If you want people to find your website organically, that is through search engines, then you need to know what they are searching for. We call these keywords. Discovering these words can take a bit of detective work. In good old #BuildInPublic style I'm going to use this website as an example.
Start by thinking about your audience, and what you think they might search for. Write a list.
So, at Versoflow, we're looking for (targeting!) SaaS founders, from first idea to first funding. They're going to need a website for marketing pages. So they might google
- web builder for SaaS
- where should I host my SaaS marketing pages
- best place to host marketing pages for SaaS
We need to know if people are searching for these keywords, and if they are, how many people, and how hard is it to get to page 1 of Google. I’m going to use the Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator.
Unfortunately with this keyword, we get no results. No one is searching, so I won’t waste time writing about this.
Ok, this is better, there are an average of 10 monthly searches for this. Notice the KD? That’s keyword difficulty. That’s a score of 0 to 100 on how hard it would be to rank on Google for this word. There’s not enough data for “best website builder for SaaS”, so presumably it’s easy to rank for this.
What if I google it?
- 4 ads
- some typical listings pages (most likely paid for, or with advertising)
- a couple of agencies who build sites
- Duda (in my opinion one of the worst names for a visual development software eva!), who don’t really explain why it’s good for SaaS.
- a couple of marketing companies
So, nothing very useful, but maybe just because I’ve used the keyword “best website builder for SaaS" a lot, this page will rank for those 10 searches a month.
What’s next?
| Keyword | Keyword ideas | KD | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landing pages for SaaS | 7 | n/a | 0-10 |
| Marketing pages for SaaS | No keyword ideas | n/a | n/a |
| Web builder for SaaS | No keyword ideas | n/a | n/a |
| Where should I host my SaaS marketing pages | No keyword ideas | n/a | n/a |
| Best place to host marketing pages for SaaS | No keyword ideas | n/a | n/a |
| SaaS website | 10 | from 0 to 25 | from 40 to 250 |
SaaS website = Jackpot!
Ok, these are not huge numbers, but at least there is some volume for them, and the keyword difficulty is quite low, so I should be able to rank for some of these. At last, a content strategy !
I’ll do this exercise again with other possible keywords like “SaaS marketing” which is tangential to what we do, but is essential once a founder has a website. But I now have a starting point.
Prioritizing keywords
I want to prioritize based on factors such as search volume, relevance, and competition. I’m going to focus on the keywords that are most likely to drive qualified traffic to my website.
| Keyword | KD | Volume | Competition | Analysis | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best SaaS website | 10 | 250 | 4 SaaS adjacent ads.
8 “best SaaS design” blogs from agencies 1 marketing agency 1 web builder app blog post (Webflow) |
The ads are not relevant to the keyword.
Agencies like this keyword. Versoly should be targeting this keyword. |
Versoflow will put a blog post together for this keyword. Links to both theory and design. |
| SaaS website template | 1 | 10 | 2 Ads with actual templates for SaaS
4 Web builder apps with templates 5 Theme repositories 1 Design repository |
This keyword only goes to 6 pages on Google.
Even on page 3 we’re at individual themes for sale. |
Versoflow will add more content for this keyword.
Another possible keyword “UI Kits” |
| SaaS website design | 17 | 90 | 4 ads.
Similar to “Best SaaS website” |
||
| SaaS website designs | 15 | 90 | 1 ad. Similar to above, but an interesting addition of a paid for design inspiration site. | ||
| Saas website examples | 16 | 40 | 5 Aggregators or sellers of templates
5 Web agencies |
I’m not sure if plurals make a difference, but Morning Score suggests that if the search volume is the same, use the plural as the singular will often be included.
Getting keywords into your website
Once you have identified and prioritized your keywords, it's time to put them into your website. This involves optimizing your page titles, headings, and content to include your target keywords.
So I’m going to have to write some blog posts and landing pages around this topic, and then link them together with other content across the site.
Tracking and measuring success
Finally, it's important to track and measure the success of your keyword strategy. Use a tool like Plausible Analytics to track how well your website is ranking for your target keywords, and make adjustments as needed. Using Versoly’s built-in Event Options, you can even see which buttons or links are being pressed, honing in a bit more on which pages are creating the most interest.
Creating a keyword SEO strategy requires research, planning, and ongoing optimization to be effective. By incorporating the right keywords into your website, you’ll improve your search engine rankings and drive more qualified traffic to your site.