Keyword Research
Risto RehemägiAs a SaaS marketer, keyword research is a crucial part of your SEO strategy. By identifying the right keywords to target, you can improve your search engine rankings, drive more relevant traffic to your website, and ultimately grow your business. In this comprehensive guide, we'll dive into the most effective keyword research techniques tailored specifically for SaaS companies.
Understanding Search Intent
Before you start your keyword research, it's essential to understand the search intent behind the keywords you're targeting. What are users looking for when they search for terms like "saas keyword research" or "keyword analysis for saas"?
Most likely, they are seeking informational content that guides them on how to perform effective keyword research for their SaaS business. They want to learn strategies and best practices to identify the right keywords that will improve their SEO efforts and drive qualified leads.
Search intent can be broken down into four main categories: informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional. For SaaS keyword research, you'll primarily be targeting informational and commercial intent keywords.
Informational keywords are used by people in the early stages of their research, seeking to learn more about a topic or solve a problem. Examples could include "how to do keyword research for saas" or "saas seo tips". Your content should aim to educate and provide value to these searchers.
Commercial keywords, on the other hand, are used by people who are considering making a purchase and are evaluating different options. Examples might be "best saas seo tools" or "ahrefs vs semrush for saas". Here, your content should focus on highlighting your product's features and benefits and persuading the reader that your solution is the best choice.
Understanding and optimizing for search intent is key to attracting the right audience and moving them down the funnel towards becoming a customer.
Identifying Keyword Opportunities
Once you grasp the search intent, the next step is to uncover keyword opportunities. Here are some methods to try:
- Competitor Analysis: Analyze the keywords your top competitors are ranking for. Tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush can help you identify gaps in your own keyword strategy. Look for relevant keywords you're not targeting yet.
Conducting a thorough competitor analysis is a goldmine for uncovering new keyword ideas. Start by identifying your top 5-10 competitors. Plug their domain into a keyword research tool and see what terms they are ranking for that you are not.
Pay special attention to keywords where they are ranking in positions 1-3. These are likely very valuable terms driving a good amount of traffic. If they are relevant to your business as well, consider adding them to your keyword list.
Also look at your competitors' blog content. What topics are they writing about that you haven't covered yet? Even if the specific keyword has low search volume, if it's highly relevant to your audience, it could be worth creating content around to capture that niche traffic.
- Customer Reviews: Mine customer reviews on sites like G2 or Capterra to find the exact language your customers use to describe your product and its benefits. These phrases often make great long-tail keyword targets.
Your customers are a rich source of keyword ideas. They are talking about your product using the same language that prospects are likely using to search for solutions.
Comb through your reviews on third-party sites and look for phrases that come up again and again. What words do customers use to describe the problem your product solves? What specific features or benefits do they call out most often?
These are the nuggets you want to sprinkle into your site copy, product pages, and blog content. Even if they don't have a ton of search volume, sprinkling in the language your customers actually use will make your copy resonate more and build trust.
- Sales Calls: Have your sales team take note of the questions and pain points that come up most often in calls with prospects. Addressing these topics with keyword-optimized content can attract leads at the right stage of the funnel.
Your sales team is on the front lines talking to prospects all day long. They have invaluable insights into the questions and concerns leads have as they evaluate your solution.
Have your sales reps keep a running list of the most common questions they get asked. Then, work with your content team to address each of those topics in a blog post, optimized for relevant keywords.
This will accomplish two things: one, when prospects search for answers to those questions, they'll find your content and be pulled into your orbit. And two, your sales reps can use those content pieces during the sales process to move leads closer to a buying decision.
- Adjacent Topics: Don't limit yourself to only the most obvious keywords. Consider broader topics adjacent to your product that your target audience is interested in. Ranking for these terms can raise brand awareness and bring in top-of-funnel traffic.
Expanding your keyword research to adjacent topics is a great way to reach a wider audience and pull more people into your funnel.
For example, let's say you sell accounting software for small businesses. An adjacent topic could be "small business tax deductions". While the searcher may not be looking for accounting software at the moment, it's a relevant topic that your target customer is interested in.
By creating a comprehensive guide on the topic, you can attract that audience to your site. Once there, you can pixel them for retargeting or offer a related lead magnet to get them into your funnel and introduce them to your brand. You've now gained a new lead that may have never found you otherwise.
Prioritizing Keywords
Not all keywords are created equal. To get the most impact from your SEO efforts, you need to prioritize which keywords to go after first. Some factors to consider:
- Search Volume: In general, higher search volume means more potential traffic. But very high volume keywords will also be the most competitive. Aim for a balance.
Search volume is perhaps the most important metric to look at when prioritizing your keyword list. After all, if no one is searching for a term, it doesn't matter how well you rank for it.
