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My team and I at Scalerrs spent hours recapping the most powerful SEO optimisations & frameworks for a SaaS company.
All the SEO elements that have scaled our clients organic traffic and pipeline to new levels.
| Status | Action Item |
| 🔎 Up Front Strategy | |
| ☑ | Align your SEO strategy with your GTM motion (Self Serve, SMBs, Enterprise) |
| ☑ | Communicate before hand expectactions with C suite around the SEO strategy and timeline for growth |
| ☑ | Determine the viability of SEO as a channel and the ROI at stake (Consider building a SEO growth model to do this by reverse engineering potential results and resources needed to rank) |
| 🔎 General SEO | |
| ☑ | Set up Google Analytics (GA) |
| ☑ | Set up Google Search Console (GSC) |
| ☑ | Set up Bing Webmaster Tools |
| ☑ | Add 'trust' (E-E-A-T) pages (About, Privacy Policy and TOS) |
| 🔎 UX | |
| ☑ | Ensure navigation includes key pages (Product pages, "industry" pages, template hub, blog hub...) |
| ☑ | Ensure all pages & features are accessible on mobile |
| ☑ | Ensure no broken links exist within the website |
| ☑ | Ensure a logical & optimised navigation throughout the website that fits the buyer journey |
| 🔎 CRO | |
| ☑ | Add social trust through customer testimonials & trust badges |
| ☑ | Include numerous CTAs that stay top of mind through out the scroll |
| ☑ | Add exit intent pop ups to key pages such as product pages / homepage / blog posts (Potentially) |
| ☑ | Add prominent CTAs inside your blog post content to increase conversions |
| ☑ | Add sticky CTAs to your blog posts on desktop to increase conversions |
| ☑ | Add prominent CTAs to the end of your blog posts to increase conversions |
| 🔎 On Page SEO | |
| ☑ | Fix missing and duplicate meta titles & descriptions |
| ☑ | Check and fix broken internal links on your website |
| ☑ | Keep URLs short & include your target keyword in the URL |
| ☑ | Add internal links from your homepage towards your key target pages such as "product pages", "industry pages", templates hub and blog hub to pass down link equity |
| ☑ | Include your target keyword in Meta Title, URL, Meta Description and <p> Tag (Body content) |
| ☑ | Only include a single H1 on each page |
| ☑ | Ensure keywords aren't cannabalizing different pages |
| 🔎 Money Pages SEO | |
| ☑ | Respect all mentionned previous on page SEO elements above |
| ☑ | Conduct manual keyword research around your potential product & industry (I.e "invoicing software for accountants") pages |
| ☑ | Dig into GSC to pull through high impression "commercial" intent product keywords that might be emerging in your vertical |
| ☑ | Conduct a competitor gap analysis to identify which "money" keywords around your ICP your competition has focused on |
| ☑ | Review & replicate your competitor's strategy in terms of site architecture, page layout, content depth and internal linking |
| ☑ | Prioritise previously found KW opportunities (Product & industry pages, templates) depending on ACV potential |
| ☑ | Optimise your meta description & meta title for CTR on the SERPs |
| 🔎 a) "Product" and "Industry" Pages SEO | |
| ☑ | Use high quality assets (Photos...etc) |
| ☑ | Consider embedding a video asset targeting the same product keyword directly on your product page to increase page score thus rankings |
| ☑ | Add customer reviews of your product (Written and video if possible) |
| ☑ | Add an FAQ section |
| ☑ | Add internal links towards other key related "Product" and "Industry" pages |
| ☑ | Ensure your product page's depth is thorough and matches or supasses that of your competitors |
| 🔎 b) "Individual Template" Pages SEO | |
| ☑ | Identify the search intent in Google (I.e does this target keyword better suit for a category (Broad intent) or an individual template (Narrow search intent) |
| ☑ | Add internal links with descriptive anchors to other key related "Template" pages (Preferably the same topical cluster) |
| ☑ | Ensure your "individual template" page's depth is thorough and matches or supasses that of your competitors |
| ☑ | Consider using SurferSEO/Clearscope/Frase for optimising for secondary keywords |
| ☑ | Consider using a "internal block" to link back to key related feature pages (I.e product CTA) |
| ☑ | Include a FAQ section |
| ☑ | Include breadcrumbs linking back to "template category" pages to pass down link equity |
| 🔎 c) "Template Category" Pages SEO | |
| ☑ | Identify the search intent in Google (I.e does this target keyword better suit for a category (Broad intent) or an individual template (Narrow search intent) |
