Tom Hunt

$3.6m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Jan 2014.I'm walking home from a depressing New Year's trip to Oslo with an ex. girlfriend.It's raining in East London.I made a decision:I would replace my management consulting salary (£42,000) by the end of the year.I had no idea from where, but that was the goal...I just about hit it and left the corporate world.And I haven't been back since.Fast forward a decade and I've:- Tried and failed with 17 businesses- Invested in 11- Learnt a LOTThe one that is finally working is called Fame:- We have a weird culture (in a good way)- We start and grow podcasts for B2B businesses- We are fully remote and have 75 full-time team membersI live for our awesome team at Fame, building businesses and great marketing.And I post about them here 🤗

Founder & CEO

We start and grow the world's most profitable B2B podcasts.

Clients include:

👉 IDEO
👉 Workday
👉 HighRadius
👉 People.ai
👉 Zendesk
👉 Bevy
👉 Circle
👉 Suzy
👉 Mazars
👉 LeanData
👉 CXL
👉 Ramp
👉 Alibaba
👉 Signify
👉 eToro

$4.5m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I’m doing.

“We need to let them go.”

I’m in a 1-1 and a manager thinks someone in their team isn’t performing.

I'm in shock, to me they seemed enthusiastic and a culture fit.


We dug into the details:

- What weren’t they doing?
- Why weren’t they doing it?

The manager thought they either didn't understand or couldn't do the role.

Then I ask:

“How did onboarding go?”

“What do you mean by onboarding?” they reply.


And that's when we found the issue:

We skipped the onboarding process and replaced it with "a couple of calls".


If you’re recruiting right, you owe it to yourself to onboard right.

You can’t expect someone to join and start performing, you need to set them up to succeed.

Onboard right or do it twice.

Agree?

I had a terrible boss.

And I spent more time with them than my partner.
 

They never raised their voice.

They smiled (kind of).

But they also started:

- Passing my ideas off as their own
- Expecting email responses at 10pm
- “Checking in” multiple times per day
 
Again, they weren’t ever aggressive or rude, they just slowly eroded my confidence each day.

I thought this was normal e.g. you get a job, you get a manager like this.
 

And then…

I moved roles and got a new manager, they:

- Stepped in when needed
- Never emailed after hours
- Saved most comms to our weekly 1-1
 

A great manager won’t get you promoted.

They will change the trajectory of your career.

Agree?

My 7 favourite startup lies:


1. We’re scaling
-- No, you still don't know how/if you'll be profitable

2. We’re going viral
-- No, your CEO’s LinkedIn fundraise post got a few more likes than normal

3. TechCrunch picked us up
-- No, your $10k per month PR agency got you featured

4. We’re partnering with Google
-- No, you’re paying Google Cloud for servers

5. The inbound pipeline is strong
-- No, some competitors requested a demo to see what you’re building

6. We have FANG-level talent
-- No, one of your devs interned at Netflix 6 years ago

7. The team are fully incentivised
-- No, they have paper options based on an inflated fundraise


And my absolute favourite:

8. We’re worth $30m
-- No, a hyped up VC gave you this valuation to make themselves look good (so they can raise their next fund)


Thank god we don't have to lie to ourselves.

Here’s to the bootstrappers 🥂

(Exit the hype-train and subscribe to Cash Machines)

I probably shouldn’t share this…

I like to call it the “Pay Rise Formula”.


Most people go about asking for money in the completely wrong way:

1. Pay review arrives
2. “Can I have more money?”

It’s an easy "not yet" from the boss.


But if you follow these three steps, you boost your chances of a pay rise by at least 56%:

(Not a guarantee but it works)

1. 6 months before the pay review ask your boss: “what do I need to be doing in the next 6 months to get a pay-rise?”

2. Write those things down and make a plan to hit them. Work hard.

3. A few weeks before the pay review, show the list (with things ticked off) to your boss in a 1-1 and ask them to confirm if you are actually doing those things


If done right, there is no way a boss can push back on a raise with the "not yet" excuse.

Pro-activity pays.

Agree?

"OK let me get this straight..."

"Because it kind of sounds like you built yourself a job."


It's 11:37pm in 2017 and I'm sat with a good friend enjoying a spicy margarita in a seedy city bar.

