Keyword research for SaaS is the work of finding the searches people make when they’re about to choose, switch or add software, then ranking those searches by how close each one sits to a signup. For most SaaS teams, the keywords that pay first are bottom-of-funnel terms: “[competitor] alternatives”, “[tool] vs [tool]”, “[tool] integration with [app]” and use-case phrases like “invoicing software for freelancers”. They show small volumes. They still win, because the person searching already has a budget and a problem.
That’s my verdict up front. The rest of this post is about when it holds and when it flips.
Why Does Picking the Wrong Keywords Cost SaaS Teams So Much?
A SaaS keyword mistake is expensive in a way a local business rarely feels. You can spend six months ranking for a big educational term, celebrate the traffic chart, and then find that almost none of those visitors ever started a trial.
I see the same pattern whenever I review a SaaS content plan. The blog is full of “what is” guides, the product pages target nothing specific, and the comparison pages were written by a competitor.
The site gets visits. The pipeline doesn’t move. Painful.
Where this post sits: my SaaS traffic guide covers the whole SaaS SEO strategy and which channels to use, while this one covers only how to find and rank the keywords.
The Common Mistake: Sorting SaaS Keywords by Volume
Most keyword lists get sorted by search volume, then by keyword difficulty. For SaaS, that order puts the least useful terms at the top.
Here’s the problem in one example. “What is project management” will always show more searches than “Asana alternatives for agencies”. But the second searcher has already used a tool, disliked something about it, and is shopping. The first might be a student writing an essay.
Volume tells you how many people ask. It says nothing about what they’re ready to do, whether they have a budget, or whether they’d ever be allowed to buy software without three colleagues and a procurement form getting involved. For SaaS, readiness is the column that decides the order. Not volume.
The Four Conditions That Decide Your Keyword Priorities
When I plan B2B SaaS keyword research, these four conditions change which keyword family I start with:
- Does your category already have a name people search? “CRM” does. A brand-new category doesn’t, which pushes you toward problem searches.
- How much does a customer pay, and who signs? A $20 self-serve plan and a five-figure annual contract need different pages, because the second buyer involves several people and a longer evaluation.
- How many products do you plug into? Every real integration is a potential keyword. A tool with forty integrations has a keyword family a standalone tool doesn’t.
- Who are buyers comparing you with? If there are known competitors, alternatives and vs searches exist. If you’re first in the space, they don’t yet.
Option A: Bottom-of-Funnel Product Keywords
Best for: SaaS products in a named category with known competitors, from seed stage onward.
Use case sweet spot: a buyer who has a shortlist, or already uses a rival tool and wants out.
This family has four types, and I research each one differently.
- Alternatives: “[competitor] alternatives”, “[competitor] alternative for small teams”. Pull the competitor list from sales calls and from the category pages on review sites like G2, where buyers compare tools side by side.
- Versus: “[your tool] vs [competitor]” and “[competitor A] vs [competitor B]”. The second pattern is underrated. People comparing two rivals are often open to a third option.
- Integrations: “[your tool] [app] integration”, “connect [app] to [app]”. Zapier’s app directory is the classic example of this pattern at scale, with pages such as its Slack and Google Sheets integration page.
- Use cases: “[category] for [role or industry]”, like “scheduling software for clinics”. These catch buyers who describe themselves before they describe a product.
Strengths: high intent, clear page to build, and fewer competing publishers than broad topics. Weaknesses: small reported volumes, and comparison pages need real evidence to be credible.
That last point matters. Google’s guidance on writing high quality reviews asks writers to explain which option might be best for certain uses or circumstances and to back claims with first-hand evidence. A vs page that praises only you won’t pass that bar, and honestly, buyers see through it anyway.
Option B: Problem and Jobs-to-Be-Done Keywords
Best for: new categories, complex products, and teams whose buyers don’t yet know software can solve their problem.
Use case sweet spot: a buyer who has a job to get done and is searching for how, not for which tool.
The idea comes from the jobs-to-be-done framework that Clayton Christensen and his co-authors described in Harvard Business Review in September 2016: people “hire” products to make progress on a specific job.
In keyword terms, the job is the search. “How to chase unpaid invoices” is a job. “Reduce no-shows at a dental clinic” is a job. Your product is one way to do it.
Where do they hide? I find these terms in three places.
Support tickets and sales call notes give the exact wording. Search Console shows the problem phrases your site already appears for. And if you run ads, the Google Ads search terms report shows what people typed before clicking.
Strengths: reaches buyers before they have a shortlist, and builds topical depth around your product. Weaknesses: slower to convert, easy to drift into generic advice, and harder to tie to revenue.
Head-to-Head on the Criteria That Decide It
| Criterion | Option A: Product keywords | Option B: Problem keywords | Winner and why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closeness to signup | Very close, buyer is choosing | Further away, buyer is learning | A, because the budget decision is already happening |
| Reported volume | Usually small or zero | Often larger | B, though volume is the weaker signal here |
| Works in a new category | Poorly, few rivals to compare | Well, the problem already exists | B, since nobody searches a category that has no name |
| Page effort | One page per competitor or app | One guide per job | A, because the pages follow a repeatable format |
| Evidence needed | Real product comparisons | Real process knowledge | Tie, both need honest first-hand detail |
My Verdict on B2B SaaS Keyword Research
Product keywords (alternatives, vs, integrations, use cases) are the better starting point for most B2B SaaS teams, because they reach buyers who are already choosing. However, if your category has no searched name yet, start with problem and jobs-to-be-done keywords instead.
