SaaS Technical SEO: 29 Strategies + How to Audit

SaaS companies have taken center stage in today’s digital landscape.
And while that demand is good news for your SaaS platform, it also means fierce competition.

How do you ensure your SaaS platform stands out from the rest?

Conduct SaaS keyword research and then craft high quality content!
This will ensure you gain the top spot on the search results. 

But SEO isn’t just about content.
Implementing a sound technical SEO strategy is the foundation for sustained visibility, and you shouldn’t ignore it!

So, how do you get started?

We’ll take you through critical SaaS technical SEO strategies that can improve your site traffic and conversions. This includes optimizing URL structure, eliminating duplicate content, and more.

To make your life easier, we’ll also provide a step-by-step guide on how to conduct an effective SEO audit. We’ll then explore the best SEO tools to use, top CMS platforms to check out, and the answers to some FAQs.

This Article Contains

• 29 SaaS Technical SEO Strategies to Implement in 2023
• How to Conduct an Effective SaaS Technical SEO Audit in 3 Steps
• 7 Must-Have Tools to Use for Your SaaS Technical SEO Audit
• Top 2 CMS Platforms for Building Your SaaS Website
• 2 FAQs About SaaS Technical SEO

Let’s dive in!

29 SaaS Technical SEO Strategies to Implement in 2023

Here’s a complete list of the technical SEO strategies you should prioritize:

1. The Basics
2. Site Architecture
3. Indexation
4. Managing Content
5. Page Speed
6. Mobile Friendliness

A. The Basics

Let’s start with the basic things that you’d usually need to implement once in a while:

1. Use the Right CMS
2. Implement Secure HTTPS Protocol
3. Set Up a CDN
4. Implement Heading Tags Properly
5. Use Structured Data for Enhanced Search Results

1. Use the Right CMS

A CMS (Content Management System) is a software platform that allows you to create, manage, and modify digital content (such as articles, blog posts, product descriptions, and website copy).

As a SaaS business owner, a CMS helps you create and update content, user interfaces, and product information. This flexibility ensures a seamless user experience, supports product scalability, and enables you to adapt to changing market demands quickly.

We’ve covered the best CMS platforms later on in this article.

2. Implement Secure HTTPS Protocol

If your website uses HTTP, then it’s high time you transitioned to using HTTPS.

Wondering why?
Implementing secure HTTPS protocol encrypts the data exchanged between users and your server — ensuring a safe and private browsing experience. This will make your site reputable and build trust with users.

But that’s not all! 
This strategy could also improve your search engine ranking because Google prioritizes secure websites.

Here’s what a site with an HTTPS protocol looks like:

Source: Asana

So, how do you implement HTTPS protocol?

Obtain an SSL/TLS certificate from a reputable Certificate Authority and install it on your web server. This will enable the HTTPS protocol and display the padlock icon in the browser, indicating a secure connection.

From there, enable HTTPS on all pages of your SaaS website. Use server-side redirects to ensure that all HTTP requests are automatically redirected to HTTPS.

3. Set Up a CDN

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a network of geographically distributed servers designed to efficiently deliver web content by minimizing latency and improving load times. This means setting up a CDN can improve user experience and boost search engine rankings.

Additionally, a CDN can reroute traffic during serving downtime. This can boost your site’s reputation and reduce the bounce rate.

Some of the best CDN providers are Cloudflare, Amazon CloudFront, Microsoft Azure CDN, and StackPath.

To set up a CDN the right way, follow these steps:

1. Choose a CDN provider and sign up.
2. Add your website domain to the CDN provider’s dashboard.
3. Configure the DNS (Domain Name System) to point to the CDN.
4. Define the origin server where the original website content is hosted.
5. Configure caching rules to define what content should be cached (including how long it should be cached).
6. Implement security measures like DDoS protection and SSL/TLS encryption.
7. Set up procedures to purge or invalidate cached content when updates are made.
8. Test your website to ensure it loads correctly through the CDN.
9. Monitor performance and make optimizations as needed.

4. Implement Heading Tags Properly

Using heading tags correctly in your content is important.

Why?
It helps you organize content effectively and signal the hierarchy of information to users and search engines. When you structure headings logically, search engines and users will understand the content flow at a glance.

Don’t forget to include any relevant keyword in heading tags to reinforce the page’s topical relevance.

What’s the best way to implement heading tags?
Use the H1 tag for the main page title, reflecting the primary topic or target keyword of the page. Use H2 tags for section headings, followed by H3, H4, and so on, for subheadings.

Need an example?
Let’s look at one of the SaaS blogs by Salesforce — a SaaS company offering a wide range of cloud-based CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solutions.

The screenshot below shows the H1 tag (i.e., the title): 

Source: Salesforce

Next, here’s a screenshot showing an H2 heading and an H3 subheading below it:

Source: Salesforce 

5. Use Structured Data for Enhanced Search Results

Using structured data is a powerful strategy that can increase visibility and establish authority on the search result page. So, implement structured data markup (such as schema markups) to provide search engines with detailed information about your website’s content.

What’s the end result?

Structured data allows search engines to create rich snippets and other enhanced search results. This SEO tactic can increase your chances of getting attention and clicks from your potential customers.

For example, let’s say you decide to use the sitelinks search box schema markup. In this case,  Google will display a dedicated search box for your website directly in the search results.

To illustrate this example, let’s look at Asana — a project management tool. When you search for Asana on Google, you should see a rich snippet with a dedicated search box for the website:

How does this help?

It allows you to quickly look for something on Asana’s website while you’re still on the Google search results. That’s the power of implementing structured data on your site!

It’s worth noting that Google might automatically generate some rich snippets for you. For instance, sitelinks are usually generated automatically.

But it’s still worth using schema markups for sitelinks and other structured data. This makes it easier for Google to understand your website’s structure and generate rich snippets.

So, what else can you use structured data for?

Use it to mark up key elements on your SaaS website, including product details, reviews, ratings, pricing, and FAQs. This helps search engines better understand the context of your content and present it in more visually appealing and informative ways to users.

But how do you know you’ve implemented structured data the right way? 

Regularly test and validate it using Schema Markup Validator. 

From there, monitor performance using Google Search Console’s Rich Results Report.

