SEO
Content Marketing for SaaS: The Ahrefs Guide
Content marketing is a popular type of marketing for SaaS marketing. Many companies have succeeded with it. HubSpot, Ahrefs, Zapier—the list goes on.
Despite that, there is no one way to do content marketing for SaaS. Each SaaS operates in a different market with different customers, pain points, and needs.
As a result, every SaaS’s content marketing strategy will be different.
So rather than prescribe the “best” content marketing strategy you must follow for 20XX, I’d like to share how we’ve done it here at Ahrefs.
Content marketing is our main marketing type. And hopefully, by the end of this guide, you’ll take away some principles, ideas, and tactics you can apply to your own SaaS.
But first, let’s answer some questions.
While the principles are largely the same, there are a few reasons why content marketing can be different for SaaS:
- Complexity – Generally speaking, there are more features in software, and this can be daunting to potential and new customers. So SaaS content marketing doesn’t just help improve brand awareness and sales—it’s also an important education channel.
- Retention – Since SaaS products are subscription-based, continuous education is required to help customers get the most out of the product to (hopefully) prevent churn.
- More decision-makers – SaaS can be expensive, which results in more decision-makers in the buying process. Therefore, SaaS content marketing must address the buying concerns for these people.
- More use cases – More features mean more use cases. For example, Ahrefs isn’t just used by SEOs but also by content marketers, affiliate marketers, website owners, and more. We can create content targeting all of them.
No.
Despite its popularity with SaaS companies, it’s not a must. Ultimately, it depends on your company, industry, and set of customers you serve.
In short, you must use the right “hunting strategy” for the right “animal.”
Content marketing is a “Nets” channel, i.e., it lets you pull in a large number of potential targets at once. This is suitable for companies that are targeting deer, mice, and rabbits—metaphors for customers who are paying you around $100–$10,000 per year.
If you’re targeting customers of those categories, content marketing may be a great channel for you.
Sidenote.
This doesn’t mean content marketing won’t work for elephants and flies. Many companies targeting enterprise customers have also succeeded with content marketing.
Learn more: A Simple Way to Build Your Go-to-Market Strategy
The way we do content marketing at Ahrefs is known as product-led content.
Product-led content is about creating content that helps the reader solve their problems with your product. It’s not a hard sell; we’re naturally and strategically weaving our product and its use cases into the narrative.
Here’s how it works.
1. Know your product really well
To create amazing product-led content, you have to know your product inside out.
This seems like an eye-rolling point, but you’d be amazed at how many marketers don’t know their product. That’s because many of them aren’t their own company’s target customers. They’ve probably tried out some features during their onboarding, but they’ve never seriously “eaten their own dog food.”
I admit this was the case for me as well. (Not at Ahrefs, though.)
You should know every feature and use case. You should keep up to date with every new feature your SaaS releases. You should be researching new use cases for existing and new features.
You need to know your product like the back of your hand.
At Ahrefs, we’re lucky we’re our own ideal customers. But we don’t take that for granted. Every new marketing hire works in customer support for three months before officially joining the team. They’re also expected to complete all courses in our academy.
This turns everyone in the marketing team into Ahrefs experts.
2. Know who can benefit from your product
Features need to benefit someone.
So you’ll want to think about who needs your SaaS. And don’t just think about the most direct customer base. You should broaden your horizons.
For example, we’re an all-in-one SEO toolset. While we obviously benefit SEOs, there are also a ton of other people who can use our product, like:
- Content marketers
- Digital marketers
- Affiliate marketers
- Agency owners
- Freelancers
- Website owners
- Indie makers
- SaaS marketers (like yourself)
And more.
This should be a piece of cake if you’ve done your market research and have your buyer personas on hand. But if you’ve yet to create buyer personas for your SaaS, I highly recommend following the process here.
3. Find topics with search traffic potential
Most people will likely discover your content via search engines. For that reason, you should create content for topics that your target customers are searching for.
Here’s how to find these topics:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
- Enter one or a few keywords that are relevant to the customers you’re targeting (e.g., for Ahrefs, these can be terms like SEO, content marketing, digital marketing, affiliate marketing, etc)
- Go to the Matching terms report
Here, you can see that there are ~2.5 million potential topics you could target. Not only are there too many, but a lot of them are likely also out of your wheelhouse (at least for now).
