’s journey from introduction to your brand through sales-qualified lead.
- For top-funnel keywords and early-stage audiences focus on explaining clearly through guides, ebooks, blog posts and tools that build awareness and consideration.
- To generate marketing qualified leads (MQLs), craft pages targeting mid-funnel informational keywords. Answer common questions, solve use cases, and provide value rather than overt sales messaging.
- Lower-funnel keywords require product-led and conversion-focused content to nudge SQLs such as demos, free trials, contact sales forms, and pricing pages.
Set Clear Goals and Benchmarks
Define targets for lead quality and quantity, conversion rates, and trackable revenue generated so SEO impact can be measured over time. Monitor progress through key metrics vs. baseline benchmarks.
Also Read: 9 Marketing Automation Tips & Tools for SaaS Companies
On-Page Optimization and Technical SEO
With a core SEO strategy mapped out, executing improvement across pages, content, and website infrastructure amplifies organic reach and conversions.
Enhance Website Crawlability
Eliminating structural issues enables search engines to efficiently spider and index your entire site. Resolve errors through proper redirects, fixing broken links, and optimizing site speed.
- Configure 301 redirects from old to new pages so rankings and link equity transfer properly after changes.
- Search for and fix 404 errors and broken internal links that frustrate bots from crawling efficiently.
- Optimize page speed by compressing images, eliminating render-blocking resources, and optimizing server response times. Faster sites rank better.
Optimize Content
Creating relevant, engaging content builds authority and rankings for focus keywords. Optimize pages through title tags, headings, media, structured data and visual presentation.
- Craft compelling title tags and meta descriptions that signal relevancy to searchers for each page’s focus keywords.
- Break up text with subheadings (H2, H3 tags) around keywords so search engines apply appropriate weighting.
- Supplement content with images, schemas for videos, charts and tools to increase understanding and engagement
- Design sites responsively so content layouts, CTAs and forms render properly on mobile devices.
Link Building and Amplification
Authoritative sites linking inbound boosts relevance and keyword rankings through third-party endorsement. Agencies have resources for content and outreach.
- Create compelling guest posts, tools, and resources to place on reputable publications read by your personas.
- Strategically build a natural portfolio of relevant domains linking through partnerships, mentions, and blogger outreach.
Also Read: The Complete Guide to SaaS Product Marketing
Conversion Rate Optimization
SEO delivers visitors primed to convert – optimization improves the ease and compelling experience to become customers.
Analyze Conversion Pathways
Understand decision-making cycles and identify points losing traffic through analytics. Common issues include confusing messaging, friction with forms, or ineffective calls-to-action (CTAs).
- Map each step from impression to contact submit or trial signup. Look for sudden drop-offs indicating blockers.
- Talk to sales teams anecdotally about why qualified leads don’t convert into SQLs to supplement data.
Optimize Forms and CTAs Through A/B Testing
Experiment with rearranging, adding or revising forms, calls to action and supporting elements on key landing pages to lift conversions. Test one variation against the current page at a time.
Personalize On-Site Content
Adapt content displayed matching the visitor’s intent signals – topics viewed, keywords used, buyer stage.
- Group your audience into primary personas – technical evaluators vs. business managers for example.
- Tailor content guides, ebooks, and demos to persona priorities – technical capabilities vs. business outcomes.
- Identify intent signals such as job titles and keywords to deliver matched content.
Also Read: What is Keywords Everywhere and How to Use it for Scalable B2B SEO?
Tracking and Reporting SEO Performance
Ongoing monitoring through core metrics indicates how SEO initiatives expand reach and capture demand. But tighter measurement exclusive to sales qualified leads and revenue paints a full picture of profitability.
Monitor Rankings and Traffic
Tracking keyword ranks and website traffic KPIs measures awareness impact and dialling in topic relevancy. Rises indicate SEO efficacy while dips inform pages needing optimization.
- Set up rank tracking for target keywords – prioritize buyer intent phrases with commercial intent.
- Compare traffic volumes QoQ and YOY to spot trends and personify seasonal factors or external events for context.
- Set benchmarks for rank attainment by keyword difficulty (low, medium, high competition) to guide optimization priorities based on opportunity.
Measure SQL and Revenue Impact
While broad SEO reporting has merit, granular measurement of leads and revenue attributed to organic ties activity directly to financial return.
- Record SQL volume + velocity trends over time. SQLs initiated through organic should steadily rise above baseline rates.
- Connect SEO traffic through the pipeline to attribute downstream MRR influences. Calculate SEO’s ROI impact.
Reporting Key Metrics and Insights
Dashboard Reporting
Reputable agencies provide intuitive dashboard reporting on key metrics to inform decisions. Expect snapshot views of ranks, traffic, leads, and revenue tied to goals. Monthly recaps detail wider trends.
Strategy Optimization Planning
Each quarterly or bi-annual strategy review meeting should include:
- Performance benchmarking
- Identifying underperforming areas
- Evaluating new opportunities
- Prioritizing next-phase initiatives
- Optimizing budget allocation
This ensures continuity of expanding growth and impact over multi-year engagements.
Also Read: The Complete Guide to Guest Posting for SaaS Business Growth
Conclusion
Working with a specialized SaaS SEO agency fuels a high-performance organic channel uniquely aligned for SQL and revenue growth. But choosing the right partner and maintaining consistency over years, not months is imperative to maximize lifetime value.
Key Takeaways on Choosing a SaaS SEO Agency:
- Credentialed expertise in complex B2B SEO strategies
- Proven SaaS-specific case studies and client reviews
- Owns proprietary organic search technologies
- Detailed traffic, leads and revenue reporting
- Consultative relationship focused on goals not tasks
Tying SEO Efforts Directly to SQL and Revenue Growth
Approach SEO not as a vanity exercise but a profit center through precise measurement of sales qualified leads influenced and total contract value won attributed to organic.
Work with sales operations to accurately track web sessions to customers from initial click through to close. Many agencies fall short here – work with one that offers ironclad attribution and reporting.
Maintaining Consistency for Long-Term Wins
SEO success develops over years not months through continual content expansion, technical upgrades, innovating new channels and nurturing trust signals. Start with a 12-18 month minimum contract for foundational strategies to take effect before making conclusions.
Review strategy efficacy quarterly, funded budgets annually and expect your agency to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible over a multi-year partnership.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: How do I evaluate a SaaS SEO agency?
A: Beyond basics like credentials and reviews, prioritize agencies that demonstrate online revenue growth vs. just rankings for clients. Validate methodologies, quantify deliverables and evaluate the team.
Q2: What is the benefit of an ongoing managed SEO program?
A: Managed SEO means continual content publishing, link building, site upgrades and strategy expansion month to month. Paired with monitoring and insights, this grows impact and revenue not just maintains.
Q3: How long does it take to see results from SaaS SEO efforts?
A: Leading indicators like rankings and traffic pick up within 3-6 months as pages get indexed and ranked. But meaningful SQL and revenue metrics take 6-12 months to manifest fully then continue compounding for years.
Q4: What SEO metrics matter most for driving SQLs?
A: Keyword ranks, organic traffic and click-through rates set the table for SQL generation. But granular tracking of email sign-ups, demos scheduled, free trial starts and sales inquiries from organic sources directly attributes pipelines and deals to SEO.
Q5: How can SEO increase customer lifetime value for SaaS?
A: SEO-influenced users convert at 2-3x higher rates over the long term vs. paid channels alone. Lower CAC + higher retention from organic = substantially higher LTV.
