SaaS SEO Checklist: 15 Steps for Content Success

Search engine optimisation (SEO) presents one of the biggest opportunities for SaaS companies to boost brand awareness, drive revenue, and establish themselves as a thought leader among their target audience. But as the marketing landscape continues to evolve, the secrets to a successful SEO strategy become increasingly complex.

This SaaS SEO checklist breaks down every ingredient you need for the perfect search marketing strategy. It contains everything I’ve learned about developing high-performing organic content during my many years as a SaaS content writer, editor, and strategist.

What’s in this SaaS SEO checklist?

This checklist includes every step you ought to consider when creating, publishing, updating, and optimising content for your website. I’ll walk you through each step and provide best-practice tips along the way.

Summary of this SaaS SEO checklist:

• Customer research and pain point mapping

• Keyword research

• Content planning

• Commercial prioritisation

• Optimising meta descriptions, titles, and headlines

• Content structure and formatting

• Readability

• Image and video optimisation

• Internal linking

• Website hierarchy

• Accessibility

• Content refresh and consolidation

• Competitor research

• EEAT and external linking

• Technical SEO

How to use this SaaS SEO checklist

The checklist functions as a framework for your SaaS SEO content workflow. It ensures you hit all the right notes for an effective, lead-generating content strategy and avoid the common SaaS SEO mistakes I see businesses make.

To create a visual version of this checklist, create a four-column, 16-row spreadsheet with the column titles “Activity”, “Owner”, “Deadline”, and “Status.”

Fill in the Owner and Deadline columns as per your own timeline and assigned stakeholder responsibilities. You may wish to break specific activities down into smaller steps for more granular visibility of your progress.

SaaS SEO checklist: 15 steps for creating high-performing content

Customer research and pain point mapping

The first question you should ask when planning SEO content is, “What solutions are our customers searching for?”

More specifically, consider the customer problems your software can solve.

Map out the various journeys your target audience undergoes before investing in a solution like yours. Do they struggle with time-consuming spreadsheets? Are they losing productivity because a certain activity is inefficient? Are they suffering from communication breakdowns?

For each pain point, there are potentially hundreds of relevant keywords to target and content to publish that will help you capture your audience’s attention at just the right time.

Keyword research

The number one keyword research mistake I see is targeting the wrong terms.

Each keyword you create content for should relate to a specific customer problem, software feature, or use case. While informational (top-funnel) content has its place, don’t get distracted by high search volumes for keywords that are unlikely to ever drive conversions.

Use each of your customer pain points, product features, and software use cases as a foundation for your keyword research. Invest in SaaS SEO tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Ubersuggest to find relevant keywords for them.

For example, if you’re selling finance management software, then a common pain point might be “cash flow management”. A quick investigation uncovers dozens of potential content ideas, such as:

• Cash flow problems

• Cash flow forecasting

• Cash flow analysis

• How to calculate cash flow

• What is a cash flow statement

Each of these presents an opportunity to rank for a search term that’s relevant to your product and your customers’ pain points. And the more content you publish about this topic, the more authority Google will attribute to you for it.

Content planning

Once you've mapped customer pain points and identified target keywords, create a strategic content calendar that aligns with your product roadmap. 

Start by categorising your content into three buckets: awareness (problem-focused), consideration (solution-focused), and decision (product-focused). This ensures you're capturing customers at every stage of their buying journey.

Build topic clusters around your core pain points. If "cash flow management" is a key theme, create a hub page optimised for the main keyword, then develop supporting content around related terms like "cash flow forecasting tools" and "small business cash flow tips."

Plan your publishing schedule based on keyword difficulty and business priorities. Target easier, long-tail keywords first to build topical authority, then gradually work toward more competitive head terms.

Commercial prioritisation

Not all keywords deserve equal attention—focus your efforts on terms that drive qualified leads, not just traffic.

Prioritise keywords with commercial intent over informational queries. Someone searching "best project management software" is closer to buying your subscription than someone searching "what is project management."

