Partnering up with an SEO agency for SaaS can completely change the course of your business. These marketing experts know everything there is about search engine algorithms and can boost your organic traffic in just a few months. During the optimization process, they’ll introduce numerous improvements to your software website, increasing your conversions across the board.
Unfortunately, finding the right provider is much harder than you might imagine. Most software companies decide to outsource their marketing to foreign countries as a way of reducing their promotional expenses. Working with agencies that hail from a different culture and speak a different language always has its drawbacks, which you’ll learn in this article.
Read this post to learn more about SEO outsourcing and the most common pitfalls during the process.
What Makes SaaS SEO Important?
Although businesses can use numerous digital channels to spread their message, it usually comes down to Google and a few social media. Search engines provide unparalleled exposure for brands, trumping all other platforms and channels. To make things even better, people visit your pages without being forced, which is why SEO has such high conversion rates.
Search engine optimization is fantastic for your branding as it allows you to rank for all sorts of keywords during a prolonged period. While you won’t get as fast results as with PPC, everything you do on your site will have a long-lasting impact. Every piece of content and every link you build will stay on the web forever, providing perpetual benefits.
Furthermore, by slowly building your website from the ground up, you set the basis for all other marketing tactics. Visitors reaching your site from their email platform, social media, or various external links can enjoy fast speed, mobile-optimized pages, intuitive menus and design, and fantastic content.
Advantages of a SaaS SEO Agency
There are numerous reasons why you should hire an expert SEO agency:
- Outsourcing SEO is a plug-and-play method that provides immediate results
- Most companies outsource search engine optimization to other countries, enjoying a lower cost of service without a drop-off in productivity
- Hiring an external organization eliminates micromanagement related to internal teams, something that can be tedious when you’re trying to develop a new software business
- Veteran marketing teams have all the tools and hardware required to run effective campaigns. In other words, you won’t have to build infrastructure from the ground up
Although you can create effective internal teams, the process usually takes months and months to execute. This is especially true if you and your HR team know little about marketing and how to form a team. The last thing you need is to hire a project manager who will waste several months of your time and money without anything to show for it.
Disadvantages of a SaaS SEO Agency
As a SaaS brand, there are certain situations where hiring an external provider might not be the best solution:
- You want to have complete control over the search engine optimization process
- You’re not in a hurry to develop an internal team
- You already have the required infrastructure and a marketing team, so it wouldn’t be too hard to introduce a few SEO experts into the mix
Some brands got burned by working with external providers, or at least they didn’t get the results they wanted. Because of that, they’re much more willing to create an internal team and make their own mistakes than invest again in outsourced SaaS SEO.
7 Tricks for Finding the Right SaaS SEO Agency
Finding an SEO agency for SaaS brands can be really easy if you use a structured process. Like with any other provider, you need to pay attention to the agency’s track record, online mentions, and experience. With that in mind, here are 7 most important things to consider when looking for an outsourced SEO provider.
1. Check Online Mentions
Most marketing providers have a limited number of Google reviews. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t have a starting point when doing your analysis. Agencies that have been in the business for a while are mentioned in various blogs, social media, and forums, and it’s up to you to find these mentions.
Tools such as Brand24 and Meltwater allow you to find all web mentions, whether they’re linked or otherwise. Although these are paid platforms, it’s worth investing in them during your provider search; being thorough during this step will pay dividends later on.
2. Ask for Track Record
On top of that, you should also ask for the company’s track record. Some brands are notoriously good at concealing their past results, so the best way to assess their proficiency is by checking with previous clients.
Keep in mind that reputable companies won’t give you this data outright; they might show you data within Google Search Console or Google Analytics or might give you screenshots from these tools. This old trick is ideal for protecting past clients’ data (which goes in your favor) while showcasing your track record to a new prospect.
3. Confirm Their Specialization
As a SaaS brand, you should pinpoint providers that have worked with software businesses before. The IT field is extremely tricky for marketers and requires extensive knowledge to cover properly. A limited number of SEO teams have content writers who are proficient in these topics, and even fewer have connections within the industry.
So, when going through providers’ past clients, ask them to show you SaaS campaigns. Ideally, you should be looking for brands that had several software clients in the past and, ideally, those who worked with similar products. While this isn’t a guarantee of success, it will give you a major head start.
4. Assess Communication
One of the most common issues when working with foreign outsourcing agencies is communication problems. Many marketers struggle with English, which can cause issues later on during the campaign when you have to tackle complex software tasks. Luckily, there’s a way to assess their English expertise.
During the call, ask the provider about their past experience, in and out of the SaaS industry, and ask them specific software questions. You might also consider asking them a few basic questions about marketing so you can see how they’re tackling the topic (there are lots of scammers out there, so you can never be too careful).
5. Check Their Software
Nowadays, it is really hard to stay competitive within the marketing field without proper software. Companies spend thousands of dollars on dozens of tools, which they use for all sorts of operations, from competitive analytics to keyword research, social sharing, paid campaign optimization, and so on.
A good way to learn more about a business is to profile their toolkit. Some of the most used paid tools include Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Ahrefs, Hubspot, Salesforce, Ahrefs, and so on. If you’re not sure what to look for, we suggest you consult with a friend who knows more about marketing. That way, you’ll have a better understanding of whether a provider uses the right programs.
6. Assess Their Own SEO
People often forget that SEO companies also perform optimization for themselves. In other words, if you want to learn whether a SaaS service provider is good or not, all you need to do is check their placement in Google. Companies that have lots of quality content and have acquired numerous links are usually the real deal.
Keep in mind that you’ll likely need sophisticated tools to perform thorough checkups. Something like Ahrefs of SEMRush would work really well here. However, if you don’t wish to invest that kind of money, there are a few free nifty tools that would allow you to perform basic checkups. You can also learn a lot about a brand by simply visiting their site.
7. Analyze Prices
Prices can, but don’t have to be, great indicators of quality. As with any other service, companies that have high prices are usually great at their job and vice versa. They simply can’t give you a lower quote as they already have numerous clients. However, this doesn’t always have to be true.
Lots of big brands are able to lower their prices because it allows them to stay competitive. They also outsource some of their work externally, which reduces their expenses. Whatever the case, if someone has an extremely low price, this is a good indicator that they’re struggling to reel in clients. While this doesn’t have to be condemning, it also isn’t positive.
Conclusion
After reading this short guide, you should have no trouble finding a good SaaS SEO provider. Focus on agencies that specialize in IT optimization and that have good track records, and you should be good. We also suggest you get acquainted with this marketing process, as it will allow you to better assess candidates.
