[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"cms-page:\u002Fabout\u002Four-team\u002Flouisa-holman":3},{"name":4,"url":5,"description":6,"avatar_urls":7,"acf":9,"social":154,"head_links":155,"breadcrumbs":142,"posts":159,"pages":137,"head":1030},"Louisa Holman","","I joined Impression as a Senior SEO Strategist in January 2023 having worked across agency, freelance and in-house roles since 2009. I am always trying out new hobbies but always come back to reading, playing the piano and painting.",{"24":8,"48":8,"96":8},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=96&q=90&w=96",{"job_title":10,"full_bio":11,"specialist_service_links":12,"photo":29,"page_content_modules":85,"hero":138},"Senior SEO Strategist","\u003Cp>Senior SEO Strategist. Joined Impression in January 2023\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I started out in SEO in 2009 teaching myself before winning my first agency role. I have worked in a few agencies across the East Midlands as well as in-house for a large corporate company. I love how competitive SEO can be and how it requires constant learning and change.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cb>Something that I’m proud of:\u003C\u002Fb>\u003Cbr \u002F>\n8.5 years playing roller derby – being invited to play in tournaments in Europe and having the privilege to meet some really amazing people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003Cb>Outside of work:\u003C\u002Fb>\u003Cbr \u002F>\nWalking my dog, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier called Freddie. Having a dog is a lifestyle choice with lots of walks and meeting people your dog wants to introduce themself to. I also like reading and leaving lots of arts and crafts projects half-finished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n",[13],{"page":14,"link_text":18},{"ID":15,"post_author":16,"post_date":17,"post_date_gmt":17,"post_content":5,"post_title":18,"post_excerpt":5,"post_status":19,"comment_status":20,"ping_status":20,"post_password":5,"post_name":21,"to_ping":5,"pinged":5,"post_modified":22,"post_modified_gmt":22,"post_content_filtered":5,"post_parent":23,"guid":24,"menu_order":23,"post_type":25,"post_mime_type":5,"comment_count":26,"filter":27,"url_path":28},35,"98","2020-03-12 15:02:03","SEO","publish","closed","seo","2026-09-10 09:29:45",0,"\u002F?page_id=35","page","0","raw","\u002Fseo\u002F",{"ID":30,"id":30,"title":31,"filename":32,"filesize":33,"url":34,"link":35,"alt":5,"author":36,"description":5,"caption":5,"name":37,"status":38,"uploaded_to":23,"date":39,"modified":39,"menu_order":23,"mime_type":40,"type":41,"subtype":42,"icon":43,"width":44,"height":45,"sizes":46},33331,"Louisa-Holman","Louisa-Holman.png",403804,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90","\u002Flouisa-holman-2\u002F","12","louisa-holman-2","inherit","2025-05-29 11:59:07","image\u002Fpng","image","png","\u002Fwp\u002Fwp-includes\u002Fimages\u002Fmedia\u002Fdefault.png",696,600,{"thumbnail":47,"thumbnail-width":48,"thumbnail-height":48,"medium":49,"medium-width":50,"medium-height":51,"medium_large":52,"medium_large-width":53,"medium_large-height":54,"large":55,"large-width":56,"large-height":57,"1536x1536":58,"1536x1536-width":59,"1536x1536-height":60,"2048x2048":61,"2048x2048-width":62,"2048x2048-height":63,"post-thumbnail":64,"post-thumbnail-width":65,"post-thumbnail-height":66,"12_col":67,"12_col-width":68,"12_col-height":69,"default_landscape":70,"default_landscape-width":71,"default_landscape-height":45,"default_portrait":72,"default_portrait-width":45,"default_portrait-height":71,"6_col_and_margin_short":73,"6_col_and_margin_short-width":65,"6_col_and_margin_short-height":69,"11_col_and_margin":74,"11_col_and_margin-width":75,"11_col_and_margin-height":69,"9_col_rectangle":76,"9_col_rectangle-width":77,"9_col_rectangle-height":78,"11_col":79,"11_col-width":80,"11_col-height":69,"staff_image_696_600":81,"staff_image_696_600-width":44,"staff_image_696_600-height":45,"rectangular_thumbnail":82,"rectangular_thumbnail-width":83,"rectangular_thumbnail-height":84},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640","640","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=172&q=90&w=200",200,172,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=662&q=90&w=768",768,662,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1000&q=90&w=1892","1892","1000","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=1324&q=90&w=1536",1536,1324,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=1766&q=90&w=2048",2048,1766,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1180&q=90&w=1860",1860,1180,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=2880",2880,870,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=600&q=90&w=800",800,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=800&q=90&w=600","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=1860","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=3080",3080,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1400&q=90&w=2150",2150,1400,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=2640",2640,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=600&q=90&w=696","https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=300&q=90&w=750",750,300,[86],{"acf_fc_layout":87,"reduced":88,"top_overlap":-1,"bottom_underlap":-1,"disable_observer":-1,"title":89,"posts":90},"author_posts",true,"Louisa Holman’s posts",{"data":91,"pages":137},[92,106,116,127],{"type_key":93,"title":94,"excerpt":95,"to":96,"postedAt":97,"readingTime":98,"image":99,"authors":100,"category":103},"post","The CMO’s Guide to AI Metrics: What KPIs actually matter?","\u003Cp>AI search metrics are the latest hot topic for discussion across SEO, GEO and digital marketing. It all started with SERP features that we thought were pretty nifty. Featured snippets, People Also Asked (PAA), Knowledge Graphs and more. We benefited from it for years, with lots of flashy features to report on that supported brand […]\u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u002Fblog\u002Fthe-cmos-guide-to-ai-metrics-what-kpis-actually-matter\u002F","2026-04-28T12:28:08",12,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640",[101],{"name":4,"image":102},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F05\u002FLouisa-Holman.png?auto=compress&fit=crop&fm=jpg&h=150&q=80&w=150&bg=CFE6F9",{"to":104,"name":105},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcategory\u002Fai\u002F","AI",{"type_key":93,"title":107,"excerpt":108,"to":109,"postedAt":110,"readingTime":111,"image":112,"authors":113,"category":115},"The Opal Paradox: Is Google Making SEO worse?","\u003Cp>In November 2025, Google announced that it has added a new tool to its arsenal. A Google Labs project called Opal, you might have already seen some news and opinions about it… not all of them positive. The immediate reaction can be summarised as ‘indignation’. How can Google justify launching a tool that will enable […]\u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u002Fblog\u002Fgoogle-opal-seo-industry-reaction\u002F","2026-04-28T13:19:17",6,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640",[114],{"name":4,"image":102},{"to":104,"name":105},{"type_key":93,"title":117,"excerpt":118,"to":119,"postedAt":120,"readingTime":121,"image":122,"authors":123,"category":125},"The B2B SaaS Marketing Funnel: Your Strategy Beyond AIDA","\u003Cp>Imagine presenting to your board that you have optimised your B2B SaaS marketing funnel so effectively that you have grown your B2B SaaS website’s organic traffic by 32% and, more importantly, your bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) form fills by 8% in just three months. For an established brand, these figures may seem ambitious, but for our client, […]\u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u002Fblog\u002Funderstanding-the-saas-sales-funnel\u002F","2026-08-25T09:25:06",26,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F10\u002Fsaas-marketing.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640",[124],{"name":4,"image":102},{"to":126,"name":18},"\u002Fblog\u002Fcategory\u002Fseo\u002F",{"type_key":93,"title":128,"excerpt":129,"to":130,"postedAt":131,"readingTime":132,"image":133,"authors":134,"category":136},"SaaS SEO: Build an effective SEO strategy to grow your MRR","\u003Cp>B2B SaaS SEO is more than just trying to rank highly on the search engines. It’s about driving qualified traffic and attracting high-intent leads to fuel long-term growth in what is an increasingly competitive digital landscape.  As SaaS companies scale, visibility in search engines becomes critical for successful customer acquisition. However, traditional SEO tactics can […]\u003C\u002Fp>\n","\u002Fblog\u002Fb2b-saas-seo-guide\u002F","2025-10-02T13:39:43",15,"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2024\u002F06\u002FImpression-2023-Stock-007.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=640&q=90&w=640",[135],{"name":4,"image":102},{"to":126,"name":18},"1",{"type":139,"style":140,"title":141,"heading":4,"intro":11,"services":12,"breadcrumbs":142,"photo":47,"social":154},"author","dark","Meet the Team",[143,146,149,152],{"path":144,"name":145},"\u002F","Home",{"path":147,"name":148},"\u002Fabout\u002F","About Us",{"path":150,"name":151},"\u002Fabout\u002Four-team\u002F","Meet the team",{"path":153,"name":4},null,{"twitter":5,"linkedin":5},[156],{"rel":157,"href":158},"canonical","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.impressiondigital.com\u002Fabout\u002Four-team\u002Flouisa-holman\u002F",[160,479,665,847],{"id":161,"date":162,"date_gmt":162,"guid":163,"modified":97,"modified_gmt":97,"slug":165,"status":19,"type":93,"link":96,"title":166,"content":167,"excerpt":170,"author":171,"featured_media":172,"comment_status":20,"ping_status":20,"sticky":169,"template":5,"format":173,"meta":174,"categories":177,"collections":180,"coauthors":181,"class_list":183,"acf":192,"head_links":193,"breadcrumbs":194,"url_path":96,"search_description":176,"featured_image_urls":201,"authors":236,"type_nicename":245,"reading_minutes":98,"category":246,"yoast_title":175,"yoast_meta":249,"yoast_json_ld":305,"_links":429},37780,"2026-04-02T08:58:26",{"rendered":164},"\u002F?p=37780","the-cmos-guide-to-ai-metrics-what-kpis-actually-matter",{"rendered":94},{"rendered":168,"protected":169},"\n\u003Cp class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u003Cstrong style=\"color:#107de8\">AI search metrics are the latest hot topic for discussion across \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002F\">SEO\u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fgenerative-engine-optimisation-agency\u002F\">GEO\u003C\u002Fa> and digital marketing. It all started with SERP features that we thought were pretty nifty. Featured snippets, People Also Asked (PAA), Knowledge Graphs and more. We benefited from it for years, with lots of flashy features to report on that supported brand visibility. Now there’s a sense that we’re back at the start, having to figure out how to report on AI brand search visibility.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>People used to ask Google. They still do, but a huge part of the user journey has suddenly gone dark because SEO tools are playing catch-up with the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This isn’t exactly a surprise; we’ve been heading this way for years. Now that AI Overviews and chatbots rule the roost in the research phase of the customer buying journey, traffic is taking the hit. According to a study by Ahrefs, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fahrefs.com\u002Fblog\u002Fai-overviews-reduce-clicks-update\u002F\">AI Overviews reduce clicks by up to 58%\u003C\u002Fa>. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Companies that have long and complicated sales funnels may have invested in supporting their customers (potential and acquired) through this process, meaning that they may be seeing even larger year-on-year session declines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>We have been relying on these sessions and click metrics for years, but we adapted when GA4 adapted to engagement metrics, and we’ll adapt once more. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It’s easy to be spooked by a red number in a report, but in this blog, we’re going to shift the conversation from “How much traffic did we get?” to “How often is the AI recommending us as the solution when we are seeing less traffic?” \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you’re looking to discover how to show up in AI, my colleague, Rhianne Moriarty, wrote a comprehensive piece about \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-optimise-for-generative-ai-search\u002F\">how to influence visibility in generative AI search\u003C\u002Fa>. You should definitely check that out too. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\"table-of-contents\">\u003Cul>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#what-are-the-questions-about-ai-search-metrics-that-every-cmo-should-be-asking\">What are the questions about AI search metrics that every CMO should be asking?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#how-to-report-on-brand-visibility-in-ai-search\">How to report on brand visibility in AI search\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#citations-and-mentions-are-essential-ai-search-metrics\">Citations and mentions are essential AI search metrics\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#sentiment-what-is-the-ais-opinion-of-you\">Sentiment: What is the AI’s \"Opinion\" of You?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h3\">\u003Ca href=\"#how-to-report-on-the-ai-vibe-check\">How to report on the AI vibe-check?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#what-metrics-should-ai-search-reporting-include\">What metrics should AI search reporting include?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#how-can-impression-help-me-with-ai-search\">How can Impression help me with AI search?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-are-the-questions-about-ai-search-metrics-that-every-cmo-should-be-asking\">\u003Cstrong>What are the questions about AI search metrics that every CMO should be asking?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>There is an influx of AI tracking tools hitting the market and an incredible amount of chatter on LinkedIn with opinions ranging from old man shakes fist at cloud to some really spicy takes.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It is incredibly easy to complicate this, and it’s in a lot of people’s interest to do so. As a high-level marketing leader, five key questions need to be answered: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Col class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>Are we visible in AI? \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>How do we appear in AI search? \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>How do we report on AI visibility? \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>How do we connect AI search activity with revenue? \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>What do we own that AI cannot replicate? \u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Fol>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>These aren’t just technical queries for the SEO team to handle in a vacuum. AI poses risks to marketing budgets because it is getting harder to have full sight of the sales process, attribute key decision milestones to a specific activity, and tracking will likely involve unquantifiable investment upfront. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you can’t answer these questions today, your competitors might, which gives them an incredible head start in a market that is moving faster than any algorithm update we’ve seen in the last decade. But once you start asking these questions, you quickly realise how much the game of measuring success in organic search has changed. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>To win in this environment, we have to do this: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Zoom In: Sentiment and Narrative Positioning\u003C\u002Fstrong> – We need to understand the “opinion” AI has of our brand based on their training data. It’s not enough to be mentioned; we need to know if we are being characterised as a “premium enterprise solution” or a “budget-friendly alternative”. By analysing the sentiment of specific prompts, we can identify “perception gaps” where the AI’s synthesised answer drifts from our actual brand mission.