SEO Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide for B2B SaaS

Search engine optimization (SEO) for B2B companies has been called both the holy grail of marketing and a complete waste of time—depending on who you talk to. Some swear by it and are willing to invest significant resources into their SEO efforts. Others claim they've "tried SEO and it didn't work 😥" and believe it to be a guessing game with no guaranteed results. 

Even at our agency, we’ve seen both ends of the spectrum. We've worked with B2B SaaS companies who were initially skeptical, only to see their organic traffic numbers go up and lead generation become more consistent once a data-driven SEO strategy was in place. The reality is, SEO isn't magic—but when it's done right, it can be one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal.

So how do you make it work for your B2B SaaS instead of throwing money at optimizations that may or may not move the needle? In this step-by-step guide, we'll walk you through an effective SEO strategy and the way we tailor it for B2B SaaS companies.

What Is a SaaS SEO Strategy Anyway?

At its core, a SaaS SEO strategy is simply a plan to improve your website’s visibility in search engines, so you can attract more of the right visitors to your site. The goal is to rank high enough on Google’s list of results for people to actually click on your brandname—because let’s face it, no one is trusting the resources on page 255. (Even though maybe they shouldn't always rule them out, as sometimes the first few pages are just copy-paste of other well-optimized articles, but we digress.)

Basically, the goal is to get your SaaS in front of potential customers who are actively searching for the products or services you offer. Despite what some of our clients may think, there are no shortcuts or secret "hacks" to make it happen overnight. It takes time, effort, and a solid understanding of how search engines work.

How Do Search Engines Work?

When writing articles like this, it's always hard to find the right angle—because we have to assume different levels of understanding on the other side. How in-depth do we need to go? What jargon can we use? But in this case, it really boils down to understanding the basics.

Search engines like Google use complex algorithms to crawl and index websites all over the internet. Essentially, they scan through your website’s code and content to figure out what your site is about and how relevant it is to certain search queries. They factor in your website's content, structure, and authority, but they also take into account the user's location, language preferences, and browsing history when displaying results.

Here’s the kicker—no one outside of Google really knows how these algorithms work. They're constantly changing and kept under lock and key. All we have are educated guesses and best practices based on past experiences and observations. But one thing is certain: search engines are always evolving to provide the best, most relevant results to users. If your website is seen as valuable to them, it will show up in front of your audience.

You’ll find plenty of articles claiming that adding images, videos, keywords, or backlinks will guarantee you a top spot on search engine results pages (SERPs). The reality? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for improving your website’s ranking. It takes a mix of strategies and continuous effort to stay on top. If you try to "hack" the system or use shady tactics, your website will likely sink with the next algorithm update.

Why SEO Over Other Traffic Sources?

Considering everything written above, the next logical question would be: why put so much effort into SEO when there are other traffic sources, like Google Ads, that can get you immediate results?

Well, all traffic sources have their place in a good marketing strategy, but SEO offers something the others don’t—long-term, sustainable growth. Paid ads can give you quick traffic, but as soon as you stop paying, that traffic dries up. SEO, on the other hand, keeps working for you 24/7. A well-optimized piece of content can continue driving organic traffic for months, even years, after it’s been published. And the best part? You’re not paying for each click.

Another big reason to invest in SEO is trust. B2B SaaS customers are typically doing a lot of research before making a decision. When your business shows up organically in search results, it builds credibility. Compare that to an ad, which might come across as more sales-driven and less trustworthy. That's not to say ads don't have their place, just that they shouldn't be the only focus of your marketing efforts.

Finally, SEO helps you capture high-intent traffic. When someone searches for a solution to their problem and your website shows up, they’re already interested. They’re looking for exactly what you offer, and that makes it far more likely they’ll engage with your content—and eventually, your product. So while SEO may require a bit more time and effort upfront, the long-term benefits make it well worth the investment.

How Do Agencies Do SEO for B2B SaaS?