Create a scoring system that weighs search volume, keyword difficulty, and conversion potential. A lower-volume keyword that drives trial sign-ups often delivers better ROI than a high-volume term that generates bounce traffic.

Target competitor comparison keywords early on for easy wins. Keywords like "Asana vs Monday" or "Slack alternatives" capture prospects actively evaluating solutions. Optimise for your company name plus modifiers like "pricing," "reviews," and "alternatives" to control your narrative when prospects research you.

Optimising meta descriptions, titles, and headlines

Your title tags and meta descriptions are your first impression in search results.

Keep title tags under 60 characters to ensure they display fully. Place your primary keyword at the beginning while maintaining readability. Avoid keyword stuffing—Google rewards natural language over mechanical optimisation.

Write meta descriptions between 150–160 characters. Think of them as mini-advertisements that should entice clicks, not just describe content. Include your target keyword and a compelling call to action.

Craft headlines that match search intent. If someone searches "how to create a project timeline," your H1 should directly address that need, not dance around it with vague language.

Use power words that trigger action: "ultimate," "complete," "proven," "step-by-step." But avoid clickbait—deliver on your promises. Test different title variations for important pages, as small changes in wording can significantly impact click-through rates.

Content structure and formatting

Google favours content that's easy to scan and digest. Structure your articles like a well-organised reference guide.

Use descriptive subheadings (H2, H3) that include relevant keywords naturally. Someone skimming your article should understand the main points from the headlines alone.

Here are some best practices for structuring your SaaS SEO content:

• Break up long paragraphs. Online readers prefer 1–3 sentence chunks over dense blocks of text. White space improves both user experience and time on page.

• Add bullet points and numbered lists for complex information. They're easier to scan and often appear in featured snippets.

• Include a table of contents for long-form content. This improves user experience and can generate sitelinks in search results.

Use formatting strategically—bold important concepts, italicise key terms, but don't overdo it. Too much formatting creates visual noise.

Readability

Clear writing converts better than clever writing. Optimise for understanding, not literary awards, and write for your audience's reading level.

Use active voice instead of passive voice. "We built this feature" is stronger than "This feature was built by us." Define technical terms when you first use them, and don't assume readers know industry jargon, even in B2B contexts.

Keep sentences short and varied. Mix simple and compound sentences to create a natural rhythm. Read your content aloud before publishing. If you stumble over sentences, your readers will too.

Pro Tip: Use tools like Hemingway Editor or Grammarly to identify overly complex sentences and suggest improvements.

Image and video optimisation

Visual content enhances user engagement and creates additional ranking opportunities.

Optimise image file names with descriptive keywords before uploading. For example, "cash-flow-dashboard-screenshot" is better than "IMG_1234.jpg."

Write detailed alt text for every image. Describe what's shown and include relevant keywords naturally. This improves accessibility and helps search engines understand your content.

Compress images without losing quality. Large files slow page loading, which hurts both user experience and search rankings. Create custom graphics that other sites will want to link to—infographics, charts, and process diagrams often earn natural backlinks.

Add video content where it enhances understanding. Screen recordings of your software in action can reduce bounce rates and increase time on page. Include video transcripts for accessibility and additional keyword opportunities.

Internal linking

Strategic internal linking distributes page authority throughout your site and helps search engines understand your content hierarchy. Link to related content naturally within your articles. If you mention a feature, link to its detailed explanation or comparison page.

Use descriptive anchor text that tells readers what to expect. "Our pricing page" is better than "click here" or generic text.

Create hub pages for your main topics and link to them from related articles. This builds topical authority and improves site navigation. Link to conversion pages from informational content. A blog post about project management challenges should link to your project management software page.

Pro Tip: Update old content to link to new articles to help new pages gain authority faster.

Website hierarchy

A logical site structure helps both users and search engines navigate your content efficiently. Organise content into clear categories that reflect customer needs. Group related articles under topics like "Getting Started," "Advanced Features," or "Industry Solutions."

