SaaS SEO Checklist (2026): 54 Checks for Software Websites
54 checks for software marketing sites: rendering, the app subdomain, pricing and feature pages, funnel keywords, review platforms and AI recommendations.
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By Szymon Kokot Published Updated 6 min read
SaaS SEO Audit vs General SEO Audit: What's Different?
A SaaS SEO audit and a general SEO audit share the same foundations: technical health, on-page SEO, keywords, backlinks and AI visibility. A SaaS audit then spends the rest of its effort on what decides whether a software company's site produces trials and demos: JavaScript rendering, the app subdomain, pricing and feature pages, integration pages, visibility at each stage of the buyer's research, review platforms and signup friction. A general audit spends it on trust and local presence. This article compares the two and explains which fits which site.
In short: A SaaS SEO audit is built for software with a trial, demo or freemium plan. It adds checks a general audit doesn't have: app subdomain handling, pricing and feature pages, funnel-stage keywords, comparison and integration pages, review platforms such as G2 and Capterra, and signup friction. A general SEO audit is built for service businesses. If the site sells software, choose the SaaS audit.
What is a SaaS SEO audit?
A SaaS SEO audit is a review of a software company's marketing site, focused on turning search demand into trials, demos and signups. SaaS buyers research for weeks, compare products side by side, read review platforms and increasingly ask AI assistants which tool to choose. A SaaS audit follows that path.
The Illucrum SaaS SEO Audit covers 54 points in 10 sections: technical SEO (10), on-page SEO (8), funnel keyword strategy (7), conversion pages and trust (4), feature, integration and programmatic pages (3), content and blog (2), competitors and search results (4), backlinks (5), UX and conversion (5), and AI search visibility (6).
What is a general SEO audit?
A general SEO audit is a review of a business website built for sites that sell services or expertise: consultancies, agencies, B2B firms and professional practices. For these sites the deciding question is whether a cautious visitor can see who is behind the business and trust it.
The Illucrum Website SEO Audit covers 54 points in 9 sections: technical SEO (12), on-page SEO (10), keyword opportunities (6), backlinks (5), competitor comparison (3), trust and E-E-A-T (5), local presence (3, scored only for businesses with a location), UX and conversion (4), and AI search visibility (6).
How do the two audits compare?
The two audits have the same number of points and share their foundations. They differ in the sections built for the business model.
| SaaS SEO audit | General (website) SEO audit | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | B2B and B2C software with a trial, demo or freemium plan | Service businesses, consultancies, agencies, B2B |
| Points | 54 in 10 sections | 54 in 9 sections (51 without local) |
| The question it answers | Does the site turn search demand into trials and demos? | Can the site be found, trusted and chosen? |
| Technical focus | JavaScript rendering, app subdomain, login walls, documentation | Canonicals, redirects, duplicate pages, hreflang |
| Key pages | Homepage positioning, pricing, feature pages | Service pages and landing pages |
| Keyword approach | Awareness, consideration and decision stages; "best", "vs" and "alternatives" searches | Target queries, striking distance, keyword gaps |
| Specific page types | Integration, use-case and programmatic pages | Service, case study and location pages |
| Third-party presence | G2, Capterra and category review platforms | Google Business Profile and reviews, if local |
| Trust checks | Customer proof, security and legal pages near signup | About page, authorship, proof of work, company details |
| Conversion checks | Signup friction, funnel coherence, CTR against position | Calls to action, navigation, engagement |
| AI checks | Category recommendations, review footprint, documentation access | AI Overviews, assistant visibility, entity markup |
What does a SaaS audit check that a general audit misses?
A SaaS SEO audit checks the risks and opportunities specific to software companies. The most important are:
- JavaScript rendering. Marketing sites built with React, Vue or Next.js can send crawlers an almost empty page. Google renders JavaScript; most AI crawlers largely don't.
- App subdomain and login walls. Login screens and empty dashboards appearing in search under the brand, or robots rules for the app catching marketing pages.
- Pricing and feature pages. Whether pricing is published as text and can rank, and whether each core feature has its own page rather than one
/featureslist. - Funnel-stage keywords. Whether the product is visible for problem searches, shortlist searches ("best X software", "X alternatives", "X vs Y") and product searches, not only its own name.
- Integration and use-case pages. Whether users of other tools can find a page showing your product works with theirs.
- Review platforms. How review volume, rating and recency on G2, Capterra and similar platforms compare with competitors, since AI assistants draw heavily on them.
- Signup friction. Form length, credit card requirements and the steps before a new user reaches the product.
What does a general audit check that a SaaS audit doesn't?
A general SEO audit checks trust and local presence in more depth. Its trust section looks at whether the About page names real people, whether articles have qualified authors, whether there is proof of past work and whether company and legal details are complete. Its local section checks the Google Business Profile and local visibility for businesses with an office or service area. A SaaS audit covers trust too, but framed around the signup decision: customer logos, ratings, security information and terms.
Which audit should you choose?
Choose by what the site sells.
Choose the SaaS SEO audit when:
- The site sells software with a trial, demo or freemium plan.
- Trials, demos or signups are the main success measure.
- You have, or should have, pricing, feature, integration or comparison pages.
- Buyers compare you with competitors on review platforms and in AI assistants.
Choose the general website SEO audit when:
- The business sells services, consulting or custom development rather than a product people sign up for.
- The site is a small brochure site with a few pages and no pricing or feature structure yet.
- Local clients matter, and the Google Business Profile needs checking.
For a very early SaaS product with a three-page site and little Search Console data, neither audit has much to measure yet. The article on when a SaaS startup should start SEO covers that stage.
Frequently asked questions
Does a general SEO audit catch SaaS-specific problems?
A general SEO audit catches foundation-level problems on a SaaS site, such as slow pages, missing canonicals or thin content. It doesn't check funnel-stage keyword coverage, pricing and feature page structure, integration pages, app subdomain indexing or review platform presence, which are often where a software company's biggest search problems sit.
Is a SaaS SEO audit only for B2B software?
No. The SaaS SEO audit fits any software sold through a trial, demo or freemium plan, B2B or B2C. What matters is the model: buyers who research, compare and sign up, rather than buy a physical product or hire a service.
Do both audits cover AI search?
Yes. Both have six points on AI search visibility. The SaaS audit focuses on whether assistants recommend the product for category questions, review platform and community footprint, answer-ready pricing and comparison content, and documentation access. The general audit focuses on AI Overviews, assistant visibility, answer-ready content and entity markup.
Can I run the SaaS checks myself?
Yes. The SaaS SEO checklist lists all 54 checks with the free tools to run each one. A first pass takes five to eight hours, with the rendering check and the feature and integration inventory taking longest.
The two audits share their foundations and differ where the business model does: a SaaS audit follows the buyer from problem to trial, a general audit follows the visitor from search to trust. If the site sells software people sign up for, the SaaS audit is the one to pick; both are listed with their prices on the pricing page.