Compared to other types of businesses, SaaS companies rely heavily on their websites to show their products, features, benefits, pricing, and demos or trials. Working on an SEO strategy for B2B SaaS businesses means understanding that the sales cycle is much faster, with an average of just 40 days for SaaS products priced below $5,000. The decision-making process for B2B SaaS products is also more complex, often involving multiple stakeholders across different departments.

This complexity adds another layer of challenge: SEO content for B2B SaaS must cater to various decision-makers with different priorities. For instance:

• Technical stakeholders will be looking for detailed product specifications, security features, and integration capabilities.
• Financial stakeholders will need information on pricing models, cost savings, and ROI.
• Operational teams might focus on ease of implementation, user experience, and ongoing support.

SEO strategies for SaaS must take this into account, creating content that addresses these diverse concerns at various touch points throughout the buyer journey. The key is to optimize for both search engines and the human beings making the purchase decisions. Content must be varied and good enough to answer questions for every stakeholder while still aligning with overall business goals.

All this means you don’t have a lot of room to nurture your prospects. Agencies know this and approach SEO for B2B SaaS differently. When a new client walks through our doors, we first assess their current website and overall online presence. We talk about their business goals, budget, and competitors to get a full picture of where they stand.

Without understanding where they are now, we can’t develop a strategy to help them get where they want to be. We also make sure our clients know that SEO efforts align with the overall marketing and sales strategy. SEO should support business goals such as lead generation, customer acquisition, and revenue growth—not operate in a vacuum. And btw, here's the very first slide of our SEO presentation for the kick-off workshop with every new client, to make sure we're all on the same page about setting expectations :) 👇

In the next few chapters, we will explain the key steps we take to create and execute an effective SEO strategy for B2B SaaS clients. From conducting keyword research to optimizing on-page content and building quality backlinks, we’ll cover everything you need to know to improve your website's search engine rankings and start driving targeted traffic.

Step-by-Step SEO Strategy for B2B SaaS Companies

Now that we’ve laid the foundation, let’s dive into the real work: building an effective SEO strategy for B2B SaaS companies. For simplicity, we will divide the process into 7 key steps:

1. Identify Your Target Audience and Search Intent
2. Conduct Keyword Research
3. Conduct a Site Audit and Analyze Existing Content
4. Optimize On-Page Content
5. Implement Technical SEO Improvements
6. Build Quality Backlinks
7. Monitor, Measure, and Adjust

Each of these steps will be discussed in detail, providing you with tips and best practices to follow. By the end, you’ll have a solid understanding of how to approach SEO for your B2B SaaS company—or you might decide it’s time to bring in the experts to do the heavy lifting for you.

Every company is unique, so these steps will need to be adjusted based on your specific business goals and target audience. However, this framework will serve as a reliable starting point.

Step 1: Identify Your Target Audience and Search Intent

Yes, we are repetitive, and yes, we still can't stress enough the importance of knowing your target audience. Before moving things any further with any of our clients, we make sure we understand (and they understand) who their target audience is, what motivates them, and how they behave online.

Ideally, they will come to us with this information already in hand, but if not, we'll work together to develop detailed buyer personas. How do we do this? We talked a lot about it in the article "Building Successful Tech B2B Buyer Personas", where we covered steps to building accurate and effective personas for your B2B tech company, including:

1. Analyzing actual data about your existing customers
2. Conducting interviews with current customers
3. Identifying the problems your products can solve
4. Researching the market and identifying people who are currently facing these problems
5. Finding out what they want to achieve
6. Identifying their buying behavior
7. Finally, defining your target audience
8. Creating buyer personas profiles
9. Segmentation and personalization.

If you don't have a clear understanding of who you are trying to reach, take a look at the article mentioned above for a more detailed breakdown of these steps. Once you have a well-defined target audience, you can start to think about the search intent behind their online behavior.

Search intent refers to what people are looking for when they use a search engine like Google. Without understanding your target audience's search intent, it will be difficult to create content that resonates.