He's shouting into my ear because they closed something called a "Series A":

- How their going to change the world
- An upcoming TechCrunch article
- All the people he needs to hire
- Their "enterprise motion"


But something isn't making sense to me:

1. He has to report to the board every month
2. Any cost greater than £25k must have board sign off
3. He can't take cash out whenever he wants
4. Board needs to sign off his salary
4. If he leaves in the next 4 years he only keeps a slice of his own company
5. If they don't sell it for a massive amount he may get nothing
6. To sell it, they need investor sign off


He replies:

"Yeah I see what you're saying, but the reality is the company is now valued at £20m, my stake is £6m, so I'm basically a multi-millionaire"

😳


As you can imagine, it didn't work out well.

Glad I stuck to building Cash Machines.

$4.5 million ARR, 0 raised.

$500 invested.

It’s been a wild ride.


We have built Fame as a service business with mostly intangible assets.

We did it without selling a single piece of equity to venture capital.

But even asset-light businesses get stuck.

You often need to buy speed to hire a star developer, fund a new marketing campaign, or pay a tax bill.

In those moments, I did not want to wait weeks for a bank.

Unless I had another option.

An option like iwoca.


They fund small businesses that move quickly and have already funded 100,000 businesses in the UK. 

They lent £3.3 billion to business owners who need to move fast and build resilience.

You can apply for business finance between £1,000 and £1M in about five minutes.

They typically give you a decision within 24 hours.

Apply here to check your options: https://lnkd.in/euSG4SCm

NOTE - applying does not impact your credit score.

#Ad

Brand partnership • $4.5m ARR. $0 raised. I have no idea what I’m doing.

It felt like the responsible thing to do... 


But then it turned out to be one of the worst business decisions ever.

Depreciating assets hurt the balance sheet, locking up capital that could be used for growth. 

For example... 

We are in a hiring sprint, bringing on 2 - 3 new team members in Feb. 

Old Tom would have dropped thousands upfront for laptops that would be worth significantly less by next year.

That isn’t scaling.

It’s a cash drain.

Instead, we are using Raylo.

It took 60 seconds to set up a subscription for the latest HP laptops, and they arrived the next day.

Here is why I recommend Raylo as an affordable option for small businesses:

- Protect Your Cash: We paid £0 upfront. Every pound saved on hardware goes straight into growth.

- Upgrade Freedom: With the MacBook M5 rumors floating around, I am not worried because we can upgrade the team to the latest models for free with Raylo's monthly rolling option.

- Zero Drama: If something goes wrong with a device during the subscription, Raylo's Lifetime Warranty covers technical faults and they sort it quickly.


Or in other words:

Stop buying "stuff" that rots on your balance sheet. 

Convert your tech to OpEx and keep your capital for growth.

Check out the subscription options for your team here: mdsh.io/raylo-business 

#Ad

I helped a B2B SaaS startup in the project management niche acquire over 200 paying customers from SEO in six months.

Here's exactly how I do it for software companies and startups.

Before I proceed, the results speak for themselves:

➡️ Copysmith (AI copywriting tool): Drove 3,000+ user signups in just 7 months, and improved their search presence.

➡️ SweetProcess (SOP software): Currently redefining their SEO strategy, driving thousands of monthly signups from Google and ranking high for MoFu and BoFu keywords that actually convert.

➡️ OneCal (calendar sync software): Took them from zero to 40,000+ monthly visitors in six months. Dominated the first-page rankings for calendar-sync keywords.

Today, I run Your Content Mart, where my team and I help SaaS startups compete with goliaths in their niche. I've also shared my insights in publications like Moz, CoSchedule, G2, and Entrepreneur.

My Approach

After 7+ years in SaaS SEO, here's what I've learned: traffic without conversions is just expensive vanity metrics.

So, I focus on building SEO strategies that align with your business goals. That way, we not only drive traffic but also generate user signups, leads, and demo requests.

Here's how I make organic search drive signups, not just traffic, for SaaS startups:

✅ Deep user research - I become obsessed with understanding your ideal users, their pain points, and how they search for solutions like yours.

✅ Funnel-focused keyword strategy - Target keywords that map to every stage of your customer journey, from awareness to decision.

