Star Icon

The Ultimate SaaS Technical SEO Guide for Founders

Calender Icon

Thursday, May 1, 2025

Enes Gunes - Founder of Scaligo

About The Author

👋 Hi, I’m Enes — founder of Scaligo, where we make great marketing affordable. After years of watching small-mid sized businesses get priced out by traditional agencies, I built a subscription-based service that covers both marketing and design.

No long contracts, no fluff, just plan and execution. Think of us as your extended growth team.

Think great content alone will skyrocket your SaaS rankings? Think again.

Technical SEO is the foundation of organic growth—without it, even the best content won't rank, won’t convert, and won’t drive revenue.

From site speed and indexing issues to crawlability and mobile optimization, small technical gaps can create big roadblocks for search engines and potential customers.

What We'll Cover:

🔗 “Why Is Our Organic Traffic Stuck?” The SaaS Founder’s SEO Nightmare
🔗 Technical SEO for SaaS (In Plain English)
🔗 The “Invisible” SEO Leaks Costing You Customers;
🔗 The SaaS Founder’s Mini-Guide to Fixing Technical SEO
🔗 The Right SEO Tools for SaaS Founders (No Fluff)
🔗 Need Help? ScaliGo’s SaaS Technical SEO Services

"Why Is Our Organic Traffic Stuck?" The SaaS Founder’s SEO Nightmare

You’ve spent months (or years) building your SaaS.

Your product is solid. Your customers love it. You’ve even invested in content marketing—publishing blog posts, guides, and landing pages.

But when you check your organic traffic?

👀 Crickets.

Meanwhile, your competitor (with a clunkier product and worse UX) outranks you on Google. How is that even possible?

Here’s the truth: It’s not your content. It’s your technical SEO.

Technical SEO is like the plumbing of your website. If something’s broken, it doesn’t matter how good the content is—Google won’t rank it.

And most SaaS founders don’t realize they’re sitting on a website full of SEO leaks—things like slow page speed, broken redirects, and indexation issues. These small but critical errors silently block your growth while competitors zoom ahead.

But it’s not just Google.

Search engines like Google, Bing—even Amazon’s search algorithm—want one thing:
🚀 The best experience for visitors.

technical health score of a site

From on-page technical issues (site speed, indexability, structured data) to off-page factors (backlinks, brand mentions), these platforms reward websites that deliver a smooth, fast, and frustration-free experience.

At the end of the day, SEO isn’t just about rankings. It’s about proving to search engines that your website deserves to be seen.

Before you pour more budget into content or ads, let’s fix what’s holding you back.

In the next section, we’ll break down the invisible technical SEO leaks that might be costing you customers—and how to fix them fast. 🚀

Technical SEO for SaaS (In Plain English)

Let’s be real—technical SEO sounds intimidating. It’s full of terms like “canonical tags,” “crawl budget,” and “render-blocking JavaScript.”

But here’s the thing: Technical SEO isn’t just for developers.

As a SaaS founder, you don’t need to know how to code a website from scratch. But you do need to understand one thing:

👉 If search engines can’t access your site properly, they won’t rank it.

Think of SEO like your own SaaS product. If users struggle to log in, get errors, or experience slow loading times, they won’t use it.

Google, Bing—even Amazon’s search engine—work the same way. Their job is to serve the best possible experience to users. That means:

  • If your website is slow, visitors leave.
  • If search engines can’t crawl your pages, they won’t rank.
  • If your site has broken links or redirects, users get frustrated.
  • If your structure is a mess, Google won’t understand what to rank first.

In short? Technical SEO removes the friction that stops both users and search engines from trusting your site.

The 3-Second Rule: Why Speed & UX Matter More Than Ever

People today have zero patience. If your SaaS website takes longer than 3 seconds to load, potential customers won’t wait—they’ll bounce.

Amazon found that every 100ms of delay costs them 1% in sales. And while your SaaS might not be Amazon, the principle is the same: Faster websites make more money.

That’s why search engines reward fast, user-friendly websites with higher rankings.

SEO is Like a Funnel—Fix the Leaks First

Think of your website as a conversion funnel.