There are four main types of search intent:

• Informational - People are looking for information or answers to questions
• Navigational - People are trying to find a specific website or page
• Commercial - People are researching products or services before making a purchase decision
• Transactional - People are ready to make a purchase.

Using tools such as Google Analytics, Search Console, Semrush, or Ahrefs can help you understand the search intent behind your target audience's online behavior. Granted, that means you know how to use these tools to gather and analyze data. If you don't, there are plenty of resources available online to help you get started.

Take SEMrush’s Keyword Research Tool as an example. It doesn’t just provide keyword volume but also categorizes keywords by search intent—Informational (I), Commercial (C), Transactional (T), and Navigational (N). Here's an example of it:

Let’s start with the keyword "inbound marketing" with 12,100 search volume, marked with both informational and commercial intent. This shows that people are looking to learn more about inbound marketing and might also be investigating tools or services around it. Meanwhile, a keyword like "hubspot inbound marketing" is more navigational, indicating people are already familiar with HubSpot and want specific information about its tools.

How do you use this knowledge? First, we will use it to map content to the intent—create a list of educational resources for informational keywords and conversion-driven landing pages or case studies for commercial or transactional ones. 

Next, we will look for gaps, such as keywords with a lower difficulty but decent volume, like "inbound vs outbound marketing." You can target these to draw in searchers looking for comparisons, offering them valuable content while positioning your product or service as the solution.

The goal is to use these tools to identify keywords, understand why users are searching what they’re searching, and to create content that aligns with their intent at each stage of the buying process. 

But we’ll get to it all in due time. Once you have your target audience and their search intent nailed down, use it as guidance for the next step.

Step 2: Perform Keyword Research

Ah, keyword research—the main thing everyone thinks of when they hear "SEO." While it is important, there’s much more to it than just picking out a few high-volume search terms. Keyword research basically means finding the words and phrases that people use in search engines to find information related to your business or industry.

To start your keyword research, you need access to a keyword research tool. Some popular options include Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz's Keyword Explorer, but we will stick to SEMrush for our examples. Once you’ve picked the tool, you can begin by brainstorming a list of potential keywords and phrases related to your business. 

Ask yourself, What would someone type into a search engine to find my business?

Start with Core Keywords

Begin by identifying the core terms central to your product or service. These are usually the most general and encompassing words or phrases that describe what your business offers. For example, if you sell project management software, your core terms could include "project management," "software," or "business tools."

As you can see from the example above, we've used the phrase "demand generation" as our core keyword. From this, we can begin building out variations and related terms, starting with broader terms like "demand gen strategies" and moving towards more specific, niche-focused keywords.

Expand with Related Terms

Next, expand your keyword list by thinking of variations or related terms. With our "demand generation" example, you could add in keywords like "inbound demand generation," "demand gen best practices," or "B2B demand generation strategies." These related terms help capture more specific search queries that potential customers might use as they get deeper into their research.

For instance, someone who searches for "B2B demand generation strategies" is likely already familiar with the general concept and is looking for more targeted, actionable advice. By targeting these more specific phrases, you can create content that speaks directly to the pain points and needs of your audience at that particular moment.

Think About Long-Tail Keywords

After that, think about long-tail keywords—longer, more specific phrases that users might type when they know exactly what they’re looking for. These can often be lower in search volume but have higher conversion potential because they target users further down the funnel. 

For our example, long-tail keywords could include "how to implement demand generation for SaaS startups" or "best demand generation tools for enterprise B2B." These searches suggest the user has done their research and is close to making a decision, making them high-intent visitors.

Consider Location-Based Keywords

If your SaaS product caters to a specific geographic area or you have region-specific offerings, incorporating location-based keywords can help you rank better for relevant searches. For example, with "demand generation," we might include terms like "demand generation agency in Switzerland" or "demand generation for European B2B SaaS" to see what people are looking for and if there is any search volume for what we’re offering in a certain geo location. 

Leverage Competitor Research

Don’t forget to check what keywords your competitors are targeting. Tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs can help you uncover the keywords they’re ranking for, giving you a competitive advantage. For example, we might find that our competitors rank well for "demand generation tips for startups" but haven't covered niche topics like "data-driven demand generation strategies for SaaS," which presents a great opportunity for our content.