✅ Product-led content creation - Build content that naturally showcases your product while solving real user problems.

✅ Technical SEO foundation - Ensure your site architecture supports both user experience and search engine crawling.

✅ Conversion optimization - Every piece of content is designed to move visitors closer to becoming customers.

When I'm not obsessing over search rankings, I spend my time:

- Testing new AI tools that could change the game for myself and clients.
- Studying successful SaaS companies to understand their growth strategies.
- Exploring Africa's growing tech ecosystem and connecting with other entrepreneurs.

I'm currently taking on select SaaS startups that are serious about turning SEO into a sustainable growth channel.

Ready to transform your organic search strategy?

DM me or email shehu@yourcontentmart.co

AbdulGaniy Shehu

We updated this blog post on our website over the weekend.

48 hours after, it's cited as a top recommendation in Google's AI Overview for its main keyword.

This is what I think is happening, but before then, here's a quick background.

I wrote this post back in 2021-2022. 

Since then, I've not really had time to monitor its rankings or make any changes to the content.

As part of the refresh process, we removed some sections, added new and relevant ones, and included relevant examples.

For example, when I wrote the post, Answer Engine Optimization wasn't a thing.

Now that it's a core part of content marketing, we added a section on it.

Another thing we included is a one-sentence TL;DR of the entire blog post immediately after the table of contents.

It's still the early days of the refresh, and we're still monitoring the SERPs and AI tools to understand exactly what is happening behind the scenes.

Will share more in the coming weeks and months.

Kudos to the entire team, especially our Content Manager Jelilat and Content Writer Jesutofunmi, for an impressive job.

Quick gut check: Does your content answer the main question in the first 100 words?

A) Yes, answer upfront
B) No, context first

Drop your answers below.

And if you want a team that's actively experimenting with AI search (not just talking about it), let's chat.

#saas #seo

Shehu AbdulGaniy

SEO & AEO Strategist for B2B SaaS Companies | Founder @ Your Content Mart

The key to ranking high on Google or getting cited by AI tools isn't copying existing content on a specific topic.

It's identifying what's missing and filling that gap.

If the top 10 results on the SERPs for a query are all listicles, writing a listicle helps you to match the content format.

Most listicles stop there.

Here's what I mean:

The top results for the keyword "best CRM for small business" will most likely list 10-15 tools, each with features, pricing, pros, and cons.

What's missing?

Implementation.

Truth is…

Someone searching for this isn't just comparing features.

They're trying to figure out which CRM will actually work for their 5-person team without a complicated setup.

So you add what's missing:

-> Setup time for each tool.
-> Which needs technical knowledge vs. plug-and-play.
-> Migration complexity from spreadsheets.

With this addition, your listicle answers the question the other 10 don't.

How to find the gap?

Read the top results and ask, "What question do I still have?"

That's your opportunity.

So, pick a keyword you're targeting. What question do the top 10 results leave unanswered?

#saas #seo

"Nobody would even open my email."

That was what I thought when I hit send on the newsletter I sent to my subscribers late yesterday.

Surprisingly, as of the time of writing this, about 40 people have opened and read it.

Which is a big deal, considering it's been more than a year since I last emailed.

Moving forward...

Every Thursday, I'll share one unique insight with my subscribers about everything I'm learning and implementing in SEO, AI Search, Content Marketing, and many more.

Want to join?

Click the link in the comment section below, and I'll see you on the other side.

#saas #seo

Here is an underrated SEO strategy you can implement for your B2B SaaS brand.

Especially if you’re struggling to drive user signups.

Building free tools.

Some examples that I like:

- HubSpot -> Website Grader
- CoSchedule -> Headline Analyzer
- Signaturely -> Online Signature Maker
- Ahrefs -> Backlink Checker
- Taplio -> LinkedIn Video Downloader

Which SaaS company excels at using free tools as an SEO strategy?

Kindly include them below.

#saas #seo

Most content teams chase "best," "alternatives," and "versus" keywords.

They completely overlook "how to."

Looking back at how we helped OneCal compete with VC-backed companies on Google & AI search, the pattern was clear:

We prioritized jobs-to-be-done keywords that everyone else ignored like:

-> "How to sync Outlook with Google Calendar." 
->  "How to block time on Google Calendar." 
->  "How to sync Outlook calendar with Apple Calendar."

