How to Choose the Right B2B SEO Consultant for Your SaaS Business

If you have a B2B SaaS business, then you probably need a search engine optimization (SEO) consultant to help you get more exposure, leads, and sales. Data from Media Post show that organic search drives over 50% of all visitors to B2B websites. That’s higher than paid search’s 10% and social’s 5%. 

But here’s the problem… There are countless SaaS SEO consultants out there who will offer different services and promises that don’t deliver. So in this article, we’ll teach you how to find an SEO consultant in 5 simple steps. But before that, we’ll first explore the importance of SEO consultancy for B2B SaaS businesses.

Why Is an SEO Consultant Important for a B2B SaaS Business? 

The B2B SaaS industry has grown and changed considerably in the last decade. According to a study by Vantage Market Research, B2B SaaS businesses are projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of ~11% from 2022 till 2028. This growth is attributed to the rise in popularity of cloud computing and the significant reduction in costs of setting up and maintaining a SaaS  business. 

This robust growth only means that more and more B2B SaaS businesses will be launching their products in the market. With a surge in competition, it has become imperative to have an edge over all other competitors in the space. 

This is where SEO Consultants for B2B SaaS businesses come into picture. According to SEMRush, over 80% of B2B companies are expected to spend at least $7,500 a month on SEO. It only means that if you are not optimizing your website for the search engines, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage. 

Tapping a professional B2B SEO service can help in getting the required visibility for your website. However, this is not an easy task as there are many SEO agencies which claim to be the best one for B2B SaaS businesses.

How SEO Consultants Can Help SaaS Business

Below are the different ways that an SEO consultant can help your business succeed.

1. On-page SEO

On-page SEO refers to the process of optimizing a website for Google search with the goal of earning higher web traffic levels and improving the visibility of the site. The main focus of on-page SEO is optimizing the content of individual web pages so that they are more likely to rank highly in Google’s search results for relevant queries.

This optimization process typically involves adding keywords to titles and headings, as well as throughout the body text of web pages. In addition, on-page SEO often includes optimizing other elements of web pages, such as images and videos.

A B2B SEO consultant can help a SaaS business in on-page SEO in many ways. Some are as follows:

• An SEO consultant can help you optimize your website for the most likely keywords or phrases that potential customers are going to use when searching for your SaaS product. Doing this will make it easier for search engines to understand what your company does, and they will then rank your website higher in search results.
• Ensuring that the website’s content is well-organized and easy to navigate. A B2B SEO consultant will help your target audience find the information that they are looking for more quickly, which in turn will increase your website’s engagement metrics and even your conversion rate. For example, an SEO consultant will also advise you on how to organize your website’s navigation in a way that makes sense to your target audience.

2. Technical SEO

Technical SEO is what it sounds like-the technical aspects of your website and its infrastructure that affects your website’s rankings. Technical SEO isn’t so much about content as it is about optimizing your site’s performance, speed, security, and usability. Here are some ways that an SEO consultant can help you in your site’s technical aspects:

• They’ll make sure that your site loads quickly, even on mobile devices. A slow page load time will decrease customer satisfaction and engagement with your content-and since most consumers these days have short attention spans anyway, slow loading times are especially bad for business. If you’re not sure where you stand, there are many free tools available to test this (like Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool).
• They’ll assess any weaknesses in security/stability or basic functionality such as broken links or missing images and help remedy them so visitors don’t get frustrated when trying to access important information from their phone or tablet device.
• They’ll ensure that all of the pieces fit together smoothly into one integrated user experience (UX), which ultimately makes for a better user experience overall.

3. Content Marketing Strategy

Content marketing strategy is a great way to build trust and authority with your audience. It helps you establish yourself as an expert in your niche. Content marketing can be used to generate leads, drive traffic to your website, generate brand awareness and create social buzz for the company.

A B2B SEO consultant can help a SaaS business in content marketing strategy by conducting keyword research to identify relevant keywords for the business, optimizing website content for those keywords, and creating backlinks to the website from high-quality websites.