Now that we’ve got the basics out the way, let’s get into structuring your site the right way:

B. Site Architecture

The best practices that’ll ensure you have excellent site architecture are as follows:

1. Use Clear and Structured Website Navigation
2. Use Category Pages
3. Optimize URL Structure
4. Review and Optimize Your Internal Linking Structure

1. Use Clear and Structured Website Navigation

Let’s face it — no one wants to spend time on a website that’s difficult to navigate. So, always use clear navigation to simplify the user journey and help visitors find relevant information effortlessly. 

The other benefits of implementing this strategy include encouraging longer session durations and signaling to search engines that your site is user-friendly. This can positively impact search rankings and boost organic traffic.

What’s the best way to handle website navigation?
Conduct a navigation audit to assess the logical flow of menus and submenus and ensure they align with the needs of your target audience.

To promote seamless navigation, implement breadcrumb navigation to guide users back to the homepage or parent pages. (Breadcrumb navigation refers to a sequential trail of clickable links that show users where they are on a website and how they got there.)

For example, Zapier (a SaaS automation platform that connects and integrates various web apps) uses breadcrumbs on its blog. You can access one of its articles as follows:

1. Click the Productivity drop-down menu on the top part of the home page.
2. Select the App tips category.
3. Open any article on the list. In this example, we accessed the “How does ChatGPT work?” article.
   

Source: Zapier

If you look at the top-left part of the article, you’ll notice the breadcrumb bar showing you the path we followed to get to this article. 

Want to boost your website navigation strategies?
Employ descriptive and keyword-rich anchor text for navigation links. This will enhance both user understanding and search engine crawlability.

Let’s look at Airtable’s website to illustrate what clear and structured navigation should look like. (Airtable is a cloud collaboration platform with a spreadsheet-style interface.)

Source: Airtable

If you look at the left part of the home page, you’ll see a couple of options to pick from (such as Solution and Resources). Meanwhile, there are some CTA (Call to Action) buttons on the right.

When you click on one of the options on the left, you should see a couple of categories and subcategories. 

For instance, when you click on Resources, you’ll see a couple of categories like “LEARN,” “CONNECT,” and more. If you click on the By Topic subcategory, you’ll see a couple of options within that subcategory.

Source: Airtable

The key takeaway?
The site is structured clearly and makes it easy for you to find relevant information.

2. Use Category Pages

Category pages play a crucial role in organizing and presenting content coherently — enhancing both user experience and search engine visibility.

How do you create category pages?

Structure categories logically and ensure that content is grouped in a manner that simplifies user navigation. And while you’re at it, make sure to use descriptive and clear category names.

Additionally, incorporate clear internal linking on category pages to further help search engines understand content relationships and hierarchy.

If you go to Asana’s blog page, you’ll notice a couple of categories displayed at the top (such as Industry Insights):

Source: Asana

So if you want to learn about a specific topic, all you need to do is pick the relevant category. Simple!

When you scroll down on the blog page, you’ll notice that each blog thumbnail displays a category tag at the bottom. This can be helpful if you want to quickly identify the category of each blog without having to go to the category/folder itself. 

Source: Asana

By the way, what do you gain from using category pages?

When you use category pages effectively, you should be able to funnel potential customers to relevant content easily and reduce bounce rates. This can also bolster your chances of ranking prominently in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

3. Optimize URL Structure

Craft clean and user-friendly URLs that reflect the content and intent of each page.

But how do you do that?
Here are some tips to follow:

• Keep URLs concise and descriptive, and use meaningful keywords to convey the content of the page.

• Use hyphens (-) to separate the words in URLs. That’s because URLs with hyphens are more readable and SEO-friendly than those with underscores (or other word separators).

• Avoid using special characters because they can lead to encoding issues and make the links less user-friendly.

• Use lowercase letters to ensure consistency and prevent case-sensitivity issues on different web servers.

• Implement canonical URLs to prevent duplicate content issues. (We’ll cover canonical tags later and discuss why they’re important for Search Engine Optimization.)

• Create a logical URL structure (with folders and subfolders) to organize content hierarchically and improve navigation.

Here’s an excellent example of an optimized URL from a blog by Slack — a popular team collaboration and messaging platform: https://slack.com/blog/productivity/what-is-a-digital-hq

Source: Slack

As you can see, the blog’s title (What Is a Digital HQ) appears on the URL and is separated by hyphens. Slack also used lowercase letters throughout the URL.

And since the blog is in the “Productivity” folder, that’s also displayed in the URL!

By the way, what are the benefits of optimizing your URL structure?
You can improve your search engine ranking and boost click-through rates (as users know what the page is about).

4. Review and Optimize Your Internal Linking Structure

Internal links connect different pages within your website — helping users navigate your website seamlessly. 

These links also make it easy for search engines to understand content relationships and hierarchy. They can also improve the discoverability of the other pages during crawling and indexing, potentially boosting their visibility in search results.

So, it’s best to evaluate your internal links regularly and ensure they’re relevant, well-organized, and strategically placed.

How do you optimize your internal links?

Use descriptive anchor text that provides context to both users and search engines about the content on the linked page. Also, fix broken or outdated links and reduce the number of orphaned pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them).

Here’s an example illustrating the proper use of internal links:

Source: Slack

In this blog, Slack linked to descriptive anchor text — making it easy for readers to know what to expect when clicking on each link.

C. Indexation

Indexation is the process where search engines analyze and store information from websites in their databases. This means Indexed pages are those recognized by search engines and can appear in search results.

Now, let’s look at the best practices that’ll ensure your site gets indexed:

1. Create and Optimize XML Sitemaps
2. Create and Optimize HTML Sitemaps
3. Use a robots.txt File to Control Search Engine Crawling
4. Use Meta Robots Tag to Control Indexing
5. Manual URL Submissions
6. Test JavaScript Rendering

1. Create and Optimize XML Sitemaps

An XML sitemap is a structured file that provides search engines with information about the organization and hierarchy of the content on a website. It lists URLs of a website’s pages, along with additional metadata like their last modification date and priority level. 

Why is an XML sitemap important?
This file assists search engines efficiently crawl and index a website, enhancing its visibility in search engine results.