No massive search volumes. No fierce competition from established players.

Here's why this matters right now:

Most teams think "how to" keywords are informational; low intent, educational content that doesn't convert.

They're wrong.

These searchers know they have a problem. They're actively looking for a solution. They just haven't discovered your product yet.

Truth is, most content teams are optimizing for the wrong awareness stage. 

They're targeting people who aren't ready to buy yet.

I broke down what to do instead in the carousel, with industry conversion benchmarks, and the intent signals most teams miss.

Swipe through if you want to stop chasing traffic and start targeting keywords that actually convert.

Which awareness stage does most of your content target right now?

#saas #seo

Founder @ Your Content Mart | SEO & AEO for B2B SaaS Companies

How To Identify Keywords That Actually Drives Signups

Most people think you need expensive surveys and big teams to create original research.

You don't.

I spent time analyzing how companies like Ahrefs, Gong, and Backlinko create research that gets cited everywhere. 

Here's what I observed:

They used data they already had.

-> Ahrefs: 17 million AI citations from their own crawl data. 
-> Gong: 326K sales calls already recorded. 
-> Backlinko: 11.8 million Google search results.

Here's why this matters right now:

AI tools are constantly looking for sources to cite. And they prefer content that adds something new, information that doesn't exist anywhere else.

If everyone's publishing the same advice, AI has no reason to cite you. So, original research is your way in.

Truth is, you probably already have the data to create it. You just need to know which method best fits your situation.

I broke down 5 methods in the carousel, each with a real-world example from a company.

Let me know the one you'll be starting with for your SaaS brand.

#saas #seo

How To Create Original Research For Your SaaS Startup

I had a SaaS Founder who spent years chasing high-volume keywords.

Their thinking was simple: more traffic equals more signups.

So they targeted keywords like “what is email marketing” and “email marketing best practices.”

They were happy because the traffic graphs kept going up. And more people visiting the website means more people are learning about what they do.

But here's what wasn't working: converting those visitors into actual signups.

So I pitched them on something different. Stop targeting informational keywords and start focusing on buyer-intent keywords instead.

Keywords like:

-> “best email marketing software." 
-> "Mailchimp alternatives." 
-> "ActiveCampaign vs Mailchimp."

The pushback was immediate.

- "These keywords have almost no search volume."
- "If we're not getting more traffic, how do we justify the content budget?"
- "SEO is a traffic acquisition channel. We need more website visitors."

It took a while to convince them. But eventually they started publishing middle-of-the-funnel and bottom-of-the-funnel content.

And they came back to me later and said: This approach drove more signups than anything we'd done before.

Here's what I think is happening.

Most agencies optimize for traffic because that's how SEO performance has always been measured. Clients look at Google Search Console. Is the graph going up or down? That's the question.

But in B2B SaaS, traffic doesn't pay the bills. Signups do.

And now with AI search, many companies are seeing traffic decline. A company that drove 50,000 organic visits last year might now be down to 30,000 or even less.

That's when people start realizing: it's not just about the traffic. It's about what that traffic actually does.

So here's a question: look at your top 10 traffic-driving keywords. How many are informational "what is" type queries, versus buyer-intent, "best," "alternatives," "versus" type queries?

If most of your traffic comes from informational keywords, that might explain why your signups aren't growing even when your traffic is.

#saas #seo

I think the core issue with SEO right now is this:

Most Marketers and Founders still see it as a traffic acquisition channel, not a customer acquisition channel.

And I'm talking about both agencies and clients.

A lot of agencies believe that if they're driving more traffic, their job is done. 

Many clients feel the same way; if more people are visiting the website and more people know what the company does, the agency must be doing well.

Here's an example:

HubSpot used to target keywords like "How to Type the Shrug Emoji" and "Famous Quotes." These are high-volume keywords with hundreds of thousands searches per month.

But HubSpot is a CRM software.

Are people searching for how to type emojis or looking for famous quotes actually interested in a CRM? Of course not.

Now, some SEOs will argue: it's not always about signups. Sometimes you just want people to know about you.

