The abbreviation SaaS stands for Soft as a Service. That is, software as a service. Usually these are cloud solutions that are physically located on servers on the Web.

To illustrate, here are a few examples:

• music service Spotify;
• streaming service Netflix;
• iCloud cloud storage;
• office suite Office 365;
• Adobe software package (Photoshop, Lightroom, etc.).

In the shortest possible time, SaaS is any service that serves the user via the Internet. We will not delve into the specifics of the SaaS products themselves. We already have a large article on this topic ” What is a SaaS service in simple terms “. Today we will look at SEO for SaaS products and the features of their promotion on the Web. It will be interesting!

Specificity of SaaS tools

There are, perhaps, two main features of SaaS that must be taken into account when promoting:

1. A SaaS product will change over time, and you can’t 100% predict what it will be like in a month, a year, or five years from now. Netflix in 1997 was engaged in the delivery of films on VHS-cassettes. There were no thoughts about any streaming and production of our own video content then.
2. You do not know which pages of a web resource and which third-party sites attract more traffic, backlinks and leads. This is typical for all SEO, but especially for promoting SaaS products.

The primary tasks of SEO promotion are to capture the semantics in the niche as much as possible and test as many ways as possible to increase traffic in the shortest possible time. You simply do not have time to think and test for a long time.

How to promote SaaS products with SEO

This is a complex task. If you’re serious about promoting your SaaS product, be prepared to commit the time, money, and resources to it. Our strategy for promoting SaaS products with SEO is as follows:

1. Conduct an audit of the site to detect and fix any problems that worsen the position.
2. Perform comprehensive external and internal site optimization.
3. Collect and systematize the semantic core with which to work in the future.
4. Create high-quality, relevant and useful content (not only for search algorithms, but also for customers, real readers).
5. Constantly publish new content and update existing content, including on external sites, building up a high-quality link mass.

Of course, this is a very superficial description of the strategy. Each of the items includes additional blocks, each block is a list of tasks, each task is a search for solutions and ways to implement them. Just imagine that you are the owner of Netflix in the early 2000s, when no one needed VHS tapes, the usual business collapsed, something radically new was needed. Netflix has managed to become one of the largest SaaS products. Why won’t it work for you?

How SEO for SaaS differs from service website promotion

From a technical point of view, there is no particular difference in the methods of SEO promotion of service sites and SaaS. The principles used are the same. Another thing is important here – the variability of the SaaS products themselves, their evolution. As we said at the beginning of the article, SaaS products are rapidly developing, expanding, and sometimes changing dramatically. And each change brings its own adjustments to the SEO strategy.

SaaS marketing and promotion on the Web require you to be flexible, entrepreneurial, and ready to rebuild your work strategy and its principles as soon as possible.

How to Create a Successful SaaS SEO Campaign

SEO for SaaS projects can be built on dozens of components. Somewhere the same promotion tools and methods are used as for classic service sites, somewhere they are more original and specific. Let’s take a look at some of the most relevant today.

Analyze competitors

Competitive analysis is important in any niche, and especially in the SaaS segment. Here you should analyze not only direct, but also indirect competitors. That is, everyone who offers a fundamentally different product, but at the same time capable of meeting the needs of your audience.

For example, let’s say you’re building a screen-sharing video calling service. This is a handy tool for remote work. Direct competitors are obvious: Zoom, Skype, etc. But there are also indirect ones. For example, the same Telegram. The product is a completely different type, but you can also make video calls and turn on screen sharing here. We get an indirect competitor.

Divide the product into mini-products

If your SaaS product can be divided into mini-products, we recommend that you do so. Then you can reach a wider audience, which, for example, does not need a comprehensive solution. At the same time, expand the semantics for SEO promotion.

A good example in this regard is products from Adobe. As a customer, you can purchase all Creative Cloud apps or opt for cheaper subscription plans that include only the options you need. For example, Lightroom and Photoshop for photographers, Adobe XD, Photoshop and Illustrator for UX/UI designers.

Create related mini-products

Sometimes the smart move is to create additional mini-products that fit your theme. Without departing from Adobe, here we can mention Photoshop Express or Lightroom Mobile – stripped-down versions of the main programs for smartphones, free or shareware.