So when you perform technical SEO audits, always ensure to include important pages in the XML sitemap. This will increase the likelihood of those pages being indexed by search engines. 

How do you view an XML sitemap of a certain website?
The easiest thing to do is add “/sitemap.xml” to the end of the website’s URL. For example, here’s how you’d do it for Airtable’s blog page: https://blog.airtable.com/sitemap.xml

Source: Airtable

In this case, the sitemap contains a list of different sitemaps for various categories. For instance, the second sitemap (sitemap-posts.xml) contains the links for different posts on the websites. 

Here’s what appears when you click on the “posts” sitemap:

Within this specific sitemap, you can see the total URL count at the top, along with the respective URLs.

So, how do you create an XML sitemap?
An easy way out is to use plugins (like the Yoast SEO WordPress plugin) that automatically generate XML sitemaps for you. But depending on your website’s structure, you may want to include or exclude certain pages from the sitemap manually.

Once you’ve created the sitemap, submit it to Google Search Console to help crawlers understand the structure of your website and index the content more efficiently.

The good news is that some CMS platforms (like Wix and Drupal) automatically generate a sitemap for you. So, before creating an XML sitemap, check and ensure it’s not being automatically generated and updated.

2. Create and Optimize HTML Sitemaps

An HTML sitemap is a user-friendly page that presents a structured list of links to various sections and pages of a website.

HTML sitemaps are important for user experience, especially on websites with complex structures where navigation might be challenging. They offer an easily accessible overview of the website’s content — enabling users to locate specific pages quickly. 

Also, HTML sitemaps can be particularly useful when a website lacks a clear and intuitive menu. In some cases, it can be beneficial when there are numerous deep-level pages that users might have difficulty finding through regular navigation.

How do you optimize an HTML sitemap?

Ensure the links on the sitemap accurately represent the website’s hierarchy and provide a clear navigational path for users.

3. Use a robots.txt File to Control Search Engine Crawling

The robots.txt file allows you to control the way search engine crawlers access your website. You can use it to disallow the crawling of sensitive or irrelevant directories that you don’t want to be indexed by search engines.

For example, you might want to use a robots.txt file to disallow search engines from crawling and indexing the checkout pages or other private files.

So, how do you view this file?
The easiest way to access the robots.txt file is to go to a specific website and add “/robots.txt” to the end of the website’s URL.

To check the robots.txt file for Asana (a SaaS project management tool), you’d have to type in “https://asana.com/robots.txt” in the address bar:

Source: Asana

Here’s a quick look at what the directives and rules on the robots.txt file mean:

• User-agent: This directive allows you to control the way individual bots access and interact with your site’s content. Using an asterisk (*) simply means you want all kinds of search engine bots to access and crawl your website.

• Disallow: Set “Disallow” rules for areas/directories that you don’t want Google bots to crawl. For example, “Disallow: /internal/” means you don’t want Google bots to crawl the “private” directory).

• Allow: This directive allows Google bots to crawl specific directories. But this is optional because everything that’s excluded in the “Disallow” part should be automatically crawled.

It’s important to periodically review and update the robots.txt file to reflect changes in your website’s structure and content. Also, always test the robots.txt file using Google’s robots.txt Tester in Google Search Console to verify its effectiveness.

4. Use Meta Robots Tag to Control Indexing

The meta robots tag is an HTML element that informs search engines about how to index a web page and follow the links on it.

Wait — how does this differ from the robots.txt file?
The meta robots tag is page-specific and embedded in the HTML code, controlling indexing and link-following for individual pages. The robots.txt file is site-wide, placed at the domain’s root, and governs general crawler access to a website.

By default, this is what the meta robots tag looks like:

In this particular case, the value of the name attribute (robots) specifies that the rule applies to all robots/crawlers. Meanwhile, the values in the content attribute instruct search engine crawlers to index the content of the page and follow (crawl) the links present on the page.

To prevent search engines from indexing certain pages or from following the links within them, you’d have to change the values in the “content” attribute to “noindex, nofollow.” This is particularly useful for non-essential pages, duplicate content, or pages under development.

Follow these simple steps to view the robots.txt file of any website:

1. Visit a particular website.
2. Right-click on a blank space and select View page source.
3. Search for “robots” in the HTML file and locate the meta robots section.

Here’s what Airtable’s robots.txt file looks like:

Source: Airtable

The end result?
Effectively using the meta robots tag prevents the indexing of duplicate or irrelevant content. This contributes to a more efficient and focused search engine indexing process.

5. Manual URL Submissions

Manual URL submissions involve directly submitting specific URLs to Google Search Console. This process ensures prompt indexing and visibility of new or updated content.

Manual URL submissions can help you accelerate the indexing process. This can be particularly beneficial for time-sensitive content, new pages, or important updates that you want search engines to recognize promptly.

Here’s how to submit URLs manually on Google Search Console:

1. Log in to your Google Search Console account.
2. Choose your website property.
3. Click on the URL Inspection option on the left-hand side.
4. Enter the specific URL in the provided field and click Enter.
5. Click the Request Indexing button to submit the URL for indexing.
   

Source: Google Search Console

Google will process the request, and you’ll receive a confirmation once the URL is successfully submitted.

6. Test JavaScript Rendering

Testing JavaScript rendering involves assessing how search engines process and display content generated by JavaScript.

And why is all this important?
Modern websites rely heavily on JavaScript code for interactive elements and content loading. That’s why it’s essential to evaluate how search engine bots interpret this code. 

In short, testing JavaScript rendering helps you ensure that search engines can accurately understand and index dynamic content.

How do you test JavaScript rendering?

Here are the steps to do this using Chrome Developer tools:

1. Open Google Chrome and Enter the URL of the web page you want to check JavaScript rendering for. In this example, we’ll check JavaScript rendering for the Airtable website (https://www.airtable.com/).
2. Access the Chrome Developer tools by right-clicking anywhere on the page and selecting Inspect from the context menu.
3. Navigate to the Network tab.
   

Source: Airtable

4. Click the JS section to check the rendering for JavaScript files (JS) only.
   

Source: Airtable

5. To capture network activity, reload the web page by pressing F5 or clicking the refresh icon in your browser’s address bar.
6. As the page reloads, observe the network activity and check how dynamic content performs.
7. Assess how JavaScript rendering affects page load times by looking at the timing information for each resource in the “Time” column. 
   

