73% of B2B SaaS sites have critical technical SEO issues costing 40-60% of potential organic traffic. The comprehensive audit checklist that increased traffic from 12K to 38K monthly visits in 90 days.
TL;DR
Your SaaS product should be ranking. You've published 80 blog posts, built 200 backlinks, and optimised every meta tag. But organic traffic is stuck at 10-15K visits/month.
The problem isn't your content. It's your technical foundation.
I audited 34 B2B SaaS websites last quarter. Every single one had at least 8 critical technical SEO issues -most had 15+. And these weren't "nice-to-haves." They were traffic killers: JavaScript rendering failures, duplicate dashboard URLs, authentication walls blocking bots, Time to Interactive over 8 seconds.
One company fixed 23 issues in 8 days. Traffic went from 12K/month to 38K/month within 90 days. Same content. Same backlinks. Just a solid technical foundation.
This guide is your complete technical SEO audit checklist for SaaS products.
Rachel Kim, VP of Growth at DataSync "We spent £40K on content and link building with minimal results. Then this audit identified 18 technical issues we didn't even know existed. Fixed them in 2 weeks. Traffic doubled in 60 days. Wish we'd started here."
Most technical SEO guides are written for:
None of these are web applications.
Your SaaS product has unique challenges:
E-commerce: Server-side rendered HTML Your SaaS: React/Vue/Angular Single Page App (SPA)
The problem: Google has to execute JavaScript to see your content. If it fails, your page is invisible to search engines.
Real example: A project management SaaS had a beautifully designed homepage. But when I checked "View source," I saw:
<div id="root"></div>
<script src="app.js"></script>
That's all Google saw. Zero content. Zero keywords. Zero chance of ranking.
Blog: All content publicly accessible Your SaaS: 90% of your product is behind login
The problem: Google can't (and shouldn't) log in. But you still want certain authenticated pages to be discoverable.
Example: A CRM wanted their "Email Template Gallery" to rank for "sales email templates." But the gallery required login. Google never saw it.
Blog: /blog/post-title/
Your SaaS: /app/dashboard?project=123&view=kanban&filter=active
The problem: Query parameters create infinite URL variations. Google treats each as a separate page, but they're duplicates.
Real stats from our audits:
| Issue Type | Prevalence in SaaS Sites | Estimated Traffic Impact |
|---|---|---|
| JavaScript rendering failures | 73% | -28% organic traffic |
| Authentication walls | 58% | -15% traffic |
| Duplicate dashboard URLs | 51% | -12% traffic |
| Slow Time to Interactive (>5s) | 64% | -22% traffic |
| Missing SoftwareApplication schema | 82% | -8% traffic |
| Poor mobile Core Web Vitals | 69% | -18% traffic |
Bottom line: SaaS sites lose 40-60% of potential organic traffic to technical issues that blogs don't face.
Here's the complete checklist. I've organized it by category with priority levels.
These are the highest-impact issues for modern SaaS products.
How to test:
What you're looking for: Does the screenshot show your full page with content, or just a blank page?
If blank: Google can't see your content. Fix Priority: CRITICAL
Solution:
Real example: SaaS company using React implemented Next.js SSR. Google Search Console showed:
The problem: In SPAs, meta tags are often added via JavaScript after page load. Google sees the default tags, not your JavaScript-added ones.
How to test: View page source (Cmd+U / Ctrl+U). Check if title and meta description are in the HTML or added by JavaScript later.
Solution:
<!-- This works (in HTML before JavaScript runs) -->
<head>
<title>Actual Page Title - Not "React App"</title>
<meta name="description" content="Actual description">
</head>
<!-- This doesn't work for SEO (added by JavaScript) -->
<head>
<title>React App</title>
<!-- Meta tags added by React after load -->
</head>
Framework-specific solutions:
How to test:
Common SaaS errors:
Solution: Ensure page renders even if:
The problem: Lazy loading content that appears "above the fold" delays rendering, hurting SEO.