  • Your blog brings in organic traffic
  • Your landing pages convert visitors into trials
  • Your product pages turn free users into paying customers

Now, imagine that funnel has leaks everywhere—slow load times, broken pages, missing metadata, and a confusing site structure.

No matter how much traffic you bring in, you’re losing potential customers before they ever convert.

The “Invisible” SEO Leaks Costing You Customers

Most SaaS founders assume that if they write great content, their site will naturally rank over time.

But here’s the reality: Technical SEO issues can silently block your growth, no matter how good your product or content is.

Think of it like trying to fill a bucket with water—but it has leaks everywhere. You might be driving traffic, but if your site is slow, broken, or invisible to Google, you’re losing potential customers before they even see your product.

Let’s fix that.

🚨 Problem #1: Your Site Isn’t Even Visible to Google

Imagine building an incredible SaaS product—then locking it behind a door with no key.

That’s what’s happening if Google can’t crawl (analyze) or index (store) your pages properly. Your site exists, but search engines can’t find it.

Here’s why it happens:
Robots.txt blocking important pages – This is a small text file that tells search engines which pages they can or can’t visit. A misconfiguration can accidentally hide key pages from Google.
No proper sitemap submitted – A sitemap is like a "table of contents" for search engines. If it’s missing or outdated, Google doesn’t know where to look.
Accidental "noindex" tags – This is a hidden command in your website code that tells Google not to show a page in search results. If placed incorrectly, it can completely remove pages from Google.

🔧 Quick Fix:

  • Check if Google can find your site by searching site:yourdomain.com in Google. If no pages appear? Big problem.
  • Use Google Search Console (a free tool that shows how Google sees your site) to check for indexing issues and sitemap errors.
  • Look at your robots.txt file (yourdomain.com/robots.txt) and make sure it's not blocking important pages.

🐢 Problem #2: Slow Site = High Bounce Rate = Lost Revenue

If your site loads slower than a Zoom call on bad WiFi, potential customers won’t stick around.

Here’s why speed matters:
⏳ 40% of visitors leave if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load.
📉 Google ranks fast-loading sites higher because speed is a ranking factor.
💰 Amazon found that every 100ms (milliseconds) of delay costs them 1% in revenue.

Slow websites don’t just hurt SEO—they kill conversions.

What’s slowing your SaaS site down?
Bloated JavaScript & third-party scripts – JavaScript (JS) controls interactive elements like animations, chatbots, and popups. Too many scripts slow down your site.
Unoptimized images – Large image files take forever to load, especially on mobile.
Bad hosting & lack of caching – Cheap hosting means slow response times, and without caching (saving parts of the page for faster reloading), users experience delays.

🔧 Quick Fix:

  • Run a speed test using Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.
  • Compress images with tools like TinyPNG or use WebP format, which loads faster than PNG or JPEG.
  • Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network) like Cloudflare, which stores copies of your site in multiple locations worldwide to load it faster for users.
  • Minimize unnecessary scripts—do you really need 5 different analytics trackers?

🔗 Problem #3: Broken Pages & Redirect Mess

Have you ever clicked on a broken link and landed on a 404 error page (page not found)?

Frustrating, right? Now imagine how many potential customers experience that on your site.

Broken pages & bad redirects = instant bounce.

Here’s what’s hurting your SEO:
404 pages everywhere – A 404 error means the page no longer exists. If key pages like blog posts, feature pages, or pricing pages are missing, you’re literally throwing away organic traffic.
Redirect loops – A redirect tells Google and users that a page has moved. A loop happens when a page redirects to itself or through multiple steps, causing confusion and slow loading.
Orphan pages – These are pages that exist but aren’t linked anywhere on your site, so search engines never find them.

🔧 Quick Fix:

  • Run a broken link check using Screaming Frog (a free SEO crawler) or Ahrefs (SEO audit tool).
  • Set up 301 redirects (permanent redirects) for any broken URLs so they lead to the right page.
  • Make sure every page on your site is linked from somewhere—Google can’t rank what it can’t find.

📱 Problem #4: Your Site Works on Desktop, But Not on Mobile

Your SaaS website might look perfect on a laptop—but have you checked how it performs on a phone?