However, it's not as simple as just going after the keywords with the highest search volume. Keywords with very high search volume, like "saas", are going to be extremely difficult to rank for. They'll require a lot of time, effort, and link building to move the needle.
On the flip side, keywords with very low search volume, like "saas software for underwater basket weavers", aren't worth your time either. Even if you manage to rank number one, the traffic will be minimal.
The sweet spot is keywords with decent search volume (think at least a few hundred searches per month) that are also relevant to your business and not too competitive.
- Keyword Difficulty: Assess how hard it will be to rank for a keyword based on the authority of the sites currently on page one. Aim for quick wins by targeting less competitive terms first.
Keyword difficulty is another important factor to consider when prioritizing your keywords. This metric, available in most keyword research tools, gives you a sense of how hard it will be to rank on the first page for a given term.
Difficulty scores are usually on a scale of 0-100, with higher numbers indicating a more competitive keyword. The score takes into account the authority and backlink profiles of the current top-ranking pages.
When you're just starting out with SEO, it's best to target keywords with lower difficulty scores. These will be easier to rank for and give you some quick wins to build momentum.
As your site gains more authority, you can start going after those higher difficulty keywords. But even then, it's a good idea to have a mix of low, medium, and high difficulty keywords in your strategy.
- Business Value: Prioritize keywords that will attract your ideal customer and have commercial intent. Ranking for terms that don't drive conversions won't help your bottom line.
At the end of the day, the goal of SEO is to drive more revenue for your business. That's why it's crucial to prioritize keywords that will not only bring in traffic, but bring in the right kind of traffic.
You want to rank for keywords that your ideal customer is searching for, especially those with commercial intent. These are terms like "best [your product category]", "[your product category] pricing", or "top [your product category] tools".
Searchers using these keywords are usually further along in the buying process and evaluating different options. If you can get in front of them and showcase your product as the best solution, you have a much better chance of converting them into a paying customer.
On the other hand, ranking for broad, informational keywords like "what is [your product category]" might bring in a lot of traffic, but those visitors are less likely to be ready to buy. They're still in the early stages of their research.
That's not to say you should ignore informational keywords entirely. They play an important role in raising brand awareness and pulling people into the top of your funnel. But when resources are limited, prioritize the keywords that are most likely to impact revenue first.
Mapping Keywords to Content
Finally, turn your keyword research into an actionable content strategy:
- Identify Gaps: Look for keywords you want to target that you don't yet have a relevant page for. Plan to create new content around these terms.
Once you have your prioritized keyword list, it's time to map those keywords to pages on your site. Start by identifying gaps - keywords you want to rank for but don't yet have a relevant page for.
For example, let's say one of your target keywords is "saas seo best practices". If you don't have a blog post or guide that covers that topic, make a note to create one.
These content gaps represent your best opportunities for new content creation. By filling these gaps with high-quality, keyword-optimized content, you can start ranking for those terms and attracting more organic traffic.
- Optimize Existing Pages: For keywords you already have some relevant content for, update those pages to better speak to the keyword and search intent.
In addition to creating new content, don't forget to optimize your existing pages as well. Go through your keyword list and identify pages that are already ranking for some of your target terms, but could use some improvement.
Perhaps you have a blog post on "saas seo tips" but it's a few years old and doesn't fully cover the topic. Take some time to update and expand that post, weaving in your target keyword naturally.
Also consider the search intent behind the keyword and make sure your page matches that intent. If the keyword is "saas seo tools" and your page is just a general guide to SaaS SEO, consider adding a section that lists and compares the top tools. That will make your page a better match for what searchers are looking for.
- Build Topic Clusters: Organize your content into topic clusters, with a central pillar page linking out to more specific, related pages. This shows search engines you have breadth and depth in your coverage of a keyword.
Finally, consider organizing your content into topic clusters. This is an advanced SEO technique that can give you an edge over competitors.
Here's how it works: you create a central "pillar" page that broadly covers a topic, then link out to several more specific "cluster" pages that dive deeper into subtopics. All of the cluster pages also link back to the pillar page.
This structure signals to search engines that your pillar page is an authority on the topic, and the cluster pages show that you cover the topic in-depth. As a result, your pillar page may start ranking higher for broad, competitive keywords, while your cluster pages can rank for more specific, long-tail variations.
For example, your pillar page could be a comprehensive guide to "saas seo", covering keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, and technical SEO. Then you'd have cluster pages that dive deeper into each of those subtopics, like "saas keyword research", "on-page seo for saas", "saas link building tactics", etc.
By building out these topic clusters, you can rank for a wide variety of keywords and become the go-to resource in the SaaS SEO space.
By following these keyword research techniques and best practices, you can build a strong foundation for your SaaS SEO strategy. Remember, the goal is not just to rank, but to drive qualified traffic that converts into trial signups and paying customers.