Industry · B2B & SaaS

SEO & AI visibility for B2B and SaaS.

In short: in B2B, search volumes are small and clicks are expensive. Someone searching “best hr software” is close to a decision; an ad click on that search costs $141 on average. You need to win three kinds of searches: compliance topics, templates and comparisons. Claire writes content with sources for them, builds in downloads that collect emails, and publishes once you approve.

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Head of marketing explaining a plan to her team at a whiteboard
Claire is checking what a search is worth …

What an ad click costs

Google Ads · United States · USD

Google
best hr software$141.49
gusto alternatives$133.25
payroll software$128.41
Checking search terms …

Companies whose blogs grow with Claire

TrustypostPlanimolREA CardTomorrow UniversityKUGUPaforySybilionNubibase

What your customers search for

Few searches, but every one counts.

B2B buyers rarely search for your product name. They search for a regulation, a template or an alternative to what they already use. Four groups that show up in almost every B2B market, with US search data:

Compliance & regulation

Search terms Compliance & regulation with searches per month and cost per click
Search termper monthCost per click
exempt vs non exempt33,100$1.84
hipaa compliance22,200$15.76
soc 2 compliance12,100$112.88
eu ai act8,100$10.15
gdpr compliance8,100$44.39

Templates & checklists

Search terms Templates & checklists with searches per month and cost per click
Search termper monthCost per click
invoice template90,500$12.63
project plan template12,100$9.87
employee handbook template5,400$15.43
rfp template4,400$6.72
timesheet template3,600$6.07

Solutions

Search terms Solutions with searches per month and cost per click
Search termper monthCost per click
crm software165,000$38.64
erp system74,000$19.52
payroll software33,100$128.41
applicant tracking system14,800$57.03
hr software9,900$91.59

Comparisons & alternatives

Search terms Comparisons & alternatives with searches per month and cost per click
Search termper monthCost per click
quickbooks alternatives2,900$47.76
best crm for small business2,900$44.05
best hr software880$141.49
hubspot alternatives590$62.11
gusto alternatives260$133.25

Search volume: Google Ads, United States, monthly average from September 2025 to August 2026, retrieved via DataForSEO on October 5, 2026. Cost per click: average price of an ad click in Google Ads, in US dollars, same query.

What the numbers show

$141

is what an ad click on “best hr software” costs on average ($141.49), at 880 searches a month.

21×

as many searches for “hris” as for the plain “human resources software”. Check which words your buyers actually use.

  • hris18,100
  • human resources software880

90,500

searches a month for “invoice template”. Templates are the most natural lead magnet in B2B.

  • invoice template90,500
  • project plan template12,100
  • employee handbook template5,400

The questions Google shows alongside

“soc 2 compliance”

12,100 / month
  • What are the 5 principles of SOC 2?
  • Is it hard to get SOC 2 certification?
  • Is ISO 27001 the same as SOC 2?

“exempt vs non exempt”

33,100 / month
  • What does it mean when an employee is non-exempt?
  • Is it better to be exempt or non-exempt?
  • What is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)?

“best hr software”

880 / month
  • What is the most popular HR software?
  • What are the top 5 HRIS systems in the world?
  • Is HR being replaced by AI?

“crm software”

165,000 / month
  • Is Excel a CRM software?
  • Which CRM is best for beginners?
  • What are the top 5 CRM systems?

Questions: Google’s “People also ask” on google.com (United States), retrieved on October 5, 2026.

When people search

Compliance questions follow the calendar.

Searches for “1099 vs w2” rise by about half in tax season, from January to April. A guide that already ranks by then catches the peak. One published in March is too late for this year.

“1099 vs w2”

Searches per month · Google · United States

Google Ads
Searches per month for “1099 vs w2”
Sep 20259,900
Oct 20259,900
Nov 20259,900
Dec 20259,900
Jan 202614,800
Feb 202614,800
Mar 202614,800
Apr 202614,800
May 20269,900
Jun 20269,900
Jul 20269,900
Aug 202612,100

Search volume: Google Ads, United States, monthly average from September 2025 to August 2026, retrieved via DataForSEO on October 5, 2026.

