15 SaaS Keyword Research Tactics that boost Traffic and Sales(Insider Tips)

When it comes to ranking on Google, Keyword Research is the first and foremost thing that comes to your mind. Keyword Research is the main part of any SEO campaign and is even more important for SaaS brands. 

SaaS Keyword Research is a bit different from other B2B or B2C keyword research, as SaaS brands need to maintain a balance between targeting keywords with commercial intent and informational intent. 

That’s why it’s important to have a good Keyword research strategy ready to use. This blog won’t give you the same Keyword Research Tips that you’d find anywhere on the Internet. 

We’ve curated a very extensive, and to-the-point list of all the 15 SaaS keyword research Strategies that you need to implement to increase traffic and sales. 

Ready? Let’s go!

15 Uncommon (But Super Effective) SaaS Keyword Research Strategies

You should go through all of these 15 steps in the same order as it’s written to get the best keyword list at the end. 

1. Types of Keywords you want to target.

The First step in any revolutionary Keyword Research plan is to decide what types of keywords you want to target. Generally, there are 4 types of keywords, and you can target all these 4 types. But if that seems too much for you, you can also start by targeting 2-3 sets of these keyword frameworks. 

• Informational Intent

Keywords related to Informational Intent are related to searches that your target audience asks of any Search Engine. You create content around keywords that solve a specific problem that your Target audience might have. 

Under Informational Intent, you create content around keywords that answers-

• Frequently Asked Questions of your target audience 
• Common problems and pain points that they might face. 
• Content Pillars or content around broad topics. 

An example of Content with Informational Intent keywords will be 

Here MailChimp has used the keyword, CONTENT STRATEGY to create informational content around. 

• Navigational Intent

Navigational Intent is when your target audience searches for a specific page or specific blog on your website. These keywords are mostly branded keywords and are used to help, more visitors find you through your brand or product name. 

These keywords revolve around these two factors- 

• Brand Name, and 
• Product Name

An example of a Navigational Intent Keyword would be 

When you search for the keyword CANVA PRO PRICING, this page comes up. It shows that the keyword includes both brand name and product information. 

• Commercial Intent

Commercial Intent keywords are crucial for any SaaS brand. Your target audience uses these keywords just before making a decision. Most of these keywords start with-

• Best, example: Best Email Marketing Software
• Alternative to, example: Alternatives to Zapier 
• Your brand vs. Competitors’ brand, example: Canva vs Figma
• Case Studies, or Reviews from Other People/Blogs

An example of a Commercial Intent Keyword will be- 

• Transactional Intent

Transactional Intent Keywords are searches your target audience uses before they become a paid customer. These keywords basically include words and phrases like discounts, offers, limited deals., and much more. 

2. Brainstorm some Keywords before you go to Official Research.

Before you start digging into Keywords Software and begin your official research. It’s wise to sit and brainstorm a few ideas of the potential keywords you want to rank for. 

Once you’ve got a list of all the keyword ideas you can start researching more about them, and removing them as you go. You need to brainstorm all the ideas that fall under the above Search Intent. 

For example, say you’re a SaaS Email Marketing software, your keyword list can look something like this- 

Start creating tables or buckets like these and then cross off the ones that don’t match with your brand or metrics. The best way to brainstorm ideas is to think like your customer. Understand their pain points, and their struggles, and then create your buckets.

1. Do Keyword Research and Find different Types of Keywords

Now it’s time to sit down and do some actual research on the keywords you just brainstormed. Choose any Keyword Research tool that you like, or simply go to Google Search Console and analyse which keywords you’re already ranking for, and what keywords you can potentially rank for. You want to shortlist these two types of keywords so that you can update previous content to increase rankings, and creates new content for high-potential keywords. 

After you’ve got a list of all the keywords, and the data, start categorizing them into two parts- 

• Short Tail Keywords
• Long Tail Keywords

Short Tail or Primary Keywords are 1-2 word phases, like SaaS Keyword Research. These keywords can be competitive, so as to increase your chances of showing up on SERPs. You should optimize your content for Long Tail Keywords or Secondary Keywords. These keywords are long search queries that you can include throughout your content to increase your chances of ranking. An example would be, How to do SaaS Keyword Research. 

2. Research Keyword Data and Create a List of the Most Converting Keywords

Ranking on Google amidst all the content that’s been published on the internet is tough. As a SaaS brand, your first motive with SEO should be to bring conversions aka sales. To bring in conversions with SEO, there are certain metrics you need to keep in account while choosing keywords. These metrics should be CPC, PPC, and CTR. 

Create a list of keywords that fall under these metrics, and are less competitive, and you’ll have conversions faster. 