When we work with clients, we use this exact approach to create a balanced keyword strategy that targets a range of search intents—everything from broad informational queries to highly-specific commercial and transactional searches. It ensures we’re covering the full buyer’s journey, from TOFU (top of funnel) to BOFU (bottom of funnel) content.

Step 2.5: Wait, No One Is Searching for Your Keywords?

So, you've done your keyword research, and… crickets. No one seems to be searching for the keywords related to your product. Don’t panic—this happens more often than you'd think, especially with niche or innovative SaaS products. If you're in this boat, here are some strategic ways to handle it.

Sometimes, people don’t need your product—yet. That’s where demand generation through educational content could we a great way to go. You should consider building resources (pillar pages, blog posts, youtube videos, LinkedIn posts and articles etc.) that address the real challenges your product solves. By doing so, you’re not just selling, but also helping your audience understand why they need what you offer.

If there’s no search volume for your exact product, you can expand your keyword strategy. Focus on broader topics that align with industry pain points or complementary solutions. Even if the keywords aren’t a perfect fit, you’re still getting in front of an audience that’s dealing with the same problems your solution addresses. There's a new term about this called shifting demand.

While SEO takes time, paid ads can give you a much-needed boost in the short term. Running targeted PPC campaigns can help you fill the traffic gap while you work on growing your organic presence. It’s a way to get the ball rolling while demand for your product builds naturally.

The lack of search volume now doesn't mean there won’t be in the future. By staying proactive and creating high-quality content, you’ll be ready to capture demand as it grows. Keep testing and adapting—SEO is a long game.

Step 3: Conduct a Site Audit and Analyze Existing Content

If you already have a website and some content published, don't jump into creating new content right away. First, take a good look at where things currently stand. Conduct a site audit to assess your website's overall health and figure out what’s working, what’s not, and where things could use a little improvement.

Why Conduct a Site Audit?

A site audit gives you a snapshot of your website’s overall health. It lets you:

• Catch technical issues that might be dragging down your search rankings, like slow loading speeds, broken links, or poor mobile optimization.
• Evaluate your on-page SEO—are your meta titles, headers, and keywords optimized for search?
• Spot content gaps or opportunities to make what’s already there even better.

In short, it’s a way to ensure everything is running smoothly under the hood before we start making big changes.

Often, we see SaaS companies with a fantastic product but their website had so many slow-loading pages that potential customers were bouncing before they could even explore their offers. Legacy hosting setups, unoptimized images, and too many scripts running in the background are common culprits companies don’t even know they’re dealing with.

How to Conduct a Site Audit

To get the job done, you’ll need the same few tools we've already mentioned:

• Google Search Console: Use it to find indexing errors, crawl issues, and see how Google’s bots view your site.
• SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Screaming Frog: These tools help you crawl your site, flag technical issues, and spot duplicate content or broken links.

PageSpeed Insights: A quick way to see how fast your site loads and figure out what’s slowing it down.

Take a look at the image above showing the SEMrush SEO Audit dashboard and site health. This dashboard breaks down the overall issues on your website into three categories: Errors, Warnings, and Notices.

• Errors are the highest severity issues, such as broken internal links, pages that can’t be crawled, duplicate titles, and 404 pages. These are the first items to tackle as they can seriously harm your site's SEO.
• Warnings are typically less critical but should still be addressed, while Notices are the least severe and may not require immediate action.

Once you’ve run these tools, make a list of what needs fixing. Addressing these technical issues will give your site a strong foundation to build on.

From the dashboard, we address Errors first—these are the technical issues that can have an immediate impact on your site's performance. For instance, fixing crawl issues ensures Google can properly access and rank your content. We often find that SaaS companies neglect this step, and their pages don’t rank because Google’s crawlers simply can’t get to them.