When creating mini-products, it is important to follow a few rules:

1. Make sure they have semantics.
2. Estimate the amount of work, calculate whether the development will be financially justified.
3. Determine how close these products are to your main product.

If you doubt that a mini-product will be in demand, that you will be able to promote it, that it will really be connected with your main offer, it is better to refuse this idea.

Create mini products based on APIs of other products

Sometimes you can make your life easier if you use ready-made APIs that are freely available. You will save development costs, offer your audience a new product, and at the same time, you will be able to improve SaaS SEO performance.

Here is an interesting example. As you know, Telegram allows you to send files to yourself. In fact, this is an endless storage of information, but not the most convenient. Telegram is a messenger, not an analogue of Google Drive or Dropfiles. But the craftsman Pato05 created the Uploadgram platform based on Telegram – an unlimited file sharing service that uses the messenger server. At the same time, he did not violate the rules for using the Telegram API.

Find other ways to use the product

Sometimes you need to learn to look at your product more broadly. If it has alternative or additional uses, please share them. Then you will demonstrate its benefits and make life easier for users. Of course, sooner or later they will find additional ways to use your product, but why waste their time?

The previous Uploadgram example fits in perfectly here. The developer not only created his own product based on the existing API, but also showed a completely new way to use the power of Telegram.

Create Competitor Comparison Pages

It’s good if you know how your product is better than competitors’ offers. Why not convey this information to potential customers? Clear, open and understandable. In addition, an additional page with a comparison is also the search traffic that it will bring.

Translate pages into other popular languages

Obviously, translating pages into foreign languages ​​can attract a lot of additional traffic. Especially if your product is not limited geographically. But there is one important point here – the translation must be done correctly:

1. To get started, translate a list of foreign language queries that are already bringing you traffic.
2. Find sites through the search that are in the top for the same queries.
3. Download semantics from Ahrefs for discovered competitors. We advise you to work in the country where the number of native speakers of the selected language is the largest.
4. Cluster the semantic core and translate content for different language versions of the site.
5. Collect traffic, analyze efficiency.

Someone advises to start translating pages with Google Translate, watch the traffic increase and only then hire a translator for a more correct translation. But we recommend that you immediately translate the pages correctly. Google Translate makes mistakes, which affects rankings. For Saas SEO this is important!

Expand semantics on popular one-word, two-word words

This method can be used when SEO promotion has already yielded results, and the site is at least in the top 10, and preferably in the top 5 or even in the top 3. The task is to find patterns by which one- and two-word words Google ranks your resource faster and more efficiently.

In the screenshot, we can see that the most effective keyword is generator. It is from it that one can build on when expanding the semantic core. The method does not always work 100%, but it usually gives good results and contributes to the ranking of the site.

Create unique pictures and infographics

Firstly, potential customers want to see what your product looks like, how it works, how exactly it helps to solve their problems, how it is better than analogues from competitors. Abstract images and just thematic pictures are empty. We need specifics not only in text content, but also in graphic content.

Secondly, ranking algorithms do not stand still. If earlier search engines could impose sanctions on the site mainly due to non-unique text content, now borrowed images can give the same results, i.e. drive the site under filters and pessimize positions.

How to get links and traffic

External links, mentions of a brand or product, citation – all this contributes to increasing the recognition of the company and product, increasing the trust of the target audience and its interest. Accordingly, it helps in increasing traffic and has a positive effect on the ranking of the site. How to conduct SaaS marketing to achieve such results?

Leave comments on blogs

Comments on popular blogs, with or without links to your product, are a good way to grab your audience’s attention. The logic of actions is the following:

1. We find articles from the top 50 search results on your topic.
2. We get acquainted with the materials and leave comments referring to your product. You can do without a direct link, and limit yourself to mentioning.
3. We make sure that each comment complements the article, develops the thoughts inherent in it, and does not read as frankly advertising and taken out of context.

The main advantage of this approach is that it is free. However, it requires time. In addition, moderators can clean up some comments.

Use business listings and review sites

The presence of your product on such sites is a big plus. This contributes to recognition, attracts a new audience and builds up external link mass. Accommodation is free in most cases.