Source: Airtable

8. Click on a specific JavaScript file to view its details. You can see information about the file size, response headers, and timing in the relevant sections in the middle pane. For example, click the Headers section to check the file’s status code and other information.
   

Source: Airtable

To further inspect JavaScript-related issues, switch to the “Console” tab in the developer tools. This tab displays any JavaScript errors, warnings, or messages that may have occurred during the page load.

Source: Airtable

Remember, the testing process will ensure that crucial content and links hidden behind JavaScript are accessible to search engines — improving indexation and search engine rankings.

But if you somehow run into issues with testing JavaScript rendering, then maybe it’s time to minify your JavaScript files. More on that later!

D. Managing Content

Want to rank higher on the SERPs?
Make sure your content is A+!

So, let’s take a look at how you can easily manage your site’s content:

1. Remove Unnecessary Pages
2. Fix Orphaned Pages
3. Understand and Troubleshoot Response Codes
4. Use Canonicals
5. Use 301 Redirects to Solve 404 Errors
6. Implement hreflang Tags

1. Remove Unnecessary Pages

Unnecessary pages (such as surplus theme-generated categories) often dilute valuable content and create confusion for users and search engines. They can also affect your website’s responsiveness.

So if you want to improve user navigation and experience, it’s always best to eliminate any unnecessary pages that don’t add value to your site.

Also, removing unnecessary pages will ensure that your site has clear and structured navigation.

2. Fix Orphaned Pages

Orphaned pages are those that have no internal links pointing to them. Unless you manually submit the URLs for these pages, it’s difficult for search engines to discover and index them.

How do you fix such pages?

Conduct a comprehensive site audit to identify orphaned pages. For instance, use a website crawling tool like Screaming Frog to crawl your entire website and identify orphan pages.

Once identified, link these pages strategically from relevant high-authority pages on your website. Use contextual anchor text that includes a relevant keyword to reinforce the page’s topical relevance.

From there, create a sitemap that includes all important pages (including the orphaned ones) and submit it to Google Search Console. Also, use Google Search Console to verify that orphaned pages are now being crawled and indexed.

Finally, regularly monitor your internal link structure and update it as your website’s content evolves.

3. Understand and Troubleshoot Response Codes

Analyzing and troubleshooting response codes can help you identify and resolve issues that may impact your website’s performance on the SERPs. For instance, you can fix broken links and incorrect redirects to improve site performance and search engine rankings.

But what are response codes?
Response codes (often referred to as HTTP status codes) are three-digit numbers returned by web servers. They provide information about the outcome of an HTTP request, such as whether it was successful or encountered an error.

Here are some critical response codes to be aware of:

• 200 (OK): This code signifies a successful request, indicating that the page was found and loaded correctly.

• 404 (Not Found): When a page returns a 404 status, it means it doesn’t exist or can’t be found on the server.

Here’s what a 404 error page looks like on the Airtable website:

Source: Airtable

• 301 (Moved Permanently): This code indicates a permanent URL redirect, helping to ensure that search engines and users are redirected to the correct version of the page.

To help you understand this a bit better, here’s a screenshot from Screaming Frog (a web crawling tool) displaying the data from Salesforce:

The highlighted part on the left is the old URL. In the middle pane is the status showing that the URL has been moved permanently. Finally, the redirected URL is displayed on the right.

This means if you try to access the URL on the left, you’ll automatically be redirected to the one on the right.

• 302 (Moved Temporarily): This code signifies a temporary URL redirect, indicating that the requested page has moved temporarily to another URL.

• 500 (Internal Server Error): This appears when the website’s server has a problem and can’t show you the page you’re trying to view.

• 503 (Service Unavailable): This response code indicates that the server is temporarily unable to handle the request, usually due to maintenance or overloading.

How do you monitor and interpret response codes?

Use tools like Google Search Console, browser extensions, crawling and auditing tools like Screaming Frog, or Chrome developer tools.

To create a seamless user experience, consider creating custom pages, such as 404 custom pages. By doing that, you can ensure your target audience can still spend some time navigating your website.

Let’s look at this awesome custom 404 error page by Asana:

Source: Asana

Clearly, this particular page doesn’t exist on the website (as shown in the top-right corner).

But did you notice something?
At the bottom of the page, Asana suggested a couple of actions the reader could take. That way, the user would be encouraged to keep navigating the website.

4. Use Canonicals

Canonical tags are HTML elements that indicate the preferred version of a page when similar or duplicate content exists. They help search engines understand which page should be indexed and displayed in the search results.

They also contribute to a seamless experience by ensuring that users are directed to the most accurate and relevant page.

Canonical tags are placed within the head section of the web page and come in three different forms:

• Self-Referencing Canonical Tag: This canonical tag is added to a page to indicate that the page itself is the preferred version that should be indexed and ranked.

Here’s what a self-referencing canonical tag looks like: 

To illustrate this example, we’ll look at a blog from Slack titled, “4 simple Slack tips to have a more productive workday.”

Source: Slack

To view the canonical tag, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on a blank space and select View page source.
2. Search for “canonical” in the HTML file and locate the canonical tag used.

Here’s what the canonical tag for Slack’s blog looks like:

Source: Slack

It’s clear that this is a self-referencing canonical tag because the link used in it is similar to the blog URL.

Now, let’s explore other canonical tags.

• Single-Domain Canonical Tag: This canonical tag is used for handling duplicate content issues within a single domain (website). It’s added to a certain page and points to another page on the same domain. It shows search engines that the page that’s being pointed to should be prioritized for indexing and ranking.

Here’s what a single-domain canonical tag looks like: 

• Cross-Domain Canonical Tag: This canonical tag is used when similar or duplicate content exists on different domains (websites). It’s added to a page on a specific domain and points to another page on a different domain. It shows search engines that the page that’s being pointed to (which is on a different website) is the one that should be indexed and ranked.

Here’s what a cross-domain canonical tag looks like: 

So, what do you do if you suspect that some pages have incorrect or missing canonical tags?

Check them using site audit tools like Screaming Frog or Google Search Console.

