Product vs. SEO in SaaS Marketing: What to Do

In SaaS marketing, battles occur when Product opposes SEO and vice versa, each supporting different approaches.

Product teams often think… product first!

They dislike the word Software, which seems antiquated. They prefer branded keywords. They like readable headers addressing problems through crisp statements instead of keywords first. They focus on their differentiation strategy.

Product-led teams often generate slower, visually-appealing, crisp & dynamic webpages.

SEO wants more non-branded organic search traffic.

Queries with Software included are popular. Therefore, it’s added to major on-page elements.

Branded keywords are often considered wasteful. A lack of non-branded keywords, at least in the H1, leads to pure outrage.

SEO is specific yet flexible when targeting keywords, perhaps arguing that customers don’t get the nuances anyway and have diverse intent.

SEO-led teams often have faster, search-friendly, fluffy & stable webpages.

It’s vital to seek compromise here. Both perspectives together could draw more of the right audience while improving user engagement.

Here are some compromises between these viewpoints:

  1. Though not always valid depending on the search term, Google does recognize synonyms. Platform may still address Software queries, for instance, though you should test every assumption.
  2. Use Software in the title tag but a more Product-friendly word or phrase in the headers.
  3. Include Software in the copy, maybe behind an accordion, or even somewhere non-visible like via anchor text on a popular blog.
  4. Target a keyword, that viewed alone looks inappropriate, but then share your company’s perspective. For example, if “free” products suck for your industry, target that but explain why it shouldn’t be free. This doesn’t make sense though if your audience would never search for this query.
  5. Perform both A/B page testing and SEO split testing, letting the potential customer make the final decision!

In the end though, digital marketing works best when each side has input yet the most accurate objective results determine the outcome!

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