That might work for HubSpot. But for a startup that's actually conscious about how they spend their SEO budget? That doesn't make sense.

If you’re a B2B SaaS company investing in SEO, one question you should always ask your in-house team or agency is “how exactly do these keywords tie into our business?”

A great example of this in action is Ahrefs. 

They've crossed $100M ARR, and you rarely see them publish content where they can't naturally mention Ahrefs in it. They're focused on keywords that actually connect to their product.

Not just "how much traffic will this get us?" but "what's the strategy here? Why are we targeting this keyword? How does this translate into business for us?"

Because if the only answer is "it'll drive traffic," you might be paying for vanity metrics.

What's the most disconnected keyword you've seen a SaaS company target?

#saas #seo

Honest question for B2B SaaS marketers and founders:

Your content team just pitched two article ideas:

📰 Article A: "What is Marketing Automation?"
-> Could get 5,000 visits/month
-> Estimated 1-2% signup rate
-> Potential: 50-100 signups

🎯 Article B: "Best Marketing Automation Software for SaaS Startups."
-> Could get 400 visits/month
-> Estimated 12-15% signup rate
-> Potential: 48-60 signups

Which one would you prioritize?

Drop your reasoning below. 

You can also tell me which one your in-house team/agency would recommend (and why).

#saas #seo

Which of the articles would you prioritize?

Should we publish comparison pages on our website?

This is one of the most common questions I get from Founders.

You see, I've had clients who were attracting thousands of visitors from Google every month but struggling to acquire user signups.

Then we added comparison posts to their websites. 

And within a few months, they were driving hundreds of signups per month from organic search.

Here is why this typically happens:

When someone searches "what is email marketing," they're likely looking to learn. They might not even have a problem they're trying to solve yet.

But when someone searches "Mailchimp vs ActiveCampaign," they already know what email marketing tools are and have decided to buy one. They're just trying to figure out the specific one to go for.

In this case, you're not convincing them they need a solution. You're showing them why yours is the right choice.

That shift in intent changes everything.

Most B2B SaaS companies probably have one competitor comparison page, if they're thinking about it at all.

Meanwhile, every competitor you have is a comparison opportunity.

The truth is, someone is searching for "[Your Competitor] alternatives" right now. If you don't have a page targeting that, you're invisible to them.

And here's what I've noticed: these keywords typically have zero or low search volume. So bigger competitors don't always prioritize them. Even when they do, they don't always create great content for them.

Which means even smaller startups can rank and compete.

Another thing comparison pages let you do is to actually show your product.

You can use screenshots. Walk through specific features. Show exactly how you handle a use case compared to how your competitor does it.

That level of detail doesn't fit in a general guide. But it's exactly what someone comparing tools needs to see.

Finally, if you’re not creating comparison pages on your website, you’re giving someone else (either a review site, random blogger, or competitor) the power to control the narrative about your product.

You can't determine what they write. And if it's wrong, that's exactly what AI tools and Google will cite about you.

#saas #seo

"Many new users said they found our software through AI tools."

This was what a Founder told me some weeks ago.

So, what exactly are we doing to help them drive traffic from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and many more?

Here is the short answer… 

We focus on three fundamentals of SEO.

Let’s go after each one.

1. Target the right keywords

For this client, we primarily identify keyword opportunities to sell their software as a solution to the searcher’s problems.

So, if a keyword isn’t relevant to the business, we do not prioritize it.

2. Create helpful content

We create high-converting content briefs that show writers how to position the content to solve the searcher’s problems.

Specifically, we recommend that writers focus on these non-negotiables:

-> Nail the search intent
-> Use the correct heading structure (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
-> Format the content using screenshots, tables, and custom images.
-> Show how the tool solves a specific pain point
-> Use specific and relevant examples
-> Showcase relevant case studies from other customers.

3. Build relevant backlinks consistently

Backlinks might not always be necessary to rank high on Google or get cited by AI tools.

That said, you’re better off building backlinks than not doing so.

For this client, we have a system in place that helps them build backlinks on an ongoing basis.

To wrap things up:

As a B2B SaaS company, having a solid SEO strategy will help you rank high on Google and also get cited by AI tools.

#saas #seo

Last week, Profound raised $96M at a $1B valuation.