5. Use 301 Redirects to Solve 404 Errors

As we’ve indicated earlier, a 301 redirect is a permanent redirection from one URL to another. 

So, how can it help you resolve a 404 error (which indicates that a page isn’t found)?
When you implement a 301 redirect on a page returning a 404 error, it guides users and search engines to a relevant and existing page.

This SEO tactic prevents users from encountering dead-end pages, enhancing user experience and reducing bounce rates. It also makes it easy for Google to index and rank your relevant pages.

6. Implement hreflang Tags

Hreflang tags are HTML attributes that help users see the appropriate version of a page based on their language preferences. Implementing them is crucial for international websites with content targeting different languages or regions. 

How are hreflang tags beneficial for SEO?
They help search engines understand the relationships between pages in various languages or for specific regions. This means they help prevent duplicate content issues.

Additionally, these tags help you boost your local SEO efforts.

What does that mean?
Local SEO is an SEO effort that focuses on optimizing a website for a location-based search result. In this case, hreflang tags help with this because they allow you to optimize your search engine rankings in different geographical markets with the right language.

For example, HubSpot (a marketing automation and CRM platform) uses hreflang tags on its website. To view these tags, follow these steps:

1. Right-click on a blank space and select View page source.
2. Search for “hreflang” in the HTML file and locate the hreflang tag used.
   

Source: HubSpot

Based on the hreflang tags in this example, HubSpot has different versions of the home page in English (en), Spanish (es), French (fr-FR), Dutch (de-DE), and Japanese (ja-JP).

E. Page Speed

Page speed can be your make or break when it comes to ranking. 

Why?
Because Google considers page speed as one of the many factors when determining how to rank web pages in search results. 

So, let’s check out the different ways to optimize page speed:

1. Monitor Website Loading Speed and Responsiveness
2. Enable Browser Caching
3. Optimize Images for Faster Loading Times
4. Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Files
5. Optimize for Core Web Vitals

1. Monitor Website Loading Speed and Responsiveness

No one likes spending time on a slow website. Instead, users demand instant access to information and seamless experiences across devices.

So, it’s important to optimize your SaaS website loading speed and responsiveness.

To audit and optimize your website speed, use SaaS SEO tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. Identify areas for improvement, such as compressing images, minimizing server response time, and leveraging browser caching.

Additionally, assess your website’s responsiveness on various devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Use a responsive design that ensures your SaaS platform adapts flawlessly to different screen sizes — enhancing user experience and engagement.

2. Enable Browser Caching

Browser caching is a mechanism that allows web browsers to store and reuse certain web page resources (such as images) on a user’s device. This SEO effort allows returning visitors to load the website faster since their browser doesn’t need to download these resources again.

Clearly, enabling browser caching can optimize website performance and improve user experience.

To enable browser caching, configure your web server to download certain website files temporarily when someone visits your site. That way, your website will load faster when someone revisits it because it won’t need to re-download files.

3. Optimize Images for Faster Loading Times

Optimizing your website images is another brilliant way to boost your page speed, provide a smoother user experience, reduce bounce rates, and positively impact search engine rankings.

Follow these best practices to optimize images for faster loading times:

• Compress Images: Use image compression tools (like Adobe Photoshop or TinyPNG) to reduce file size without compromising visual quality. That’s because smaller image files load faster and lead to quicker page loading times.

• Choose the Right Format: Always select the appropriate image format based on the content. Use JPEG for photographs and images with gradients, and opt for PNG for images with transparency or simple graphics. 

Also, consider using the WebP image format. That’s because it achieves about 30% more compression than other formats without losing quality.

• Use Responsive Images: A responsive image is one that automatically adjusts its size and dimensions to fit different screen sizes and device types. It ensures an optimal viewing experience for users on various devices like desktops, tablets, and smartphones. To create responsive images, you need to use HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) coding techniques.

• Use Image CDNs: Consider using Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) designed for serving images. CDNs distribute your images across multiple servers globally, reducing server load and speeding up image delivery.

4. Minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Files

Minifying files involves removing unnecessary characters like whitespace, comments, and line breaks. This reduces file sizes without altering functionality.

And what are the benefits?

Minification reduces the amount of data that needs to be downloaded, leading to faster page loading times. And because compressed files require less bandwidth, this makes your site more accessible to users with slower connections or mobile devices.

Additionally, smaller files put less strain on web servers, which can be especially beneficial for sites with high traffic volumes.

5. Optimize for Core Web Vitals

Core Web Vitals are a set of key performance metrics that assess the user experience of a web page. They measure page loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability. 

Here’s a breakdown of the core web vitals and how to optimize each:

• Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): LCP measures the loading performance of a web page. It assesses the time it takes for the largest content element (such as an image) to become visible in the user’s viewport. A good LCP score (less than 2.5s) ensures that users quickly see the main content of a page.

To optimize your site for this core web vital, compress and serve images and videos in modern formats like WebP. Also, use responsive images with proper dimensions, optimize server response times, and use browser caching.

• First Input Delay (FID): FID measures interactivity by assessing the time it takes for a web page to respond to the first user interaction, such as clicking a link or button. A lower FID score (less than 100ms) indicates a more responsive website.

To optimize your site for FID and boost page load speed, reduce the amount of JavaScript that needs to be parsed and executed.

• Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): CLS evaluates visual stability by measuring the unexpected layout shifts that occur during page loading. A low CLS score (less than 0.1) means that page elements don’t unexpectedly move around, and this can improve the user experience.

Optimizing for CLS usually involves ensuring that dynamically added content (such as ads or widgets) doesn’t unexpectedly shift page layout.

Once you’ve optimized your site for core web vitals, regularly monitor these metrics using Google Search Console and other performance tools. From there, address any issues to enhance user experience, reduce bounce rates, and improve search engine rankings.

F. Mobile Friendliness

Google considers mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor. 

Why?
Because there’s an increasing number of users accessing the internet on mobile devices!

This means websites that are optimized for mobile devices are more likely to rank higher in the search results.

How do you ensure your site is mobile-friendly?
Here are some tips:

1. Configure the Viewport Meta Tag to Improve Mobile Friendliness
2. Use Media Queries to Create a Flexible and Responsive Design
3. Optimize Interactive Elements

1. Configure the Viewport Meta Tag to Improve Mobile Friendliness

The viewport meta tag sets the width and scaling of a webpage for optimal display on various devices. It ensures your site has a responsive and mobile-friendly layout — improving search engine rankings and customer engagement.