B2B SEO consultants use a variety of tools and methods to research relevant keywords for a business. Once they have identified a list of keywords, they can help the business optimize its website content for those keywords. In addition, B2B SEO consultants can help create backlinks to the website from high-quality websites. This will help improve the visibility of the website in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Check out our article on Why Content Marketing Consulting Is Essential for SaaS Startups for more information.

4. Off-page SEO

While on-page SEO is a very important aspect of SEO, it is equally important to perform off-page SEO. Off-page SEO includes link building, social media marketing, content marketing, and email marketing.

The reason why we should focus on off-page activities is that they are more likely to help your website gain authority in the eyes of search engines. Link building for instance helps you increase the number of links pointing at your website from other sites. This can help improve your rankings and ultimately drive website traffic which will increase leads and sales for your business.

A B2B SEO consultant can help a SaaS business in several ways when it comes to off-page SEO. First, the consultant can help identify which keywords are most important for the business to rank for. Next, the consultant can help create content that is optimized for those keywords and help get it distributed to the right places. An SEO consultant can also help measure results and adjust tactics as needed to ensure that the business is getting the most out of its off-page SEO efforts.

Finally, a B2B SEO consultant can help provide backlinks to your website from high-quality websites, which will improve the website’s domain authority and search engine ranking.

5. Conversion Optimization

Conversion optimization is a process of improving the performance of a website to increase the number of people who take action on it. In other words, conversion optimization is about making sure that your site has the best possible layout, design, and content so that you can get as many visitors as possible to do what you want them to do (like buy something or sign up for something).

Conversion optimization is an important part of B2B SEO because companies need prospects who have already done their research before contacting them. So if your goal is to bring more leads into your business through search engine traffic, then conversion optimization can be used with other strategies like paid ads (Google ads) or organic listings. By using these different strategies together effectively, you’ll be able to reach more potential customers in a short period of time while increasing sales conversions across all channels!

A B2B SEO consultant can help a SaaS business in conversion optimization by improving the visibility of the business’s website and increasing traffic to it. The consultant can also help to improve the quality of the website’s content and make it more relevant to potential customers. Additionally, the consultant can work with the business to identify keywords and phrases that potential customers are using to search for products or services like those offered by the business. By optimizing the website for these keywords and phrases, the B2B SEO consultant can help increase the chances that potential customers will find the website and convert into paying customers.

Read more on Benefits of Professional SEO Consulting for Your SaaS Business.

Tips on How to Choose the Best SaaS B2B SEO Consultant For Your SaaS Business

Now that we know how an SEO consultant can help your grow your B2B SaaS business, here are some tips on how to find the right one:

1. Determine Your Needs

Before you even think about choosing an SEO consultant, it’s important that you have your goals in mind.

You need to be able to answer these questions:

• What are my short term and long term goals? Is this person qualified to help me achieve them?
• What kind of advice or support do I need?
• How much is my budget?
• Do I want to work with a consultant who will give me a report or do I want ongoing support?
• When do I want to see results?
• How much work do I want to be done?
• Do I want an SEO consultant who will make all the decisions or collaborate with me?

Once you have a clear idea of what you need, you can begin to narrow down your choices for SEO consultants.

When meeting with potential SEO consultants, be sure to ask about their experience and success in achieving similar goals for other clients. Also inquire about their methods for tracking and measuring results. With this information, you can make an informed decision about which consultant is best suited to help you meet your specific needs.

2. Identify Your Weaknesses

There’s no question that b2b SaaS SEO is a complex and ever-changing landscape. To be successful, you need to partner with an experienced and knowledgeable SEO consultant. However, with so many options out there, it can be difficult to know how to choose the right one.

One way to narrow down your options is to identify your own weaknesses. Maybe you’re not particularly good at keyword research, or maybe you struggle to create quality content. Whatever your weaknesses are, make sure to look for an SEO consultant who can fill those gaps. By identifying your own weaknesses, you can find an SEO consultant who will complement your skills and help take your b2b SaaS SEO game to the next level.

