Done right, search engine optimization (SEO) is a scalable, long-term strategy that fuels sustainable growth and sets your brand apart in a competitive marketplace. Its benefits are clear: SEO reduces customer acquisition costs (CAC), increases organic traffic, and drives targeted leads and conversions. Great SaaS keyword research is the beating heart of any successful SEO strategy, so marketers need to understand how to do it well. The decisions driven by that research will lay the groundwork for both organic visibility and paid search performance, ensuring you attract the right audience at the right stage of their buyer’s journey.
Let’s dive into everything you need to know to achieve SaaS marketing success with improved keyword research:
- How to Conduct Keyword Research
- What Makes SaaS Keyword Research Unique?
- Focus SaaS Keyword Research on Intent
- Choosing Keywords for Your Home Page and Product Pages
- Using Keywords on Your Website
- Beyond SEO: Where Else to Leverage Keywords
- Regularly Revisit Keyword Selections
How to Conduct Keyword Research
Effective SaaS keyword research requires a thoughtful approach to selecting the right keywords that will attract your ideal audience. It’s not enough to identify popular keywords. You’ve got to zero in on those that align with your product, audience, and goals.
Start with an Effective Tool
The right tools can make all the difference in your SaaS keyword research efforts. SEMRush and Ahrefs are among the most popular.
SEMrush is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers in-depth insights into organic search performance. Its keyword tools helps marketers discover valuable keywords and analyze competitors’ keyword strategies.
Known for its strong backlink analysis, Ahrefs also shines as a keyword research tool. With robust features that help you find content gaps and uncover opportunities in your niche, Ahrefs is an excellent choice for competitive analysis and long-tail keyword discovery.
No matter which tool you choose for your SaaS keyword research, there are several informational features with which to familiarize yourself:
1. Search Volume: Look for keywords that have a reasonable monthly search volume. Avoid targeting keywords with volumes so high that the competition is too stiff, but also stay away from terms that don’t generate enough interest to make an impact. Long-tail keywords can be a great entry point, especially if your SaaS company is in its early stages.
2. Keyword Difficulty: Each tool provides a keyword difficulty score that indicates how challenging it would be to rank for a given keyword. Aim for keywords with lower difficulty scores, particularly those where your SaaS solution has a unique advantage or niche appeal.
3. Competitiveness: Ranking isn’t always enough to drive traffic to your website. Search engine results pages (SERP) competitiveness also affects your ability to attract organic traffic, even if you rank well. Factors such as the number of SERP features (like featured snippets, local packs, or image carousels), the total number of results, PPC competitive density, and the presence of AI-generated overviews can all divert user attention away from your listing.
4. Competitor Keyword Gap Analysis: Gain insight into the keywords that are driving traffic to your competitors. This allows you to find opportunities to target underutilized keywords, refine your strategy based on gaps in your competitors’ approach, or provide ideas for what you need to target.
5. Keyword Suggestions: Leverage features like related keywords, questions and content clustering suggestions to discover related long-tail keywords. Mining them will help you expand your ranking and authority in a targeted content topic.
Choose the Right Keywords
Great keyword research starts with understanding the intent behind search queries. Are users looking for information, making a transaction, or navigating to a specific site? Recognizing buyer intent—whether commercial, informational, transactional, or navigational—allows you to craft a SaaS content marketing strategy that addresses each stage of the buyer’s journey.
Avoid these common traps:
1. High-Volume Obsession: While it’s tempting to chase after high-volume keywords, those are often the most competitive. Further, focusing solely on these often leads to missing the true opportunity—reaching users with high buying intent. Keywords with a high search volume can drive traffic, but if they don’t align with buyer intent or are too competitive, they won’t deliver conversions.
2. Irrelevant Traffic: Bringing traffic to your site is important, but the goal is to attract users who are genuinely interested in your SaaS offering, so conversion-focused keywords are a priority. Irrelevant keywords may increase your visitor numbers but will do little to drive meaningful conversions or help you rank for your actual category.
3. Mixed Intent: Successful SEO depends on aligning your content with the user’s intent. Mixing different intents or forcefully inserting commercial keywords where they don’t naturally fit confuses your audience and undermines your site’s credibility with search engines. Focus creative efforts on content that genuinely addresses what your users are searching for, whether that’s commercial, informational, navigational, or transactional in nature.
4. Keyword Mistakes: Thoroughly verify the actual meaning and usage of keywords to avoid errors. While certain keywords may look suitable and are attractive based on metrics from keyword tools, they may have unexpected nuances or fail to align with ranking content. Give it a search on google to ensure it is correct. Careful research will reduce misalignment and improve SEO effectiveness.
What Makes SaaS Keyword Research Unique?