\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Zoom Out: The Citation Ecosystem\u003C\u002Fstrong> – On a macro level, we must track our \u003Cstrong>Citation Share\u003C\u002Fstrong>—the absolute number of times LLMs uses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) to choose us as a source compared to our competitors. We then layer this against traditional organic session data to identify where “Zero-Click” AI answers are cannibalising our traffic versus where they are acting as a high-conversion referral engine.\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Contextualising Data for your Strategy \u003C\u002Fstrong>– We are bridging the gap between technical visibility and your core business outcomes. We recognise that a 10% shift in organic traffic is a secondary concern when it is outweighed by gains in conversion rate or average order value (AOV).\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Take Decisive Steps\u003C\u002Fstrong> – Measurement is useless without a pivot. If the “zoom out” shows a gap in citations, the move is to strengthen your brand as an entity, meaning getting cited by authoritative sources is no longer a ‘nice to have’. \u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>There isn’t time to lose. In the past, we have faced cross-device attribution challenges, privacy restrictions, and found our way through dark social. These past challenges were blueprints for the agility we now need, as AI-driven platforms rewrite the rules of the customer journey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>When the funnel has gone dark, and we don’t know what our customers are seeing, we have to pivot our search strategies so that we are chasing revenue, not ghosts. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>With this in mind, what AI search metrics really matter when it comes to your reporting?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\u002F>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-report-on-brand-visibility-in-ai-search\">\u003Cstrong>How to report on brand visibility in AI search\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>People love to say “SEO is dead.” This is dead, that’s dead. Yawn. It’s not true. It’s ragebait.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In traditional search, we can report on Share of Voice, but how does this translate with the AI shift? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Share of Voice (SoV) isn’t going anywhere, but be prepared to see changes in SoV metrics. SoV measures a brand’s visibility in organic search results compared to competitors. It factors in search volume and ranking. The metric gives a tidy number to represent the digital marketing share. Just remember, it calculates this based on a brand’s estimated traffic. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>We adapt by bringing in a Share of Model (SoM) metric. This is called AI Search of Voice if you’re using Ahrefs. You might see it called ‘Brand Citations’, ‘Engine Dominance’ or something completely different. It is not an industry-standard metric. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This metric works in a similar way to SoV; it is the percentage of AI-generated responses that include your brand vs your specified or tool-selected competitors for high-intent topics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>By understanding how you measure up on a macro-level, you aren’t guessing. You know how your brand’s visibility in AI search measures up to competitors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"blog-img has-white-background-color has-background\">\u003Cstrong style=\"font-size:1.3rem\">💡 The CMO Takeaway\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr>Clicks and sessions are now only part of the story. Measure your brand’s visibility against competitors and invest in the authority required to get there. Find out how with \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fgenerative-engine-optimisation-agency\u002F\">generative engine optimisation\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\u002F>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"citations-and-mentions-are-essential-ai-search-metrics\">\u003Cstrong>Citations and mentions are essential AI search metrics\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It’s really easy to get brand mentions and citations mixed up, so for clarity:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Brand Mentions\u003C\u002Fstrong> – when an LLM uses their training data to mention your brand in a response.\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Citations\u003C\u002Fstrong> – when an LLM uses the RAG framework to cite your content by linking to it.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>I have shown this in a screenshot below using Ahrefs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003Cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1932\" height=\"622\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Ftopps-tiles-mentions-and-citations.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37801\"\u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u003Cem>\u003Cstrong>Source:\u003C\u002Fstrong> Ahrefs Brand Radar. In this AI response, 28 sources provided the data (Citations), but only 2 brands were surfaced as the recommended choice (Brand Mentions). \u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\n\n\u003Cp>This screenshot shows that if you are only appearing in the citations, the harsh interpretation is that you’re only helping the LLM sell your competitors. In reality, we don’t yet have the behavioural data to understand how much users are paying attention to citations. What we know, for sure, is that they don’t get clicked anywhere near as much as blue links in traditional organic search. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This is even considering studies have shown that organic CTR for AI Overview queries have dropped 61% to 0.61%. This is a figure that we can corroborate across a range of verticals. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>That’s not the end of the story, hope is not lost! Citations are the lead in to getting these mentions. They are a leading metric suggesting that the AI is aware of you; it’s just not ready to stake its reputation on you yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"blog-img has-white-background-color has-background\">\u003Cstrong style=\"font-size:1.3rem\">💡 The CMO Takeaway\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr>The number of brand mentions is the AI search metric that answers the question, “Does the AI know we exist?” The number of citations is the AI search metric that answers the question, “How visible are we for specific topics?” Both metrics help you build the narrative you need to present to your board.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\u002F>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"sentiment-what-is-the-ais-opinion-of-you\">\u003Cstrong>Sentiment: What is the AI’s “Opinion” of You?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Over the last 20+ years, we have been so used to Google “democratically” serving us a list of links to a search query that may or may not take into consideration sentiment. That was until AI Overviews started providing summaries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>AI doesn’t just show your website with the framing that you specify; it collates and repackages everything it knows about you. Good, bad and even ugly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Users know that AI-generated summaries are based on far more context and information than they can realistically consume, and so if AI says your product is “reliable but expensive”, your price-conscious customer has already disregarded you, even if they don’t know how much your product or service costs yet!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This is compounded by AI opinions hanging around until the model is retrained on new data, which makes inaccurate or negative sentiments problematic in the long run. It is worth noting that some models update in near-real time. However, less optimal information pales in significance; it’s not scrubbed from existence. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-report-on-the-ai-vibe-check\">How to report on the AI vibe-check?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This isn’t fluffy stuff. If you aren’t measuring the “vibe”, then you’re missing out and in danger of falling victim to the AI shift rather than owning it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>We use focus groups, net promoter scores and all manner of qualitative research to hear t\u003Cem>he voice of the customer.\u003C\u002Fem> \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It’s important to understand how sentiment is balanced between positive and negative, but the tools on the market will help us go even further.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>At Impression, we have \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fabout\u002Four-technology\u002F\">proprietary AI tools\u003C\u002Fa> that help us process large quantities of data faster and in an innovative way that protects our clients’ data. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"blog-img has-white-background-color has-background\">\u003Cstrong style=\"font-size:1.3rem\">💡 The CMO Takeaway\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr>Sentiment analysis is no longer just for social media monitoring. It must be audited and included as part of your integrated SEO and Digital PR strategy. You aren’t just optimising for keywords anymore; you are optimising for a compelling narrative that captures hearts, minds and imaginations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\u002F>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-metrics-should-ai-search-reporting-include\">\u003Cstrong>What metrics should AI search reporting include?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Numbers on a scorecard mean nothing without analysis and context. People who used to use your website to research their purchase decision lost to the chatbots, which means that we have lost visibility into research behaviour that happens inside AI tools.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>AI reporting tools are flooding the market, and the amount of data at our fingertips is, in many situations, mushrooming into something the human brain cannot process. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This is where the CMO steps in: with the calm narrative that doesn’t just reassure your board you know what you are doing, but backs up and speeds things up when you make your case for more or diverted investment. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Here are some example situations and narratives you might be facing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-table\">\u003Ctable class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\u003Cthead>\u003Ctr>\u003Cth>\u003Cstrong>What has happened?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>\u003Cstrong>What this looks like\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>\u003Cstrong>So what?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fth>\u003Cth>\u003Cstrong>Create a narrative\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fth>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Fthead>\u003Ctbody>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Visibility loss in informational queries\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Traditional traffic metrics are now “ghosts”. We need to pivot to include Share of Model (SoM) alongside Share of Voice.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>AI Overviews are providing “Zero-Click” answers. We are still the source, but the traffic stays on the SERP or chatbot.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>“While top-of-funnel traffic is shifting to AI-hosted answers, our brand is serving as the primary ‘knowledge source,’ building authority before the user even clicks.”\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Total organic sessions are down 15%\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Blog and informational content traffic is 40% lower.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Traditional traffic metrics are now “ghosts”. We need to pivot to include Share of Model (SoM) in addition to Share of Voice.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>“We are losing low-intent research traffic to AI, but our high-intent brand citations are increasing, protecting our top-line revenue in AI search.”\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>YoY search volume is down 10%\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Clicks to specific product\u002Fservice pages are down 20%.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Users are making decisions inside the LLM chat. If the AI doesn’t mention us as a top choice, we lose the lead.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>“Our organic traffic is leaner but more qualified. By dominating AI Mentions, we are capturing users at the exact moment of decision-making.”\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>We don’t agree with AI sentiment of our brand\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>AI incorrectly summarises your brand as “budget” or “expensive”.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The AI is repackaging your brand narrative. Negative sentiment here is “sticky” until the model re-trains.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>“We are adapting our strategy to ensure our \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fpr-social\u002Fdigital-pr\u002F\">digital PR\u003C\u002Fa> and content align with our premium positioning, preventing the AI from mischaracterising our brand mission.”\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Our traffic is lower, but we’re seeing higher revenue\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Conversion rate shifted so quickly, we thought it was a tracking issue!\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Users are preferring AI chatbots who are filtering out casual browsers.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>“AI is pre-qualifying website visitors. We need to ensure that we focus our search strategy on being present and closing the sale.” \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Our smaller competitors are being mentioned above us, even though we rank higher\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>‘AI mentions’ metrics for small competitors are higher\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>We have a “Third-Party Validation” gap. Potential customers will think our competitors are better\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>“AI models prefer third-party verification.* We need to prioritise third-party validation through marketing and incentivising customers through satisfaction and reviews”\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>* This is inferred based on observational data, but not confirmed through formal documentation. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp class=\"blog-img has-white-background-color has-background\">\u003Cstrong style=\"font-size:1.3rem\">💡 The CMO Takeaway\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003Cbr>Your role is to shift the board’s focus from what is missing to a calm narrative that connects new AI reporting metrics to revenue and brand authority. This newly available data clearly shows which areas might have previously experienced underinvestment in your organisation, e.g. incentivising brand advocacy or third-party verification through digital PR activations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Chr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\u002F>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-can-impression-help-me-with-ai-search\">\u003Cstrong>How can Impression help me with AI search?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In this blog, we have explored just a fraction of the changes we have seen in the search landscape. Working with Impression, we support all of our clients, whether \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fsectors\u002Fecommerce-marketing-agency\u002F\">enterprise ecommerce\u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fsectors\u002Fsaas-marketing-agency\u002F\">SaaS service\u003C\u002Fa> or \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fsectors\u002Fsustainable-marketing-agency\u002F\">sustainable organisations\u003C\u002Fa>, navigate an ever-changing landscape. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>With us, you move past defending surface traffic losses, but identifying high-value opportunities that move away from vanity metrics. We turn that into something real. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fget-in-touch\u002F\">Contact us today\u003C\u002Fa> to build a search strategy that drives your brand in the AI search space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003Cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fgenerative-engine-optimisation-agency\u002F\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3840\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2024\u002F03\u002FSEO_Banner_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"Learn about our approach to SEO\" class=\"wp-image-27530\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003C\u002Fdiv>",false,{"rendered":95,"protected":169},142,37806,"standard",{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":5,"_yoast_wpseo_title":175,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":176,"inline_featured_image":169,"footnotes":5},"The CMO’s Guide to AI Search Metrics: What KPIs Actually Matter?","Over 70% of enterprise websites have seen traffic drop due to AI. Our guide for CMOs explores the shift in AI search reporting and essential AI metrics.",[178,179],323,1,[],[182],237,[184,93,185,186,187,188,189,190,191],"post-37780","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-seo",[],[],[195,196,199,200],{"path":144,"name":145},{"path":197,"name":198},"\u002Fblog\u002F","Blog",{"path":104,"name":105},{"path":153,"name":94},{"thumbnail":202,"medium":204,"medium_large":206,"large":208,"1536x1536":212,"2048x2048":214,"post-thumbnail":216,"12_col":218,"default_landscape":220,"default_portrait":222,"6_col_and_margin_short":224,"11_col_and_margin":226,"9_col_rectangle":228,"11_col":230,"staff_image_696_600":232,"rectangular_thumbnail":234},{"url":99,"width":203,"height":203},640,{"url":205,"width":50,"height":50},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=200&q=90&w=150",{"url":207,"width":53,"height":23},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=1024&q=90&w=768",{"url":209,"width":210,"height":211},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1000&q=90&w=1892",1892,1000,{"url":213,"width":59,"height":59},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=1536&q=90&w=1152",{"url":215,"width":62,"height":62},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=2048&q=90&w=1536",{"url":217,"width":65,"height":66},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1180&q=90&w=1860",{"url":219,"width":68,"height":69},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=2880",{"url":221,"width":71,"height":45},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=600&q=90&w=800",{"url":223,"width":45,"height":71},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=800&q=90&w=600",{"url":225,"width":65,"height":69},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=1860",{"url":227,"width":75,"height":69},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=3080",{"url":229,"width":77,"height":78},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1400&q=90&w=2150",{"url":231,"width":80,"height":69},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=2640",{"url":233,"width":44,"height":45},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=600&q=90&w=696",{"url":235,"width":83,"height":84},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2026\u002F04\u002Fallison-saeng-jYHSnsEUWbM-unsplash.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=300&q=90&w=750",[237],{"id":171,"path":238,"display_name":4,"job_title":10,"description":6,"avatar_url":102,"acf":239},"\u002Fabout\u002Four-team\u002Flouisa-holman\u002F",{"job_title":10,"full_bio":11,"specialist_service_links":240,"photo":243},[241],{"page":242,"link_text":18},{"ID":15,"post_author":16,"post_date":17,"post_date_gmt":17,"post_content":5,"post_title":18,"post_excerpt":5,"post_status":19,"comment_status":20,"ping_status":20,"post_password":5,"post_name":21,"to_ping":5,"pinged":5,"post_modified":22,"post_modified_gmt":22,"post_content_filtered":5,"post_parent":23,"guid":24,"menu_order":23,"post_type":25,"post_mime_type":5,"comment_count":26,"filter":27,"url_path":28},{"ID":30,"id":30,"title":31,"filename":32,"filesize":33,"url":34,"link":35,"alt":5,"author":36,"description":5,"caption":5,"name":37,"status":38,"uploaded_to":23,"date":39,"modified":39,"menu_order":23,"mime_type":40,"type":41,"subtype":42,"icon":43,"width":44,"height":45,"sizes":244},{"thumbnail":47,"thumbnail-width":48,"thumbnail-height":48,"medium":49,"medium-width":50,"medium-height":51,"medium_large":52,"medium_large-width":53,"medium_large-height":54,"large":55,"large-width":56,"large-height":57,"1536x1536":58,"1536x1536-width":59,"1536x1536-height":60,"2048x2048":61,"2048x2048-width":62,"2048x2048-height":63,"post-thumbnail":64,"post-thumbnail-width":65,"post-thumbnail-height":66,"12_col":67,"12_col-width":68,"12_col-height":69,"d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A \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fopal.google\u002F\">Google Labs project called Opal\u003C\u002Fa>, you might have already seen some news and opinions about it… not all of them positive. The immediate reaction can be summarised as ‘indignation’. How can Google justify launching a tool that will enable people to abuse its own terms of service?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>When I first heard about this development, I was sceptical. That said, our team embodies our core \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fabout\u002F\">company values\u003C\u002Fa>: we are respectful, fair, and open to change. With this in mind, let’s critically review all the available information and consider our strategic response. Can this new tool genuinely raise the bar for SEO performance?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\"table-of-contents\">\u003Cul>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#what-is-google-opal\">What is Google Opal?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h3\">\u003Ca href=\"#how-does-google-opal-work\">How does Google Opal work?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h3\">\u003Ca href=\"#what-can-it-be-used-for\">What can it be used for?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#why-is-the-seo-industry-unhappy-with-google-opal\">Why is the SEO industry unhappy with Google Opal?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#what-do-seos-really-think-about-opal\">What do SEOs really think about Opal?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003Cli class=\"heading-h2\">\u003Ca href=\"#what-comes-next\">What comes next?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\u003C\u002Ful>\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-google-opal\">\u003Cstrong>What is Google Opal?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Google Opal is an experimental, no-code AI tool launched by Google on 24th July 2025 and was rolled out to 160 countries, including the UK, on 6th November 2025. The tool has been developed to simplify the creation of complex, multi-step AI applications. \u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-does-google-opal-work\">How does Google Opal work?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Opal uses Google’s advanced Large Language Models, including Gemini, to build automated “mini-apps” using natural language instructions. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The LLM doesn’t truly understand the language, but it understands how words are connected. LLMs like Gemini are statistical prediction machines, which is why the human comprehension of prompts and review of outputs is absolutely essential. The true power of LLMs lies in speeding up processes. The ability to provide a logical output empowers a non-coder to ask the LLM to “Generate five blog post titles that will answer commonly asked questions about [PRODUCT]. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-can-it-be-used-for\">What can it be used for?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Of course, Google has marketed Opal as the ultimate creation tool. As long as you can explain what you want, you’re only limited by your imagination. The mini apps you can create with the tool are scalable automation engines that empower you to design and build workflows, to do research, or create content. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Using your own words, as a user, you can create complex, multi-step logic without code. This could look like: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>Step 1: “Build a tool that researches [TOPIC]”\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Step 2: “Write a draft for a blog post about [TOPIC]” \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Step 3: Save the draft in this folder [FOLDER]\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>You can use it for personal projects, but as a \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002F\">performance marketing agency\u003C\u002Fa>, we are most interested in how it can be used to make our marketing better. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-is-the-seo-industry-unhappy-with-google-opal\">\u003Cstrong>Why is the SEO industry unhappy with Google Opal?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdevelopers.google.com\u002Fsearch\u002Fdocs\u002Ffundamentals\u002Fusing-gen-ai-content\">In their own generative AI guidelines\u003C\u002Fa>, Google says, “using generative AI tools or other similar tools to generate many pages without adding value for users may violate \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdevelopers.google.com\u002Fsearch\u002Fdocs\u002Fessentials\u002Fspam-policies#scaled-content\">Google’s spam policy on scaled content abuse\u003C\u002Fa>.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>SEO industry experts have been quick to criticise the product, pointing out that this is somewhat hypocritical of Google. The point that has raised the most consternation is that Google is directly promoting that this tool can help people generate marketing assets like blogs and videos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>We can see scenarios where Opal could be hugely beneficial as my colleague, Charlie points out: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n\u003Cp class=\"has-small-font-size\">“Google has a lot of people to please, and for one-person marketing teams already spinning lots of plates, this tool is going to be really helpful for them (if used in the right way).” – \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Fcharlie-cheyette\u002F\">Charlie Cheyette\u003C\u002Fa>, SEO Strategist\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Google’s advice is:\u003C\u002Fstrong> don’t use generative AI to create content, with the most recent announcement providing their very own means to generate AI content. There is a delicious irony that isn’t lost on the SEO community, although Google’s counter to this criticism is that people should focus on \u003Cem>intent\u003C\u002Fem> and \u003Cem>value\u003C\u002Fem>, not the tool itself. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\u003Cp lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Optimized AI blog posts that will later get your site tanked by our own algorithms, got it \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Ft.co\u002F9YvaASlAue\">https:\u002F\u002Ft.co\u002F9YvaASlAue\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc) \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002Flilyraynyc\u002Fstatus\u002F1987437300901376343?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 9, 2025\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\u003Cscript async src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fplatform.twitter.com\u002Fwidgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\">\u003C\u002Fscript>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-do-seos-really-think-about-opal\">\u003Cstrong>What do SEOs really think about Opal?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>We haven’t had a chance to play with it yet because, despite the tool being apparently available in the UK since last week, most of us are still seeing a message that the tool isn’t available in our country yet! \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003Cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2812\" height=\"1406\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FGoogle-Opal-Screenshot.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-35230\"\u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Screenshot of Google Opal on 11th November 2025 taken in the UK.\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\n\n\u003Cp>Our \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002F\">SEO team\u003C\u002Fa> holds a range of opinions. Most of us are curious about how it will work in practice. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>We definitely acknowledge that there will be those who are angry about businesses and individuals being penalised or pushed into obscurity by “AI slop” when it is clearly against Google’s own guidelines. It is clear that some may see this as a cynical and unfair move by Google. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>For me, this made me think about the early days in my career when ‘content spinning’ was a challenge to face when trying to be legit against a lot of less legit practices. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Article spinning involved generating bulk content quickly by making small changes to existing articles so that people could create lots of “unique” versions. It worked primarily by swapping words and phrases with synonyms. By creating lots of “unique” articles on an impossible number of websites, bad actors could inflate their link counts and manipulate the system. The 2011 Panda update and Google’s Spam guideline updates explicitly defined content spinning as a violation of its guidelines. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Of course, Generative AI is different, and if you want to learn more about this, check out my colleague, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Frhianne-moriarty-837ab060\u002F\">Rhianne Moriarty\u003C\u002Fa>‘s article about \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-optimise-for-generative-ai-search\u002F\">how to optimise for Generative AI search\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>I think this is a far more exciting time because, whilst I think that a lot of creative sparks can come in the procedural and manual tasks, by using generative AI tools as a jumping off point, we can bring so much more interesting insights and humanity to our marketing content and really focus on how we delight and enthral our audiences. We have been \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-scale-seo-content-with-ai\u002F\">using AI to help us automate content at scale\u003C\u002Fa> for a while now, and there are lots of use cases currently possible, and yet to be developed. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>I asked my SEO colleagues for their thoughts, and they responded with some really thoughtful and insightful comments. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n\u003Cp class=\"has-small-font-size\">\u003Cem>“For me, the focus now has to be on differentiation. Efficiency is inevitable, but value will increasingly come from what can’t be automated, human perspective, lived experience, and genuine insight. If we can use tools like this to free up time for that kind of creativity and expertise, then it could be a positive step forward rather than just another wave of sameness.”\u003C\u002Fem> – \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Fnassim-salhi-796538137\u002F\">Nassim Salhi\u003C\u002Fa>, Senior SEO Strategist\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\n\n\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n\u003Cp class=\"has-small-font-size\">\u003Cem>“AI tools are now 100% part of any good SEO\u002Fcontent workflow, and Google is simply reacting to that trend with its own tool. Rather than looking at all the ways this can be used by spammers, we should be spending our energy on thinking of ways to use the tool to remove repetitive, manual tasks from SEO workflows and enhance content using AI.”