For context, the company helps brands track and optimize for AI search engines like ChatGPT and Perplexity.

When I first saw the news, I honestly felt the valuation was outrageous.

Considering that Semrush, an 18-year-old SEO platform, was recently sold for around $1.9B.

But I guess the market dictates how companies are valued.

And whether or not the valuation makes sense, this is massive market validation.

When a company focused purely on Answer Engine Optimization gets funded at a unicorn valuation, it's not a trend anymore. It's the market telling you where things are going.

This buttresses my point that AI search is changing how people discover products, evaluate solutions, and make buying decisions.

Now the money is flowing in that direction.

But here's what's interesting.

Glen Allsopp recently analyzed how public companies talked about organic and AI search on their earnings calls. The responses are split.

Some companies like Articore Group and Ziff Davis are seeing traffic declines and calling it a headwind.

Others, like CarGurus, Etsy, and ZipRecruiter, are seeing AI traffic convert at higher rates than traditional search and are calling it an opportunity.

Same shift. Different results.

Glen put it well: "I think companies are growing more optimistic about AI search... Certain businesses will have much more opportunity here than others. But increasing conversion rates certainly help with some of the traffic loss."

For me, I believe the difference comes down to strategy.

Companies that are still optimizing for traditional SEO and hoping AI search goes away will most likely struggle.

That said, brands that are building for AI-native distribution will likely win in the long run.

And for startups especially, this is a massive opportunity.

While bigger companies are still figuring out their AI search strategy, there's a window for companies that move fast and position early.

#saas #seo #aeo

"It worked until it didn't."

That was how a user of an automated AI content tool summed up his experience on an X thread I came across recently.

According to him, traffic had been growing, and rankings were climbing.

Then the recent Google core update hit, and everything tanked.

Here's another validation that caught my attention...

SE Ranking actually tested this at scale. They published 2,000 AI-generated articles across 20 brand-new websites.

The early results looked great. 

8 sites ranking for 1,000+ keywords each. Over 122,000 impressions in the first month.

Then, on February 3, 2025, every single site lost all traction.

In tomorrow's issue of The SaaS SEO Insights newsletter, I break down:

→ What SE Ranking's experiment reveals about the real cost of autopilot content 
→ Why the early data is misleading (and why that's dangerous) 
→ 4 ways to use AI for content that actually ranks long term

This one is important if you're a B2B SaaS company competing against bigger players with more domain authority.

Link to sign up in the comments 👇

Lily Ray recently published a Substack post about the volatility in Google rankings since January. 

A lot of B2B SaaS companies got hit, primarily those publishing listicles.

I did my own research on keywords I track for clients.

Here's what I observed:

1. Google seems to want companies to focus on their core product

If you're a content marketing tool ranking for "small business software," that might not last. 

I saw several sites lose rankings for keywords tangential to their actual domain expertise.

2. Multiple pages for similar intent aren't working

Sites with separate pages for "email marketing software," "email marketing services," and "email marketing solutions"; Google seems to be treating these as duplicate intent and deprioritizing some of them.

3. Creator and review sites are taking over specific listicle keywords

G2, Capterra, and similar platforms are now ranking where product sites once dominated.

These are just observations from the keywords I track. Not rules, just patterns I'm seeing.

I also have some notes on what the sites still ranking well are actually doing, which I'll share in another post.

For now, I'm curious: have you noticed any ranking shifts in your industry?

#saas #seo

I pulled Semrush data for 5 popular software keywords and looked at who's actually ranking in the top 10.

What I found surprised me.

For "project management software," only 3 of the top 10 results are actual PM tools.

The other 7? 

An informational site. An agile certification body. A software recommendation platform. And Zapier ranking with a blog post.

For "email marketing software," the top 2 results are comparison sites that don't sell email marketing software.

And here's the part nobody is talking about: G2 and Capterra aren't even in the top 10 for any of these keywords. 

You know who is?

Reddit.

Reddit is outranking both the major review platforms and many of the actual products.

I broke down all five keywords in this week's issue of The SaaS SEO Insights newsletter, including what this means for B2B SaaS companies building their SEO strategy right now.

New issue drops today at 12 PM EST.

