Solutions · Vertical SaaS
SEO and AI search for vertical SaaS
Software for one industry, clinics, contractors, restaurants, law firms, has a small search market by SaaS standards. Each search is worth far more, because the person making it is exactly your buyer.
Your buyers also do not search like software people. They search for the job they are trying to do, in the words their trade uses.
What buyers search
Vertical SaaSJob-to-be-done pages
The search your buyer makes before they know software is the answer.
how to reduce no-shows at a dental practiceTrade-specific software pages
Low volume, almost all of it buyers.
scheduling software for dental practicesTemplates and calculators for the trade
Useful on the day, and a natural route into the product.
HVAC estimate templateAlternatives to the horizontal tool
The buyer has tried the general product and found it does not fit.
QuickBooks alternatives for contractors
What gets in the way
Where it usually goes wrong
Keyword tools show almost nothing
Volumes look too small to bother with, so the pages never get written and a general-purpose competitor takes the search.
Buyers do not use software terms
They search for a scheduling problem, not for scheduling software.
Horizontal tools crowd the category term
The head term is held by large general products that are a poor fit for the trade.
Inside vertical SaaS
The trade you serve decides the words
Example searches, to show the kind of page each one calls for. Yours come from your own data.
Clinics and healthcare
Practice managers search for the problem: no-shows, recalls, insurance. Software comes second.
- dental practice management software
- patient recall system
Trades and field service
Owners search on a phone between jobs. Templates and calculators they can use that day.
- field service software for plumbers
- roofing estimate template
Restaurants and hospitality
Margins are the question behind most searches. Calculators and cost guides lead to the product.
- restaurant POS for small cafes
- how to calculate food cost percentage
Legal and professional services
Careful buyers who read. Process guides in the profession's own terms.
- law firm billing software
- how to run a conflict check
Start from the job, not the software
Your buyer is not searching for software yet. They are searching for the problem in front of them, in their trade's words. The page meets them there and leads to the product.
- Dental practice
- HVAC contractor
- Restaurant
- Law firm
The job
Patients keep cancelling at the last minute
The search
how to reduce no-shows at a dental practice
The page
A guide in a practice manager’s own words
The product
Reminders that do it for them
How it runs
From an opening to a published page
Every opening is recorded with what kind it is, the evidence behind it, a recommended action and an estimate of the clicks at stake, which sets its rank.
Find the job behind the search
Your buyers search for the job, in the trade's words. Topics come from your sales calls and the forums your buyers use as well as Search Console, because keyword tools undercount this kind of search.
A sales call
“Patients keep cancelling the morning of.”
Becomes the topic
how to reduce no-shows
A trade forum
“Flat rate or hourly for service calls?”
Becomes the topic
HVAC flat rate pricing
Search Console
dental recall schedule
Becomes the topic
patient recall reminders
Keyword tools undercount searches like these. Illustrative.
Written for the person doing the job
A practice manager or a contractor reads differently from a software buyer. The brief sets the reader, and the reviewer checks the page uses the trade's own terms.
The reviewer's pass
Trade terms- appointment attritionno-shows
- customer databasepatient list
- recurring engagementrecall visits
- field resource schedulingdispatch
The page is written for the person doing the job. Illustrative.
Value per search, not volume
A page is judged on who it brings, not how many. Thirty searches a month from the right people can justify it, and where you connect sign-up data we compare pages on leads.
“scheduling software”
Mostly not your buyer
“scheduling software for dental practices”
Nearly all your buyer
Each dot is a searcher; green ones could buy. A drawing of the idea, not data.
The searches, statuses and product names on this page are illustrations of what buyers search for. The companies named are not clients or partners of Comppound, and nothing here is client data.
Frequently asked questions
Often more than in a broad category, because nearly every visitor is a potential customer and competition for the specific searches is thin. Volume plans suit products with many pages to write; on the call we will say honestly whether yours is one.
We need to learn it from you. Onboarding collects how your buyers describe their problems, and we raise open questions with your team as they come up. The person reviewing your pages stays the same throughout.
If your customers are local businesses, their own local search is a different service. We work on your software company's visibility, not your customers' map listings.
Other industries
Let's see what this looks like on your site
Book a call, bring your site and your goals, and we'll work out the roadmap together.