\u003C\u002Fem> – \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Fnathanldale\u002F\">Nathan Dale\u003C\u002Fa>, SEO Lead\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-comes-next\">\u003Cstrong>What comes next?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Google and SEO have never stood still, and change in this industry is constant. If you want to use AI to automate content at scale, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fresources\u002Ftools\u002Foapy\u002F\">try out our free tool Oapy\u003C\u002Fa>. This was built in-house by Senior Technical Specialist, Luke Davis and is a fantastic resource. If you want to learn more about how we do \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fgenerative-engine-optimisation-agency\u002F\">Generative optimisation at Impression\u003C\u002Fa>, and what it’s like to work with us, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fget-in-touch\u002F\">get in touch today\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\u003Cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003Cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002F\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3840\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2024\u002F03\u002FSEO_Banner_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"Learn about our approach to SEO\" class=\"wp-image-27530\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\n\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n\u003Cblockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n\u003C\u002Fblockquote>\n",{"rendered":108,"protected":169},35229,{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":5,"_yoast_wpseo_title":491,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":492,"inline_featured_image":169,"footnotes":5},"The Opal Paradox: Is Google Making SEO Worse?","Google's Opal tool enables scaled AI content creation, directly conflicting with its spam policy. Is this move going to devalue SEO? We break down the controversy and industry reaction.",[178,179],[],[182],[497,93,185,186,187,188,189,190,191],"post-35228",[],[],[501,502,503,504],{"path":144,"name":145},{"path":197,"name":198},{"path":104,"name":105},{"path":153,"name":107},{"thumbnail":506,"medium":507,"medium_large":509,"large":511,"1536x1536":513,"2048x2048":515,"post-thumbnail":517,"12_col":519,"default_landscape":521,"default_portrait":523,"6_col_and_margin_short":525,"11_col_and_margin":527,"9_col_rectangle":529,"11_col":531,"staff_image_696_600":533,"rectangular_thumbnail":535},{"url":112,"width":203,"height":203},{"url":508,"width":50,"height":50},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=113&q=90&w=200",{"url":510,"width":53,"height":23},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=433&q=90&w=768",{"url":512,"width":210,"height":211},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1000&q=90&w=1892",{"url":514,"width":59,"height":59},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=866&q=90&w=1536",{"url":516,"width":62,"height":62},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=scale&h=1155&q=90&w=2048",{"url":518,"width":65,"height":66},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1180&q=90&w=1860",{"url":520,"width":68,"height":69},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=2880",{"url":522,"width":71,"height":45},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=600&q=90&w=800",{"url":524,"width":45,"height":71},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=800&q=90&w=600",{"url":526,"width":65,"height":69},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=1860",{"url":528,"width":75,"height":69},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=3080",{"url":530,"width":77,"height":78},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=1400&q=90&w=2150",{"url":532,"width":80,"height":69},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=870&q=90&w=2640",{"url":534,"width":44,"height":45},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=600&q=90&w=696",{"url":536,"width":83,"height":84},"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F11\u002FAI-text.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=crop&h=300&q=90&w=750",[538],{"id":171,"path":238,"display_name":4,"job_title":10,"description":6,"avatar_url":102,"acf":539},{"job_title":10,"full_bio":11,"specialist_service_links":540,"photo":543},[541],{"page":542,"link_text":18},{"ID":15,"post_author":16,"post_date":17,"post_date_gmt":17,"post_content":5,"post_title":18,"post_excerpt":5,"post_status":19,"comment_status":20,"ping_status":20,"post_password":5,"post_name":21,"to_ping":5,"pinged":5,"post_modified":22,"post_modified_gmt":22,"post_content_filtered":5,"post_parent":23,"guid":24,"menu_order":23,"post_type":25,"post_mime_type":5,"comment_count":26,"filter":27,"url_path":28},{"ID":30,"id":30,"title":31,"filename":32,"filesize":33,"url":34,"link":35,"alt":5,"author":36,"description":5,"caption":5,"name":37,"status":38,"uploaded_to":23,"date":39,"modified":39,"menu_order":23,"mime_type":40,"type":41,"subtype":42,"icon":43,"width":44,"height":45,"sizes":544},{"thumbnail":47,"thumbnail-width":48,"thumbnail-height":48,"medium":49,"medium-width":50,"medium-height":51,"medium_large":52,"medium_large-width":53,"medium_large-height":54,"large":55,"large-width":56,"large-height":57,"1536x1536":58,"1536x1536-width":59,"1536x1536-height":60,"2048x2048":61,"2048x2048-width":62,"2048x2048-height":63,"post-thumbnail":64,"post-thumbnail-width":65,"post-thumbnail-height":66,"12_col":67,"12_col-width":68,"12_col-height":69,"default_landscape":70,"default_landscape-width":71,"default_landscape-height":45,"default_portrait":72,"default_portrait-width":45,"default_portrait-height":71,"6_col_and_margin_short":73,"6_col_and_margin_short-width":65,"6_col_and_margin_short-height":69,"11_col_and_margin":74,"11_col_and_margin-width":75,"11_col_and_margin-height":69,"9_col_rectangle":76,"9_col_rectangle-width":77,"9_col_rectangle-height":78,"11_col":79,"11_col-width":80,"11_col-height":69,"staff_image_696_600":81,"staff_image_696_600-width":44,"staff_image_696_600-height":45,"rectangular_thumbnail":82,"rectangular_thumbnail-width":83,"r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\u002Fcategories?post=35228",{"taxonomy":471,"embeddable":88,"href":660},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcollections?post=35228",{"taxonomy":139,"embeddable":88,"href":662},"\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcoauthors?post=35228",[664],{"name":477,"href":478,"templated":88},{"id":666,"date":667,"date_gmt":667,"guid":668,"modified":120,"modified_gmt":120,"slug":670,"status":19,"type":93,"link":119,"title":671,"content":672,"excerpt":674,"author":171,"featured_media":675,"comment_status":20,"ping_status":20,"sticky":169,"template":5,"format":173,"meta":676,"categories":679,"collections":680,"coauthors":681,"class_list":682,"acf":684,"head_links":685,"breadcrumbs":686,"url_path":119,"search_description":678,"featured_image_urls":691,"authors":723,"type_nicename":245,"reading_minutes":121,"category":731,"yoast_title":677,"yoast_meta":733,"yoast_json_ld":760,"_links":810},34789,"2025-10-01T12:45:16",{"rendered":669},"\u002F?p=34789","understanding-the-saas-sales-funnel",{"rendered":117},{"rendered":673,"protected":169},"\n\u003Cp>Imagine presenting to your board that you have optimised your B2B SaaS marketing funnel so effectively that you have grown your \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Four-work\u002Fthe-access-group\u002F\">B2B SaaS website’s organic traffic by 32%\u003C\u002Fa> and, more importantly, your bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) form fills by 8% in just three months. For an established brand, these figures may seem ambitious, but for our client, The Access Group, this was a reality. These results were achieved through a tailored SaaS SEO strategy that focused on what really matters. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In this guide, we’ll show why relying on the AIDA marketing funnel model may not be enough for your software as a service (SaaS) business and how you can build a bespoke SaaS marketing funnel based on your own requirements to supercharge your B2B SEO strategy with a fresh, modern approach. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you’re looking for expert support in building and optimising your funnel, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fsaas-seo-agency\">learn more about our SaaS SEO service\u003C\u002Fa> or \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fget-in-touch\u002F\">contact our team\u003C\u002Fa> to discuss your goals\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you want to skip ahead, click the jump links to these sections 👇\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#what-is-marketing-funnel\">What is a marketing funnel?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#AIDA-vs-AARRR\">AIDA vs. the AARRR (Pirate) SaaS funnel\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#saas-marketing-palindrome\">The SaaS Marketing Palindrome\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#optimise-recurring-revenue\">Optimising your SaaS funnel for recurring revenue\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#build-bespoke-saas-funnel\">Building your bespoke SaaS funnel\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#when-to-apply-saas-marketing-funnel\">When to apply your new SaaS marketing funnel\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#help-building-saas-marketing-funnel\">Get help building a high-performing B2B SaaS funnel?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-marketing-funnel\">\u003Cstrong>Let’s recap: what is a marketing funnel?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>A marketing funnel is an easy way to visualise a customer’s journey from initial awareness of a product or company to full brand advocacy. It’s a simplified model that shows linear progression through the sales process. In addition, it helps businesses tailor their marketing to their customers’ needs, whilst building trust in their brand. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2023\u002F07\u002FAIDA-Model-Template.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-24250\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Faida-model-and-digital-marketing\u002F\">AIDA model in marketing\u003C\u002Fa> is a foundational framework for marketers that can be hugely effective. However, for a B2B SaaS business, the customer journey may look \u003Cem>very\u003C\u002Fem> different. Unlike a one-time transaction or a B2C SaaS product, B2B SaaS companies often have a protracted sales process that can last for months. There will likely be a large number of decision-makers and other employees who have influence, who also need to be impressed. This requires a bespoke approach that can rise to the challenge of a non-linear buying journey, one based on relationships as much as technical requirements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"AIDA-vs-AARRR\">\u003Cstrong>AIDA vs. The AARRR (Pirate) SaaS Funnel: A Side-by-Side Comparison\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>We love the AIDA model when the goal is a simple, one-off purchase, but the SaaS marketing funnel needs to work differently. For a SaaS business, the Action (or conversion) stage isn’t the end of the journey; it is only the start. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The true goal is to nurture a fledgling business relationship, holding the customer’s interest from the moment they realise they might need a SaaS solution right up until they sign the contract. This can blur the lines between sales and marketing, which could transform how marketing, sales, product, and customer success teams operate. Nurturing a complex sales and marketing journey demands that these separate areas work as one interconnected team. This isn’t even accounting for considering an even longer-term view where the goal is to drive long-term value through upsells and advocacy. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>There isn’t a ‘one-size-fits-all model that will work for every business, although many may turn to the popular ‘Pirate Funnel’ as an alternative to AIDA. It’s called the ‘Pirate Funnel’ due to its whimsical acronym spelling AARRR. I will use both of these terms interchangeably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The Pirate (or AARRR) Funnel breaks down the customer journey into five key stages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Acquisition:\u003C\u002Fstrong> The first touchpoint where you attract a new user or lead.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Activation:\u003C\u002Fstrong> The moment a user realises your product might be good for them and completes a key action that signals value.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Retention:\u003C\u002Fstrong> The customer continues to have a great experience and returns to the product.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Referral:\u003C\u002Fstrong> The customer is so pleased that they tell others about your product.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>Revenue:\u003C\u002Fstrong> The customer is willing to pay for what you offer, creating long-term value tracked by metrics such as monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and customer lifetime value (CLV).\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-does-the-aarrr-funnel-fare-against-aida-for-a-saas-marketing-funnel\">How does the AARRR funnel fare against AIDA for a SaaS marketing funnel? \u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-table\">\u003Ctable class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\u003Ctbody>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>AIDA Funnel\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>AARRR SaaS Funnel\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Goal\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>To guide a customer toward a single, one-time transaction.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>To measure key metrics for an early-stage company’s growth.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Stages\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>AwarenessInterestDesireAction\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>AcquisitionActivationRetentionReferralRevenue\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Key strengths\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>– Easy to understand.   – Effective for transactional businesses.- A foundational concept for sales and advertising.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>– Focuses on metrics that matter for startups. – Acknowledges post-purchase behaviour. – Aligns marketing with product goals.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Core weaknesses\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>– Ignores the post-purchase journey.   – Too simple for complex B2B sales cycles.   – Linear model.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>– The entirety of the top of the funnel activity is called “Acquisition”. This is too broad and doesn’t provide any nuance to the complexity of an SEO content strategy. – “Revenue” is a metric, not a stage a customer goes through. – Still primarily a linear model, although it can be adapted into a flywheel model. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>Best suited for\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Transactional, one-time purchases, particularly in B2C.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Early-stage startups, product-led companies focusing on internal metrics.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"does-the-pirate-funnel-work-well-for-b2b-saas\">Does the Pirate Funnel work well for B2B SaaS?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The AARRR marketing funnel is a great framework for startups that want to focus on key commercial metrics. Unfortunately for the Pirate Funnel, its greatest strength is also its biggest flaw for a more established B2B SaaS organisation. With complex customer journeys, the top-of-funnel content carries immense weight. It must serve a variety of people with different needs and objectives, from raising brand awareness to solving a customer’s specific problem or answering a specific question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The Pirate Funnel’s “Acquisition” stage is simply too broad to account for this complexity and nuance. It also can’t break down the multiple touchpoints or the crucial process of identifying a marketing qualified lead (MQL) or a sales qualified lead (SQL). This lack of granularity in the B2B SaaS funnel is why we need to think a bit bigger. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"saas-marketing-palindrome\">\u003Cstrong>The SaaS Marketing Palindrome: Building Your Strategy From Awareness to Action\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In the previous section, I explained that the AIDA and Pirate funnels are great for start-ups, but they aren’t as helpful for a SaaS supplier that has to adapt to a lengthy sales process with multiple decision-makers. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>There is another reason why these models are fundamentally flawed when working with large B2B enterprises: they view the customer journey through the lens of the business. These models centre the product, simplify the marketing approach, and provide top-level metrics for success, which is great for lean start-ups. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Let’s turn this upside down. What if we centred the SaaS customer? By paying attention to the real-world pain points of teams, an SEO strategy that supports this customer could look radically different if the goal is to create early advocates. To understand this concept, let’s look at an example breakdown of ‘the customer’ into key roles:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>The End User:\u003C\u002Fstrong> The person who encounters \u003Cem>the problem\u003C\u002Fem> on a day-to-day basis. They may have no decision-making sway, but their advocacy and influence are recognised.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>The Middle Manager:\u003C\u002Fstrong> A leader who understands \u003Cem>the problem\u003C\u002Fem> and can see its greater impact, beyond just inconvenienced team members. They are focused on meeting targets and streamlining processes.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Cstrong>The Senior Leader:\u003C\u002Fstrong> An executive with a full view of the commercial impact of a solution and the authority to invest in their team.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In its purest sense, the person who signs the contract is the customer, but your best salespeople might not even be your employees. They are the customers’ end users or middle managers who have the strongest idea of what they need. Your \u003Cstrong>SaaS marketing funnel\u003C\u002Fstrong> needs to be tailored to address this employee advocacy as a crucial pre-sale consideration.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Once you reframe the complexity of the customer, you realise that it’s unlikely any single individual will cleanly move down the funnel. They may jump in at another stage or move through some sections multiple times. A funnel is still a helpful way to visualise the process, but this concept breaks the funnel into these key sections:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-table\">\u003Ctable class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\u003Ctbody>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Awareness\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>This is the widest point of the funnel. Here, the customer is likely aware of a problem but doesn’t know what a solution looks like. This stage is driven by top-of-funnel content like blog posts, social media, word of mouth and SEO.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Education\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>This is a crucial new stage that the AIDA and Pirate models don’t factor in. The customer isn’t just aware; they are actively learning about the problem and potential solutions without a specific product in mind. This stage is all about trust, the customer is possibly consuming content like white papers, webinars and detailed guides. The user either isn’t ready to give their contact details to speak to the sales team, or they are not authorised to have a productive conversation. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Interest\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer is now interested in specific types of solutions. They’ve narrowed down their options and are consuming content that directly relates to a product’s category, and looking to affirm their initial decision or even be dissuaded. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Consideration\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer has a shortlist of vendors. They are comparing features, pricing, and social proof (reviews, case studies). This is the stage where the customer needs to understand a SaaS product’s value. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Intent\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer has authorisation to reach out to ‘audition’ vendors, which will happen in the next stage. However, the business has decided to invest in a solution, and at this stage, there will be high-intent actions to initiate more serious conversations to move the deal forward.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Evaluation\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer may be actively using the product (e.g., during a free trial). The customer is evaluating if it delivers on its promises and scoping out the details and technicalities around onboarding and integration into existing systems. This could also involve vendor security audits, legal and procurement negotiations or sandbox demos if a free trial isn’t possible.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Action\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The conversion moment, where senior leadership signs the contract. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It’s a lot of stages that break down to create the acronym, “AEICIEA”, which is a palindrome. We will call this funnel: the SaaS Marketing Palindrome funnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F10\u002FSaas-Marketing-Palindrome-Funnel.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"The SaaS Marketing Palindrome shown beside the AIDA marketing funnel\" class=\"wp-image-34820\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"optimise-recurring-revenue\">\u003Cstrong>From Lead Gen to Customer Retention: Optimising Your SaaS Funnel for Recurring Revenue\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In the previous section, we talked about building a B2B SaaS marketing funnel dubbed “the SaaS Marketing Palindrome funnel” that centred the customer and showed how eventual end users could be powerful advocates for your sales team if you approach your \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fsaas-seo-agency\u002F\">SaaS SEO\u003C\u002Fa> in a strategic way. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Whilst this funnel is great for guiding a prospect to a sale, it doesn’t solve a key problem: what happens after the contract is signed? Does marketing just stop? A funnel’s linear model doesn’t account for where the customer goes once they reach the end of the funnel, and so, the flywheel could be a great solution to this issue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"the-marketing-flywheel-model-an-antidote-to-the-funnels-flaw-when-applied-to-b2b-saas\">The marketing flywheel model: an antidote to the funnel’s flaw when applied to B2B SaaS\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>A flywheel, in an engineering context, is a heavy wheel that is hard to get moving but, once it’s spinning, can maintain its own momentum. In a B2B SaaS marketing context, you can absolutely move from a funnel to a flywheel, but it requires full business buy-in, as it will require customer service, technical implementation support, and product owners to cooperate. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Jeff Bezos demonstrated this concept when building his little e-commerce store, which you might have heard of it, Amazon. The idea is that one positive action (e.g., selling products at lower prices) leads to a second positive action (greater volume of sales), which unlocks a third (a greater selection of products), which drives more sales, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>All businesses should want to be trusted and have an impeccable reputation. In the previous example, we viewed end users as potential brand advocates and considered marketing to them early on in the journey. In the flywheel, brand advocates are not just spreading a positive message; they are the social proof that your SaaS product does more than work. It makes doing a job so much easier, which makes them happy. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-use-a-marketing-flywheel-for-b2b-saas\">Why use a marketing flywheel for B2B SaaS?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The reason a flywheel is so critical for a SaaS business is that you rely on recurring revenue, not one-off purchases. Unlike a retail business that may have to quickly pull marketing levers to hit a bank holiday sales target, a SaaS business can have a better idea of what money is due and when, which should offer a greater level of consistency with cash flow, which is why SaaS has been popular with investors. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This recurring revenue metric is what makes a flywheel so valuable, especially since the cost to acquire a new B2B customer is so much higher than the cost of retaining one. A marketing flywheel thrives upon consistency that B2B SaaS needs and vice versa. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Whilst B2C subscription services like Netflix or Spotify can afford some customer attrition, B2B companies can’t. The market is smaller, and the stakes are much higher when a damaged reputation can sink even the best marketing team’s hard work. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-would-a-b2b-saas-marketing-flywheel-work\">How would a B2B SaaS marketing flywheel work?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The flywheel model places the customer at the centre, and the entire concept relies on momentum to keep the customers at all levels (end user to C-suite) engaged and delighted by your communications. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It works through public and \u003Cem>private\u003C\u002Fem> advocacy. Your most powerful marketing is not a voucher code, like it is for a B2C subscription product. It is an unsolicited review, a case study, or a professional recommendation from a customer who genuinely loves your product because it makes it easier for them to do their job, or their team is verifiably more productive.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The theory is that a happy customer has everything they need to sing your company’s praises, and their advocacy will attract new business to you at a much lower cost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"can-you-turn-the-saas-marketing-palindrome-funnel-into-a-flywheel\">Can you turn The SaaS Marketing Palindrome funnel into a flywheel? \u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Yes, we can add an 8th step called ‘Adoption’. This is where new users become product champions; it’s their job to become power users and internal experts on their new software, and these people need to be empowered to promote internal training and the benefits of using the software. They shouldn’t have to create their own bespoke guides on how to use your product using AI tools or dropping screenshots into a Word document. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>At this stage, the marketing team needs to work closely with support from product teams, technical or customer service teams in delivering on-brand support content that helps the end user be more productive. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F10\u002FWheel_02.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"Saas Marketing Palindrome flywheel\" class=\"wp-image-34855\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"build-bespoke-saas-funnel\">\u003Cstrong>Building Your Bespoke SaaS Funnel: A Framework, Not a Formula\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In the last section, we discussed the downsides of working with a funnel for your B2B marketing and looked at a flywheel model as an alternative. A flywheel model is brilliant for B2B SaaS companies, but it is hugely dependent on other teams in your business having the capacity to support post-sales marketing fully. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Every SaaS business is different, with there never being just one type of ideal customer. Your internal structures, company culture, product complexity and typical sales timelines will also be different to your competitors. Your funnel (or flywheel) needs to reflect the reality you are working with, not an ideal-world scenario where every other department rushes to support marketing. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Funnels, flywheels and frameworks are all tools to guide your thinking, so don’t get distracted by competitor activity or marketing experts outside of SaaS suggesting that there is anything that you \u003Cem>should\u003C\u002Fem> be doing when they don’t have the full view you and your team have.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Now that we understand why we have to create a tailored approach to the B2B SaaS marketing funnel, how might we look to independently build our own?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-start-by-identifying-the-customer\">1. Start by identifying the customer\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Earlier, we talked about how the concept of the customer is far wider than the person who ultimately signs the contract. This could be the end user, middle managers and senior leadership. Many marketing teams will look to understand their buyer personas, but don’t underestimate the influence of the end user and their willingness to champion a solution that they believe will improve their working day. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Here are three points that you could factor into this exercise: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>What are the different issues of each of these people who fall under the umbrella term of ‘customer’? Who is affected by the problem that you solve, and how can you help them in that moment and beyond? This is information that can be included in your marketing personas. \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>How do your customers share information? Through social media? Through links on internal chat platforms or another way entirely? Don’t make it hard for them to share your content, particularly when you’re helping them troubleshoot a solution. \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Don’t forget that anyone could enter the funnel at any time and that if you assume prior knowledge or exposure to your brand, you could quickly disadvantage yourself. \u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This is a shift in mindset because we are reframing ‘what do we want to tell people?’ to asking ‘who can we help?’. It’s a subtle shift but if you are ready to upgrade from a marketing funnel to a flywheel model, this requires the customer to be at the centre. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-map-content-types-to-funnel-stages-and-buyer-needs\">2. Map content types to funnel stages and buyer needs\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In step one, we identified our customer and thought about what creates friction in their day. We have considered how B2B SaaS products help them and what topics or issues sit adjacent to this.  Next, we can look to map types of content to all of our stages of the funnel. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Two key points to think about are: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>A strong B2B SEO strategy supports the full journey and customer lifecycle, and the end user customer may be using search for help longer into the relationship than just the sales journey. \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>You may need to audit existing content. It’s not just about finding keywords with the highest search volume to increase your organic traffic metrics. It is incredibly helpful to understand whether your existing content repertoire is over or under-weighted in certain parts of the funnel, and so, the table below may help with this.  \u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-table\">\u003Ctable class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\u003Ctbody>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Funnel stage\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Goal\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Example types of content\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Awareness\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Help people and establish relevance when someone first becomes aware of a problem.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Educational blog posts and resources, paid and organic social media posts with consistent visuals and unified messaging, or videos to bring the product to life.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Education\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer is trying to understand their problem. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Top-level how-to guides, beginner explainer content e.g. what is X?, webinars or whitepapers.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Interest\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer understands they may need a solution and is getting closer to understanding their requirements. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Product category comparisons, content that explains types of solutions, intro videos or industry email newsletters.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Consideration\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer is putting together a shortlist and may have an early favourite. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Case studies, competitor comparison pages, customer testimonials and reviews and ROI calculators.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Intent\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer initiates a conversation for more information that is directly relevant to them. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Demonstration videos, pricing information, lists of systems your product can integrate with and detailed feature comparisons.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Evaluation\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The customer is being looked after by the sales team, who is guiding them through understanding how feasible your product is to implement.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Technical documentation, integration guides, security whitepapers, and onboarding explainers.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Action\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Senior leadership is ready to sign the contract.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Contract guides, onboarding support content, and on-brand Client Success-led welcome content\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Adoption\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>The solution is implemented, and the end user is becoming an internal expert and product advocate. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>In-app help content, product tutorials, feature release (what’s new) notes and advanced how-to articles\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-get-aligned-with-all-stages-of-the-funnel\">3. Get aligned with all stages of the funnel\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Have you heard the expression, “If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you always got.”?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Typically, marketing has owned the top of the funnel and sales owns the bottom of the funnel. We already know the journey is more complex so how can we stop doing what we’ve always done? \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>First, you need to be ready to stop thinking about the “hand off” to other departments. Content creation never stops being anyone’s responsibility or problem. You may have a different owner for creating content at different stages of the B2B SaaS sales funnel, but every team can add value. For example, when creating content in the education phase, keyword research could take you down a generic or ‘wrong’ path but, information from the product or client success team could ensure that the content you want people to find in search adds so much more value because you have situational and contextual information. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Stop looking at content as assets simply owned by marketing. With more teams consulted and informed, this could lengthen approval processes for marketers but by following a RACI matrix, you can better align teams, produce superior content and give your customers a more cohesive experience. Learn more about the benefits of SaaS content marketing in our helpful guide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-design-your-funnel-for-loops-not-lines\">4. Design your funnel for loops, not lines\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>When we discussed the complexity of the B2B SaaS buying journey earlier, we acknowledged that buyers rarely move in a perfectly linear fashion. They may loop back, pause, or even re-enter the process at entirely different stages, and there may or may not be hand-offs between different team members. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Let’s consider some scenarios where this might happen: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>A user who was in the\u003Cstrong> Evaluation\u003C\u002Fstrong> stage might suddenly loop back to Education if new team members are brought into the decision or if they have learned of a new requirement.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>A company that was in \u003Cstrong>Consideration\u003C\u002Fstrong> may pause their search for a quarter due to budget constraints. Designing a strategy that accounts for this fluid behaviour may be crucial to your success. \u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>There are an unlimited number of scenarios, but this is where Paid marketing tactics, email marketing and using your CRM to its full effectiveness can use marketing content to draw the customer back when they are ready to engage again. When you think in loops rather than lines, your marketing ecosystem can be far more resilient to the unpredictable nature of B2B buying. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"5-measure-what-matters\">5. Measure what matters\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you have got to this point, you have probably done a lot of work already so you need to be able to prove the value of this work when you implement your SaaS SEO strategy. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>For content that serves the Awareness phase, if you judge this by how many micro or macro conversions you get, you may have set this phase up for failure. You may find it valuable to create a bespoke report in GA4 or Data Studio that looks only at this traffic or excludes it from the rest of the website because the session metrics may look inflated in comparison to the rest of the site, with a much lower conversion rate. We might be happy to report on visibility metrics, rankings as well as returning visitors. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>For the Education phase, we may find more value in understanding the depth of the visit for the content we have created. It might be helpful to know where visitors go on your website after landing, and what on-page elements the user is engaging with. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Further down the funnel, sales might provide prospects with tracked links to on-site content, but we could look to bridge the gap and report on how these pages are being found. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>As a team, it’s up to you to decide what actions define success. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fsaas-seo-agency\u002F\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3840\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F09\u002FlO3m8jv0-SaaS-SEO_Banner_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"Learn more about our approach to SaaS SEO\" class=\"wp-image-34793\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"when-to-apply-saas-marketing-funnel\">\u003Cstrong>The Right Time to Act: When to Apply Your New SaaS Marketing Funnel\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you have used the jumplinks to join me near the end, welcome! To bring you up to date, we have talked about the complexity of the B2B SaaS customer journey and established that SaaS companies require a bespoke SEO strategy with a tailored approach to the marketing funnel due to long sales journeys and multiple stakeholders. In the last section, we made recommendations for how you can build your own marketing funnel. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Creating a bespoke marketing framework is a significant undertaking, but it could transform how potential and actual customers view your business as well as your content. If you’re adding value to real humans then maybe search will reward you with higher visibility too. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>How do you know if it’s time to move on from your current approach and design a new funnel? Do you have the information and the resources to do this? Here are a few things to consider:  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"do-your-funnel-metrics-tell-the-whole-story\">Do your funnel metrics tell the whole story? \u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Imagine this, you’re tracking top of funnel (TOFU), middle of funnel (MOFU) and bottom of funnel (BOFU) metrics, but something feels “off”. Maybe performance metrics have drifted over time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>You’ve spotted clues such as:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>Strong traffic but low demo conversions.\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Your marketing qualified leads (MQLs) aren’t converting to sales qualified leads (SQLs)\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Sales complain that leads coming to them aren’t “qualified.”\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Prospects are moving through the process slower. \u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>You might have seen these as performance issues, but they may be a structural problem instead. These could be the clues that tell you there is a potential mismatch between what your content is doing and what your audience actually needs at that moment. One example of this would be that your content is still focused on ‘top-down’ sales when the new buying process is being driven by end-users advocating from the bottom up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Alternatively, look outside of your own sales process, have there been market changes such as a new competitor wowing the market or regulatory changes that are disrupting business as usual search behaviour. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Pair qualitative information from other areas of the business with performing\u002Fnon-performing metrics, and this will help you understand if there is a narrative shift that necessitates designing or rethinking your SaaS product funnel. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"do-you-have-more-or-new-information-about-the-buying-process\">Do you have more or new information about the buying process?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>When your SaaS business first launched, everything was new. The sales process and marketing funnel was built on best guesses, educated assumptions, and a few untested processes guided by experience at other companies. This is a normal part of growth. But as a business scales after heavy investment in product development, it’s easy to get stuck in silos and rely on outdated assumptions because the pressure is on and the stakes are high. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you believe there is a mismatch in content serving your prospect or customer, the easy thing to do is to reach out to colleagues in other departments. It’s a simple and collaborative way to deliver the insights you need. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If your company supports ‘coffee chats’ across departments or you have company chats or a structure that helps you connect with colleagues, you can ask questions to find out: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>Have your sales team shared new insights about who really influences deals?\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Are you seeing more product-led growth signals, such as end users reaching out directly?\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Has your buyer journey changed due to shifts in procurement, budgets, or tech consolidation?\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If anything in your sales process has changed, but the marketing funnel hasn’t updated in kind, it could be that your content isn’t speaking to the key customer moments any more and it’s time to open the dialogue internally. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"is-everyone-aligned-on-metrics-and-terminology\">Is everyone aligned on metrics and terminology? \u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The whole point of OKRs is that everyone is supposed to move forward together and it can be disheartening when you feel like you are reporting great results but you get pushback. This disconnect is another signal to take a step back and re-clarify what you and your team understand key metrics to mean. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It could be that there is disagreement or misunderstanding about what constitutes a marketing qualified lead (MQL) or a sales qualified lead (SQL). As teams scale, evolve or shift focus, these definitions can drift and cause friction across business functions because people are talking at cross-purposes. For example, marketing may define an MQL as content engagement but sales may not acknowledge an MQL until a sales call is booked. Both definitions are valid but if you aren’t aligned on your technical or reporting metrics, this will impact on your relationships and performance. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you are looking to update or completely overhaul your marketing funnel, this is the perfect opportunity to realign key definitions and expectations\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"are-you-scaling-fast\">Are you scaling fast?\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>SaaS is uniquely powerful because once your product is established (or reaches a minimum viable reputation), it can scale quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>But scaling fast brings its own set of challenges for marketers, and without careful attention, your SaaS marketing funnel can become a liability rather than an asset. Read through these potential issues and look to meet them head on. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Complexity\u003C\u002Fstrong> – The linear funnel breaks down really quickly when the customer journey is long and the product is complex. As you scale, you add more team members, more departments, and more customer touchpoints and it becomes a really brave decision to make the call to stop and re-evaluate. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Silos\u003C\u002Fstrong> – Rapid growth means that silos are likely to form. Teams become larger and communications break down. Teams may not be able to communicate or be educated on internal processes and before you know it, individuals are going rogue creating their own material. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Outgrowing infrastructure\u003C\u002Fstrong> – SaaS businesses can start pretty lean and so investment in infrastructure may take time to develop. This can make it hard to have sight of up to date information such as a tech stack that can handle complex marketing automations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Inconsistent customer experience\u003C\u002Fstrong> – The above issues can result in an inconsistent customer experience which as we know from the marketing flywheel model, these experiences slow momentum for the business.