Analyze Existing Content

Now that the technical stuff is out of the way, take a look at your content. Maybe you already have some great pieces, but are they all performing as well as they could be? Analyzing your existing content helps you figure out what’s driving traffic—and what’s gathering dust.

Ask yourself:

• Which pages are bringing in the most traffic?
• Do you have some content that could use a refresh with updated keywords or new information?
• Are there any topics your audience cares about that you haven’t covered yet?

Using Google Analytics or Ahrefs can help you spot your top-performing pages and see where users are dropping off.

We always start this step by analyzing how well your current content is performing. If your top-performing pages are only generating traffic but aren’t converting, then it's a sign that either the content needs refining or the call-to-actions (CTAs) aren’t aligned with user intent. On the other hand, you may have some hidden gems—old blog posts that rank well but need a fresh update to reflect current industry trends or product updates.

Here’s how we break it down:

• Identify Top-Performing Pages: Using tools we mentioned before, we pull up a list of your pages ranked by organic traffic. This helps us see which content is bringing in visitors. If there are pages that consistently attract traffic but have high bounce rates or low engagement, they’re prime candidates for a refresh.
• Refresh Underperforming Content: Just because a post hasn’t performed well doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause. Often, adding new insights, updating outdated statistics, or incorporating recent case studies can breathe life into old content. We go through a process of re-optimizing existing content by weaving in new keywords, restructuring the flow, and ensuring that the content is more engaging.
• Spot Content Gaps: This is where we look for opportunities. After mapping out your content, we compare it with competitor strategies to identify any missing topics or underserved areas in your market. Often, there are highly relevant topics your audience is searching for that haven’t been covered yet.

Create a Content Inventory

A content inventory is just a fancy way of saying “make a list of everything you’ve got on your site.” This helps you:

• Track the performance of each piece of content.
• Spot opportunities to update, combine, or even remove pages that aren’t pulling their weight.
• Find gaps where you can expand with new content based on your keyword research.

By doing a thorough site audit and analyzing your existing content, you’ll know exactly what you’re working with. This sets the stage for the next step in your SEO strategy.

Step 4: Optimize On-Page Content

On-page optimization goes beyond just sprinkling a few keywords into your text and calling it a day. It’s about aligning your content with both user experience and search engine requirements. This means ensuring that your pages speak clearly to both your audience and search engines. But how do we do that?

At its core, on-page optimization is about making your content clear, engaging, and easy for search engines to understand. Here’s how we approach it:

Key Elements of On-Page Optimization

On-Page SEO optimization for B2B SaaS doesn't really differ, but it follows the typical optimization checklist. Let’s break down some of the key elements of on-page optimization:

• Meta Titles and Descriptions: These are the first things people see in search results. Your title should include your main keyword and be catchy enough to get a click. Meta descriptions should be concise summaries that also incorporate relevant keywords.
• Headers (H1, H2, H3, etc.): These structure your content and make it easy to scan. Search engines also use headers to understand the hierarchy and main topics of your page, so be sure to use them wisely.
• Keyword Placement: You’ve done the research; now it’s time to weave those keywords into your content. But don’t overdo it! Your main keyword should appear in the title, URL, and naturally throughout the text, but avoid stuffing it into every sentence.
• Internal Linking: Link to other relevant pages on your site. This helps search engines crawl your site and keeps visitors engaged by directing them to related content.
• Image Optimization: Make sure all images are compressed for faster loading times and have descriptive alt text (with a keyword if it fits naturally).
• Content Quality: Above all, quality content. None of the things we talked about will matter if your content isn’t valuable and engaging to your audience. Unless you answer your audience’s questions, provide value, entertain them, and overall produce great content, no amount of optimization will help. In a world saturated by anything and everything, quality matters.

We talked about it more in our content marketing guide, but it’s worth repeating here as well.

In the image above is an example of how you can check meta titles and meta descriptions for any page on Google Chrome through the ‘Inspect Element’ feature. Right-click anywhere on the webpage and select Inspect (or press Ctrl+Shift+I on Windows or Command+Option+I on macOS). This opens the Developer Tools window, where you can view the source code of the page. Navigate to the Elements tab and look for the <head> section of the HTML, which includes the meta title and description tags.