The viewport meta tag is located in the head <head> section of the HTML code.

Here’s the basic syntax for this tag:

Let’s break down the attributes and values in this tag:

• name=”viewport”: This attribute specifies that the meta tag is related to the viewport settings.

• content=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0″: This is where you define the viewport settings. 

In this example, width=device-width is a setting that instructs the browser to set the width of the viewport to the device’s screen width. This is a fundamental part of responsive web design because it ensures that the website adapts to different screen sizes.

The initial-scale=1.0 setting sets the initial zoom level of the webpage to 100%, ensuring that the webpage is not initially zoomed in or out when it loads. This is important for maintaining a consistent and readable layout on mobile devices.

2. Use Media Queries to Create a Flexible and Responsive Design

Media queries are CSS rules that adapt a website’s layout and styling based on the user’s device characteristics (such as screen size and resolution). By using them, you can ensure your site can achieve a responsive and mobile-friendly design.

Here’s an example of a media query in CSS:

In this example:

• The media query targets screens with a maximum width of 600 pixels.

• The body font size is reduced to 14 pixels, and the background color is changed for screens with a maximum width of 600 pixels.

• The .menu element is set to display: none; for screens with a maximum width of 600 pixels.

3. Optimize Interactive Elements

Optimizing interactive elements (such as buttons) is also an excellent way to create a mobile-friendly site. 

This involves designing buttons to be large enough so that users can easily tap them with a thumb. Also, it involves strategically placing those buttons in suitable places to create a seamless experience.

For instance, take a look at Airtable’s CTA buttons on the desktop version of the home page:

Source: Airtable

The CTA buttons are visible immediately when you land on the website. 

Let’s now look at the mobile version of the page:

Source: Airtable 

Clearly, the CTA buttons are visible and large enough to be clicked with a thumb.

And that’s it! 
You’ve discovered all the rock-solid SEO strategies that can take your SaaS company to greater heights! 

But the big question is:
How do you audit your SaaS website?

How to Conduct an Effective SaaS Technical SEO Audit in 3 Steps

The best way to conduct an SEO audit on your website is by following these steps:

1. Plan Your Audit
2. Conduct the Audit
3. Review the Results and Make the Necessary Fixes

1. Plan Your Audit

Conducting an effective SEO audit begins with meticulous planning. 
So, follow these steps to ensure you plan your audit effectively:

• Define Objectives and Scope: Clearly outline the objectives of the audit, such as improving site performance, addressing technical issues, and enhancing search engine visibility. Determine the scope of the audit by specifying the sections, pages, and functionalities you intend to assess. Also, develop a detailed checklist that outlines specific tasks to be conducted during the audit.

• Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Select relevant KPIs that align with your SEO goals, such as organic traffic growth, conversion rate improvement, or reduction in bounce rate. These KPIs will help you measure the success of your audit efforts.

• Establish a Team and Set a Timeline: Establish a team comprising SEO experts, web developers, and content creators to carry out the audit effectively. Also, set a realistic timeline for the audit to ensure you stick to it. 

• Gather Relevant Data and Tools: Assemble the necessary data sources and tools to support your audit. Use analytics platforms like Google Analytics and Google Search Console, as well as SEO auditing tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs. These will help you obtain valuable insights into your website’s performance and technical health.

2. Conduct the Audit

Now, it’s time to execute the audit process! 

This is where you need to go through the technical SEO checklist we covered earlier.

In summary, this means you need to:

• Review the logical hierarchy of your website
• Examine URL structure
• Assess page load times
• Test your site’s mobile responsiveness
• Implement secure HTTPS protocol and security
• Index your site pages
• Handle duplicate content
• Use a robots.txt file to control search engine crawling
• And more…

3. Review the Results and Make the Necessary Fixes

After completing your SEO audits, the next crucial step is to review the results and make any required improvements.

Follow these steps to address the findings and make necessary fixes:

• Analyze Your Findings: Put an audit report together and thoroughly review it. Use analytics tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to gather and analyze data effectively. From there, identify areas where improvements are needed, such as site speed, internal linking, indexation, and mobile-friendliness.

• Engage the Necessary Teams: Involve relevant teams, such as a web developer, a content creator, and an SEO expert, to implement all the required fixes efficiently.

• Prioritize Fixes: Prioritize the technical issues based on their impact on SEO performance and user experience. Address critical issues first (like optimizing URL structure) to achieve quick wins.

• Test and Validate: After making the necessary changes, thoroughly test the website to ensure that all fixes are correctly implemented. Also, ensure that no new issues have been introduced during the audit.

• Monitor Performance: Continuously monitor the impact of the fixes on key SEO SaaS metrics, such as organic traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, average time on page, click-through rate, page load speed, rankings, and user engagement.

• Track Progress: Keep track of the progress of your SEO improvements over time. Use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and other SEO software to measure the effectiveness of your efforts.

• Adapt and Iterate: SEO is an ongoing process, and the digital landscape is constantly changing. So, make sure you stay up-to-date with SEO best practices and adapt your strategies accordingly. Also, perform regular audits to assess the website’s technical health and ensure it remains optimized for search engines and users.

By now, you’ve noticed that we’ve been suggesting a couple of incredible SEO tools you should try. 

Now, it’s time to take a detailed look at them and how they can help.

7 Must-Have Tools to Use for Your SaaS Technical SEO Audit

The best tools that can simplify your SEO auditing process are:

1. Google Search Console
2. Google Analytics
3. Google Page Speed Insights
4. Google Mobile-Friendly Test
5. Ahrefs
6. SEMrush
7. Screaming Frog

1. Google Search Console

Source: Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free web service that provides insights into your site’s performance, including clicks, impressions, and average position in the SERPs. 

You can use this tool for various purposes:

• Identify Keyword Opportunities: Discover the search queries that drive traffic to your site and identify opportunities for optimization.

• Enhance Website Speed: Receive recommendations to improve website speed and user experience.

• Submit Sitemaps: Share XML sitemaps with Google to improve the indexation and visibility of your content.