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>“Busyness” trap\u003C\u002Fstrong> – It’s not just all of the practicalities of scaling, there is a psychological challenge too. The inconsistent customer experience means that instead of teams being able to market proactively, they are busy fighting fires and the time and ability to “zoom out” can have a huge impact. However, recognising that it might be time to take a step and re-evaluate your SaaS marketing funnel could be the first step to making a huge difference for your performance and your customers. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you recognise these challenges in your business, it’s likely time to pause, audit your funnel, and ensure your B2B SaaS marketing funnel is built to support the scalability your whole company is working towards. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"-help-building-saas-marketing-funnel\">\u003Cstrong>Need Help Building a High-Performing B2B SaaS Funnel?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Your marketing funnel is more than a diagram, it’s the system that connects strategy to outcomes. But in SaaS, where markets move fast and complexity only compounds with scale, that system can quickly fall out of sync. If your funnel no longer reflects how your buyers actually buy, or how your teams operate, it’s time to rebuild. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Reimagining your funnel isn’t just a fun marketing exercise, you need it to grow so take the time to reassess, realign, and redesign it for how your business works in reality. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you need specialist support on your B2B SaaS SEO strategy or anything covered in this blog, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fget-in-touch\u002F\">reach out to our team\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n",{"rendered":118,"protected":169},34828,{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":5,"_yoast_wpseo_title":677,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":678,"inline_featured_image":169,"footnotes":5},"B2B SaaS Marketing Funnel: Building Your Strategy Beyond AIDA","Discover how to build a customer-centric SaaS marketing funnel that drives long-term value and gives a new perspective on 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SaaS SEO is more than just trying to rank highly on the search engines. It’s about driving qualified traffic and attracting high-intent leads to fuel long-term growth in what is an increasingly competitive digital landscape. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>As SaaS companies scale, visibility in search engines becomes critical for successful customer acquisition. However, traditional SEO tactics can be useful for driving some qualified leads to your site, you will need a more refined SEO strategy in the SaaS market. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at what SaaS SEO is, how it differs from traditional \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002F\">SEO\u003C\u002Fa>, the key benefits it offers and how to build a results-driven SaaS SEO strategy. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Use the links below to jump to the section which interests you the most, or keep reading to explore the full guide. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#what-is-saas-seo\">What is SaaS SEO?\u003C\u002Fa>\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#what-is-b2b-saas-seo\">What is B2B SaaS SEO? \u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#traditional-seo-difference\">What is the difference between SaaS SEO and traditional SEO?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#seo-in-saas-business\">How important is SEO in a SaaS business?\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"#create-saas-seo-strategy\">How to create a SaaS SEO strategy\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>As an experienced \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fsaas-seo-agency\u002F\">SaaS SEO agency\u003C\u002Fa>, we’ve partnered with numerous clients over the years, delivering tailored strategies as a core part of our broader \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fsectors\u002Fsaas-marketing-agency\u002F\">SaaS marketing services\u003C\u002Fa>. Learn more by visiting our service page or \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fget-in-touch\u002F\">get in touch with our team of SEO specialists\u003C\u002Fa> to discuss how we can help.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fsaas-seo-agency\u002F\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3840\" height=\"540\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F09\u002FlO3m8jv0-SaaS-SEO_Banner_01.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"Learn more about our approach to SaaS SEO\" class=\"wp-image-34793\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-saas-seo\">\u003Cstrong>What is SaaS SEO?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>SaaS SEO is a marketing strategy used by software-as-a-service (SaaS) brands to deliver business growth through organic search. It works by creating valuable content that attracts relevant potential customers, supporting them in their decision-making process, and ultimately driving conversions for your business.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Like traditional SEO, SaaS SEO can be divided into three main areas: \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fon-page-seo-services\u002F\">on-page SEO\u003C\u002Fa>, off-page SEO and \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Ftechnical-seo\u002F\">technical SEO\u003C\u002Fa>. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-is-b2b-saas-seo\">What is B2B SaaS SEO? \u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>B2B SaaS SEO focuses on driving traffic and boosting conversions for business-to-business (B2B) SaaS companies. It differs from other SEO types by addressing the unique needs and buying behaviours of B2B SaaS customers, ensuring targeted, effective \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fsectors\u002Fb2b-marketing-agency\u002F\">B2B marketing\u003C\u002Fa> strategies to attract and convert business clients.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"traditional-seo-difference\">\u003Cstrong>What is the difference between SaaS SEO and traditional SEO?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The key difference between SaaS SEO and traditional SEO lies in the SaaS business model, the nature of the product being marketed, the target audience and the type of SEO strategies required. Both types of SEO share the same foundational elements, but SaaS SEO needs a more nuanced approach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Whilst traditional SEO is focused on attracting a wider range of visitors to the site at different stages of the sales funnel, SEO for SaaS is more focused on attracting a specific audience at the pivotal point in their problem-solving journey in order to convert them into leads and drive sales. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>SaaS SEO focuses on optimising websites for businesses that offer subscription-based software solutions and services. Inherently, these businesses must focus on driving qualified leads, increasing their sign-ups and upselling their products.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Whilst traditional SEO can also focus on these goals, the approach is much broader and typically focuses on building brand awareness to increase traffic and drive sales.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"sass-seo-vs-traditional-seo\">SasS SEO vs Traditional SEO\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-table\">\u003Ctable class=\"has-fixed-layout\">\u003Ctbody>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>SaaS SEO\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Traditional SEO\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>SEO Goals\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>To drive qualified leads through trial sign-ups, free-to-paid offers and retaining customers. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>A focus on traffic acquisition, product sales and lead generation. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Keyword Strategy\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Niche, often revolving around problem-solving keywords related to the software’s use case. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Broader, relating to informational keywords and transactional keywords. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Content Strategy\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fsaas-content-marketing\u002F\">A SaaS content marketing strategy\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cstrong> \u003C\u002Fstrong>is usually\u003Cstrong> \u003C\u002Fstrong>more in-depth, aimed at solving specific problems or addressing the pain points that lead users to consider the SaaS product.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fseo-content-agency\u002F\">SEO content marketing\u003C\u002Fa> can be more varied depending on the business model. Ranging from commercial content to informational content. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003Ctr>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>Analytics and Metrics\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>\u003Cstrong>SaaS marketing analytics \u003C\u002Fstrong>typically track more industry-specific metrics such as Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Churn Rate, Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), and Lifetime Value (LTV) in addition to general marketing metrics. \u003C\u002Ftd>\u003Ctd>Often include, but are not limited to, organic traffic, bounce rate, conversion rate, and page load speed.\u003C\u002Ftd>\u003C\u002Ftr>\u003C\u002Ftbody>\u003C\u002Ftable>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"seo-in-saas-business\">\u003Cstrong>How important is SEO in a SaaS business?\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Your website is one of the most powerful tools you can use to communicate your SaaS business’ valuable products and services, whilst also demonstrating credibility and trust to potential customers. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>A great website is a good starting point, but it’s SEO for SaaS that plays a vital role in ensuring a website is conversion-driven, optimised and technically sound to drive organic traffic and generate leads for the business.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of SEO for B2B SaaS companies. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"increased-visibility-and-awareness-in-a-competitive-market\">Increased visibility and awareness in a competitive market\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If your competitors are investing in SEO and you’re not, you’re already at a disadvantage. High rankings for valuable keywords give you the edge over competitors who are relying on paid media alone or ignoring SEO altogether. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>On the other hand, having a dynamic approach to your \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fdigital-marketing\u002Fstrategy\u002F\">digital marketing strategy\u003C\u002Fa> that combines organic and paid marketing channels, such as \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002F\">SEO\u003C\u002Fa>, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fpr-social\u002Fdigital-pr\u002F\">digital PR\u003C\u002Fa> and \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fpaid-media\u002F\">paid media\u003C\u002Fa>, can be a highly effective approach to driving sustainable growth. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Whether you’re a start-up or a larger business looking to engage in \u003Cstrong>enterprise SaaS SEO\u003C\u002Fstrong>, this holistic approach helps you stay competitive and drive growth in your market share, ensuring that you’re always in front of potential customers when they need solutions to their problems. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"build-brand-authority-and-trust\">Build brand authority and trust\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>SEO is grounded in the principles of \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fe-e-a-t\u002F\">E-E-A-T\u003C\u002Fa>, which is a framework that Google uses to determine the quality of a website. Investing time and effort into SEO ensures that the experience, expertise and authoritativeness of a website are prioritised. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Not only does this framework showcase the right signals to search engines, but it also instils trust and credibility for potential customers. Optimising your website with client testimonials, author bios that focus on the experience and expertise of your team who are tasked with creating genuinely helpful and up-to-date content, inspires customer confidence in your business, your website and the products you offer. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"drive-consistent-and-qualified-organic-traffic-to-your-site\">Drive consistent and qualified organic traffic to your site\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Organic search attracts people who are actively searching for solutions to their problems. For SaaS companies, this is particularly important because these prospects often have high purchase intent. Catching customers at the right stage of the marketing funnel is key to transforming those leads into conversions, and the solution is SaaS SEO.\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>When someone searches for “hospitality procurement software” or “CRM software for businesses”, they are looking for a solution. Ranking on the first page of results positions your product as a trusted option, which can significantly improve your conversion rates compared to cold outreach or paid ads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"support-the-buyers-journey\">Support the buyer’s journey\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>B2B SaaS purchases typically follow a longer buyer’s journey that is fundamentally different from a transactional \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Faida-model-and-digital-marketing\u002F\">AIDA model\u003C\u002Fa>. Instead of a single, linear path, \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Funderstanding-the-saas-sales-funnel\u002F\">B2B SaaS marketing funnels\u003C\u002Fa> are highly complex, involving multiple decision-makers and internal influencers. This requires a tailored SEO strategy that nurtures leads by continually addressing the specific pain points of each stakeholder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The extended lead times, from initial Awareness to final Purchase, mean that businesses must support potential buyers across a protracted research phase. A rigid AIDA framework doesn’t account for this reality and the unique internal processes that shape B2B purchasing. A truly effective B2B SaaS SEO strategy needs to support a multi-faceted journey, helping to connect with and support each stakeholder at the right moment with the most relevant information.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F09\u002FFunnels.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34794\"\u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cem>Caption: Example of a B2B SaaS Sales Funnel vs Traditional AIDA model\u003C\u002Fem>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"reduce-customer-acquisition-costs-cac\">Reduce Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>SEO can work to lower your customer acquisition costs by attracting high-intent, organic traffic and reducing the need for paid advertising over time. Unlike paid ads, once content ranks well on search engines, it can continue to attract consistent traffic without ongoing spend. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>However, SEO requires a long-term and continuous strategy. To maintain and improve performance, your content and strategy will need to be revisited regularly to ensure they’re aligned with evolving \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fkey-google-algorithm-changes\u002F\">algorithm updates\u003C\u002Fa> and user behaviour.