For example, let’s take a look at the home page of A88Lab. In the image provided, the meta title tag reads: #1 Demand Generation Agency for B2B SaaS Brands - A88Lab. This title includes the main keyword (“demand generation”) and communicates the company’s authority by claiming the "#1" spot in the space, which can increase click-through rates.

The meta description reads: We’re the #1 choice for B2B SaaS brands in building a strong online presence and demand generation for complex tech products. It provides a concise summary of the page content and incorporates relevant keywords like “B2B SaaS,” “demand generation,” and “online presence.” The meta description is designed to entice users to click by positioning A88Lab as the leading agency for SaaS companies seeking demand generation strategies.

This simple action in Chrome's 'Inspect Element' allows you to quickly audit meta information for any webpage, which is crucial when optimizing for SEO. If the titles or descriptions are too long, too short, or missing relevant keywords, it’s a clear opportunity for optimization to improve your search engine rankings.

Optimizing for Mobile

With more users browsing on mobile than ever before, your site needs to look and function just as well on phones and tablets as it does on desktops. Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means it looks at the mobile version of your site before the desktop version when determining rankings.

Here's how we test if the websites we work on are optimized for mobile:

1. Manual Testing Across Devices: We manually check how the site displays on a variety of mobile devices, including different mobile brands, screen sizes, and operating systems. This allows us to experience firsthand how a user would interact with the site.
2. Simulated Mobile View in Browsers: We use browser developer tools to simulate how a site appears and functions on various mobile screens without having to physically use different devices. This helps us spot design flaws, layout issues, or functionality problems that could affect the mobile user experience.
3. Responsive Design Check: We review the responsiveness of the design by adjusting the browser size and ensuring that content dynamically shifts to fit the screen without breaking, such as images and text resizing properly and menus adapting smoothly.
4. Mobile Speed Testing: A key factor in mobile optimization is ensuring that the page loads quickly on mobile networks. We test loading times and review whether elements like large images or unnecessary scripts are slowing down the site.
5. Touchscreen Usability: We test how easily users can interact with the site using touchscreens. This includes checking if buttons and links are large enough to tap without error, ensuring forms are easy to fill out on a small screen, and confirming that there are no hover-based functions that can’t be replicated on a mobile device.

Improving User Experience (UX)

Search engines are smart, but your visitors are smarter. If they don’t enjoy their experience on your site, they’ll bounce. Make sure your value proposition is clearly communicated, the website is easy to navigate, visually appealing, and fast. A positive user experience can reduce bounce rates and increase the time users spend on your site, which are both factors search engines pay attention to.

Step 5: Implement Technical SEO Improvements

Technical SEO might not be the most glamorous part of your strategy, but you need it to keep everything working smoothly behind the scenes. Let’s look at some key technical elements that you may not have already addressed, but can make a big difference in your site’s performance.

Crawlability and Indexability

Your content won’t do you much good if search engines can’t find and index it. A big part of technical SEO is making sure your website is easy for search engines to crawl and properly index. To make sure your site is crawl-friendly:

• Submit a sitemap: This is your website’s roadmap, guiding search engines through your content. Submitting it through Google Search Console helps ensure Google knows about all your important pages. The easiest way to identify any website sitemap is to type in the browser the following: "https://yourdomain/sitemap.xml". Your sitemap would look something like this:

• Check your robots.txt file: This file tells search engines which pages they should (and shouldn’t) crawl. Make sure you’re not unintentionally blocking important pages. Same as the sitemap, you can easily identify your robot.txt file by typing "https://yourdomain/robots.txt" in your browser. It should look like something like this:

• As a last thing, you should fix crawl errors. Using tools like Google Search Console, check for errors that may prevent search engines from accessing your content. Here's how page indexing looks like in Google Search Console:

Google Search Console is a necessary tool to check the status of all your pages on the website and to see if some of them are not indexed – and what the reasons for that might be. As shown in the image above, Google Search Console provides detailed insights into why certain pages aren’t being indexed, listing out reasons such as redirects, 'noindex' tags, 404 errors, or canonical issues. This allows us to quickly diagnose and prioritize which issues to address to ensure all the right pages are indexed properly and discoverable by search engines.