So we’ll want to narrow down the list using filters. Specifically:
- Keyword Difficulty (KD) – KD gives an estimation of how hard it is to rank in the top 10 search results for a keyword. The lower the number, the “easier” it is. While it does depend on your site’s “authority,” you can start with a reasonable number like 20.
- Traffic Potential (TP) – TP is the estimated amount of search traffic you can potentially gain if you rank #1 for that topic. We can set it to a minimum of 100 so we can find topics that actually send traffic to your site.
From here, you’ll want to eyeball the list for relevant topics you can cover.
Don’t just look out for topics where you can create articles. Since it’s relatively easier for SaaS companies to create free or limited versions of their existing products, you’ll also want to keep an eye out for opportunities where you can create free tools.
For example, our suite of free tools sends us tons of search traffic each month.
To find these keywords, use the Include filter to search for words like “tool, tools, calculator, template, templates, checker.”
Go through the list and see if there are any free tools you can create.
Learn more: Keyword Research: The Beginner’s Guide by Ahrefs
4. Give the topics you’ve found a “business potential” score
What’s the secret behind creating a piece of product-led content that doesn’t read like a hard sell?
Selecting the right topic.
At Ahrefs, we focus only on topics our product can solve. That way, we don’t look like we’re unnaturally shoehorning our product into the content—we’re simply offering the best solution to the problem.
How do we do this? We look at the topics we’ve found and give each of them a “business potential” score.
By prioritizing topics that score a “2” or “3,” we make sure that mentions of our product are natural.
5. Create product-led content that ranks
Creating product-led content that ranks isn’t simply a case of hunkering down and writing. You’ll need to make sure you’re creating and optimizing content for search engines so it can rank and generate organic traffic.
Here’s how to do it.
A. Match search intent
Search intent is the why behind a query. It’s the reason why someone is searching for something in the first place. Google knows this and tries to rank only the most relevant results.
For example, if we search for “best wireless headphones,” the top-ranking pages are all listicles listing the best wireless headphones of the current year.
Figuring out the search intent for your target topics is relatively easy. Just Google the keyword and look out for the three Cs:
- Content type – Is the primary type of content a blog post, product page, video, landing page, or something else?
- Content format – Is the primary format a how-to guide, listicle, review, opinion piece, news, or something else?
- Content angle – Is there a primary angle, such as the current year or content aimed at beginners?
For example, let’s suppose you want to cover the topic “how to save money.”
If we analyze the SERPs, here’s what we’ll learn:
- Content type – All of the top-ranking pages are blog posts.
- Content format – Surprise, surprise! Despite the “how to” modifier, people are actually looking for tips.
- Content angle – Simple, proven, and fast are potential angles you could cover.
So it’s likely you’ll have to write a listicle like “XX Simplest Tips to Save More Money.”
B. Cover the topic in full
For certain topics, searchers will be expecting you to cover several important subtopics. If you’re missing them, searchers may think your post is not good enough and bounce.
For example, some of the top-ranking posts for “how to write a press release” include templates:
It’s a clue that searchers may value posts with templates higher than posts without. So if you’re targeting this topic, you may want to include one.
Here’s how you can find important subtopics to cover:
- Look at what the top-ranking pages are covering (especially their subheadings)
- Run a content gap analysis
Here’s how you can execute the latter strategy:
- Go to Ahrefs’ Content Gap tool (in Ahrefs’ Site Explorer)
- Enter a few top-ranking pages for your topic in the top section
- Leave the bottom section blank
- Hit “Show keywords”
- Set the Intersection filter to 3 and 4 targets
For example, here’s how it looks like if we analyze the top-ranking pages for “earned media”:
Looking at the list, we should be covering subtopics like:
- What is earned media
- Examples of paid media
- Earned media examples
- Examples of owned media
- Earned media strategies
And more.
C. Weave in your product naturally
As you’re creating the content, add your product’s use case wherever natural and possible. This is an art—there’s no perfect way to do this. It comes down to your copywriting skills.
