SaaS SEO: A Complete Guide from My 10 Years of Experience

Want to grow your SaaS traffic in 2025? I’m sharing the exact SEO strategies I’ve learned and used over 10+ years of helping SaaS businesses grow.Hi! My name is Irina, and I am a SaaS marketer and SEO expert with over a decade of experience ranking SaaS businesses on Google. 

A while back, we launched a brand-new website with a client. And in just a few weeks, it outranked major competitors for the main business keyword on Google's first page.

For another client, we built and optimized a product page that now sits on Google's page one, brings in approximately 2000 sessions monthly, and converts at 10%.

And the list goes on.

In this article, I will share an in-depth guide of what works in SaaS SEO from my 10+ years of experience.

Ready to gain clarity on your SEO strategy? Let's get started.

What is SaaS SEO and why does it matter?

SaaS SEO involves optimizing Software-as-a-Service websites for search engines to increase organic traffic, attract the right audience, and drive conversions. 

It is widely known as one of the most profitable marketing strategies for SaaS businesses, especially in the long term.

SaaS SEO demands strategy, logic, and consistently pleasing search algorithms to see results.

And to turn traffic into paying customers, your content must be aligned with the customer journey and optimized for conversions.

While pleasing man and machine may seem like a daunting task, a holistic SEO strategy can help businesses rank high, generate sustainable traffic, and stay competitive in their markets.

Why SEO is crucial for SaaS growth and customer acquisition.

SEO plays a key role in attracting, nurturing, and converting potential customers. Here’s why it’s essential for SaaS businesses:

• It drives sustainable traffic: Unlike paid ads, organic search provides long-term visibility and cost-effective lead generation. 
• It improves brand trust and authority: Ranking high for industry-related queries positions a SaaS company as a leader in its field.
• It supports every stage of the sales funnel: SEO-optimized content helps attract, educate, engage, and convert users, making it valuable for all buying stages.
• It reduces customer acquisition costs (CAC): Paid advertising can be expensive, but SEO provides a consistent stream of leads without ongoing ad spend.

The shifting SEO landscape in 2025

Over the past decade, SEO has evolved dramatically, but 2024-25 brought us one of the most significant shifts yet: AI overviews. 

Securing a spot in the TOP-10 used to be a big win. Now, it's no longer enough. Getting to the top 3, where 50-70% of all clicks are concentrated, is now the goal.

Studies have shown that organic clicks may drop by up to 70% on results pages with AI overviews. That means even the page ranking number one could see its traffic shrink significantly. 

This shift forces us to rethink SEO strategy. Getting to number one is only the first step. The next challenge? Owning the AI snippet. 

To achieve this, we ensure our content is AI-friendly and authoritative by:

• ‍Structuring content for clarity: AI favors well-organized, easily digestible information.‍
• Implementing structured data: Schema markup helps search engines understand and highlight key information.‍
• Aligning with search intent: Google prioritizes pages that directly answer the query, so precision matters.‍
• Earning more mentions and backlinks: Page and domain authority still play a crucial role in visibility.‍
• Following E-E-A-T principles: The Google "Helpful Content Update" in August 2022 cemented Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness as essential ranking signals that also affect page authority.‍
• Keeping content fresh and updated: Stale content gets pushed down in favor of newer ones. Updating both the content and the published date is a must.

My top 5 SaaS SEO strategies

SaaS SEO requires a strategic approach to drive real results. Here are my top 5 SaaS SEO strategies that can work for you too:

1. Find the right keywords for your SaaS business

Not every keyword in your industry is right for your business. Some are too difficult to rank for, while some have no business value.

So before targeting a keyword, I make sure to answer these questions with a “Yes”:

1. Is it relevant to my audience?

Ranking is pointless if the keyword doesn’t match your ideal customer’s needs. If the keyword aligns with their pain points, it’s definitely worth a shot.

2. Is it valuable for my business?

High traffic doesn’t always equal business potential. I ask: can I naturally introduce my SaaS product in the content? If I can't, it's not worth the investment.

3. Will I get any traffic?

I specifically check how much traffic top-ranking pages are getting. If it's a high-intent keyword that sends zero traffic, I find alternatives or move on completely.

4. Is it possible to rank for it?

Overthrowing Forbes or Entrepreneur on SERPs is challenging, especially for newer sites. So, focusing on long-tail keywords with less competition is a better option.