Here’s why mobile matters:
📈 More than 50% of B2B searches start on mobile.
🚀 Google ranks mobile-friendly sites higher (thanks to their Mobile-First Indexing, meaning they check mobile first before desktop).
👎 Clunky mobile UX = frustrated visitors who never return.

The biggest mobile UX killers?
Tiny buttons & unreadable text – If users have to pinch-zoom, they’ll leave.❌ Slow mobile page speed – A fast desktop site doesn’t mean your mobile site is fast.
Popup overload – Google penalizes intrusive popups that ruin user experience.

🔧 Quick Fix:

  • Run your site through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
  • Check your site on your own phone—is the experience smooth or frustrating?
  • Make sure CTA (Call to Action) buttons are big enough to tap (no one likes fat-finger mistakes).

 The SaaS Founder’s Mini-Guide to Fixing Technical SEO

So, you've fixed the obvious leaks—Google can crawl your site, pages load faster, and mobile UX isn’t a disaster.

Great! But technical SEO isn’t just about putting out fires.

To stay ahead of competitors and scale your SaaS SEO efficiently, here’s what to do next:

Step 1: Stop Wasting Crawl Budget on Useless Pages

Google assigns a crawl budget—the number of pages it crawls on your site each day. If it wastes time crawling useless pages (duplicate content, internal search pages, low-value URLs), important pages may get ignored.

How to check:

  • In Google Search Console → Setting → Crawl Stats, see how often Google crawls your site.
  • If low-priority pages (like tag pages, outdated blog posts, or admin login pages) are getting crawled often, you have a problem.

🔧 Fix it:

  • Block low-value pages from Google using robots.txt or "noindex" tags.
  • Consolidate duplicate pages with proper canonical tags (which tell Google which version to rank).
  • Prioritize crawling important pages by submitting a clean sitemap in Google Search Console.

Step 2: Make JavaScript Work With SEO, Not Against It

Many SaaS websites heavily rely on JavaScript (for dashboards, interactive pricing pages, single-page apps). But Google struggles to crawl JavaScript content properly, meaning some of your pages might not even exist in search results.

How to check:

  • Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test or Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool to see if Google renders your content correctly.
  • If important content doesn’t show up, your JavaScript might be blocking search engines.

🔧 Fix it:

  • Use Server-Side Rendering (SSR) or Static Rendering to deliver readable HTML to search engines.
  • Make sure key content isn’t hidden behind JavaScript—Google needs to “see” it.
  • Test rendering in real time using Google’s Rich Results Test.

Step 3: Structure Your SaaS URLs for Long-Term SEO Wins

Your URL structure plays a big role in SEO clarity and user experience. Messy URLs confuse both Google and visitors, leading to lost rankings and lower click-through rates.

Common SaaS URL mistakes:
❌ yourdomain.com/page?id=98342 (Unclear, bad for SEO)
❌ yourdomain.com/product-landing-page-v2-final (Too long & keyword-stuffed)
✅ yourdomain.com/product-name (Clean, short, relevant)

🔧 Fix it:

  • Keep URLs short, descriptive, and logical (e.g., /pricing instead of /pricing-page-final-update).
  • Avoid dynamic parameters in URLs (Google prefers static, readable URLs).
  • Redirect outdated URLs to maintain ranking power.

Step 4: Use Schema Markup to Win Rich Snippets

Want to stand out in search results? Add Schema Markup (structured data) to tell Google exactly what your content is about.

Schema helps you get:
✅ Star ratings under reviews
✅ FAQ-rich snippets that boost click-through rates
✅ Pricing & feature lists directly in search results

How to check:

  • Run your site through Google’s Structured Data Testing Tool.
  • If you don’t see rich snippets in search results, you’re missing an opportunity.

🔧 Fix it:

  • Add FAQ schema to help feature pages and blog posts rank better.
  • Use Product schema for pricing & feature comparisons.
  • Implement Breadcrumb schema for better site navigation in search results.

The Right SEO Tools for SaaS Founders (No Fluff)

Let’s be honest—there are way too many SEO tools out there.

