SaaS companies often focus on client acquisition and retention, but technical SEO is a crucial element that many overlook when striving for visibility and long-term growth. Without solid technical SEO foundations, your SaaS platform could be invisible to search engines, limiting its ability to attract organic traffic. 

In this checklist, we’ll break down the technical SEO elements that SaaS platforms should prioritise to improve discoverability, enhance site performance, and boost user experience across both app subdomains and documentation. 

 

Optimising App Subdomains for Search Engines

Many SaaS platforms rely on app subdomains (e.g., app.yourdomain.com) for their user interfaces, support documentation, and even specific feature pages. However, search engine visibility for these subdomains often gets overlooked. Here’s how you can optimise your app subdomains: 

  • Use robots.txt to block gated app areas: Prevent search engines from indexing areas like login or account pages that don’t offer public value. 
  • Apply meta no-index to private pages: Make sure dashboards or private areas are not indexed by Google or other search engines. 
  • Track subdomains in Google Analytics (GA4) or GTM: It’s important to ensure that data from subdomains is tracked correctly for SEO analysis and reporting. 
  • Unique title/meta tags for subdomains: Don’t duplicate meta tags across your main site and subdomains. Make sure each page has a unique and descriptive title. 

 SEO for Documentation and Gated Content

Many SaaS platforms host extensive documentation for their users. However, making sure this content is accessible to search engines can be tricky, especially when content is behind login walls or gated areas. Here’s how to handle documentation: 

  • Meta noindex for login/account pages: Prevent search engines from indexing pages that require user authentication, which don’t offer value to non-users. 
  • Schema markup for HowTo and FAQ content: Implement structured data (such as HowTo schema) to make your documentation more discoverable and interactive in search results. 
  • Clean URL structures: For documentation, ensure URLs follow a clean structure, like /docs/product-name/. This enhances user experience and search engine crawlability. 
  • Internal links from blog/features to documentation: Linking from blogs or product feature pages to your documentation helps search engines understand the content structure and boosts your documentation’s SEO. 

 Site Structure & Navigation

A well-organised site structure helps both users and search engines navigate your platform with ease. For SaaS platforms, this is especially important as they typically feature complex services and resources: 

  • Clear directories: Structure your site with clear directories such as /features/, /docs/, /pricing/, and make sure each directory and subdirectory has descriptive content. 
  • Avoid JavaScript-only rendering: Check that content is accessible without requiring JavaScript to load. Some search engines may struggle to index pages that rely on JS for rendering important content. 
  • Noindex + robots.txt for staging/dev environments: Keep staging and development sites hidden from search engines. Use noindex tags and a robots.txt file to prevent crawlers from indexing incomplete or non-production content. 

 Optimising Site Performance for Core Web Vitals

Google’s Core Web Vitals (CWV) are essential ranking factors, especially as mobile traffic increases. Your SaaS platform needs to deliver a fast, seamless user experience to rank well. Here are some steps to improve site performance: 

  • Prioritise Core Web Vitals: These include Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Optimise for faster load times and smoother interactivity. 
  • Mobile-first indexing: Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it prioritises the mobile version of your site for ranking. Ensure your SaaS platform is optimised for mobile performance. 
  • Lazy loading for images: Implement lazy loading for large images or videos to improve page load speed. 

 Structured Data & Schema Markup for SaaS Features

Structured data helps search engines understand the content and context of your platform’s pages. For SaaS platforms, this can be especially useful for highlighting specific features, pricing models, and customer success stories: 

  • Use schema markup for product features: Implement structured data for individual SaaS features, such as Product schema, to make them more discoverable in search. 
  • FAQ schema: Add FAQPage schema markup to pages that feature frequently asked questions, helping them appear in Google’s rich results. 
  • Review schema: If you showcase customer testimonials or reviews, use Review schema to enhance visibility in search results and attract more clicks. 

 Cross-Domain Tracking for SaaS Subdomains

As SaaS platforms often use subdomains for different parts of their services (e.g., app, docs, blog), it’s essential to track user interactions across domains: 

  • Cross-domain tracking setup: Ensure you’re tracking users across subdomains and the main site without losing session data. This can be done through Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager to get accurate attribution and reporting. 
  • UTM tagging for documentation and onboarding flows: Track where users are coming from and which content they are interacting with, including onboarding or feature-specific content, to measure the effectiveness of different user flows. 

 Monitoring for Structured Data Errors

To ensure your technical SEO is always up to date, monitor structured data errors using tools like Google Search Console. Errors in structured data can affect how your content is displayed in search results. Here’s how to stay on top: 

  • Use Google Search Console to monitor for structured data errors such as missing fields, incorrect schema markup, or other issues that may prevent content from appearing in rich snippets or other enhanced search features. 

 

Strenghthen Your SaaS Platform’s Performance with Technical SEO 

Technical SEO is a cornerstone of any SaaS platform’s online strategy. By optimising app subdomains, deliveringg a seamless mobile experience, implementing structured data, and prioritising site performance, SaaS platforms can improve visibility, user engagement, and retention. Regularly audit your technical SEO to confirm your platform is always accessible, fast, and search-engine friendly. 

Need assistance with your SaaS platform’s technical SEO? Optimising your app’s subdomains, documentation, and site structure is crucial, and we’re here to help you implement best practices that will improve your discoverability and grow your business.