Most SaaS founders think keyword research is boring. I used to think that too. But once I discovered how to find the right keywords, the ones that bring in people who are actually ready to sign up, I started looking forward to doing it. It became one of my favorite parts of SEO.
Here is the truth: most niches are way less competitive than you think. When you spend just an hour or two doing smart keyword research, you will walk away saying, “Wow, I can actually dominate this space.” That is exactly how I feel every time I do it.
In this article, I am going to walk you through my exact keyword research process for SaaS products. No fluff. No complicated jargon. Just a simple, step-by-step method that even a beginner can follow to find keywords that bring in paying customers, not just random visitors.
Also Read: Bing’s AI Performance Dashboard: What Grounding Queries Mean for SEO and GEO
Why Most SaaS Founders Choose the Wrong Keywords When most SaaS founders do keyword research, they chase big, popular keywords. Things like “project management software” or “CRM tool.” These keywords get thousands of searches per month, so they seem like gold mines.
But here is the problem.
Those keywords are insanely competitive. You are going up against Salesforce, HubSpot, and companies spending millions on SEO. As a small or mid-sized SaaS company, you will get buried on page 10 and never see a single click.
The smarter move? Target low-competition keywords that sit at the bottom of the funnel. These are searches made by people who already know what they want; they just need to find the right tool. And the best part? Almost nobody is targeting these keywords properly. That is your huge opportunity.
What Are Bottom-of-Funnel Keywords (And Why They Convert Better)? Think of a funnel like this: at the top are curious people. In the middle are people researching. At the bottom are people ready to buy.
Bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) keywords come from people who are ready to take action. They are not searching “what is a project management tool.” They are searching for “best project management tool for remote teams” or “Asana alternative for small business.”
These searchers know what they want. They are just looking for the right brand to say yes to. If your page shows up and matches what they need, they will convert. That is the magic of BOFU keywords.
BOFU Keyword Patterns for SaaS
PATTERN
[Your tool category] for [specific audience]
EXAMPLE
“invoicing software for freelancers”
PATTERN
[Competitor name] alternative
EXAMPLE
“Monday.com alternative”
EXAMPLE
“tool to track client feedback”
PATTERN
[Your category] pricing
EXAMPLE
“email marketing software pricing”
Step 1: Start With Seed Keywords Using ChatGPT The first step is to build a list of starting keywords. These are called “seed keywords,” basic words that describe what your SaaS product does.
If your brain is blank, use ChatGPT
Search Intent Prompt
“I have a SaaS product that does [explain what it does] .
My ideal customer already knows they have a problem and is searching Google for a solution.
They are not searching for educational content, they want a tool.
Give me 20 specific search terms they might type into Google.”
ChatGPT is excellent at thinking of seed keywords. Within seconds, you will have a solid list to start working with. This is way faster than staring at a blank screen trying to come up with ideas yourself.
Step 2: Spy on Competitors Who Are Actually Doing SEO Now, take one of your seed keywords and put it into Google. Look at the sites that come up. But do not just glance at them, look closely at the page title and the URL of each result.
Ask yourself: Does the keyword appear in the page title? Does it appear in the URL? If yes, that site is doing basic SEO. If not, that site is ranking by accident, and you can beat it easily.
Find one or two sites that seem to know what they are doing. Then plug those sites into a tool like Ahrefs, Semrush, or even the free version of Ubersuggest. Look at all the keywords that the site ranks for. You will find dozens of keywords that are relevant to your SaaS that you never would have thought of on your own.
Here is the fun part: many of those sites are ranking for keywords they are not even targeting on purpose. They stumbled into rankings. That means the competition for those keywords is almost zero, and if you create a focused page targeting one of those keywords, you can jump straight to the top.
Step 3: Check Your Own Google Search Console If your SaaS website has been live for a few months, you already have keyword data sitting in Google Search Console. This is a free tool from Google that shows you what searches are bringing people to your site.
Log in and look at the queries report. You will see keywords where you are already getting some impressions or clicks. Now ask yourself two questions:
Is this keyword close to the bottom of the funnel? If yes, it is worth targeting more aggressively.
Do I have a page that properly targets this keyword? If no, either update an existing page or create a new one.
Search Console is one of the most underused tools in SEO. Many SaaS founders ignore it completely. That is a big mistake. The keywords already in there are basically free leads waiting for you to act on them.
