Jobs-to-be-done keywords are searches that describe an outcome or task instead of a product type. “Automate invoice reminders”, “track employee PTO” and “share a calendar with clients” are jobs; “accounts receivable software” is a category. The idea borrows from the jobs-to-be-done framework in product strategy. These keywords help SaaS companies reach buyers who know their problem but not the category name, and they often reveal use cases the team had not prioritized.
Why jobs beat categories for some buyers
Category names are vendor language. Many buyers, especially in small companies or new categories, search for the thing they need to do. If your keyword list contains only category terms, you miss those searchers entirely. Job keywords are also often less contested, because competitors focus on the category head terms.
How to find them
Start from customer interviews and onboarding data: what were people trying to do when they signed up? Phrase each answer as a task and test it in autocomplete and a keyword tool. Look at forum threads and community questions, where people describe tasks in plain words. Search Console queries containing verbs like automate, track, send, sync or calculate are another source.
- Verb plus object: automate reminders, track hours, sync contacts
- Outcome phrasing: get paid faster, reduce no-shows
- Workaround phrasing: spreadsheet for tracking X, template for Y
Pages that fit
Job keywords often suit use-case pages, workflow tutorials and templates. The page should show the job being done, ideally with your product, but also acknowledge manual methods. Readers looking for a way to do something respond well to concrete steps.
Example
Reaching buyers who do not know the category
Imagine Fennelgrove, a fictional clinic reminder tool, finds that its category term has heavy competition. Interviews show customers originally searched for “reduce patient no-shows” and “send appointment reminders by text”.
Fennelgrove builds use-case pages around those jobs, each showing a reminder workflow step by step.
Common mistakes
Inventing job phrases nobody uses
Write jobs in customers' words, then check them in autocomplete or Search Console. Internal jargon does not get searched.
Questions
They can be either. “How to automate invoice reminders” leans informational; “invoice reminder automation tool” leans commercial. Check the results page to decide the page type.
