How to Optimize a SaaS Homepage: Keywords, Linking & More

When it comes to search engine optimization, the homepage tends to be probably the most problematic asset on a typical SaaS web site.

For many early-stage SaaS manufacturers, the web site consists of the homepage and maybe a handful of supporting pages that don’t provide a lot in the best way of search engine optimization worth.

But even the extra established SaaS firms — these with bigger websites and lots of pages to drive their search visibility — battle to make good use of their homepage.

How are you able to optimize your SaaS firm’s homepage? Here are some concepts to drive rankings, visitors, and conversions to new enterprise.

Why is Homepage search engine optimization So Challenging for SaaS Brands, Specifically?

Let’s face it, homepage search engine optimization is complicated for nearly everybody. Whether it’s a SaaS firm, a native firm, or one other enterprise kind, you’ll discover many in every vertical who battle to make good use of this actual property from an search engine optimization perspective.

At the identical time, the homepage can be the one asset virtually each enterprise cares about probably the most.

It’s usually the first landing page, whatever the visitors supply. Because of that, it’s additionally that one asset that almost all usually:

• Welcomes guests.
• Makes a first impression in regards to the model.
• Describes what the corporate does (or a minimum of hints at it and suggests the place else somebody might study extra about it).
• Explains what worth the corporate supplies and what units the corporate and its merchandise aside available in the market.
• Points guests to the place they’ll discover the knowledge they’re searching for (each by way of the navigation and any inside hyperlinks you place there).

As Yoast explained the everyday method to homepage search engine optimization:

“One objective that I really feel a homepage doesn’t have, and that’s rating for key phrases apart from your small business title or model.”

That’s true for many manufacturers. But I’d argue that the SaaS market (and what goes with it, SaaS advertising) is totally different from different industries.

What’s Different About SaaS?

Many early-stage manufacturers don’t have some other business belongings (and even the power to create extra, at that).

For many SaaS firms, the homepage performs a business function and is likely to be their solely business web page.

Example:

 

 

Then, there’s the problem of model recognition.

Everyone’s heard of Asana. Drift. HubSpot.

Those firms can use fancy taglines of their meta title tag and get away with it. They know that persons are searching for their model anyway.

As for different key phrases, these firms have 1000’s of pages to goal these phrases.

(Having stated that, Hubspot nonetheless optimizes their homepage for product classes.)

But while you’re a comparatively new SaaS firm attempting to carve a area for your self within the business – while you’re attempting to beat extra established opponents and centered on kick-starting development –  relying on somebody looking Google your title and getting to the homepage (bear in mind, the one web page on the positioning) isn’t going to get you far.

So, what are your choices?

The Role of a Homepage in SaaS search engine optimization Strategy

The significance of your homepage goes far past the truth that you haven’t any different pages to optimize (but).

The clearer you’re in explaining what your product does, what class it falls into, and what worth customers get from it, the simpler it is going to be for the search engine to set up how to rank you within the search outcomes.

When you’re simply getting began in SaaS, the homepage will appeal to most if not all natural hyperlinks.

Whatever mentions, media references or different PR your product acquires will probably hyperlink to your homepage.

Your preliminary link building strategies – visitor posting, digital PR, podcast appearances, or submitting the positioning to SaaS directories – will greater than probably additionally goal the homepage.

As different websites hyperlink to your homepage, they cross alongside PageRank which might then be distributed round your web site to assist particular pages get discovered by Google.

Smart internal linking will provide help to cross the good thing about that PageRank you’ve gathered on the homepage onto new pages as you develop them.

What Keywords to Use to Optimize a SaaS Homepage, Then?

There are three varieties of key phrases to deal with. The first is clear however to discover the best phrases for the others, you’ll need to do a little bit of keyword research.

1. Your Brand

Despite the necessity to deal with different phrases, it’s nonetheless a good thought to embody brand-related phrases on the homepage.

At a minimal, embody the corporate or the product title within the homepage’s title tag, usually on the finish of the tag.

This method, you make sure that the principle focus of the tag is in your major goal key phrases.

Example:

In most circumstances, you’ll naturally sprinkle the model throughout the web page, too. You’ll point out it within the meta description, maybe embody it in the principle subheading, underneath the tagline, in alt textual content for a picture or two, and elsewhere within the physique copy (in critiques or testimonials, for instance) because it naturally happens.

2. Product Category (If the Intent Is Right)

This is the place you start to place your homepage (and the model) for phrases that may drive worthwhile business visitors.

Product category-related key phrases describe the first class that finest defines your product.

These aren’t the key phrases which may outline the venture’s attributes or performance however extra common seed phrases that inform a person what the product is and aren’t associated to your model in any method.

These are sometimes the phrases you utilize to describe the product to purchasers, buyers, or numerous stakeholders — Enterprise Resource Planning software program, CMS and ecommerce, communications platform, and so on.

These are the phrases you’ll discover salespeople referencing these of their emails, gross sales supplies, and so forth.

Where to Include the Product Category-Related Keyword? 

As that is the first key phrase you’ll be focusing on, apply it to each web page:

• In meta tags.
• In the web page’s H1 tag.
• In the web page’s physique content material’s opening.
• In alt tags, and so on.

An Exception: When the Keyword Has a Different User Intent Than the Homepage

There is likely to be conditions the place the person intent for a product category-related phrase is totally different than what you possibly can goal with the homepage.

Even although the phrase may appear to have a business intent at first, upon inspection, you might understand it ranks for a entire number of intents.

Take the key phrase phrase [small business CRM]. The key phrase appears excellent to use on a software program product’s homepage.

But have a look at the SERP. Those listings embody largely informational content material:

• Most of the top-ranking pages are listicles presenting collections of CRM software program options.
• None of these pages are product homepages.
• There is just one precise CRM software program area rating, and even that’s not a business web page.

Ranking a homepage can be fairly troublesome to unimaginable to obtain, particularly for a lesser-known SaaS model.

You have two choices right here:

1. Compromise and establish a totally different product category-related key phrase (or a minimum of one that’s shut sufficient to the product class.) Create a separate web page to goal the unique key phrase you supposed with content material related to its intent.
2. Focus solely on the model. I personally imagine that’s an excessive amount of of a compromise for an early-stage startup.

3. Keywords Relating to the Product’s Core Offerings

We’ve coated positioning in your model and the product class.

But what about these different phrases that describe your product? What about key phrases that relate to the product’s options or performance?

These phrases aren’t your major key phrases however there may be a method to weave them in.

What’s extra, you should use the homepage to assist particular pages you would possibly create for these key phrases.

Here’s how:

Include a checklist of your product’s performance. You most certainly have it on the web page already in some form or type.

Then, hyperlink every of these sections to a related touchdown web page. 

Ideally, you’ll use the extra key phrase within the hyperlink’s anchor textual content to enhance relevance. You’ll obtain three targets this manner:

• You’ll enhance the topical relevance of the homepage. Google and different search engines like google will higher perceive what your product does and what phrases can be related to your area.
• You’ll be aiding guests find any content material that’s related to their wants.
• And lastly, you’ll be strengthening the web page authority of these extra belongings you’ve created to rank for key phrases associated to the product’s options or performance.

Your SaaS model’s homepage is greater than a touchdown web page for branded queries and direct visits.

Make certain you perceive the way it can affect your natural search rankings for several types of queries now and in future —and make good use of these alternatives.

More Resources:

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Image Credits:

All screenshots taken by creator, March 2021