Google and AI answers

Who answers today when your customers ask.

Buyers ask about the rule before they look for software. Six of the twelve sources in Google’s AI Overview were guides from HR and payroll software vendors, and three of the top five results came from payroll providers.

AI Overview sources from the industry
6 of 12
Top 5 results from the industry
3 of 5
exempt vs non exempt33,100

AI Overview · 12 sources

  • adp.com (Payroll software)
  • dol.gov (Government)
  • paylocity.com (HR software)
  • oysterhr.com (HR software)
  • schwabgasparini.com (Law firm)
  • hibob.com (HR software)
  • indeed.com (Job site)
  • youtube.com (Video)
  • paycom.com (Payroll software)
  • youtube.com (Video)
  • breakroomapp.com (Workforce app)
  • youtube.com (Video)
  1. 1sbshrs.adpinfo.comPayroll provider
  2. 2napalegalinstitute.orgTraining
  3. 3papayaglobal.comPayroll software
  4. 4shspayroll.comPayroll provider
  5. 5blog.yourcounterpart.comCompany blog
Businesses from the industryPortals, media, others

Results: google.com (United States), desktop, retrieved via DataForSEO on October 5, 2026. Ads and map pack not shown.

The levers

Five levers for long buying decisions.

In B2B, it isn’t one big keyword that decides, but many small searches along the buying journey. Whoever answers them is part of the conversation before sales picks up the phone.

Head of marketing going over a draft with a colleague
01

Start with the problem, not the product.

Before anyone looks for software, they search for the regulation, the deadline or the headache that drives them. Answer that question well, and you’re top of mind when the shortlist starts.

EvidenceAI Overview for “exempt vs non exempt” on October 5, 2026: six of twelve sources were guides from HR and payroll software vendors.

02

Write comparisons and alternatives yourself.

Whoever searches for an alternative or a comparison will decide soon. If you don’t write that page, your competitor will, about you.

EvidenceFor “hubspot alternatives”, four of the top nine results on October 5, 2026 came from other CRM vendors.

03

Templates that bring in contacts.

Templates and checklists get searched a lot and are the most natural lead magnet in B2B: readers leave their email for the file, and your sales team knows what they care about.

Evidence“invoice template”: 90,500 searches a month, and all seven sources in Google’s AI Overview on October 5, 2026 were software companies. Sprad wins 15 decision-makers a month with its blog and whitepaper tracks.

04

Serve every role in the buying group.

In B2B, one person rarely decides alone. The department asks about the benefit, IT about integrations and security, legal about the contract. Each of those questions needs a page.

Evidence“soc 2 compliance” 12,100 searches a month; in its AI Overview, ten of twelve sources were security and compliance software vendors. “data processing agreement”: 1,000.

05

Get mentioned where AI does its reading.

For comparison questions, AI answers draw on vendor guides, review sites and trade media. You can request mentions in trade media directly in Claire.

EvidenceAI Overview for “crm software” on October 5, 2026: sources from Salesforce, Microsoft, PCMag and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Pitfalls and the law

What slows B2B content down.

The most common reasons good expert content reaches neither Google nor AI answers. Where the law comes in, the source is linked. This isn’t legal advice.

Your words instead of your buyers’ words

Product teams often write “human resources software”, buyers search for “hris”, 21 times as often. Sometimes it’s the other way round, with the plain term ahead. Check search terms before you make them a headline.

A website AI can’t read

Some software websites only build their pages in the browser with JavaScript. According to an analysis by Vercel, the crawlers of OpenAI, Anthropic and Perplexity don’t execute JavaScript, so they see hardly any text. The same goes for whitepapers behind a form.

Source: Vercel, December 2024

Comparisons with competitors

Comparison pages are comparative advertising. In the US, the Lanham Act lets competitors sue over advertising that misrepresents their products; in the EU, comparisons must objectively compare verifiable features or price and must not discredit competitors. So date your competitors’ prices and features and check them regularly.