We use this tool to monitor the indexing status of our clients’ pages regularly. For instance, if a page isn’t being indexed due to a misconfigured canonical tag or a redirect issue, we can take immediate steps to correct it.

Structured Data (Schema Markup)

While keywords help search engines understand your content, structured data gives them even more context. Adding schema markup using tools like Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool to your site helps search engines deliver rich snippets—those handy extras like star ratings, event dates, or product information in search results. Structured data is especially helpful in SaaS, where searchers may be looking for product features, pricing, or reviews.

Canonicalization

Duplicate content is a common issue that can hurt your SEO, especially for larger sites. If you have multiple URLs with similar or duplicate content, Google might get confused about which one to rank. This is where canonical tags come in handy. They tell search engines which version of a page is the “official” one, avoiding potential penalties for duplicate content.

• Tip 💡: Make sure each page with similar content (such as blog posts in multiple categories) has a canonical tag pointing to the main version.

HTTPS and Security

If you’re still running on HTTP instead of HTTPS, it’s time to make the switch. Google has made security a ranking factor, and users trust sites that are secure. HTTPS encrypts your site’s data, protecting user information and making it clear your site is safe.

• Quick win 💡: Use an SSL certificate to enable HTTPS and ensure a secure connection. If Google sees your site as secure, it’ll favor your pages in rankings.

Fixing Redirect Chains

Redirect chains happen when one page redirects to another, which then redirects to a third page, and so on. This creates unnecessary steps for both users and search engines, slowing down your site and potentially harming your rankings. Fixing these chains will streamline user experience and make your site easier for search engines to crawl.

Technical SEO might seem like an endless checklist, but focusing on these specific improvements will give your website the best chance to perform well in search results. With these technical foundations in place, you’re ready to move on to the next step: building quality backlinks.

Step 6: Build Quality Backlinks

Once your site is optimized and technically sound, it’s time to focus on building authority. One of the best ways to increase your site’s authority (and rankings) is by earning quality backlinks. Think of backlinks as votes of confidence from other websites—when high-authority sites link to yours, it tells search engines that your content is valuable and trustworthy.

What Makes a Backlink “Quality”?

Not all backlinks are created equal. A link from a reputable site in your industry carries a lot more weight than a link from a random blog with little relevance. Quality backlinks come from:

• Authoritative websites: High-domain authority sites (think well-known industry publications or respected blogs).
• Relevant content: Links should come from sites that are related to your niche or industry.

Natural placement: The best links are those that make sense contextually and are placed organically—not paid or spammy links.

Here's an example of how backlink quality dashboard looks like in Semrush:

At A88Lab., we use tools like SEMrush to keep an eye on the overall health of your website's backlinks, as you can see in the image above. This allows us to track how your backlink profile is growing over time, whether you're gaining new quality links or losing some.

One thing we pay close attention to is the Toxicity Score. Not all backlinks are good for your SEO—some can actually hurt your site if they come from spammy or low-quality sources. If we spot any potentially harmful links, we can take action to remove or disavow them, ensuring they don't drag down your rankings.

In short, we’re not just focused on building backlinks, but making sure the ones you have are actually helping, not hurting, your overall SEO performance. This approach keeps your site’s authority on solid ground and helps boost your rankings over time.

Strategies for Building Quality Backlinks

Let’s break down a few practical ways to generate backlinks. It's very important that whatever strategy you choose to follow to acquire backlinks, that your focus is on the quality and not on the quantity of the backlinks.