With these, I easily eliminate keywords that are not worth pursuing in my strategy.

2. Publish high-quality content consistently

After keyword evaluation comes content creation. 

By following 3 simple rules, I've dethroned several top-ranking content in competitive SaaS niches:

1. Quality comes first

I never compromise on quality. Every article needs to be useful, well-researched, and expertly written. Finding writers who truly understand the niche is very crucial for this.

2. Speed matters

I don’t spend weeks perfecting a single post. From keyword research to publishing is usually done within a week. Despite the speed, there's no compromise on quality. If a post doesn’t meet my standards, I’d rather not publish it at all.

3. Focus on the audience, not just keywords

I mentioned this earlier. Your audience should be the center of your content strategy. Before writing, I ask one question: Does this help my audience? If it doesn't, I move on.

3. Invest in building quality links

A search traffic study by Ahrefs reveals that the number of websites linking to a page affects its ranking position, but gone are the days when you can get “link juice” from just anywhere.

I recently worked with a SaaS company that was aggressively building 30-60 links per month, yet their rankings and traffic kept dropping. I would later discover from an SEO audit that over 90% of their links were toxic (PBNs, link farms, and topically irrelevant sites).

A high-quality backlink meets three key criteria:

1. It is relevant

The linking website should be in the same industry or closely related to the topic. Google evaluates backlinks based on context, and irrelevant links offer little to no ranking benefit.

2. It has a strong domain authority and clean backlink profile

Websites with strong domain authority (DR 70+) have established trust and credibility, making their links more valuable than dozens from low-quality sites.

But keep in mind, while websites with high domain authority often carry more ranking power, a high DR alone doesn’t always mean a site is valuable. Some websites have high DR but suffer from poor content quality, toxic backlinks, and rapidly declining traffic - making their links less desirable. On the other hand, sites with lower DR but a clean backlink profile, high-quality content, and steady growth can be excellent link sources.

3. It has editorial value 

The best backlinks are naturally earned, meaning they are included in content because they add value, not because they were bought or exchanged and placed without context.

4. Optimize the website for better rankings

To rank well on search engines, your on-page SEO game cannot be weak. Several key elements contribute to effective on-page SEO:

Metadata optimization

The meta title and meta description are among the first things both search engines and users see. 

A good meta title should:

• Clearly describe the page content.
• Include the primary keyword naturally.
• Stay within 60 characters to prevent truncation.

The meta description should:

• Provide a compelling summary of the page.
• Include relevant keywords without stuffing.
• Stay within 150-160 characters for optimal display in search results.

Header tags and content structure

Proper use of header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) improves readability and helps search engines understand the content hierarchy.

• The H1 tag should contain the main keyword and clearly state the page’s topic.
• H2, H3, and H4 tags should structure the content logically, making it easier for users to scan.
• Break up content with subheadings to improve both readability and SEO.

URL structure

A clean, descriptive URL improves user experience and helps search engines locate your pages for the desired keywords. Best practices include:

• Using the page’s main keyword in the URL
• Keeping URLs short and readable
• Using hyphens (-) between words instead of underscores (_) or special characters.
• Sticking to your main keyword and avoiding unnecessary words (e.g., "yourwebsite.com/best-saas-seo-strategy" instead of "yourwebsite.com/the-best-saas-seo-strategy-you-will-ever-find").

Internal linking

Internal links help distribute authority across the site and also improve navigation and crawling. When producing content for SEO, be sure to:

• Link to relevant blog posts, product pages, or guides within the content.
• Use descriptive anchor text that tells users what to expect when they click.
• Avoid excessive, unnatural, and unrelated linking.

Creating SEO-friendly landing pages

Optimizing your landing pages for SEO ensures that a ready-to-convert audience can easily find them on Google and other search engines. Key elements of high-performing landing pages include:

• A clear and compelling headline that immediately communicates value.
• Fast page speed to reduce bounce rates.
• Mobile-friendliness so you don't lose traffic from mobile users.
• Clear and concise benefit-driven content that addresses search intent.
• Strategic keyword placement in titles, headings, and throughout the page, ensuring natural flow.

