SEO for a Brand-New SaaS Site: What to Do First

I have spent a lot of years looking at search data for companies of every size. The pattern for new sites is always the same: founders either ignore SEO completely or they try to do everything at once. Neither works well.

A brand-new SaaS site has no history with Google, few or no links pointing to it and only a handful of pages. You cannot fix that in a week. What you can do is set up the basics correctly so the work you do later actually counts.

Set expectations first

SEO on a new domain is slow. It often takes months before you see meaningful search traffic, and that depends on your niche, your competition and how much useful content you publish. I tell founders to treat search as a long-term channel and to find their first users through direct outreach, communities and their own network while SEO builds in the background.

That does not mean you wait. It means you do the right foundation work now and stay consistent.

Step 1: Make sure Google can find and read your site

A lot of AI-built apps are single-page applications. The content is rendered by JavaScript in the browser. Google can process JavaScript, but it is slower and less reliable than plain HTML, and some other search engines and AI crawlers handle it poorly.

My usual approach:

• Keep your marketing pages separate from your app when you can. A simple static site or a server-rendered site for the homepage, pricing and blog. The logged-in app can live on a subdomain or a path.
• If everything is in one app, check what Google actually sees. In Search Console, use the URL Inspection tool and view the rendered page. If your headline and copy are missing, you have a rendering problem.
• Do not block crawlers by accident. Check your robots.txt file. I have seen staging settings that block everything make it to production.

Step 2: Set up Google Search Console

Search Console is free and it is the most direct view you will get of how Google sees your site. Set it up on day one.

1. Add your domain as a property and verify it through DNS.
2. Submit your sitemap. Most site builders and frameworks can generate one at /sitemap.xml.
3. Check the Pages report after a week or two to see what is indexed and what is not, and why.
4. Watch the Performance report for the queries you start showing up for. Early on, these are hints about what Google thinks you are about.

Also set up Bing Webmaster Tools. It takes a few minutes and Bing data feeds other search products.

Step 3: Get the on-page basics right

Every page that you want found should have:

• A unique title tag that says what the page is about in plain words. Put the most important phrase near the front. Keep it around 60 characters so it does not get cut off.
• A meta description that reads like a short ad for the page. It does not directly affect ranking, but it affects whether people click.
• One clear H1 that matches the page's purpose.
• Descriptive URLs, like /pricing or /blog/invoice-template-for-contractors, not /page?id=482.
• Alt text on meaningful images that describes what the image shows.
• Internal links between related pages so both people and crawlers can find everything.

Check that your AI builder did not give every page the same title. That happens a lot, and it makes it harder for Google to tell your pages apart.

Step 4: Pick the first pages to publish

New sites should not chase broad, competitive terms. You will not rank for "project management software" any time soon. Instead, think about the specific problems your users search for when they are close to needing your product.

The first pages I recommend for most small SaaS products:

1. Homepage that clearly states who the product is for and what it does. Use the words your customers use, not internal jargon.
2. Use case or audience pages. If your tool serves lawn care crews and pool cleaners differently, give each a page that speaks to their specific situation.
3. Comparison and alternative pages. People search for "X alternative" and "X vs Y." Be honest and specific. Thin, biased comparison pages do not hold up.
4. Problem-focused blog posts that answer real questions from your users. Every support question and sales call is a possible post.
5. A pricing page with real content, not just a table. People search for pricing on products they are considering.

Step 5: Do simple keyword research

You do not need an expensive tool to start. Here is a low-cost way to find topics:

• Type your main problem into Google and read the autocomplete suggestions and the "People also ask" box.
• Look at the top results. If they are all huge brands, pick a more specific angle.
• Read the communities your users are in. The exact phrases they use to describe problems are often the phrases they search.
• After a couple of months, use your own Search Console queries to find topics you are almost ranking for, then improve or expand those pages.

Paid tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs help with volume estimates and competitor research. Check current pricing and decide if you need them yet. Many founders do not at the start.

Step 6: Write content that is worth finding

Search engines and AI answer engines both reward pages that are specific and genuinely useful. A few rules I follow:

• Answer the question early in the page. Do not make people scroll through a story first.
• Show real steps, screenshots and examples from your own product and experience.
• Write one strong page per topic instead of five weak ones.
• Update posts when things change. A dated tutorial loses trust fast.

AI writing tools can help with outlines and first drafts. Publishing unedited AI text at volume tends to produce a site full of pages that say nothing new, which is not what search engines want to rank.

Step 7: Earn a few links the honest way

Links from other sites still matter. For a new SaaS, the realistic sources are:

• Directories and launch sites in your category.
• Integration partners who list compatible tools.
• Guest posts or podcast appearances where you have real expertise to share.
• Useful free tools or templates that people link to on their own.

Skip anyone selling bulk links. That can do more harm than good.

What to skip for now

• Obsessing over page speed scores beyond fixing obvious problems.
• Schema markup for every possible type. Add basic organization and article markup and move on.
• Publishing daily. Weekly or every other week, done well, is plenty.
• Chasing rankings for your brand name before anyone knows it.

A simple monthly routine

1. Check Search Console for indexing errors.
2. Review which queries are growing.
3. Publish two to four useful pages.
4. Improve one older page based on what people are searching.

That routine, kept up for months, beats a burst of activity followed by silence.

If you want help building this into your launch plan, it is a regular topic in our weekly group office hour.