| ☑ | Add internal links with descriptive anchors towards other key related "Template Category" pages (Preferably the same topical cluster) |
| ☑ | Ensure your "template category" page's depth is thorough and matches or supasses that of your competitors |
| ☑ | Add content at the bottom of the page to increase the page depth |
| ☑ | Consider using SurferSEO/Clearscope/Frase optimising for secondary keywords inside the category page content |
| 🔎 Content Marketing | |
| ☑ | Define a TOV (Tone of voice) that matches that of your ICP |
| ☑ | Map out your content strategy by using the customer aware framework (Unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, most aware) |
| ☑ | Map out your ICP de define key pain points, search journeys, and "jobs to de done" (Consider using your sales and customer support team for insights) |
| ☑ | Use competitor review websites (E.g G2) to find extra pain points and JTBD keywords. |
| ☑ | Drill down on "switch moments" to identify any potential format your ICP are using to solve their "Job To Be Dones" (I.e maybe it's excel, Notion, paper ...etc) - this will lead to insighful keywords you can target. |
| ☑ | Create content highly centered around your ICPs interest to drive demand generation |
| ☑ | Nail search intent by creating the most relevant format and depth that answers the search query you are targeting |
| ☑ | Perform a content audit to remove potential content cannibalisation and topics outside your content map focus |
| ☑ | Identify which "product pages" you have a fair chance of ranking, and identify which topical clusters you need to support those rankings |
| ☑ | Max out the bottom of the funnel before moving up in the funnel |
| ☑ | Map out & prioritise content clusters by ACV potential that can be built out |
| ☑ | Conduct manual keyword research by using seed keywords to identify content opportunities potentially untapped |
| ☑ | Make sure to answer multiple JTBDs of different target persona's if your SaaS buying cycle has multiple decision makers |
| ☑ | Before creating any new content, identify any quick win opportunities regarding your existing content mpa that may fit your target goals |
| ☑ | Conduct a competitor gap analysis to identify which clusters of keywords centered around your ICP your competitors have focused on |
| ☑ | Identify untapped BOFU intent keywords in GSC where a round up " Best X" post could rank |
| ☑ | Create BOFU comparison content with competitors to recuperate conversions and dominate the narrative around your product ("Your Brand" VS "Competitor Brand") |
| ☑ | Create BOFU competitor alternative content to position yourself as a solution ("Competitor Brand" VS "Competitor Brand") |
| ☑ | Ensure all your content is keyword optimised (Use tools such as SurferSEO/Clearscope/Narrato/Frase) |
| ☑ | Write for the user & not for search engines while hitting search intent |
| ☑ | Include E-E-A-T frameworks by adding relevant sourced existing or unique quotes from field experts to enhance the uniqueness of your content |
| ☑ | Ensure target keyword is in the URL, meta title, H1, and intro |
| ☑ | Use subheadings (H2s, H3s..) to show Google's crawlers the hierarchy of your content |
| ☑ | Use alt text for your images |
| ☑ | Internally link to relevant product, industry and template pages to push these target pages higher up in their own rankings |
| ☑ | Internally link to supporting articles to create relationships between articles in the same cluster |
| ☑ | Vary up internal link anchors to drive more secondary keyword rankings to target pages (Secondary keywords can be found in Ahrefs and GSC) |
| ☑ | Link out to relevant authoritative sources (AVOID competitors though) |
| ☑ | Add "nofollow" tags to external cited sources |
| ☑ | Format & proofread all content before publishing live |
| ☑ | Map out any "free tools" your ICP is searching for you could create to acquire targeted users onto your site |
| 🔎 Content Refreshing | |
| ☑ | Identify decaying content to be refreshed |
| ☑ | Identify low hanging fruit (Positions 5-16) that can be pushed up higher in the rankings |
| ☑ | Regularly update your content by adding new sections and entities |
| 🔎 Site Speed Optimisation | |
| ☑ | Use a server that is closest to your target market |
| ☑ | Set up a CDN (content delivery network) |
| ☑ | Minify your JS/CSS files |
| ☑ | Reduce image sizes before uploading |
| ☑ | Enable lazy loading if possible |
| ☑ | Display images in next-gen formats (WebP) |