• Inspect URLs: Check the indexing status of specific URLs on your site and diagnose potential issues.

• Ensure Mobile Usability: Assess the mobile-friendliness of your website and fix mobile usability problems.

• Review Manual Actions: GSC allows you to check for penalties imposed by Google and take corrective actions.

• Evaluate Rich Results: Monitor the appearance of rich results (e.g., featured snippets) for your content.

• Measure Core Web Vitals: Evaluate user experience and load times with Core Web Vitals data.

• Address Security Concerns: Monitor and address security issues, such as malware and hacked content, to protect your site’s reputation.

Pricing: Free

Customer Reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 ⭐ (216+ Reviews)
• Capterra: 4.8/5 ⭐ (166+ Reviews)

2. Google Analytics

Source: Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful web analytics tool you can use to monitor key performance metrics, such as page views, bounce rates, and average session duration. 

It helps you understand which pages and content drive the most engagement — allowing you to optimize your site’s user experience.

Here’s a breakdown of how this tool can help you:

• Track Website Traffic and Understand User Flow: Monitor the volume of visitors to your website and discover how they navigate through it. Also, visualize the path users take through your website to identify drop-off points or bottlenecks.

• Measure Conversion Rates: Calculate the percentage of visitors who take desired actions, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

• Identify Traffic Sources: Determine where your website visitors come from, whether it’s through organic search, social media, referral links, or paid advertising.

• Segment Audiences: Divide your audience into distinct groups based on demographics, behavior, or other criteria for more targeted analysis.

• Assess Content Performance: Analyze which pages or pieces of content are most popular and engaging.

• Evaluate Landing Page Effectiveness: Measure the performance of landing pages and their impact on conversions.

• Optimize Ad Campaigns: If you run paid advertising, you can use Google Analytics to track ad performance and ROI.

• Create Custom Reports: Build customized reports to focus on the metrics that matter most to your business. Also, compare current performance with past periods to identify trends and improvements.

Pricing: Free

Customer Reviews

• G2: 4.5/5 ⭐ (6,189+ Reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 ⭐ (7,586+ Reviews)

3. Google Page Speed Insights

Source: Google Page Speed Insights

Google Page Speed Insights evaluates the loading speed and performance of your web pages. It analyzes both desktop and mobile versions of your SaaS website. From there, it provides valuable insights and suggestions to improve speed and user experience. 

The tool scores your site’s performance on a scale from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better optimization.

Additionally, here’s how the Google Page Speed Insights tool can be helpful:

• Identify Optimization Opportunities: Receive specific recommendations for optimizing your web pages to improve speed and user experience.

• Assess Core Web Vitals: Measure Core Web Vitals metrics, including Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), to ensure a smooth and visually stable user experience.

• Test Multiple Pages: Analyze the performance of multiple pages on your website to identify common issues and trends.

• Evaluate Mobile Friendliness: Check how well your pages perform on mobile devices and identify mobile-specific optimization opportunities.

• Compare Performance: Compare your website’s performance against industry benchmarks and competitors.

Pricing: Free

4. Google Mobile-Friendly Test

Source: Google Mobile-Friendly Test

As the name suggests, the Google Mobile-Friendly Test is a tool that assesses how well your website performs on mobile devices. It analyzes your site’s mobile version and checks if it meets Google’s mobile usability standards.

Here’s what you can use this tool for:

• Detect Usability Issues: Identify mobile usability issues, such as text that is too small to read or links that are too close together.

• Access Mobile Page Rendering: View how Google bots see and render the tested page.

• Receive Recommendations: Get actionable recommendations for improving mobile-friendliness.

Pricing: Free

5. Ahrefs

Source: Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a popular and comprehensive SEO toolset that helps you improve your website’s search engine rankings, analyze competitor websites, and conduct keyword research. 

It comes with a wide range of features, including:

• Site Audit: Ahrefs can crawl your website to identify technical SEO issues, such as broken links, crawl errors, and issues with on-page SEO. It helps you improve the overall health and performance of your site.

• Keyword Research: You can discover new keyword opportunities by using Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer tool. It provides data on search volume, keyword difficulty, and ranking history for specific keywords.

• Competitor Analysis: Ahrefs’ Competitive Analysis section allows you to analyze the SEO strategies of your competitors. You can see which keywords they are ranking for and other valuable insights.

• Site Explorer: Explore any website’s backlink profile, organic search traffic, and top-performing pages.

• Content Research: The Content Explorer section helps you identify popular and trending content in your niche. You can find content ideas, see what topics are generating traffic, and assess the social engagement rate of content.

• Rank Tracking: Monitor your website’s search engine rankings for a specific target keyword over time.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $99/month

Customer Reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 ⭐ (489+ Reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 ⭐ (525+ Reviews)

6. Semrush

Source: Semrush

Semrush is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers a wide range of features to optimize your website’s search engine performance. 

Some of its best features are:

• Keyword Research: Discover relevant keywords for your niche and assess their search volume, competition, and trends.

• Competitor Analysis: Analyze competitors’ websites, including their keywords, backlinks, and advertising strategies.

• Site Audit: Identify and fix technical SEO issues, improve website health, and enhance on-page SEO.

• Backlink Analysis: Analyze competitors’ backlink profiles, audit your backlinks, and find link building opportunities.

• Content Analysis: Evaluate content performance, discover top-performing topics, and optimize your content strategy.

• Rank Tracking: Monitor your website’s search engine rankings for specific keywords and track your progress over time.

• Advertising Research: Analyze competitors’ advertising campaigns, including keywords, ad copy, and budget estimates.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $129.95/month

Customer Reviews

• G2: 4.5/5 ⭐ (1,787 Reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 ⭐ (2,132 Reviews)

7. Screaming Frog

Source: Screaming Frog SEO Spider

Screaming Frog SEO Spider (commonly referred to as Screaming Frog) is a popular website crawling and auditing tool. As a web crawler, it navigates through your site, analyzing various aspects crucial for SEO performance.

The key features and capabilities of this SEO tool include:

• On-Page SEO Audit: The tool provides detailed insights into on-page SEO elements, such as title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and URL structures. This can help you identify optimization opportunities.

• Broken Link Detection: Screaming Frog identifies broken links (404 errors) on your website, allowing you to fix those errors to improve user experience and SEO.