A few tips:

• try to fill in the card/profile of your product as detailed as possible;
• Engage customers in posting testimonials;
• duplicate client reviews on the project website.

Examples of such sites: g2.com, crosdesk.com, etc.

Browser extension

If your product allows you to use a browser extension in some way to improve the customer experience, use that. You need to do the following:

1. Highlight a small but useful feature in the product.
2. Create a plugin that will perform this function.
3. Prepare a corporate icon, title and description.
4. Translate the plugin into other languages ​​(optional).
5. Start sending traffic to the extension from the website and email campaigns.

Then you will not only provide your customers with a convenient and useful tool, but also get another page in the SERP. Comfortable. But this only works if your product can be tailored for the extension a priori.

A great example is the free AdGuard ad-blocking extension, which, in fact, is a stripped-down version of the paid program of the same name:

Interviews with experts

In almost any area of ​​business, interviews with subject matter experts are a very effective tool that indicates the reliability of information and increases the level of trust.

From a SaaS SEO standpoint, interviews like this also yield several positive results:

• attract traffic from Google Discover;
• increase the reference mass thanks to the blogs of specialists;
• drive traffic for narrow queries with the names and surnames of experts, as well as from social networks and from the channels of the interviewees themselves.

When the imaginary Elon Musk gives an interview to the imaginary People, this interview will be read by Musk fans, who have never been interested in the magazine itself. The example is understandable.

Reviews by experts and profile bloggers

If you manage to find an expert or a popular blogger who is well versed in your niche and covers it in an interesting way, cooperation can be effective.

Example: a review of the Luminar photo editor on the popular photo editing channel PiXimperfect (3.5 million subscribers):

There are a few simple rules at work here:

• it is better to take not the quantity, but the quality of the reviews;
• evaluate resources for placement not only by traffic volume and link profile, but also by audience activity;
• ask to make the review objective, not promotional;
• be prepared to invest $100 to $600 or even more in this channel.

An exhaustive review by an expert or integration with a popular blogger cannot be cheap. But they are able to bring more traffic than other channels.

Freelance service exchanges

This is a very specific channel for getting links and traffic. Not every product can be promoted here. But sometimes it is possible. Here are some examples:

1. You post a project for copywriters and ask to turn in the finished work in Google Docs.
2. You invite new specialists to the team and provide a link to the working board in the Trello service.
3. You draw up a TOR with a request to correct errors on the site that a certain service finds.

That is, you contribute to the promotion of the mentioned services. It can and should be used.

Some exchanges allow you to directly advertise your product if it is relevant to the audience. These can be various cloud storages, teamwork tools, communication tools, etc.

LTD sites

LTDs are websites that sell perpetual subscriptions to SaaS products. There are both advantages and disadvantages to publishing your proposals there.

From an SEO standpoint, SaaS campaigns are a plus. You get additional traffic, increase product awareness, build links and improve site ranking. But if we consider profit, then a one-time purchase is less profitable than a subscription, in which the client brings money all the time, and not once for all time.

How to analyze the effectiveness of SEO promotion of SaaS products

There are many SEO performance analysis tools in the SaaS category: Google Analytics, Yandex.Metrica, SE Ranking, CS Yazzle, Sitechecker.Pro, etc.

The bare minimum you need to do is to analyze the traffic. For this, the mentioned Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrics are quite enough. At the initial stage of promoting SaaS SEO tools, you can focus on them. Then you can select analytics tools depending on the channels for attracting traffic or building links. Everything is very individual here.

Summing up

In many aspects, SEO for SaaS is almost the same as SEO for promoting other products on the Internet – goods, services and services. But there is a key point: SaaS often implies a subscription payment model. This means that the project must constantly stay at the top of the search results in order to attract a new audience and retain the existing one.

Accordingly, the promotion of SaaS is usually even more complex and large-scale than other products. Therefore, SEO SaaS is sometimes significantly more expensive. However, in the end, it provides you with a constant, not a one-time profit, and all investments pay off. Thinking of how to make the most of your software development? Order the Discovery Phase to consider all key aspects and ensure your project’s success!