#1 Guest Blogging

Writing guest posts for reputable blogs or publications in your industry is a great (and time consuming) way to build backlinks. In exchange for providing content to their audience, you’ll typically get a link back to your website. Make sure the site you’re guest posting for has good domain authority and aligns with your niche. Finding and reaching out to those websites is a whole process in itself. You have to look for reputable blogs or websites in your niche. They should have strong domain authority, an engaged readership, and content that aligns with what you offer. When you reach out, personalize your message—show you understand their audience and how your post will add value. Once accepted, deliver high-quality, unique content that offers real insights.

#2 Create Link-Worthy Content

#4 Partnerships and Collaborations

Collaborating with other businesses, influencers, or thought leaders in your space can also lead to backlinks. Whether through co-authored content, interviews, or joint projects, partnerships are a great way to expand your reach and get your content linked by authoritative sources.

#5 Competitor Backlink Analysis

Use tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles. This will show you which sites are linking to them and potentially open up opportunities for you to get similar backlinks.

Avoid Spammy Link Building

While it can be tempting to purchase backlinks or get links from shady directories, don’t do it. Search engines are smarter than ever, and spammy backlinks can do more harm than good. It’s always better to focus on earning natural, high-quality backlinks that will stand the test of time.

Step 7: Monitor, Measure, and Adjust

SEO isn’t a “set it and forget it” kind of thing—especially for B2B SaaS. As your market evolves, so do search trends, your competitors, and even the behavior of your target audience. That’s why the final, and ongoing, step of your SEO strategy is to monitor, measure, and adjust.

Track Key Metrics

For B2B SaaS companies, some of the most important SEO metrics to track include:

• Organic traffic: Are more potential customers finding you through search?
• Average CTR: How many people clicked on your website when it appeared in they search resuls alongside with other websites?
• Keyword rankings: Are you climbing the rankings for your target keywords?
• Conversion rates: Is your SEO strategy actually turning visitors into leads or trial users?
• Bounce rate: Are people sticking around after landing on your site, or are they leaving right away?

As seen in the image above, we use tools like Google Search Console to monitor your website’s performance at every level—whether it's tracking specific keywords, analyzing how individual pages are doing, or breaking down data by location or device. The flexibility of Search Console allows us to choose the exact time range we're interested in and focus on the most relevant metrics.

For example, if you want to see how a particular keyword has been performing in a specific country over the last three months, we can pull that data and analyze whether your SEO efforts are working as intended. The key is to consistently monitor these metrics, adjust your strategy accordingly, and keep optimizing as trends and user behaviors evolve.

Adjust Based on Performance

When you notice areas that aren’t performing well, make adjustments as soon as possible. For example:

• Low traffic? Revisit your keyword strategy or explore new content opportunities.
• High bounce rate? Check if your content matches the user’s intent or if your site’s user experience needs improving.
• Conversions not happening? Double-check your call-to-actions (CTAs) and make sure your messaging speaks directly to your target audience.

Stay Ahead of Algorithm Changes

Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, and what works today might not work tomorrow. Regularly check industry news and stay informed about major updates, but don’t try to hack them or put all your eggs in the “new update” basket. Adjust your strategy when necessary to stay ahead of the curve and maintain your rankings.

Iterate for Long-Term Success

SEO isn’t a quick win—it’s a long game. To get the most out of it, you’ll need to keep an eye on what’s working (and what’s not), and tweak your approach as you go. By regularly monitoring, measuring, and adjusting your efforts, you’ll not only stay competitive but keep improving over time. It’s about staying sharp and making sure your SEO strategy evolves with your business and your market. 

Conclusion

And there you have it—a solid foundation for a B2B SaaS SEO strategy. These are the basics you need to keep an eye on as you work to improve your site’s visibility. Of course, this is just the beginning—there’s so much more to consider when it comes to SEO, like how to write content that resonates, how to pick the perfect keywords based on difficulty and search volume, and how to fine-tune your strategy over time.

Once you’ve got these essentials down, you can start digging into the specifics. Or, you know, you can always bring in someone like A88Lb. to do it for you. After all, SEO is a long game, and having experts in your corner never hurts.