3. Find an SEO Consultant With Relevant Experiences

Find candidates that are up-to-date on all of the latest SEO trends. Below are some of the things to look for in an SEO consultant:

• Check their portfolio of past clients and see how they have helped companies in the same field as yours.
• Ask your potential candidates what they think are the best strategies for getting in front of your target audience. You want to make sure that they understand your SaaS business and can give you actionable insights into how to improve it.
• Make sure they have experience with SaaS companies. It’s not enough for them to have worked with other types of businesses; you need someone who understands the unique challenges that come with marketing SaaS online.

4. Be Wary of Any B2B SEO Consultants Who Promises “Guaranteed Rankings”

The SEO industry is unregulated, meaning anyone can claim to be an “SEO Expert”. This means that there are no guarantees when it comes to getting your SaaS business ranked on Google. If a consultant promises you guaranteed rankings and they charge you thousands of dollars per month, then you need to ask yourself how credible they really are.

The truth is that if you want your business to rank on Google for competitive keywords like “SaaS CRM”, then it will take time and effort over several months or years until you achieve those results. This means that when choosing a B2B SEO consultant for your SaaS business, don’t choose someone who offers “Guaranteed Rankings.”

Instead, choose someone who can show you how they’ve helped other companies get ranked on Google, and ask them to provide proof of results of their work. If they are unable to show you any evidence of their past projects or experience, then this should be a red flag for you.

The next thing to look out for is whether or not the consultant or the agency you’re researching about is a certified Google Partner. This means that they have gone through the rigorous training process required by Google to be able to consult on their products and services. It also means that they are likely up-to-date with all of Google’s latest algorithm changes and updates which can be extremely beneficial when it comes to getting your business ranked on Google for competitive keywords.

In-House vs. Outsourced B2B SEO Consultant

The difference between in-house and outsourced staff can be more than just the location.

A full-time member of your company is a great asset to have if you want to use them for all your B2B marketing needs. They will be able to provide insight into the company culture and B2B SEO strategy, as well as being available at all times through chat or email.

However, this comes with its own challenges: if they are working full-time on other projects within the organization then they might not have time for SEO work; even if they do have time, there may be internal disagreements about how best to execute certain tasks (e.g., social media advertising). In addition, when hiring someone who works within the same B2B industry as its clients, it can lead them into a conflict of interests. It could also mean that they are not aware of any potential issues that may arise when working with another competitor (e.g., legal restrictions on certain keywords).

On the other hand, using outsourced staff means having access to specialist knowledge from external experts who can help make sure that everything from web design through content creation and promotion goes smoothly – without any problems getting in their way. This also gives organizations greater flexibility when managing budgets because outsourcing allows them to hire consultants only when needed. This also helps them save money by only paying for services actually required at any given moment rather than hiring someone full-time whose salary would otherwise go unused until needed again!

Finally, outsourcing your SEO means freeing up time for you to focus on other areas of the SaaS business. You can delegate tasks such as writing blogs and creating graphics so that they are done by experts who can do them better than you or your team ever could.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to SaaS business, SEO can be your greatest ally. Engaging in a little SEO can give you countless opportunities to stand out among your competitors and reach more clients. In fact, without a solid SEO strategy in place, it’s almost as if you don’t have a business at all.

Remember to always look over the SEO consultant’s portfolio and see how they laid out SEO strategies for their clients’ growth. After all, the consultant’s previous clients’ success is a strong indication of their ability to do the same for you. Also, be wary of consultants who guarantee you first page search engine results in a short amount of time. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to achieve such rankings, so anyone who claims they can do it in a snap is likely not being truthful.

SEO consultants can help you with a lot of things, from developing audience personas to keyword research and backlinking strategies. If you’re serious about growing your SaaS business, then working with an SEO consultant is a no-brainer.

The most important thing to remember during this process is research. You know your B2B company better than anyone else. With enough diligence, you should be able to bring in a consultant with practical experience dealing directly with companies similar to yours. 

If you need more help in growing your SaaS business, visit our blog often for more tips!