In practice, I’d build the product pages first and write problem guides second, even when the founder is itching to publish thought leadership, because a buyer who lands on a thin comparison page written by a rival is a lost deal you never even hear about. Order matters. Each problem guide should link to the use-case page it naturally leads to, so the two families work as one path.
What about the tiny volumes? Don’t let them stop you. A term like “[competitor] alternative for accountants” may show zero in every tool and still bring the best leads of the month.
Tools can’t see that far into the long tail, which I explain in my guide to zero volume keywords. My rule for BOFU terms is simple: if a real customer said it on a call or a competitor ranks a page for it, the zero doesn’t matter. To find the terms rivals already rank for, I run a keyword gap analysis against a few of them.
When the Answer Flips
The verdict above isn’t universal. Here are the situations where I’d switch the order.
- If you’re creating a new category, problem keywords come first. There’s nothing to compare yet, and the alternatives pages would be empty.
- If you have no clear competitors in search, vs and alternatives pages can wait. Build integration and use-case pages, which don’t depend on rivals.
- If your product sells mainly through sales-led deals, use-case and industry terms outrank alternatives. Enterprise buyers search their problem and their industry more than a rival’s brand name.
- If you’re a free or very low-cost tool, some broader “how to” terms can convert directly, because trying the product is cheaper than reading about it.
How Do You Check a SaaS Keyword Before Writing the Page?
Look at the results page. No exceptions. For SaaS terms, what ranks tells you which format Google expects, and the format matters as much as the keyword.
Here’s what I note for each term. If review sites and “best tools” listicles fill the top spots, the searcher wants a broad comparison, and a single vendor page will struggle unless it’s genuinely even-handed. If vendor comparison pages rank, a vs page from you has a fair shot. If help docs and integration pages from app marketplaces rank, the searcher wants setup detail, not a sales pitch, so your integration page should read like documentation with a clear next step.
One more check I never skip: who owns the page that ranks first for your own brand plus “alternatives”? Quite often it’s a competitor or a review site, which means someone else is framing your product to buyers who were already interested in it. That single search is usually the first page I’d tell a SaaS team to write. Fix it.
Where Do Product-Led Pages Fit?
Some SaaS products can turn their own data or features into search pages. Think templates, calculators, generators, or pages for each integration. These are product-led pages: the product does the work, and each page answers a search.
I like them when each page genuinely helps the searcher. A template page with a working template beats a blog post about templates. But a thousand near-identical pages with one word swapped is thin content, and I’d leave it out of any plan I sign off.
Two related areas sit outside this post. SaaS content marketing covers how you write and promote the guides, and SaaS landing page SEO covers the on-page work once the keyword is chosen, which I break down by feature, integration and alternative page in my SaaS landing page guide. Both are separate jobs, and mixing them into keyword research is how a two-week project turns into a two-month one.
Keyword Research for SaaS in Six Steps
This is the order I’d use for a SaaS product in a known category:
- List every competitor buyers mention, from sales calls and review site category pages.
- Write the alternatives and vs terms for the top five, plus the rival-vs-rival pairs.
- List every real integration, with the wording each partner app uses for itself.
- Add use-case terms by role and by industry you actually serve.
- Add problem terms from support tickets and Search Console.
- Check the results page for each term, and assign each one to a single page.
Start with seed keywords if your list is thin, and keep ownership clear with a keyword map so two pages never chase the same search. If you’d rather hand this off, our keyword research service lets you test it on a few keywords first. And if you also work with local service businesses, my pair guide on keyword research for local SEO follows a very different method.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Difference Between SaaS and B2B SaaS Keyword Research?
The method is the same, but B2B buyers search differently. They use industry terms, compare vendors more carefully and often involve several people in a decision. So B2B SaaS keyword research puts more weight on use-case, industry and integration terms, and less on broad consumer-style questions.
Should a SaaS Company Target Competitor Brand Names?
Yes, through honest alternatives and vs pages. Searchers comparing tools want a fair view, so explain where the rival fits better as well as where you do. Pages that only attack competitors tend to lose trust, and they fall short of Google’s own guidance on reviews.
How Many Keywords Does a SaaS Startup Need?
Start smaller than you think. A handful of competitors, your real integrations and two or three use cases can already give you more pages than a small team can write well in a quarter. Depth on the right terms beats a long list.
Are Keyword Research Tools Accurate for SaaS?
They’re useful for spotting patterns and rough demand, but I don’t trust their numbers on niche B2B terms. Low-volume product searches are exactly where estimates break down. Confirm demand with sales calls, Search Console and competitor rankings before you drop a term.
Last updated: September 2026 by Mizanur Rahman