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"create-saas-seo-strategy\">\u003Cstrong>How to create a SaaS SEO strategy\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Below, we’ll explore key steps you could consider in your SaaS SEO strategy, such as targeting keywords across the funnel, building out high-intent landing pages, creating educational content, and strengthening internal linking to support site structure and visibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It’s worth noting that a SaaS SEO strategy is rarely a one-size-fits-all.\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fsaas-seo-agency\u002F\"> \u003Cstrong>SaaS SEO services\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa>, like those offered by Impression, are designed to address these specific needs, combining technical SEO, content strategy, and conversion-focused optimisations to drive meaningful results.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"set-realistic-goals-and-kpis\">Set realistic goals and KPIs\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>For a SaaS brand, SEO success isn’t based purely on ranking position and the number of ranking keywords. It’s about driving qualified traffic that converts. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Whilst visibility and traffic metrics such as organic sessions, keyword rankings and impressions or click-through rates are useful to see how you’re performing against your competitors, it doesn’t always tell the full story.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>When deciding on your goals and KPIs, some example metrics you could look to track include: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"non-branded-traffic\">Non-branded traffic\u003C\u002Fh4>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It’s common for SaaS brands to bring in the majority of traffic through branded keywords, which doesn’t necessarily reflect how effective you are at bringing in new potential customers from users who haven’t heard of your brand. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Tracking the traffic obtained from non-branded keywords gives you a good overview of how successful you are at attracting users at the top of the funnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"micro-and-macro-conversion-metrics\">Micro and macro conversion metrics\u003C\u002Fh4>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Micro and macro conversion metrics refer to the types of conversions users are making on your website. Micro conversions are small actions like clicking on a link, navigating to another page, or watching a video. These small conversions are what users tend to do before taking a more significant step toward becoming a customer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>After these micro-conversions, a prospect may become a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) by taking a higher-value action such as downloading an eBook or subscribing to a newsletter. These MQLs then advance to become Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) by making a primary, high-value macro conversion like signing up for a free trial or requesting a demo. Depending on how your qualification process works, tracking both micro and macro conversions gives you a good overall picture of how users move down the funnel, empowering you to see what’s working and where users drop off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"average-time-on-site\">Average time on site \u003C\u002Fh4>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Often referred to as dwell time, average time on site is a measurement of how long a user stays on your website. This metric provides valuable insights into user engagement, indicating how effectively your content captures and retains the attention of visitors. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"identify-your-customer-personas-and-their-pain-points\">Identify your customer personas and their pain points\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>With your goals and KPIs in place, you should next begin to define your customer personas. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>These personas, also known as user personas, help you understand who your target audience is, the problems they are looking to solve and their decision-making process. From this information, you’ll then be able to create content that aligns with their search intent and user journey to address their problems and guide them down the SaaS sales funnel. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>These personas should include information such as: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>Demographics (such as age, gender, location, education level and income) \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Their motivations and goals \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Their pain points\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Their behaviours (e.g. online search habits, social media usage)\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>How do they travel through your customer cycle\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>It’s important to note that your user personas will change over time, particularly as your product evolves. Therefore, you should revisit these from time to time and make any necessary adjustments or changes. It can also be useful to gather feedback from your sales and customer service teams to help you validate these personas.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>To help you get started, we recommend using a template like the one below.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fimages.impression.co.uk\u002F2025\u002F09\u002FPersona.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&q=90\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-34795\"\u002F>\u003Cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\u003Cem>Caption: An example of a user persona template\u003C\u002Fem>\u003Cbr>\u003C\u002Ffigcaption>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"keyword-research\">Keyword research \u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Before you make any significant changes to your site, the next step is to conduct keyword research. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Keywords are the bedrock of SEO and are vital for ensuring your content aligns with what the user is searching for when they type their query into Google. If you are completely new to SEO or just need a refresher, we have written a guide which covers the fundamentals of \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fkeyword-research-tips-for-seo\u002F\">keyword research for SEO\u003C\u002Fa>. \u003Cbr>\u003Cstrong>Keyword research for SaaS SEO\u003C\u002Fstrong> revolves around targeting top-of-the-funnel (ToFu), middle-of-the-funnel (MoFu) and bottom-of-the-funnel (BoFu) keywords. You are looking to create content that connects at the different stages to help guide the prospective customer to become a paying one\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"top-of-the-funnel-keywords\">Top-of-the-funnel keywords\u003C\u002Fh4>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>ToFu keywords for SaaS SEO are broad, informational search terms that users will also use at the beginning of their buying journey. They often have higher search volume but lower purchase intent. This isn’t a bad thing, as this can contribute to brand awareness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The purpose of ToFu keywords is to attract users whilst they are in the awareness stage of the funnel. For example, if you were a SaaS company offering CRM software, you should look to target something like:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>What is CRM software\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Benefits of CRM software\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>How to develop a CRM strategy\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Whilst the purchase intent is lower with these keywords, the aim is to drive traffic to your website and retain the users. This can be done by providing clear pathways through your content using an internal linking strategy, which encourages users to move further along the marketing funnel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"middle-of-the-funnel-keywords\">Middle-of-the-funnel keywords\u003C\u002Fh4>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>MoFu keywords are more commercial in nature and refer to terms that a searcher uses when they recognise a problem they need to address. At this stage, they are evaluating their options and comparing different SaaS solutions to solve that problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Using the same example mentioned before, here are some keywords you should consider targeting: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>Best customer service CRM\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Best CRM system for small businesses \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Free CRM software \u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>At this stage, you should highlight how your product solves their specific problem and what sets your solution apart from the competition. The content you create here should focus on the key features, benefits and differentiators.   \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"bottom-of-the-funnel-keywords\">Bottom-of-the-funnel keywords\u003C\u002Fh4>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>BoFu keywords are typically transactional, have high conversion potential, and are often searched by users who are aware of the solutions to their problems. They are usually at the purchase decision stage, and the content should provide your leads with an incentive to take action. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Keywords at this stage could include: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>[Brand] pricing \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>[Brand] CRM software\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>CRM free trial  \u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Within this content, you want to reinforce the benefits of your product that were previously mentioned and use offers such as free trials and demos. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Informational ToFu and MoFu keywords are better suited for blogs or comparison articles, whilst landing pages or service pages are more appropriate for this stage. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"conduct-competitor-research\">Conduct competitor research\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Whilst competition between SaaS companies can be fierce, you can also use them to your advantage. Building on your own keyword research, you can also conduct competitor and content gap analysis to identify what’s working for others in your niche. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Taking your direct and indirect competitors, you can use a range of SEO tools to conduct a competitor gap analysis. Our favourite is the Ahrefs content gap analysis tool. You simply input your domain, along with up to five of your competitors. It will then show you a complete list of keywords that your competitors rank for, along with the ranking URLs. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"creating-content-pillars-and-topic-clusters\">Creating content pillars and topic clusters\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>When creating content for your site, using content pillars and topic clusters to cover topics is a great way to signal to search engines that your content is relevant to your niche, comprehensive and authoritative, which is paramount for a competitive industry like SaaS. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Not only this, but it also greatly enhances the user experience by providing a clear and well-organised structure to guide users through your content and ultimately further down the funnel.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Instead of churning out random reams of content, try to structure your content based on the keyword research and competitor analysis you carried out. Begin by identifying the core content pillars and build out from there by mapping out subtopics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Essentially, you want to piece together content which aligns with the stages of the marketing funnel so that potential leads are nudged towards becoming paying customers.  \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>We have also written a handy guide which covers the fundamentals of \u003Cstrong>SaaS copywriting\u003C\u002Fstrong> to help you craft compelling content that not only generates leads but also converts them into paying customers. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"technical-seo\">Technical SEO\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>As with any SEO strategy, having sound technical foundations is crucial for ensuring optimal website performance. \u003Cstrong>Technical SEO for SaaS\u003C\u002Fstrong> follows many of the same principles that you come across if you were auditing an ecommerce or lead-gen site. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>When carrying out technical SEO for your SaaS website, you should consider the following: \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003Cli>Site speed\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>URL structure – \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fxml-sitemaps\u002F\">XML sitemaps\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Mobile friendliness \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Meta tags \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>Index coverage \u003C\u002Fli>\n\n\n\n\u003Cli>\u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fhow-to-choose-a-website-setup-for-international-seo\u002F\">International SEO\u003C\u002Fa> including \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fblog\u002Fwhat-are-hreflang-tags\u002F\">Hreflang tags\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fli>\n\u003C\u002Ful>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"consider-off-page-seo\">Consider off-page SEO\u003C\u002Fh3>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>On-page SEO lays the foundation for visibility, but off-page SEO is critical for building authority, trust, and long-term organic performance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>High-quality backlinks from reputable sources such as industry blogs, news media and SaaS review platforms can signal credibility to search engines, which can help improve your rankings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Another key off-page B2B SaaS strategy is to encourage user reviews and testimonials. Focusing your efforts on sites like G2 and Capterra enhances your brand’s online reputation and helps reinforce trust with potential customers. Similarly, integrating customer reviews from a trusted third-party site like Trustpilot or Reviews.io directly onto your website further builds credibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Finally, you should continually monitor for unlinked brand mentions using tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush. These are missed opportunities for backlinks that you can proactively request from site owners.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"get-started-with-saas-seo\">Get Started with SaaS SEO\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>If you’re a SaaS brand looking to get started with SaaS SEO, you’re in the right place. Over the years, we’ve worked with a variety of SaaS companies that have turned to us for our expert \u003Ca rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"\u002Fseo\u002Fsaas-seo-agency\u002F\">\u003Cstrong>SaaS SEO services\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa>. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n",{"rendered":129,"protected":169},28970,{"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":5,"_yoast_wpseo_title":859,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":860,"inline_featured_image":169,"footnotes":5},"SaaS SEO: Build An Effective SEO Strategy To Grow Your MRR","Learn how to build an effective B2B SaaS SEO strategy that drives organic growth, boosts visibility, and generates qualified leads for your SaaS 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