• Duplicate Content Detection: The tool can highlight duplicate content issues, such as duplicate title tags or meta descriptions, which can negatively impact SEO.

• XML Sitemap Generation: Screaming Frog can generate XML sitemaps for your website, making it easier for search engines to discover and index your content.

• Redirect Analysis: The tool helps you analyze URL redirects (e.g., 301, 302 redirects) and chain redirects, ensuring that they are correctly implemented and not causing issues.

• Page Speed Insights: Screaming Frog provides data on page load times and file sizes, helping you identify performance bottlenecks and improve website speed.

Pricing: A free plan is available, and paid plans start at $259 per license per year

Customer Reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 ⭐ (74+ Reviews)
• Capterra: 4.9/5 ⭐ (115+ Reviews)

Now that we’ve got the SEO tools out of the way, we need to cover the two best CMS (Content Management System) platforms out there: 

Top 2 CMS Platforms for Building Your SaaS Website

If you’re looking for a reliable CMS platform, look no further than WordPress and Webflow.

Wondering why?
Let’s find out.

1. WordPress

Source: WordPress.com

WordPress is a popular and versatile CMS platform for building SaaS websites. It offers a user-friendly interface and a vast library of themes and plugins.

Let’s explore its features in a bit more detail:

• User-Friendly Interface: WordPress provides an intuitive dashboard and visual editor that allows you to create, edit, and manage web content without requiring advanced technical skills.

• SEO-Friendly Architecture: WordPress is SEO-friendly and provides tools and plugins to help optimize content for search engines. It also generates clean, well-structured HTML code that search engines can easily crawl and index.

• Mobile-Friendly Themes: WordPress themes are designed to be mobile-friendly — ensuring your site performs well on various devices.

• Content Management: WordPress supports various content types, including blog posts, static pages, images, videos, and more. You can organize content using categories and tags for easy navigation.

• Customization and Scalability: WordPress provides robust customization options, allowing you to tailor your SaaS website to reflect your brand identity. It’s also scalable and ensures that you can easily expand your online presence, accommodate growing user bases, and introduce new features as your SaaS business grows.

• Multilingual Support: WordPress can be translated into multiple languages, and it helps you create multilingual websites with the help of translation plugins.

• Security: WordPress is committed to security, and it releases regular updates to address vulnerabilities. It also allows you to enhance security further with security plugins and best practices.

Pricing: Paid plans start at $4/month

Customer Reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 ⭐ (2,476 Reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 ⭐ (14,722 Reviews)

2. Webflow

Source: Webflow

Webflow is a modern and powerful CMS platform that offers a visual drag-and-drop editor — making it user-friendly for non-coders. The platform also allows customization through CSS and HTML for more advanced users.

Some of its other amazing features are:

• Responsive Design: Websites created in Webflow are automatically responsive, ensuring they adapt seamlessly to different devices and screen sizes.

• Web Hosting: Webflow provides hosting services, simplifying the process of deploying websites directly from the platform.

• SEO Tools:  Webflow includes SEO optimization features such as meta tags, sitemaps, and structured data support to improve search engine visibility.

• API Integrations: Webflow supports third-party integrations through its APIs, enabling you to connect your SaaS website with various external services.

• Educational Resources: Webflow University offers extensive tutorials and a community forum to support users in mastering the platform and its capabilities.

Pricing: A free plan is available, and paid plans start at $14/month, billed yearly

Customer Reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 ⭐ (514+ Reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 ⭐ (222+ Reviews)

What about other CMS platforms? Shouldn’t you check them out too?

CMS platforms like Wix, HubSpot CMS, and Squarespace are primarily designed for creating websites, including blogs, portfolios, and small eCommerce stores.

While they offer various features for website building and content management, they might not be the best choice for building complex SaaS websites.

Have some more questions about SaaS technical SEO?

Let’s take care of them!

2 FAQs About SaaS Technical SEO

Here are the answers to all your burning questions about SaaS technical SEO:

1. What Is the Difference Between SaaS Technical SEO and SaaS Content SEO?

SaaS technical SEO focuses on optimizing the technical elements of the website to enhance its crawling, indexing, ranking, and overall performance. This includes addressing issues like site speed, mobile-friendliness, XML sitemaps, and canonicalization.

Meanwhile, SaaS content SEO is centered around creating high-quality and relevant SaaS-related content that targets specific keywords and user intent. It involves keyword research, content creation, and on-page optimization. 

The objective of SaaS content SEO is to attract organic traffic, engage users, and improve search engine rankings.

2. What Does a Technical SEO Specialist Do?

A Technical SEO Specialist optimizes the technical aspects of a website to improve its search engine visibility, crawlability, indexability, and performance. 

Their role involves conducting website audits to identify technical issues like site speed, crawl errors, duplicate content, and broken links.

Technical SEO specialists often collaborate with web developers to implement SEO best practices, such as improving website architecture and ensuring mobile-friendliness. They may also handle website migrations, canonicalization, and schema markup implementation.

Boost Your Search Rankings By Implementing the Best Tech SEO Practices

Implementing the right SaaS SEO strategy can improve search engine visibility, enhance user experience, boost your click-through rate, and drive organic traffic. 

Clearly, technical SEO plays a vital role in ensuring the success of your SaaS business.

But if you’re not an SEO expert, then auditing your website and monitoring its performance isn’t as easy as it sounds. You need to pick the right tools and be super careful when making any adjustments.

And if you’re serious about growing your SaaS website, you also need to prioritize content creation and content marketing. You’ll need to create a rock-solid SaaS SEO and content strategy.

Want to make your life easier?

Leave everything to Startup Voyager — a trusted content and SEO agency. With our top-notch SEO services, we can handle all your tech SEO needs and help you craft high quality content.

Our content marketing and SEO services will take you to the top spot in the SERPs in no time (without relying on a Google ad, link building, or any complex SaaS SEO strategy).

By the way, we have a proven track record of rapidly scaling up organic traffic for our SaaS clients by anything between 4x to 20x in a year! 

So, reach out to us and discover how our SEO agency can help you create a rock-solid SEO (be it for automotive, hospitality, or healthcare) strategy that drives traffic and conversions.