When it comes to building a successful SaaS website, having a visually appealing design and compelling content isn’t enough. Behind the scenes, technical SEO for SaaS plays a pivotal role in ensuring your site functions seamlessly, ranks well on search engines, and provides the best user experience possible.
This blog dives into key technical SEO aspects for SaaS websites, including site speed, mobile optimisation, crawlability & indexability, structured data, SSL/HTTPS, and fixing broken links & errors. All of these elements contribute to a website that ranks well, performs orderly, and meets the expectations of users and search engines alike.
If you're looking to understand SaaS SEO from a more general perspective, we recommend checking out our SaaS SEO Guide. This blog serves as a more technical extension of the principles discussed within the linked blog, diving deeper into the aspects that influence technical SEO for SaaS sites.
If you’re looking for help optimising your SaaS website for search engines, contact us today to speak with an expert and get your SaaS site soaring.
SaaS Sites & Site Speed
SaaS websites often feature complex functionality, including integrations, interactive elements, and dynamic content that can slow down page load times. This is a challenge when it comes to SaaS technical SEO—slow-loading pages can frustrate users and lead to higher bounce rates, which in turn impacts your search engine rankings.
Google has made it clear that site speed is a ranking factor, particularly with their Core Web Vitals update. These metrics focus on user experience, measuring how quickly pages load, how responsive they are, and how stable the content is as it loads.
Here’s a quick overview of the Core Web Vitals you should keep an eye on:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): measures how long it takes for the largest visible element to load.
- First Input Delay (FID): measures the time it takes for your site to respond when a user first interacts with it.
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): measures the visual stability of your site as it loads.
For SaaS SEO, improving these core web metrics is vital. For more details on boosting site speed and how it impacts your SEO, check out our Core Web Vitals blog.
Mobile Optimisation for SaaS Websites
Mobile-friendliness is no longer optional—it's a must. With mobile-first indexing, search engines prioritise the mobile version of your site for ranking purposes. This means that if your SaaS website doesn't adhere to mobile views, it could severely impact your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs).
A mobile-friendly SaaS site isn't just about responsive design; it also includes fast loading times, touch-friendly navigation, and an intuitive layout. These factors make it easier for users to engage with your content, which can improve rankings.
If you haven’t already looked at your site from a mobile perspective, it’s time to make it a priority in your technical SEO for SaaS strategy.
Crawlability & Indexability
When it comes to ensuring that search engines can easily crawl and index your SaaS website, Proper technical setup is a necessity. Key elements to consider are your XML sitemaps, robots.txt file, and the use of no-index tags. These elements help search engines understand the structure of your site and identify which pages should be indexed.
For instance, a well-structured XML sitemap tells search engines about the most important pages on your site, such as your pricing page, feature list, and blog content. The robots.txt file helps direct search engines on which pages to crawl and which to ignore. Without these setups, search engines might miss out on important content, hurting your SEO efforts.
By making sure your SaaS website can be crawled and indexed successfully, you help search engines serve the right pages to users—leading to better rankings and increased visibility.
SaaS Structured Data
Structured data (also known as schema markup) helps search engines understand your content more easily. For SaaS websites, adding structured data to your site—such as marking up your product pages, reviews, or blog posts—helps search engines display your content in rich snippets, which enhances visibility and click-through rates (CTR).
For example, adding structured data to your pricing page can result in a visually appealing snippet in search results, including pricing information directly on the search page. This can encourage more users to click through to your site.
In regard to SaaS technical SEO, structured data is a powerful tool that can increase your chances of securing rich snippets, which in turn, can significantly boost your traffic, authority, and CTR.
SSL/HTTPS
Both SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and HTTPS (HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure) are vital for ensuring the security of your SaaS website. SSL is the technology that encrypts the data transferred between users and your website, ensuring privacy and data integrity. HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP, indicating that a site has SSL in place.
For SaaS sites, security is a significant concern for customers, particularly when dealing with sensitive user data like payment information or personal details. Search engines like Google consider HTTPS a ranking signal, meaning that sites with SSL/HTTPS are more likely to rank higher.
By ensuring SSL/HTTPS, you not only secure your users' data but also boost your SaaS SEO by signalling trust and credibility to both users and search engines.
Fixing Broken Links & Errors on SaaS Sites
Regular technical audits are key to maintaining a healthy SaaS website. Broken links (404 errors) and other technical issues can disrupt the user experience and lead to ranking penalties if left unchecked. When users encounter broken links, they may quickly abandon your site, increasing bounce rates and harming SEO.
Fixing these errors, whether they involve updating outdated links or repairing internal navigation issues, helps ensure a smooth user experience and prevents any SEO penalties. Regular maintenance and monitoring are critical for keeping your SaaS technical SEO strong.
Ready to optimise your SaaS website with the latest in technical SEO for SaaS?
Check out our SaaS SEO Services to get started today.
Want to dive deeper into SEO as a whole? StudioHawk has an extensive blog hub that unearths an array of SEO related topics with tips, strategies, guides and more, all at the click of a link.