If you need an example of how this is done, you’re reading it. 😉
Just remember: Don’t overdo it. If your product isn’t a good fit, it isn’t a good fit. Don’t shoehorn your product in just because. You want to be confident about what you’re selling—but not to the point where you’re lying.
6. Promote the content
Your content won’t get traction on its own. You’ll have to give it a push. That means you need to promote your content.
Here are a few ways you can do it:
A. Share it with your audience
Email, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. Wherever you have a following, let them know.
B. Build links
Backlinks are one of Google’s most important ranking factors. For that reason, if you want to rank higher on Google, you need to build links.
Link building is a whole can of worms, so I highly recommend you read our guide on link building or watch this video.
But I don’t want to leave you with nothing, so here’s a good starting point to begin your link building journey:
- Paste a competing page into Site Explorer
- Go to the Backlinks report
- Look for backlinks you may be able to replicate
For example, let’s say we want to build links to our post on how to write a blog post. If we analyze the top-ranking page for that topic in Site Explorer, we see that it has 5,800 backlinks:
If we analyze them via the Backlinks report, we’ll see that HubSpot got a link from this page:
Looking at the page itself, it appears to be a page that curates resources for other industries. And there is a section for “Sales & Marketing Resources.”
If we reach out to the owner and introduce our post (or perhaps even something else, like our blog or academy), there’s a chance they may add it to their page.
C. Repurpose your content
Since you’ve already spent so much time creating the content, you should try and get as much mileage as possible from it.
You can do this by repurposing it.
For example, we turned our blog post on influencer marketing into a video. And vice versa—we also turned our video on affiliate marketing into a blog post.
Learn more: The Complete Guide to Content Repurposing
D. Run ads
Finally, if you have the budget, you can always run ads to your content. Don’t just think about the big networks—smaller networks can drive traffic to your posts too.
For example, we run ads on Twitter:
Quora:
And even YouTube:
Learn more: PPC Marketing: Beginner’s Guide to Pay-Per-Click Ads
Final thoughts
This is the strategy we’ve been using at Ahrefs for the past few years. But the most difficult part is to do it consistently—steadily publishing content, following the strategy, and not chasing every new tactic that comes along the way.
Any questions or comments? Let me know on Twitter.
SEO
Google Declares It The “Gemini Era” As Revenue Grows 15%
Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, announced its first quarter 2024 financial results today.
While Google reported double-digit growth in key revenue areas, the focus was on its AI developments, dubbed the “Gemini era” by CEO Sundar Pichai.
The Numbers: 15% Revenue Growth, Operating Margins Expand
Alphabet reported Q1 revenues of $80.5 billion, a 15% increase year-over-year, exceeding Wall Street’s projections.
Net income was $23.7 billion, with diluted earnings per share of $1.89. Operating margins expanded to 32%, up from 25% in the prior year.
Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s President and CFO, stated:
“Our strong financial results reflect revenue strength across the company and ongoing efforts to durably reengineer our cost base.”
Google’s core advertising units, such as Search and YouTube, drove growth. Google advertising revenues hit $61.7 billion for the quarter.
The Cloud division also maintained momentum, with revenues of $9.6 billion, up 28% year-over-year.
Pichai highlighted that YouTube and Cloud are expected to exit 2024 at a combined $100 billion annual revenue run rate.
Generative AI Integration in Search
Google experimented with AI-powered features in Search Labs before recently introducing AI overviews into the main search results page.
Regarding the gradual rollout, Pichai states:
“We are being measured in how we do this, focusing on areas where gen AI can improve the Search experience, while also prioritizing traffic to websites and merchants.”
Pichai reports that Google’s generative AI features have answered over a billion queries already:
“We’ve already served billions of queries with our generative AI features. It’s enabling people to access new information, to ask questions in new ways, and to ask more complex questions.”
Google reports increased Search usage and user satisfaction among those interacting with the new AI overview results.
The company also highlighted its “Circle to Search” feature on Android, which allows users to circle objects on their screen or in videos to get instant AI-powered answers via Google Lens.
Reorganizing For The “Gemini Era”
As part of the AI roadmap, Alphabet is consolidating all teams building AI models under the Google DeepMind umbrella.