Subscribe below so you don't miss it.

#saas #seo

To win long-term in AI search, don’t follow everything you read online. 

Instead, embrace experimentation and testing to gain a deeper understanding of what works and what doesn't.

Here's a research exercise that always surprises clients:

We speak with their customer support and sales teams and ask: "What do customers say they compared us to before choosing us?"

The answers are never what the client expected.

There's an example from Scribe I shared recently that illustrates this perfectly. 

They're a process documentation tool, and you'd assume they only compete with other process documentation software. Yet, when they asked their customers, they found out people were comparing them to Google Docs.

Not a dedicated tool. Google Docs.

That changes everything about how you should position yourself and what comparison content you need to create.

Most companies don't do this exercise because they underestimate what their customers know. They think customers don't really understand the industry or the competitive landscape.

But customers know exactly what they're comparing. They just might not be comparing you to who you think they are.

Your sales team has this information. Your customer support team also has it. 

They hear things like this all the time in conversations.

"We were using [X] before" or "We were deciding between you and [Y]."

That data is sitting right there.

If I may ask, have you actually asked your customer support or sales team which competitors your customers compared you to before choosing you?

If yes, did the answers surprise you?

If no, what did you discover?

Drop a comment below to let me know.

#saas #seo

There are marketers who say you shouldn't list your own tool as number one on an alternative post.

I disagree.

I don't see anything wrong with putting your tool first. Especially if it's a keyword targeting one of your direct competitors, and you focus more on how you're different.

The only requirement is that you should be honest while doing it.

Truth is, the goal of comparison pages isn't just to rank on Google or get cited by AI tools. It is to convert visitors into signups.

And B2B readers are smart.

They can tell when you're being promotional versus when you're being objective. If your comparison page reads like a sales pitch where you're perfect at all features and your competitors aren't, they'll most likely stop reading.

So when I work with clients on comparison content, here's what I tell them:

Focus on your tool and explain what it does. Show why it's differentiated. Use screenshots. Walk through features. Shine a light on what makes you better.

That said, acknowledge where your competitors are stronger, have features you don't, shine more than you do.

When you do that, you're giving the reader the power to make their own decision and not forcing them to choose your tool. 

You're simply saying: "Here's our tool, here's what it does, here's why you should choose us. And here are our competitors, here's where they're better."

That honesty builds trust.

And here's what happens: if someone reads your comparison page and realizes your tool isn't the best fit for them, they'll leave.

The people who decided to stay have self-selected. They've read an honest assessment and decided you're the right choice for their use case.

This is why in-depth research matters. Your freelance writers or in-house content team need to understand your tool deeply. 

They also need to understand your competitors.

They should use their tool if possible. Read G2 reviews. Check what people say on Reddit. Figure out where they actually shine.

This is because if you don't know where your competitors are better, you can't write an honest comparison. And if your comparison isn't honest, smart readers won't trust it.

What do you think? 

Should comparison pages be neutral, or is it fine to favor your own product as long as you're honest?

#saas #seo

GEO, AEO, and AI search are dominating the feed these days.

B2B SaaS companies are asking: "Should we adapt our strategy for these?"

The short answer is Yes.

But here's the thing: don't overcomplicate it.

Truth is, the fundamentals of solving the searcher's problem haven’t changed.

Whether someone finds you through Google, ChatGPT, or Perplexity, they're looking for an answer to a specific pain point.

Your content should address that problem and show how your product solves it. 

If you're a CRM, don't just explain "what is lead scoring", show how your tool's lead scoring system prevents sales teams from wasting time on cold prospects.

While new channels always emerge, the fundamentals stay the same.

Instead of chasing every acronym, build content that solves real problems. 

That would always be important irrespective of what happens.

#saas #seo

Quick question for content teams:

You're refreshing a blog post that's 8 months old. 

It's ranking well, but citations have dropped off.

What will be your top priority to improve rankings on Google and citations in AI tools?

Drop your reasons below.

What will you update first in a blog post?

taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

AbdulGaniy Shehu

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreTom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAbdulGaniy Shehu's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Tom Hunt

AbdulGaniy Shehu

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Tom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreAbdulGaniy Shehu's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreTom Hunt's LinkedIn Performance