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If you own a SaaS business (or plan on launching one), you’re in an advantageous position. Today, professional and non-professional users are more willing than ever to employ SaaS apps to solve their pain points. Today we are going to discuss four ways SEO can grow your SaaS business.
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The adoption rate for SaaS is so high that Gartner predicts an 11.8% growth rate in 2023 and a total spend of $754 billion.
However, as always, rapid growth has some disadvantages as well. Thanks to the SaaS industry’s lucrative nature, more brands than ever are entering the market. In June 2022, approximately 17,000 SaaS companies were operating in the US alone, proving that new businesses must fight hard to secure their place in this competitive industry.
The good news is that there’s a lot you can do by employing the right marketing strategies. And it could be argued that investing in SEO could prove to be the best way to grow your SaaS business. Read on to learn how.
Boost SERP Click-Through-Rates
For most businesses, the main objective of search engine optimization is, without a doubt, driving organic traffic to their websites by ranking higher on SERPs. Securing the ask box, featured snippet, or position zero on Google can help you accomplish this, allowing you to attract audience attention and get them to start interacting with your brand.
Research from Backlinko shows that the #1 result on Google has an average CTR that exceeds 27%. And if that doesn’t sound impressive, this next part definitely will. The difference between the CTR of the 1st and 10th position on SERPs is 10x in favor of the higher-ranking page.
With this in mind, it’s clear why it is essential for SaaS businesses to pay attention to SEO — at least if they want to reach a large audience. (Note that widening reach makes for one of the best ways to combat the median 6.5% user churn rate, which causes SaaS brands to lose as much as 60% of their customer base annually.)
Pro-Tip – Produce High-Quality Content
Producing and distributing high-quality content is one of the best ways to secure better Google rankings for your business. However, know that blogging alone won’t be enough to get you those next-level results. Experiment with alternative formats if you want to secure position zero for your SaaS solution. Consider video in particular, which has a much higher chance of getting your brand to the top of SERPs.
Attract Qualified Leads
Did you know that more than 60% of shopping journeys start online? That’s right. Most people’s shopping behavior includes Googling their pain points to discover possible solutions.
That’s why investing in SEO presents one of the best ways for SaaS brands to target consumers inhabiting different stages of the buyer’s journey. Moreover, search engine optimization allows these businesses to drive high levels of organic traffic to their website and attract qualified leads who have a chance of converting into customers.
Pro-Tip #1 – Define Your Audience’s Pain Points
To accomplish your desired SEO goals, the most important thing you must do is define your audience’s pain points. Don’t just assume that your potential customers search for industry-specific keywords on Google and then magically discover your brand. Instead, target search terms that center around their needs and frequently asked questions. This will allow you to reach people in the awareness stage of the customer journey and help you slowly nurture them into qualified leads.
Pro-Tip #2 – Focus On Low Competition Keywords
If you’re attempting to break into a competitive niche, the best thing you can do is shift your focus away from high-volume keywords and focus your attention on low-competition ones instead. True, this won’t drive as much organic traffic as you’re hoping for. Nonetheless, it will allow you to get your business on the map, then work your way up to becoming the go-to in your industry.
Establish Brand Credibility & Topical Authority
In addition to helping you drive organic to your SaaS website, investing in SEO can also help you establish your brand’s trustworthiness.
Not sure why this matters. Research shows that brand image and brand trust directly impact purchase intention. Moreover, trusted brands score 67% higher in consumer loyalty and advocacy rates. That is particularly important in a world where 71% of customers switched brands at least once during the past year.
Now, if you run a SaaS business, you shouldn’t entirely rely on SEO to prove your organization’s expertise or credibility. Nonetheless, there are two tricks you can utilize to supplement your on-site efforts and speed up the rate at which your target audience accepts you as an industry authority.
Pro-Tip #1 – Aim For Topical Authority
Aim for topical authority. This may not be a method you can use to secure a quick win, but working to become a topical authority benefits your business in several ways. On the one hand, it’ll maximize your chances of appealing to your audience — especially if you employ a variety of content formats — which will automatically lead them to perceive your brand as authoritative.
On the other hand, this strategy will further improve Google’s rankings. The search engine will recognize that your website provides extensive information about a particular topic. As a result, it will perceive your site as having a higher chance of being valuable to Google users.
Pro-Tip #2 – Build A Strong Backlink Profile
Another excellent way you can use SEO to boost your SaaS brand’s reputation is to start building a strong backlink profile. Yes, your site’s domain authority will primarily reflect this tactic’s effectiveness. But, if you secure backlinks from just the right resources, you’ll also increase the chances of your target audience finding out about your brand/product from resources they already trust.
And this will make it exponentially easier to nurture them into leads. If that’s the outcome you’re aiming for, the best thing you can do is hire an SEO agency with the right resources and connections to bring you results.
Influence On-Site Behavior
Lastly, as you explore how SEO can grow your SaaS business, don’t forget the immense benefits of following technical SEO best practices on your website.
Because most consumers decide whether to continue interacting with an organization based on that brand’s site, it’s easy to understand why details like page load speed, HTTPS protocols, image optimization, and internal and external links may impact their purchasing decisions.
Pro Tip – Improve Your Site’s UX
Sometimes, improving your site’s UX will be enough to cover the technical aspects of SEO needed to get your SaaS business to the top of SERPs. However, keep in mind that investing in web design doesn’t just help you attract prospects. More importantly, it proves that you’re a service provider customers can lean on to solve their pain points. This allows you to increase your conversion rates, deliver an exceptional CX, and start reaping the benefits of running a customer-oriented business that people will be happy to champion and recommend.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, the top four ways you can utilize SEO to grow your SaaS business.
As you can see, none of these strategies deliver quick results. On the contrary: they require months (sometimes even years) of dedicated and continual work to get you to rank high and hold onto the top positions on SERPs.
Nonetheless, the benefits of these tactics are more than worth the effort. And that’s not just because they’ll eventually get you to position #1 on Google. More importantly, they’ll allow you to steadily improve your brand’s reputation while helping you reach a bigger and bigger audience.
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