Keep important pages within three clicks of your homepage. The deeper a page is buried, the less authority it receives from your homepage. Create category pages that serve as content hubs. These should provide an overview of information and link to specific articles within that topic.

Use breadcrumb navigation to show page hierarchy. This improves user experience and can appear in search results. Implement a logical URL structure that mirrors your site hierarchy. URLs like "/features/project-tracking" are more intuitive than "/page-47."

Accessibility

Accessible websites rank better and serve users more effectively.

Add alt text to all images, focusing on descriptive content rather than decorative elements. Use proper heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3) to structure content logically. Screen readers rely on this structure for navigation.

Ensure sufficient colour contrast between text and backgrounds. This improves readability for everyone, not just users with vision impairments.

Caption videos and provide transcripts. This serves users with hearing impairments and creates additional text for search engines to index.

Pro Tip: Test your site with accessibility tools like WAVE or Axe to identify potential issues.

Content refresh and consolidation

Fresh content signals relevance to search engines, but don't just publish for publishing's sake. Audit your existing content quarterly to identify pages with declining traffic or outdated information that need updates.

Consolidate thin or duplicate content. Multiple weak pages on similar topics perform worse than one comprehensive resource.

Expand high-performing content. If a blog post drives good traffic, consider turning it into a more comprehensive guide. Update statistics, examples, and screenshots regularly—outdated content erodes trust and can hurt your conversion rates.

Add new sections to existing articles rather than always creating new pages. This can boost the authority of pages that already rank well. Redirect or remove pages that no longer serve a purpose. Broken links and irrelevant content dilute your site's overall quality.

Competitor research

Understanding your competitive landscape reveals content gaps and opportunities.

Identify which keywords your competitors rank for that you don't. Tools like Semrush and Ahrefs can show you these gaps. Analyse their content quality and approach: What topics do they cover that you've missed? How detailed are their explanations?

Study their site structure and internal linking patterns. Successful competitors often reveal effective organisational strategies.

Pro Tip: Don't just copy—improve. If a competitor has a good resource, create something more comprehensive or user-friendly.

EEAT and external linking

Publishing surveys, case studies, and industry benchmarks often gets your content cited by other sites, building the expertise and authority signals Google values.

Demonstrate expertise through detailed, accurate content written by qualified team members. Include author bios that highlight relevant credentials.

Build authority by earning mentions from reputable industry publications and websites. Show trustworthiness through transparent business practices, clear contact information, and customer testimonials. Link to authoritative external sources when referencing statistics or industry data. 

Collaborate with other SaaS companies or industry blogs for guest posting opportunities to earn valuable backlinks while expanding your reach.

Technical SEO

Technical issues can undermine even the best content strategy. Regular audits prevent problems from hurting your rankings. Conduct technical SEO audits to identify issues like duplicate content, loading times, indexation problems, and canonical tag errors.

Ensure your site loads quickly on both desktop and mobile devices, as page speed directly impacts user experience and search rankings.

Fix crawl errors identified in Google Search Console. Broken links and server errors prevent search engines from properly indexing your content.

Implement proper canonical tags to avoid duplicate content issues. This is especially important for SaaS sites with multiple product pages or parameter-based URLs. Create and maintain an XML sitemap that includes all important pages. Submit it to Google Search Console for better crawling.

Use schema markup to help search engines understand your content better and improve your appearance in search results with rich snippets. Monitor Core Web Vitals and address issues that affect user experience metrics Google uses for ranking.

Get help with your SaaS SEO content strategy

Without the right expertise and experience, SaaS companies often waste countless hours creating and publishing content that never ranks or converts. Outsourcing to a content marketing agency is one option, but there’s a good chance you’ll be oversold on services you don’t really need—and your content ROI will suffer for it.

I’ve helped dozens of successful SaaS brands skyrocket their organic performance metrics with high-ranking SEO content that drives leads and boosts brand awareness. Reach out today for a free consultation to discover if hiring a freelance SaaS SEO content specialist is right for you.