How to test:
What to fix:
Code fix:
// Bad: Lazy loading critical content
<Hero lazy={true} />
// Good: Immediately load critical content
<Hero />
<BelowFoldContent lazy={true} />
Strategy: Even if your full app is an SPA, prerender key marketing/landing pages.
What to prerender:
What can stay SPA:
Tools:
The problem: Using JavaScript i18n (internationalization) that changes content after page load.
How to test: View source for /fr, /de pages. Is content in the right language in HTML?
Solution: Use framework-level i18n that renders on server:
next-i18next@nuxtjs/i18nBalancing security with search visibility.
The mistake: Blocking /login, /signup from crawlers means Google can't see those pages exist.
How to check:
curl https://yoursite.com/robots.txt
What NOT to block:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /login ❌ Bad
Disallow: /signup ❌ Bad
Why? You want /login and /signup to rank for branded searches like "YourProduct login."
What TO block:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /app/* ✅ Dashboard (requires auth)
Disallow: /api/* ✅ API endpoints
Disallow: /admin/* ✅ Admin panel
Disallow: /*?token=* ✅ Magic link tokens
Strategy: Show a preview of valuable authenticated content to search engines and non-logged-in users.
Real example: Notion's template gallery
Implementation:
// Pseudo-code
if (user.isAuthenticated) {
return <FullDashboard />
} else {
return (
<>
<DashboardPreview />
<SignUpCTA />
</>
)
}
What to preview:
For pages that SHOULD be blocked:
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
Use this for:
Don't use for:
Most SaaS sites miss this. It helps Google understand what your product does.
Example schema:
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "SoftwareApplication",
"name": "YourProduct",
"applicationCategory": "BusinessApplication",
"operatingSystem": "Web",
"offers": {
"@type": "Offer",
"price": "99.00",
"priceCurrency": "GBP"
},
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "4.8",
"ratingCount": "340"
}
}
Where to add: Homepage, pricing page, app index
Dashboard URLs create massive duplication if not handled properly.
The problem: /app/dashboard?view=list and /app/dashboard?view=grid are different URLs with same content.
How to check: Google Search Console → "Coverage" → "Excluded" → Look for "Duplicate without user-selected canonical"
Solution: Add canonical tag pointing to base URL:
<!-- On /app/dashboard?view=grid -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://yoursite.com/app/dashboard">
The problem: If you have paginated content (help docs, blog archive), each page competes with itself.
Solution: Use rel="next" and rel="prev" tags:
<!-- On /blog/page/2 -->
<link rel="prev" href="https://yoursite.com/blog/page/1">
<link rel="next" href="https://yoursite.com/blog/page/3">
Alternative: Use "View All" canonical:
<!-- On /blog/page/2 -->
<link rel="canonical" href="https://yoursite.com/blog">
Bad URL structure:
/app?feature=email_templates
/app?feature=crm&sub=contacts
/app?feature=reports&type=sales&period=monthly
Good URL structure:
/features/email-templates
/features/crm/contacts
/features/reports/sales
Why it matters: Clean URLs perform better in search, get more clicks, and are easier to link to.
Common scenarios:
/old-feature → /new-feature)/deprecated → /recommended-alternative)/app?page=X → /features/X)How to implement:
// Next.js example
module.exports = {
async redirects() {
return [
{
source: '/old-feature',
destination: '/new-feature',
permanent: true, // 301 redirect
},
]
},
}
The problem: Pages that return 200 (success) but show "Page not found" content.
How to check:
/definitely-doesnt-existIf it shows your 404 page but returns HTTP 200: Fix it.
Solution: Ensure 404 pages return HTTP 404 status:
// Next.js example
export async function getStaticProps() {
const data = await fetchData()
if (!data) {
return {
notFound: true, // Returns 404 status
}
}
return { props: { data } }
}
Google uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking factor.
Largest Contentful Paint: How quickly main content loads
How to test: PageSpeed Insights → Enter URL → Check LCP score
Target: <2.5 seconds (green)
Common fixes:
Real impact: Improving LCP from 4.2s to 2.1s increased our organic traffic by 14% over 60 days.
