Which factors are important to you when choosing an SEO consultant?

More and more companies are offering SaaS, and SEO is the most important factor in enhancing your marketing efforts.

If you have found this article, you are probably thinking, I am not very knowledgeable about SEO, so I might end up leaving it to the professionals. However, there is a risk in asking others especially if you choose the wrong consultant, you could not only lose your search rankings, but you could also be penalized and put out of range.

This article explains in detail the difference between SEO for SaaS and regular SEO as well as the factors that will surely help you in choosing a good consultant.

Explain the difference between SEO for SaaS and regular SEO

SaaS stands for “Software as a Service” and refers to software that is available via the Internet. Microsoft is a prime example of SaaS. Recently, SaaS has become quite popular for marketing tools and internal management tools using the cloud. SaaS companies are now numerous that it is difficult  to choose one among them. One way to attract customers is through SEO. Here we will explain the difference between SEO for SaaS and regular SEO.

Long lead times

Long lead time is a characteristic of B2B, regardless of SaaS. Unlike B2C, it is often necessary to go through the approval process and obtain internal approval within a company, sometimes even across departments, which results in long lead time. Therefore, it is appropriate for SEO consultants to provide advice that takes into account subsequent user behavior, rather than short-term responses.

Keyword selection becomes more specialized

BtoB, including SaaS, require specialized knowledge and knowledge of the industry. It is important to select a consultant who is expert with KWs in the industry, can select KWs, and can formulate a strategy that takes into account the psychology of customers in the industry.

CV is not about order acquisition, but lead acquisition

Compared to other products, it is more difficult to acquire leads for SaaS, and the cost of acquiring leads tends to be higher eventually. This is because the target population is small and the time required for consideration is long.

Hence, if the CV is set to order acquisition, it will take a huge amount of time and cost. In the case of SaaS products, once a lead is missed, the number of sales contacts will be reduced, so companies need to maintain the contact with the acquired lead until it successfully acquires an order.

The following advance preparations are extremely important in order to conduct efficiently the difficult lead acquisition process.

• Creation of content tailored to the needs of the target audience
• Persona setting
• Setting up a customer journey map

Persona setting

Persona refers to the image of a typical user who purchases the company’s products.

The user demographics are defined well in detail, including not only age and gender, but also family structure and hobbies. Persona setting enables us to take a targeted approach and to discuss and make decisions from the user’s point of view.

Create a customer journey map

The customer journey is the process from the time a user learns about a product or service to the time he or she actually purchases or started to use it. The customer journey is visualized in a map. It becomes easier to determine where the user is when setting up a customer journey map and making it quantifiable.

Create content that meets the needs of the target audience

Consider what content and measures are needed for each action in the customer journey map you have created and place them properly. Since the needs of each user location can be clarified, it becomes simple to visualize the process of purchase.

Points you must know to check when choosing a SaaS SEO consultant

Since you are paying for consulting services, I am pretty sure that you want to make sure that the consultant is competent. Here is the explanation or guide in choosing a SaaS SEO consultant. These are three points that will end your stress. These are quite similar, but they are very important to ensure that the consultant will deliver satisfying results. Let’s look at them one by one.

Does the consultant have experience in your industry?

It is very efficient to choose a company which has proven a track record and not just an SEO consultant. In the case of an SEO company, it is more effective to have a consultant who is not only has an extensive track record but also has the enough experience in your industry. This is because “the ability to deal with specialized terminology” will make a big difference. For instance, let us say you want SEO for consulting regarding the website that introduces “web advertising.

There is a technical term called “frequency” in web advertising. I will not go into the meaning of the word here, but there is a difference between the literal translation and the meaning used in the industry.

Which do you think produces better results, a consultant who knows well the meaning used in the industry or a consultant who does not? Basically, the former, of course.

Therefore, it is important not only to have an extensive track record but also to carefully consider who has experience in your own industry.

Do you have SEO experience with your site type?

Tactics and strategies for SEO will vary depending on the site type.
There are many perspectives on how to divide them, but they can be widely divided by target user: B2B, B2C, and EC are the types of sites.

B2B sites are mainly targeted at companies, and need to provide more information on the actual functions, specifications, and contents of services and products, so that users can obtain more information.

For B2C, the target audience is the general user, so more attention needs to be paid to the size of the images and the design to convey the brand’s atmosphere.

EC sites, whether for business or general use, needs to improve CVR or UX anyway.

As you can see, the points to be considered will vary depending on the type of site, so it is necessary to select a consultant that is appropriate for your company’s site type.

Especially for B2B, we recommend that you choose a consultant with a wealth of experience.

Does the consultant have experience with SEO for sites similar to the current level of the company’s site?

As you know, tactics and strategies vary always depending on the current state of your site. You may have noticed that the strategy will be different for a site on the bottom of the first page and for a site that is out of range. Consultants who have the experience with sites similar to yours will have a clear understanding of strategies for increasing search rankings, and this is another point to consider when choosing a consultant.

To avoid choosing the wrong SaaS SEO consultant

If you combine the points we have mentioned earlier about what to look for when choosing a consultant with the information presented here, you will be able to choose a consultant who can help you get the most out of your SaaS SEO project. Here are the three points to avoid choosing the wrong SaaS SEO consultant.

Confirm that the consultant can develop strategies and tactics for SEO and perform PDCA cycles

Make sure that the PDCA cycle can be performed not in the short term only but most importantly in the long term.PDCA is a cycle of Plan, Do, Check, and Action. It is said that websites and articles are assets. Another thing, a site that follows a trend may depicts a drastic drop in traffic when the trend passes, but you do not need waves on your site, do you? Make sure that the consultant is capable of performing PDCA cycles over the long term to ensure that the site will give good quality for users.

Avoid consultants who say and do things without evidence such as “It will definitely go up.

Your company’s site will surely increase. Consultants who only talk like that are often malicious. Google’s guidelines do not disclose “how to get a high ranking”.

What is published are normally prohibited items.

Consequently, there is no “surefire way to get higher rankings.SEO specialists also refer to their past experience and Google’s guidelines to determine the most likely way to get a higher ranking. Please be reminded not to choose a consultant who says “it will always work” without any evidence or proof.

Consultants who say they can mass produce links

Links are vital method of SEO. However, if you mistakenly use the wrong method, you could end up in trouble. Be wary of SEO consultants who claim they can make or produce mass links.

Mass production of links can easily result in a penalty.

As mentioned above, mass production of links makes you vulnerable to penalties.

If only one factor changes significantly when Google determines search rankings, it will be marked as a site to watch out for. Search rankings are determined by the number of links, quality, and all other factors.

In short, a rapid increase in links only without increased content or social networking coverage is considered unnatural. In addition, the intentional creation of links is considered spamming under the guidelines. If a site is deemed to be in violation of the guidelines, it will not only increase its search rankings, but may even be removed from the search page. Now that you know what we mean. Any company that claims to be able to mass produce links is likely to violate the guidelines.

Conclusion of how to choose the right SaaS consultant.

How was it? This article has shown and helped you how to choose the best SEO consultant for your site. The term “consultant” can range from a good consultant to a bad consultant. By understanding this article, you will be able to distinguish the right consultants for you. It is not unusual for a site to be ranked number one today and then drop out of the rankings the next day. In conclusion, it is very important to choose a quality consultant to keep up  with the times.