5. Being intentional with technical SEO

Technical SEO ensures that a website is crawlable and indexable in search and AI. Here are tips to optimize your website for rankings and conversion:

Improve site speed 

Page speed directly affects rankings, user experience, and conversion rates. Slow websites increase bounce rates and frustrate visitors. To improve speed:

• Compress images using tools like TinyPNG or WebP formats.
• Ensure caching directives are set up in your app to store static resources offline for returning users.
• Enable lazy loading so images and videos only load when needed.

Ensure mobile-friendliness

Google operates what's known as mobile-first indexing. This means it primarily evaluates the mobile version of a site for ranking. If a site is not optimized for mobile, rankings will suffer.

Here are the best practices for mobile-first indexing:

• Ensure your site is mobile-friendly by adopting a responsive design.
• Make sure Google can access your website’s content by properly configuring your robots.txt file.
• Ensure you have the same content on both mobile and desktop versions.
• Make the user experience seamless by minding ad placement and pop-ups.

Implement structured data (schema markup)

Structured data helps search engines understand content better and increases visibility by enhancing how pages appear in search results. 

Common structured data types for SaaS websites include:

• FAQ Schema for commonly asked questions on a landing page.
• Product Schema to highlight software features and pricing.
• Review the Schema to display ratings in search results.

Avoid common technical SEO issues

Several technical problems can impact a website’s ranking. Here are common technical SEO issues and how to fix them:

The common SEO mistakes most SaaS companies keep making

Over the years, I’ve noticed some mistakes many SaaS companies make repeatedly. 

These errors slow down growth, waste resources, and prevent businesses from reaching their full potential in search rankings.

1. Targeting keywords that are too competitive

Many early-stage SaaS companies try to rank for high-volume, competitive keywords without considering their domain authority. 

Competing against established brands with years of SEO investment is unrealistic. Instead of chasing difficult keywords, I recommend:

• Targeting long-tail keywords that address specific user needs.
• Finding unique angles to differentiate content from competitors.
• Building authority over time before going after high-difficulty terms.

2. Hoping for immediate conversions from TOFU content

Many SaaS businesses invest in top-of-funnel (TOFU) content and expect direct conversions. This is a mistake because TOFU content is designed to educate and attract, not sell immediately. 

Instead of waiting for blog readers to convert, I focus on content types that drive intent-based traffic, such as:

• Comparison content (e.g., "Your brand vs. Competitor X").
• Alternative lists (e.g., "Best alternatives to Competitor X").
• Industry tool roundups that showcase solutions to specific problems.

3. Relying on programmatic SEO as a quick fix

Some companies see programmatic SEO as a shortcut. They try to automate content creation instead of investing in quality. 

While automation can help scale content production, low-value, AI-generated pages often lead to Google penalties. I’ve seen sites lose rankings because they prioritized quantity over depth.

The solution?

• Prioritize human-driven content that provides real insights.
• Ensure proper research so content adds value beyond surface-level automated templates.

4. Cutting corners by skimping on SEO talent

Many companies treat SEO as a cost rather than an investment, leading to poor hiring decisions. I’ve worked with clients who:

• Bought cheap backlinks and saw their rankings drop.
• Replaced skilled writers with AI, leading to Google penalties.

Instead of choosing low-cost, low-quality solutions, SaaS companies should:

• Hire experienced SEO professionals who understand strategy.
• Avoid black-hat tactics that can damage long-term rankings.

Further read: How to Reduce Spam Score of a Website in 5 Simple Steps

5. Focusing too much on search engines and not enough on users

SEO isn’t just about pleasing Google. It’s about creating content that solves real problems.  

By shifting the focus to user-driven content, SaaS businesses can rank better, attract engaged visitors, and increase conversions.

To create content that ranks and converts, I recommend:

• Reviewing customer interactions from tools like Intercom or Gong.
• Identifying real questions users ask about the product.
• Writing for humans first, not just for search engines.

Final Thoughts

SEO is a long-term investment, not a quick win. SaaS companies that approach it strategically will see lasting and impressive results.

Again, 5 things will guarantee your success in SaaS SEO:

• Targeting realistic keywords

• Prioritizing quality content
• Building high-quality links
• Optimizing technical SEO
• Focusing on users, not just search engines

Whether it’s refining your keyword research, improving content quality, removing bad backlinks, or fixing technical SEO issues, small, consistent improvements will lead to long-term growth.

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Further read: 15 Best SEO Tools of 2025 (Free & Paid)