And if you’re a SaaS founder, you don’t have time to waste on tools that overcomplicate things. You need straightforward, effective solutions that help you:

  • Find and fix SEO issues quickly
  • Improve site speed and user experience
  • Ensure Google sees and ranks your content

Here are the only SEO tools you actually need—and what each one is good for.

Google Search Console – The #1 Free Tool Every SaaS Founder Should Master

If you only use one SEO tool, let it be Google Search Console (GSC).

Why? Because it gives you direct insights from Google about how your site performs in search results.

🚀 What it does:

  • Shows which pages are indexed (and which aren’t)
  • Alerts you to crawl errors, indexing issues, and Core Web Vitals problems
  • Reveals click-through rates (CTR), impressions, and ranking data
  • Helps you submit sitemaps and request reindexing after site changes

💡 Pro tip:
Check the "Coverage" and "Page Experience" reports monthly to catch and fix technical SEO problems before they hurt rankings.

Screaming Frog & Sitebulb – The SEO Detective Tools

Google doesn’t tell you everything. That’s where tools like Screaming Frog and Sitebulb come in.

These tools crawl your entire site, just like Google, and reveal technical SEO issues hiding beneath the surface.

🔎 What they help you find:

  • Broken links & 404 errors – Fixing these improves user experience and rankings.
  • Redirect loops & chain issues – Ensures pages redirect correctly without slowing down your site.
  • Duplicate content & missing metadata – Helps optimize title tags, descriptions, and H1s for better rankings.
  • Indexability issues – Flags pages that Google can’t or won’t rank.

💡 Pro tip:
Use Screaming Frog’s "Response Codes" report to instantly find broken pages that need fixing.

Screaming Frog - Free for up to 500 URLs)

Sitebulb (Great for detailed visual reports)

PageSpeed Insights & Core Web Vitals Tools – Speed Up Your SaaS Site

Google rewards fast websites. If your SaaS site loads slowly, your rankings (and conversions) will drop.

That’s why you need Google PageSpeed Insights (PSI) and Core Web Vitals (CWV) tools.

🚀 What they measure:

  •  Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) – How long it takes for your page’s main content to load.
  • First Input Delay (FID) – How fast your site responds when a user clicks something.
  •  Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) – Measures how much your content jumps around while loading.

💡 Pro tip:
If your LCP is over 2.5 seconds, compress your images, enable lazy loading, and use a CDN (Content Delivery Network) like Cloudflare.

  • Google PageSpeed Insights (Tests site speed and gives actionable fixes)
  • Lighthouse (For deeper technical SEO audits)

Oncrawl & Lumar – Advanced SEO for Scaling SaaS

If your SaaS company is growing fast, basic SEO tools won’t cut it anymore. That’s where Oncrawl and Lumar (formerly DeepCrawl) come in.

These enterprise-grade crawlers help large or complex websites scale their SEO.

📊 What they do best:

  • Analyze massive sites with millions of pages (great for enterprise SaaS)
  • Identify hidden crawl issues affecting SEO at scale
  • Track changes in real-time to prevent ranking drops after site update
  • Monitor log files to see exactly how Googlebot crawls your site

💡 Pro tip:
If you’re planning a site migration, major redesign, or domain change, use Oncrawl or Lumar to track every SEO shift before rankings tank.

  • Oncrawl (For large-scale SEO data analysis)
  • Lumar (Best for ongoing SEO health monitoring)

Need Help? ScaliGo’s SaaS Technical SEO Services

ScaliGo is the first cost-effective marketing subscription for small and mid-sized startups, giving you full SEO management plus extra marketing support without paying expensive agencies for every single task.

🚀 What we do:

  •  End-to-end SEO management – Technical SEO, content, and strategy handled for you
  • Growth-driven marketing support – Beyond SEO, we help optimize content, analytics, and performance
  • Flexible & affordable – No long contracts—cancel anytime if you’re not seeing results

Skip the agency retainers. Get expert SEO and marketing support in one subscription.

Free Marketing Audit and Action Plan

Get a custom roadmap for Web Design, SEO, and Ads in a free call.

CTA Shape