Source: 15 U.S.C. § 1125 (Lanham Act)

Outdated compliance topics

Thresholds and rules change. For “exempt vs non exempt”, Google already shows the question “What is the minimum salary for exempt employees in Washington in 2026?”. A guide with last year’s figure costs trust. Claire suggests an update when an article loses positions.

Visits as the wrong goal

“what is a crm” brings plenty of readers (22,200 searches a month), but few of them are about to buy. Measure B2B content by contacts and conversations, not by visits.

How Claire does it

You set the direction. Claire does the work.

Claire works like a good editorial team: topics on the wall, sources on the desk, corrections in the margin. And she keeps going after you log off.

Topic cards on a wall, connected into clusters
Sorting topics by buying stage …
soc 2 compliance12,100 / month
employee handbook template5,400 / month
hr software9,900 / month

Results

Customers with this exact goal. And what came of it.

SpradManaged ClaireSaaS · Employee referrals

The whole website was to be optimised for AI search — not just the blog.

Two new content formats that still bring visitors every day and feed leads into sales.

decision-makers / month
0
revenue from leads
€350,000
“Since we started using Claire, in every second sales call customers tell us they found us through AI.”
Jürgen Ulbrich, Founder, Sprad
REA CardClaire ScaleB2B · Payments

A very narrow audience and expensive traffic through Google Ads.

Visits from exactly that audience now arrive organically — worth an ad budget.

organic visits from the target audience
0
traffic value after 3 months
€15,000
TrustypostClaire StartStartup · SaaS

10× organic traffic in 3 months

A young domain, no content team, no capacity to publish regularly.

Growth from their own content instead of bought reach.

What you need

Included from Growth. €299 a month.

Free trial, no credit card. Cancel monthly, no setup fee. On Starter (€199) you get articles, banners and lead magnets, without the full SEO strategy.

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Growth

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€299/ month

  • SEO strategy with 300+ keyword gaps
  • Up to 30 articles a month, also in a second language
  • Lead magnets, banners and contacts with their source
  • Tracking your visibility in ChatGPT and Google AI

Questions

Good to know.

What is B2B SEO?

SEO for companies that sell to other companies: pages and articles that get found while buyers research a problem, a regulation, a template or an alternative. The searches are smaller than in consumer markets, but every visitor can be worth a lot, and buying decisions involve several people.

Is SEO worth it in B2B with such small search volumes?

Yes, because every relevant visitor is worth a lot. An ad click on “hr software” costs $91.59 on average in the US, on “best hr software” $141.49. A handful of the right visitors can replace an ad budget: after three months, REA Card reached a traffic value of €15,000.

How long does it take for B2B SEO to work?

Expect months, not weeks; young domains take longer. Trustypost, a SaaS startup without a content team, grew its organic traffic tenfold in three months. Inquiries follow later, because B2B buying decisions take time.

What’s the difference between B2B SEO and SaaS SEO?

SaaS SEO is B2B SEO with a shorter path to a trial: readers can sign up right away, so comparisons, alternatives and how-to guides count for a lot. In B2B with a sales team, downloads and inquiries matter more. The levers are the same.

Does this work for manufacturing and industrial companies?

Yes. In the US, “manufacturing seo” and “industrial seo” each get 390 searches a month, more than “b2b seo” (260). The questions are more technical, about standards, processes and costs, so it matters even more that your expertise flows into the articles.

Is SEO dead now with AI?

No. AI answers are built from web pages, and for B2B questions they often cite vendors’ own guides: for “soc 2 compliance”, ten of twelve sources in Google’s AI Overview were software vendors (October 5, 2026). Being findable on Google and being cited by AI go hand in hand.

How do I turn readers into leads?

With downloads that readers trade their email for, and with prompts for a demo or contact at the point in the article where they’re convinced. Claire builds in both and shows you every contact with the article it came from.

Does ChatGPT recommend us?

The free AI check shows you: how often ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity mention your brand and whom they recommend instead. In Claire you then track it continuously in ChatGPT and Google AI.

Keep reading

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