Step 4: The “Steal the Niche” Move (This Is Sneaky Good) Here is one of my favorite tactics, especially in the SaaS world. A lot of startups try to create a brand new category for themselves. They invent a fancy name for what they do. But they have no idea what their potential customers are actually typing into Google.
For example, imagine a startup calling their product an “Asynchronous Video Collaboration Hub.” That sounds impressive, but nobody is searching for that phrase. People are searching for “video messaging tool for remote teams” or “Loom alternative.”
Here is what you do. Find the real search term that people use to describe the category your competitor is trying to own. Create a page targeting that exact term. Make sure the keyword is in your page title, your URL slug, your H1 heading, and the first sentence of your content.
Now, when someone searches for that category, they find you first, not your competitor. This works because your competitor is too busy building their brand to realize they are losing the SEO game.
Step 5: Check the SERP for Weakness Signals SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page. Every time you look up a keyword, you are looking at its SERP. Before you decide to target a keyword, you need to check the SERP for weakness. Here is what you are looking for:
Keyword not in page title or URL: This is the biggest signal. If ranking pages are not using the keyword in their title or URL, the competition is weak. A focused page from you will easily outrank them.Low domain authority sites ranking: If small websites with low authority are ranking, that tells you Google cannot find anything better. You can swoop in.Thin or irrelevant content: If the pages that rank are short, vague, or not really about the keyword, you can write a more thorough and relevant page and beat them.Low topical authority: If the ranking site is not really related to the keyword topic, and your SaaS is directly in that niche, you have a natural advantage.
Step 6: On-Page SEO: The Simple Formula That Works Once you have picked a keyword, creating the page is simple.
Follow This Formula Every Single Time
1
Page title: Put the keyword at the front of your page title
2
URL slug: Use the keyword in the URL
(e.g., /invoicing-software-for-freelancers)
3
H1 heading: Your main heading should include the keyword
4
First sentence: Mention the keyword naturally in the very first sentence
5
Meta description: Start your meta description with the keyword
That is it. Most of your competitors are not even doing these basics. Just by following this formula, you will be ahead of the majority of sites ranking for your target keywords.
Do Not Fully Automate Keyword Research Here Is Why There are tools and AI systems that promise to do all your keyword research automatically. I get why that sounds appealing it saves time. But it is a massive mistake for SaaS founders to rely on full automation.
When you manually dig through keyword research, you learn what your target customers actually care about. You learn the language they use. You discover problems they have that you might be able to solve with your product. You see trends before your competitors do.
Automated tools miss the creative connections that a human brain makes. The best keyword opportunities are often hidden in unexpected places and you only find them when you are actively exploring, not when a robot is doing it for you. Use tools to speed up parts of the process, but never remove yourself from it completely.
Quick-Win Keyword Types for SaaS Founders in 2026 Here are some keyword patterns that tend to be low-competition and high-conversion for SaaS businesses:
Low-Competition & High-Conversion Keywords for SaaS
“[Competitor] alternative”
People already know what they want — they just want a different option.
These convert extremely well.
“[Tool type] for [specific industry]”
Niche-specific searches have less competition and attract highly qualified buyers.
“How to [task] without [pain point]”
These attract people with a specific problem that your tool might solve.
“[Tool category] pricing”
Anyone searching for pricing is ready to buy. Do not miss these.
“Best [tool type] for [team size or role]”
These have buying intent and are often skipped by big brands that only target generic terms.
Final Thoughts: Start Small, Build Big Here is the most important takeaway from this entire guide: you do not need to rank for high-volume keywords to grow your SaaS. You need to rank for the right keywords the ones where the searcher is already close to making a decision.
Start by targeting five to ten low-competition, bottom-of-funnel keywords. Build pages that properly target each one. As you rank for those and build authority, you can go after bigger, more competitive keywords.
Every time I do keyword research, I walk away more excited than before. Because I see just how many open doors exist that nobody else has walked through yet. The same is waiting for you in your niche.
Spend an hour doing this kind of research this week. You will be surprised at how attainable it is to own your corner of the internet and start turning search traffic into real SaaS customers.
SEO Details for This Article
Target Keyword
low-competition keywords for SaaS
Secondary Keywords
SaaS keyword research 2026
bottom-of-funnel keywords
SaaS SEO strategy
keyword research process
