The Software as a Service (SaaS) industry has a few unique complications to consider for an SEO strategy. Navigating through these issues could be considered more a creative challenge than a serious issue; still, they have to be given serious consideration, according to Search Engine Land. A few items to remember are listed below to help as a summary guide.
First you may have to choose between SEO or lead generation. If you choose to have lead generation (a.k.a. gating content) you will have to block search engines; otherwise, your gateway is likely to be bypassed altogether, which could capsize your gateway content goals.
Next, ask yourself if any of your password-protected content should be proofed against display on an SERP. Some content areas you might intend for customers only, which is why they are guarded by a password in the first place. Be sure pages like these are marked as non-index so that a search engine cannot bypass the password and allow access to just anyone.
Are your customers okay with having sensitive content, like surveys, indexed and displayed on a Google Search page?Typically, companies want people from certain demographic groups participating in surveys. If the control parameters are compromised, the survey would not be reliable.
Finally, if you provide a “free trial” phase then try to convert your new customers to that stage. Guiding the customer’s journey toward this conversion is in part the job of an SEO. Think outside the box in planning creative ways to encourage would-be customers to take advantage of your “freemium” model.