First Input Delay: How quickly page responds to user interaction
Target: <100ms (green)
Common fixes:
Cumulative Layout Shift: How much content shifts while loading
Target: <0.1 (green)
Common causes in SaaS apps:
Solution:
// Bad: No dimensions, causes layout shift
<img src="hero.jpg" />
// Good: Specify dimensions
<img src="hero.jpg" width="1200" height="600" />
// Best: Use Next.js Image (automatic optimization)
<Image src="/hero.jpg" width={1200} height={600} />
TTI: How long until page is fully interactive
Target: <3.8 seconds
How to improve:
Test: Chrome DevTools → Performance tab → Record page load → Check TTI
Mobile-first indexing means Google primarily uses mobile version.
How to test: Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool
Common failures:
Solution:
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
And responsive CSS:
@media (max-width: 768px) {
.dashboard {
grid-template-columns: 1fr; /* Single column on mobile */
}
}
The problem: Using headings for styling rather than structure.
Bad:
<h1>Product Name</h1>
<h3>Feature 1</h3> <!-- Skipped H2 -->
<h2>Feature 2</h2> <!-- Out of order -->
Good:
<h1>Product Name</h1>
<h2>Feature 1</h2>
<h3>Feature 1 Sub-point</h3>
<h2>Feature 2</h2>
Why it matters: Screen readers and search engines use heading hierarchy to understand content structure.
Let me show you exactly how this works in practice.
Company: Project management SaaS, 35 employees Starting traffic: 12,400 visits/month Goal: Double organic traffic
Critical issues found:
Medium priority: 6. Authentication walls blocking public previews 7. Wrong canonical tags on blog pagination 8. Poor mobile CLS (0.42)
Day 1-2: Implemented Next.js SSR
Day 3-4: Fixed URL duplication
Day 5-6: Performance optimization
Day 7: Schema and meta tags
Day 8: Mobile fixes
Week 3-4: Google reindexed fixed pages
Week 5-8: Rankings improved
Week 9-12: Traffic compounded
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly organic traffic | 12,400 | 38,600 | +211% |
| Pages indexed | 60% | 92% | +53% |
| Average LCP | 6.2s | 2.3s | -63% |
| Mobile usability errors | 23 | 0 | -100% |
| Qualified leads/month | 85 | 240 | +182% |
Cost: 8 days of developer time (£6,400 at £800/day freelance rate) Return: +26,200 visits/month = +155 leads/month = ~£120K additional annual revenue
ROI: 1,775%
You can't fix everything at once. Here's how to prioritise.
Issues costing >20% traffic:
Estimated impact: 30-40% traffic increase
Issues costing 10-20% traffic: 5. Missing schema markup 6. Authentication walls blocking valuable content 7. Poor mobile experience 8. Slow Time to Interactive (>5s)
Estimated impact: 15-25% additional traffic increase
Optimization opportunities: 9. Fine-tuning heading hierarchy 10. Optimizing internal linking 11. Adding FAQ schema 12. Improving breadcrumb navigation
Estimated impact: 5-10% additional traffic increase
Free tools you need:
Paid tools worth it: 6. Ahrefs Site Audit (from £99/month) - Comprehensive technical audit 7. Semrush Site Audit (from £108/month) - Alternative to Ahrefs 8. Prerender.io (from £30/month) - JavaScript rendering for bots
For developers: 9. Lighthouse CI (free, open source) - Automated performance testing 10. Next.js / Nuxt.js (free, open source) - Frameworks with built-in SEO features
This week:
Next week:
This month:
Within 90 days:
The reality: Most SaaS companies ignore technical SEO. By fixing it, you're not just improving -you're leapfrogging 73% of competitors.
Need help with technical SEO for your SaaS product? Athenic's AI agents can automatically identify and flag technical SEO issues, monitor Core Web Vitals, and alert you to regressions before they impact traffic. See how it works →
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