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Keyword research for SaaS

Keyword research is the most leveraged thing you'll do in Google Ads. The keywords you pick determine which queries enter your ads' auctions. Good keywords mean your budget goes toward people likely to buy. Bad keywords mean your budget goes toward people who'll click but never convert.

This article covers how to think about keywords for B2B SaaS specifically.

Start with intent, not volume​

The instinct is to find keywords with high search volume. That instinct is wrong. Volume is necessary but not sufficient. What matters is intent: is the person searching this likely to be a fit for your product right now?

Five buckets of intent, in roughly the order they convert:

1. Branded competitor terms​

People searching for a specific competitor by name. "Salesforce alternative", "alternatives to Asana", "Mailchimp competitors".

These convert exceptionally well. The searcher is dissatisfied with a known competitor and looking for alternatives. They're effectively asking to switch.

The catch: not all competitor terms are biddable. Some categories restrict bidding on trademarked names. Check Google's policies and the competitor's trademark stance before assuming.

2. Switching intent terms​

Variants of the above without naming a specific competitor. "Switching CRMs", "best Asana alternative", "leaving HubSpot".

Slightly less specific but high intent. The searcher is in the market.

3. Specific category + qualifier terms​

Terms that narrow your category to a specific use case. "CRM for sales engineering teams", "project management for consulting", "email marketing for ecommerce".

These match buyers who know what category they want and have a specific use case. They convert well if you can speak to that use case in your ad and landing page.

4. Broad category terms​

The category name without qualifier. "CRM software", "project management tool", "email marketing platform".

Highest volume, highest competition, mixed intent. Some searchers are buyers; many are researchers, students, or tire kickers. Convertible but expensive per conversion.

5. Top of funnel research terms​

"What is a CRM", "how to manage a sales pipeline", "introduction to email marketing".

Almost never convert directly. The searcher is learning, not buying. Fine to target if you have content that captures email addresses for nurture, but skip if your only goal is direct conversion.

Avoid these patterns​

Your own brand name​

If you're already known, people searching your brand will find you organically. Bidding on your brand wastes money you'd have gotten for free, unless competitors are bidding on it too (in which case you should defend).

Generic adjectives​

"Best", "top", "free". These add nothing. "Best CRM" is just "CRM" with a meaningless qualifier.

The exception: "free X" can be a useful intent signal if you have a free tier. Otherwise skip.

Job titles​

"Account executive", "marketing manager". Job titles aren't search queries. People searching their own job title are probably looking for a job, not your product.

Industry names​

"SaaS", "B2B", "fintech". Too broad, too top of funnel. Useful as filters or categories, not as keywords.

How to find keywords​

A few approaches, in order of effectiveness:

Mine your own data​

If you have any organic traffic, your search console (Google Search Console) shows what queries are bringing people to your site. Those are real intent signals. Some will be good keywords for paid; many won't.

Look at competitor ads​

Type your competitor brand name into Google. Look at the ads that show up, especially ads from other companies bidding on your competitor's brand. Their keywords are public; their ad copy gives you angles.

Use Google's keyword planner​

Google Ads has a built in keyword planner. Type a seed phrase, get suggestions. Volume estimates are noisy but directional.

Use AI driven keyword tools​

Hero Marketer's campaign wizard generates keyword clusters from a single seed plus your product description. It pulls from Google's keyword data and clusters by intent. Faster than manual research and grounded in what your product actually is. See Choose keyword clusters.

Talk to customers​

Especially newer customers. Ask: "When you were searching for a tool like ours, what did you type into Google?" The answers are often surprising and rarely match what marketing thinks customers search.

Match types matter​

Google Ads has three keyword match types:

  • Exact match. Only triggers on queries very close to your keyword. Tightest control.
  • Phrase match. Triggers on queries containing your phrase plus other words. Looser.
  • Broad match. Triggers on Google's interpretation of related queries. Loosest, most volume, most risk.

For most B2B SaaS, start with phrase match. It captures a wider net than exact while still respecting intent. Move to broad once you have a strong negative keyword list and conversion data to optimize against.

Hero Marketer creates campaigns with sensible default match types. Adjust in Google Ads if you need.

Negative keywords are half the work​

A keyword tells Google what to bid on. A negative keyword tells Google what to never bid on regardless of other matches.

Negatives are how you prune waste. Common B2B SaaS negatives:

  • "Free" (if you don't have a free tier and don't want freebie hunters).
  • "Job", "career", "salary" (people researching jobs, not buying tools).
  • "Definition", "what is", "examples", "tutorial" (research, not buying).
  • "Reddit", "youtube" (looking for opinions or content, not products).
  • Brand names of products with completely different use cases that share keywords.

Run your campaigns for a week, pull the search terms report from Google Ads, and add anything irrelevant as a negative. Repeat weekly for the first month.

How many keywords per campaign​

Tight clusters of 10 to 30 keywords work well. Hundreds of keywords in one campaign usually means the cluster is too broad.

If you're tempted to throw 200 keywords into one campaign, the right move is usually 4 campaigns of 50 keywords each, organized by intent. See Building keyword clusters.

A starter list for a B2B SaaS​

If you're starting from zero, build campaigns around these intent buckets:

  1. Alternative to [biggest competitor]. One campaign, often the highest converter.
  2. [Category] for [your specific customer type]. "CRM for sales engineering", "project management for consulting".
  3. [Specific job your product does]. "Track engineering work", "automate email outreach".
  4. [Pain point your product solves]. "Reduce manual data entry", "speed up sales handoff".

Four campaigns, each with one tight cluster, gets you quickly to the data that tells you what works.

Going further​