Sonu Goswami Common SaaS SEO Mistakes Companies Make
Here's something that drives me crazy about SaaS marketing.
Everyone's obsessed with getting more traffic. They want those big, shiny keyword rankings that make them feel good in Monday morning meetings. But here's the thing – traffic means nothing if it doesn't convert.
Last month, I worked with a SaaS startup that was getting 50K monthly visitors but only 12 signups. Their competitor? 8K visitors, 180 signups. Guess who's still in business?
The Real SaaS SEO Game
SaaS SEO isn't about playing the same game as everyone else. Your customers have long, complicated buying processes. They research for months, compare dozens of tools, and involve multiple decision makers.
You can't just throw up some blog posts about "10 Best Marketing Tips" and expect results.
What Actually Moves the Needle
Get Your Tech Right First Look, I know it's boring. Nobody wants to talk about page speed and mobile optimization. But if your site loads like molasses, Google won't even give you a chance to compete.
I've seen too many SaaS companies skip this step and wonder why their content isn't ranking. Your Core Web Vitals matter more than you think.
Target People Ready to Buy This is where most companies mess up. They go after keywords like "project management" when they should target "project management software for remote teams under 50 people."
The second one gets way less searches. But every person finding you actually needs what you're selling.
I learned this the hard way. Spent 6 months ranking for "email marketing" only to get visitors who wanted tips, not software.
Write for Humans Who Have Real Problems Your prospects aren't looking for fluff. They're dealing with actual business problems and need to know if your tool can solve them.
Instead of writing "The Ultimate Guide to Customer Success," write "How to Reduce Churn When Your Customer Success Team Is Just You."
See the difference? One sounds like every other SaaS blog post. The other speaks to someone's actual situation.
The Content Library Trick
Here's something most people don't realize – instead of constantly creating new content, update your existing stuff.
That blog post you wrote 8 months ago about onboarding? Update it with new examples. Add a section about remote onboarding. Include a video walkthrough.
Google loves fresh content, but it doesn't have to be brand new content.
What This Actually Gets You
When you do this right, three things happen:
Your cost to get new customers drops dramatically. Organic traffic converts 8x better than paid ads for most SaaS companies I work with.
You start attracting better leads. People who find you organically usually stick around longer and upgrade more often.
Your sales team stops complaining about lead quality. When someone reads three of your articles before booking a demo, that conversation goes very differently.
Where to Start
Pick one thing your software does really well. Just one.
Find 5-10 keywords around that feature that have decent search volume but aren't impossibly competitive.
Write content that helps people decide if they need that feature and how to evaluate different options.
Don't try to rank for everything at once. Build authority in one area, then expand.
Most SaaS companies I see trying to rank for 200 different keywords end up ranking well for none of them.
The Reality Check
This stuff takes time. Like, 6-12 months minimum before you see real results.
If your boss expects immediate results from SEO, have a different conversation first. But if you can commit to doing this consistently, it's the closest thing to a growth cheat code that exists.
The companies crushing it with SEO aren't doing anything magical. They're just focused on helping people solve problems instead of gaming search engines.
Want to see if your SaaS SEO is working? Check if your organic traffic converts better than your paid traffic. If not, you're probably targeting the wrong keywords.