SaaS keyword research differs from keyword research strategies that work for other industries. Here’s what sets it apart and what you need to do to succeed:
1. SaaS Complexity and Specific Challenges: SaaS solutions often address highly specialized, technical problems, which means marketers need to navigate a landscape filled with nuanced, niche topics. Unlike more straightforward products, SaaS offerings frequently involve multiple features, integrations, and use cases, all of which need to be conveyed clearly through targeted keywords. The challenge is to capture the right balance between high-level solutions keywords and detailed, feature-driven queries that cater to the specific needs of users searching for these solutions. Your keywords should focus on specific pain points and use cases rather than broad, generic terms.
2. Niche Solutions: If you’re marketing a revolutionary SaaS product or a very niche segment, relevant keywords with volume may not yet have been established. You’ll need to be creative. Look for keywords related to content topics that are at the intersection of your topical authority and your target market’s pain points, then build content and authority around them.
3. Highly Technical Audience: Unlike general consumers, SaaS buyers are typically well-versed in the solutions they’re seeking. This makes it crucial to use precise, industry-specific terminology in your keyword research. Broad or generic keywords won’t resonate with this audience. Instead, focus on long-tail keywords and technical terms that speak directly to the problem-solving capabilities of your software.
4. Subscription-Based Models and Long Sales Cycles: SaaS sales cycles tend to be long and complex. This requires a more strategic approach to keyword research. Rather than only targeting keywords aimed at immediate conversion, your strategy should consider the entire buyer’s journey, from awareness to decision-making. Keywords should reflect each phase of the sales funnel. Early-stage keywords might include terms related to broad pain points or educational content, while mid- and late-stage keywords should focus on product comparisons, solution features, and ROI-related terms that help convert leads into paying subscribers.
5. Multiple Decision-Makers: In SaaS sales, decisions often involve multiple stakeholders—ranging from technical experts like CTOs to non-technical decision-makers in finance or operations. Your keyword research needs to account for this diversity by targeting different types of search queries that align with the concerns of each stakeholder. For example, one decision-maker might search for the technical capabilities of your product, while another may be focused on pricing or scalability.
Focus SaaS Keyword Research on Intent
Because SaaS marketing often revolves around problem-solving and providing educational content, you need to understand the intent behind your target audience’s searches. Whether they’re looking for information, seeking a specific solution, or comparing products, your keyword strategy should map directly to each stage of the buyer’s journey.
Problem-Solving and Educational Content
Prospects often start their search with educational or problem-solving queries. For example, a potential customer may not immediately search for your software by name but rather search for solutions to the problem your software addresses. This is why keyword selection should include informational keywords like “how to keep my data safe” or “best project management software for remote teams,” which capture top-of-funnel leads.
Mapping Keywords to Buyer Journey Stages
To align your keywords with the SaaS buyer’s journey, consider the following approach:
1. Awareness Stage: Focus on broad, informational keywords that highlight common pain points or industry trends. For example, keywords like “cloud storage solutions” or “how to secure SaaS applications” can help attract early-stage buyers who are still defining their needs.
2. Consideration Stage: Use more specific, solution-oriented keywords that reflect the decision-making process. Keywords like “best SaaS tools for CRM” or “comparison of top ERP systems” cater to prospects who are actively evaluating different software solutions.
3. Decision Stage: At this point, prospects are closer to making a purchase, so your keywords should target terms like “SaaS pricing models” or “how to implement a marketing automation tool” that help them finalize their decision.
How Keyword Selection Should Reflect These Factors
To ensure your SaaS keyword research is effective, it must reflect the unique challenges and buying patterns in this industry. You should:
1. Emphasize long-tail keywords and technical terms that resonate with a knowledgeable audience.
2. Target a mix of keywords across all stages of the buyer’s journey to guide potential customers from awareness to conversion.
3. Focus on intent-based keywords that align with the specific problems your SaaS product solves.
4. Continually refine your keyword strategy based on the evolving needs of your audience and the long-term nature of SaaS sales.
5. Factor in the competitive landscape by looking at actual Page 1 SERP and PPC results along with emerging AI overviews. You are competing against not only your direct competitors, but indirect ones like Capterra and other 3rd party directories that are trying to rank for these keywords too.
6. Prioritize relevance above all else. Establish your core themes and competencies and establish authority in those spaces. Going outside your topical expertise or publishing unrelated content will not bring you the rankings or high-value traffic you are looking for.
By aligning your SaaS keyword research with these considerations, you’ll attract relevant traffic and improve the quality of your leads, ensuring a more efficient path to conversion and retention.
Choosing Keywords for Homepage and Product Pages
When selecting keywords for your SaaS website design, it’s important to tailor your SaaS keyword research strategy based on the page type. Your homepage and product pages serve different purposes and should be optimized accordingly to ensure both visibility and relevance to users.
Your homepage serves as the primary entry point for many visitors, so it should focus on broad, high-intent keywords that reflect your core offerings. These keywords need to speak to the overall value of your SaaS solution, helping you rank for industry terms that potential customers are likely to search for when they begin exploring their options.