3. Select a Good Keyword Research Tool 

There are many keyword research tools in the market, but the one, we at Team SaaSlinko, use is Ahrefs. Ahrefs offer many features that you can use to improve your website and ranking opportunities. Ahrefs has a free keyword research tool that you can use to get a certain amount of data. 

If you go to the Keyword Generator Tool, and type in your main keyword, as used here Keto Diet. You’ll find a drop-down of all the potential keywords and their data that you can select and target. 

Choosing a good keyword research tool is essential for the success of SaaS SEO. You can also measure the keywords metrics on the basis of- 

• Clicks- Clicks show the percentage of people who clicked on the specific keyword. 
• Monthly Search Volume(MSV)- This is the estimated traffic the keyword gets. 
• Keyword Difficulty- This data will present to you, how difficult it is to rank for a particular keyword.  

4. Analyze your Competitor’s Content and Keywords

You can find out a lot of keyword ideas from your competitor’s content and the Ads they’re running. We will talk about the Ads later, but analysing their content will you a birds-ey view of how they’re using their keyword strategy, and help you outrank them. 

Tools like Ahrefs, and Semrush, allow you to spy on your competitor’s strategy. To use Ahrefs to find competitor data, you need to go to the Site Explorer tool and then type in your competitor’s link and URLs. You’ll be able to see the keywords from where they’re getting the most traffic, the number and quality of backlinks they’ve, and the Ads they run to get traffic. 

5. Create Content Around BOFU Keywords

BOFU Content refers to Bottom Of the Funnel content/keywords. These keywords are search queries used by your target audience who knows about your brand. The audience in this stage is problem aware and actively looking for different solutions to their pains. 

These keywords often have low search volume but very high chances of conversion. BOFU keywords mostly look like this- 

ClickUp used a listicle blog to describe the best project management software available while putting their SaaS as an option as well!.

You can try and find BOFU keywords to target and get sales flowing!

6. Find Reviews to Find Keywords Ideas. 

Going to online forums, and review sites can give you an idea of the keywords or phrases your customers are using to describe your SaaS. Forums like Reddit, Quora, Slack groups, etc can give you a lot of insight into your customer’s pain points. G2, and Capterra, are also some great review sites where you can check customers’ reviews. 

Once, you start going through all these platforms, you’ll notice a pattern, the same keyword repeated by a lot of customers. Store that keyword, and go on to Ahrefs to do your research. If the keyword fits into your SEO strategy then you can add it to your list. 

7. Find Keywords Alternative to your SaaS

Using Alternative keywords to create content around, and rank for is a popular thing in the SaaS world. To do this, start off by defining your direct competitors, and then create a content topic around Your brand product vs. Competitor’s brand product. An example would be- 

It’s a bit tricky to rank for these keywords, but it’s certainly worth the try. These keywords generally come under BOFU Content, so it’s worth a try.

8.  Use Jobs-to-be-done Method

If your SaaS does multiple things all at once then it’s better to use the Jobs-to-be-done method. Take Hotjar for example. Hotjar has designed various features into specific groups. You can see the drop-down under Why Hotjar option, where there are specific options, like For Product Managers, For Product Designers, etc.  

All of these features have different functions and roles, but by simply categorizing things, they’ve made it easier for their customers to go to the feature they want. Plus, create different pages for the different features, and rank for those brand keywords. 

9. Use Sales Calls for your Advantage 

It’s time you inform your Sales Team to start recording the sales calls they probably conduct every single day. It’s a goldmine of keyword ideas. 

Sales Calls are used to analyse your customer’s pain points. Once you’ve their specific pain points ready, you can start creating content around them. Most of the time your customer’s pain points are long-tail keywords with zero traffic. It’s your chase t direct the traffic to your page. 

If the long-tail keywords show zero searches, then you can create content around that specific problem, and attract visitors. It’s a time-consuming possess, but one that can give you a huge edge over your competitors. 

10. Using data from Google Ads

Google Ads run by your competitors is also a great way to find more keyword ideas. If your competitors are paying to target some keywords, then those keywords might be worth addressing as well. You can use Ahrefs to find the keywords you’re competitor’s Ads are targeting, and see if you can target them as well. 

You can also use the Paid Ad keywords in your organic traffic generating strategy. You can also refer to Google Ads to find this data. 

My 2 Cents

These 15 insider tips and tricks to find the best keywords for your SaaS brand will give you an edge over your competitors. But SEO is not just about Keywords. 

If you want to increase your chances of ranking on Google, then make sure you sign up for the SaaSlinko blog, so that you always get notified when we next release our insider secrets and tips!

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