| 🔎 Technical SEO | |
| ☑ | Ensure your website is secure with HTTPS |
| ☑ | Ensure you only have one subdomain (www. or non-www and that the later redirects to the main) |
| ☑ | Ensure you have a XML sitemap containing all important pages and submit it to the Google Search Console (GSC) |
| ☑ | Find and fix Index Coverage Errors in Google Search Console |
| ☑ | Ensure all hrelang tags are correctly setup (If multilingual site) |
| ☑ | Setup robots.txt correctly |
| ☑ | Review and fix 301 redirect chains and loops on your website |
| ☑ | Use 301s redirects when needed |
| ☑ | Noindex irrelevant pages to prevent index bloat |
| 🔎 Backlink Profile | |
| ☑ | Low amount of spammy backlinks |
| ☑ | Anchor text are not over-optimised (I.e too many exact/partial match anchor texts) |
| ☑ | Link profile is natural and balanced out |
| 🔎 Link Building | |
| ☑ | Map out your link building strategy to identify which key "conversion heavy" pages need backlinks to be pushed higher up in the SERPs |
| ☑ | Before building any backlinks determine the ROI on any link building efforts to key target pages ( Use AVC and Google Ad spend to gauge value) |
| ☑ | Ensure you have the same internal link strategy than your competitors in your backend |
| ☑ | Ensure you are using a 360 approach where you are building links (I;e not only to product pages but also supporting blog articles) |
| ☑ | Funnel backlink power purposely through your website to power up key pages |
| ☑ | As a rule, aim to match your competitor's links in terms of type & anchor text in the SERPs |
| ☑ | Get your product featured in product "Best X" round ups |
| ☑ | Get interviewed on podcasts & blogs |
| ☑ | Setup "Help A B2B Writer Out" to drive expert commentary quote mentions in return for a backlink (This will also build out your author footprint) |
| ☑ | Create unique content to acquire links through outreach & promotion (data studies, industry insights, expert round ups ...) |
| ☑ | Build links using ABC link building (The backbone of link building in SaaS) |
| ☑ | Identify key websites where you could pitch a guest post in order to build the highest impact links (I.e if a website has an article and ranks for the KW "lead generation", pitch him a supporting article he hasn't yet written such as "SaaS lead generation") |
| ☑ | Aim to pitch guest posts with the aim of not only getting a link but ranking your guest post, this will make your link highly impactful as it will have traffic but also you should aim to drive conversions from the guest post as the topic should be tied back to your product ideally. |
| ☑ | Consider a digital PR campaign (Can also strengthen the trust associated with your brand if done correctly) |
| ☑ | Reach out your "integration partners" where you haven't been linked too for a link back. You may even consider a guest post opportunity. |
| ☑ | Reach out to brands that have re used your image assets for a credit back in the form of a backlink |
| ☑ | Recover unlinked brand mentions by reaching out to brands that have mentioned you but have forgot to link back to you |
| ☑ | Consider building some free tools around your ICPs needs, once ranked these can be some excellent link magnets |
| ☑ | Consider giving bloggers in your niche a free trial of your product (E.g 3 months), this would help build backlinks and conversions at the same time. |
| ☑ | Consider building a link building growth loop through your product (I.e Typeform) (This is hard to do but can be a catalyst for your growth if done correctly). |
| ☑ | Aim for SERP MONOPOLY where you are featured on multiple websites that are ranking on page 1 for your target keyword |
| 🔎 Measuring Success | |
| ☑ | Track the pipeline revenue directly correlated with your SEO efforts |
| ☑ | Track the conversions of your SEO traffic to determine wether or not you are attracting the right audience through your strategy |
| ☑ | Track your SQLs to determine if you are attracting your ICP specifically or not, this will allow you to pivot if needed |
| ☑ | Track your overall ROI on your SEO channel by determining your conversions, SQLs, AVCs compared to your SEO investment (SEO management, content production and link building) |
| ☑ | Track your increase in non branded VS branded queries to show the success or your non branded SEO strategy |
| ☑ | Track the positions of target keywords in the SERPs to determine if your SEO strategy is playing out correctly |
Link to Google Sheets https://docs.google.com/spread...rP60EsK-P2A/copy
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