Pichai revealed that, through hardware and software improvements, the company has reduced machine costs associated with its generative AI search results by 80% over the past year.
He states:
“Our data centers are some of the most high-performing, secure, reliable and efficient in the world. We’ve developed new AI models and algorithms that are more than one hundred times more efficient than they were 18 months ago.
How Will Google Make Money With AI?
Alphabet sees opportunities to monetize AI through its advertising products, Cloud offerings, and subscription services.
Google is integrating Gemini into ad products like Performance Max. The company’s Cloud division is bringing “the best of Google AI” to enterprise customers worldwide.
Google One, the company’s subscription service, surpassed 100 million paid subscribers in Q1 and introduced a new premium plan featuring advanced generative AI capabilities powered by Gemini models.
Future Outlook
Pichai outlined six key advantages positioning Alphabet to lead the “next wave of AI innovation”:
- Research leadership in AI breakthroughs like the multimodal Gemini model
- Robust AI infrastructure and custom TPU chips
- Integrating generative AI into Search to enhance the user experience
- A global product footprint reaching billions
- Streamlined teams and improved execution velocity
- Multiple revenue streams to monetize AI through advertising and cloud
With upcoming events like Google I/O and Google Marketing Live, the company is expected to share further updates on its AI initiatives and product roadmap.
Featured Image: Sergei Elagin/Shutterstock
SEO
brightonSEO Live Blog
Hello everyone. It’s April again, so I’m back in Brighton for another two days of Being the introvert I am, my idea of fun isn’t hanging around our booth all day explaining we’ve run out of t-shirts (seriously, you need to be fast if you want swag!). So I decided to do something useful and live-blog the event instead.
Follow below for talk takeaways and (very) mildly humorous commentary. sun, sea, and SEO!
SEO
Google Further Postpones Third-Party Cookie Deprecation In Chrome
Google has again delayed its plan to phase out third-party cookies in the Chrome web browser. The latest postponement comes after ongoing challenges in reconciling feedback from industry stakeholders and regulators.
The announcement was made in Google and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) joint quarterly report on the Privacy Sandbox initiative, scheduled for release on April 26.
Chrome’s Third-Party Cookie Phaseout Pushed To 2025
Google states it “will not complete third-party cookie deprecation during the second half of Q4” this year as planned.
Instead, the tech giant aims to begin deprecating third-party cookies in Chrome “starting early next year,” assuming an agreement can be reached with the CMA and the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The statement reads:
“We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem. It’s also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence, including results from industry tests, which the CMA has asked market participants to provide by the end of June.”
Continued Engagement With Regulators
Google reiterated its commitment to “engaging closely with the CMA and ICO” throughout the process and hopes to conclude discussions this year.
This marks the third delay to Google’s plan to deprecate third-party cookies, initially aiming for a Q3 2023 phaseout before pushing it back to late 2024.
The postponements reflect the challenges in transitioning away from cross-site user tracking while balancing privacy and advertiser interests.
Transition Period & Impact
In January, Chrome began restricting third-party cookie access for 1% of users globally. This percentage was expected to gradually increase until 100% of users were covered by Q3 2024.
However, the latest delay gives websites and services more time to migrate away from third-party cookie dependencies through Google’s limited “deprecation trials” program.
The trials offer temporary cookie access extensions until December 27, 2024, for non-advertising use cases that can demonstrate direct user impact and functional breakage.
While easing the transition, the trials have strict eligibility rules. Advertising-related services are ineligible, and origins matching known ad-related domains are rejected.
Google states the program aims to address functional issues rather than relieve general data collection inconveniences.
Publisher & Advertiser Implications
The repeated delays highlight the potential disruption for digital publishers and advertisers relying on third-party cookie tracking.
Industry groups have raised concerns that restricting cross-site tracking could push websites toward more opaque privacy-invasive practices.
However, privacy advocates view the phaseout as crucial in preventing covert user profiling across the web.
With the latest postponement, all parties have more time to prepare for the eventual loss of third-party cookies and adopt Google’s proposed Privacy Sandbox APIs as replacements.
Featured Image: Novikov Aleksey/Shutterstock
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