Be accurate, relevant, and precise in your choice. Avoid broad, high-volume terms. Stick with specific keywords that align with commercial intent and convey the purpose of your SaaS. For example, if your product were a CRM software designed to meet the needs of healthcare providers, vague keywords like “CRM software” or “cloud management tools” would be too broad and would be surpassed in SERP rankings by industry-agnostic giant CRMs like Hubspot.
Product pages need a more focused approach, using specific, feature-driven keywords that highlight the unique aspects of each product. These keywords should capture the detailed features and benefits of the individual products you offer, making it easier for potential buyers to find exactly what they need.
Key considerations for product page keywords:
1. Commercial intent: When viewers come to your traffic pages, they are searching for solutions. Grab their attention by aligning your keyword choices with their needs.
2. Precision: Be accurate, relevant and pinpointed in your selections.
Pro Tip: Don’t worry if you struggle to identify a “perfect” keyword for your product pages. If that’s the case, deprioritize SEO here. Instead, emphasize a connection to the buyer’s journey and use these pages to let your product and its features shine. Give SEO primary consideration in other areas, like on your blog.
Using Keywords on Your Website
Once you’ve selected your keywords, it’s time to leverage that research. Here are some places that you should put your keywords to work on your website beyond your home and product pages:
Metadata and URLs
Keywords should be incorporated into your website’s metadata and URLs to boost visibility and improve SEO. This includes:
1. Titles and subheaders: This helps both landing page SEO and readability.
2. Meta titles and descriptions: Optimize these elements to provide clear, concise explanations of your content while including your target keyword.
3. URLs: Use keywords in your page URLs to signal relevance to both users and search engines.
4. Body: Don’t overstuff, but use keywords naturally, including related terms to broaden your visibility for different variations of searches. Can you tell what the keywords for this blog post are? (The answer is “SaaS keyword research.”)
Alt Text and Image Names
Optimizing your images by using keywords in alt text and image file names can improve your site’s accessibility and visibility in image search results. This can be especially beneficial if you have visual content or product demos that can drive engagement.
Internal Linking
When creating internal links between pages on your website, use keyword-rich relevant anchor text to help both users and search engines understand the content of the linked pages. This not only enhances SEO by guiding bots to related content, but also improves user navigation, making it easier for prospects to find relevant content.
Beyond On-Site SEO: Where Else to Leverage Keywords
While an SEO strategy for SaaS is often the primary focus for keyword usage, there are many other critical areas where great SaaS keyword research can enhance your marketing efforts and drive more engagement. Consistent and strategic keyword usage enhances both visibility and audience engagement, creating a unified experience across all touchpoints. Using keywords effectively across these different channels creates a cohesive marketing strategy that improves visibility, engagement, and conversions.
PPC Campaigns
Keywords ensure that your pay-per-click (PPC) ads are relevant and appear to users who are actively searching for solutions like the one you offer. The right keywords improve your ad’s relevance score, driving higher click-through rates (CTR) and better conversion rates. Make sure the keywords match user intent, whether it’s informational, navigational, or transactional.
Social Media Posts and Promotions
Although social media isn’t traditionally keyword-focused, keywords can still enhance your posts and ads by aligning them with trending topics or common search terms relevant to your audience. Using hashtags that include keywords can increase your content’s visibility and reach.
3rd Party Websites
Consistently apply your SaaS keyword research and terminology across all of your internet properties. For example, if you’ve defined your SaaS as a “Real Estate CRM for Investors” and chosen this as your home page keyword, use it without fail across off-site profiles, including social media channel profiles and directory listings.
By leveraging keywords across multiple locations and maintaining consistency, you create a stronger, more effective marketing ecosystem. This approach helps capture and nurture leads at different stages of their journey, driving higher engagement and better results across all channels.
Regularly Revisit Keyword Selections
SaaS keyword research is not a “set it and forget it” exercise. Search behavior changes over time. Trends come and go. Terminology changes. Sometimes, you pick a great keyword and it ranks; other times, anticipated results fail to materialize.
Further, content deprecates over time. You may find that just a few key pages are driving most of your traffic or that page views begin to dwindle over time. There are reasons this happens – perhaps another organization has published a piece of content that better matches search intent or an annual listicle has run its course.
Be aware of this possibility and be prepared to revise, refresh, and reattract a new crop of prospects with updated keyword research.
Boost Your Keyword Research Skills for Saas Success
Improving your SaaS keyword research skills will help you attract the right audience at each stage of the buyer’s journey. Focus on aligning keywords across SEO, PPC, and content marketing, ensuring consistency in targeting high-intent, long-tail keywords that reflect the product’s complexity and buyer intent.
Do you need help optimizing keyword research or with any other aspect of your marketing efforts? Our specialists are here to help. Contact us today.
