SEO is a difficult process that is an umbrella term for a number of different digital functions that are meant to optimize a website for search engines. The end goal of SEO is, of course, to have people discover your website on search engines. But this doesn’t just happen automatically. To do so, you not only need to make technical optimizations to your website, but you have to alter the text and structure of websites pages, as well as the website itself, to conform to keywords.
To do this though, you need to know exactly what keywords you are trying to target with your website. Using a process of SEO adapted to SaaS companies, also known as SaaS SEO, you should be able to identify keywords that are relevant to your website. For SaaS, this often does not take the form of keywords that actually involve software. Oftentimes, users are looking for something that will solve their business problems, and they are not necessarily looking for a SaaS solution to do it. However, with the right keyword targeting, you can find out what people are searching for beforehand and estimate the search volume of those keywords. You can then create targeted website content, such as whitepapers or guides, which go into these issues at length.
However, before you develop this content, you need to take a look at your SERP competitors on a keyword by keyword basis and see what they are using to target their website. Identify these websites pages for any secondary or tertiary keywords and make sure to incorporate these into your own website page. It may even make sense for you to make a separate website page if the search volume of one of the secondary keywords justifying you doing so, and you can create content that is different enough for it from the primary keyword. Keep in mind though that when it comes to SaaS, everyone is looking for solutions to their problems and not just software.
However, one great advantage that SaaS companies have when it comes to their keyword research is searcher intent. The idea behind searcher intent is to predict what results a searcher wants to see when using a search engine. This can be through competitive research into the SERP, as well as business competitors. When doing this, SaaS companies can craft their whitepapers or guides around topics that users seem to be searching for, rather than trying to use industry jargon and other terms that the public is not familiar with. If the SaaS company is geared toward a particular demographic, then it is possible that a keyword list can be expounded upon to include niche terms that have longtail potential and are highly targeted toward that demographic.
Overall, the keyword research process is great opportunity for SaaS companies to invest in researching the market and coming up with keywords that fulfill the searcher intent they have geared their SaaS offerings toward. Not only is keyword research necessary for any holistic undertaking, but it also allows SaaS companies to further explore opportunities for building out further features into their SaaS software in order to attract more search engine users who may need that a software that can solve a particular issue.
