The Heroic Role of User-Generated Content in B2B SaaS SEO

You know, there are so many ways to be a great content writer or copywriter or even run successful content marketing campaigns. But no strategy is complete with the words of those who use your SaaS product services – the customers. And that’s how the practice of leveraging user-generated content became a huge thing in B2B SaaS SEO. 

Let’s be real. When publishing educational and promotional content, you can be a little biased – and that’s completely fine. It’s your product, and you have a complete right to be proud of it. But are your customers on the same line as you? Or they may spot some weaknesses easily and help you fix them. Even better, they may discover many convenient uses of your SaaS product you’re not even aware of!

So, how do you make the overall website and off-site content even better? Can user-generated content help with your SEO efforts? Knowing that it’s credible and authentic, the UGC creation for SaaS companies can be a nice part of the whole content strategy, driving more organic traffic and improving your current market position. 

So, before explaining all the benefits and SEO relations, let’s make some things clear first:

What is User-Generated Content (UGC)?

UGC is any type of content created by users rather than by brands or companies. It may include testimonials, reviews, comments, discussions, social media posts, or even messages you exchange with them. 

These content types usually reflect realistic experiences, unique perspectives, and realistic opinions on your SaaS product or services. 

Why is User-Generated Content so Important for my B2B SaaS SEO Strategy?

At this point, you may ask why it is so important to leverage user-generated content in general. Isn’t it better to focus on expert-level content? 

Surely, the art is to find the perfect balance between the various content types you use to educate on your SaaS product or even promote it. Still, the UGC helps you with these reasons:

• Authenticity – UGC is authentic and trustworthy, provides social proof, and helps build brand credibility.
• Engagement – It creates a sense of community, encouraging other customers to share their experiences.
• Content Diversity – With different content varieties, you incorporate the people’s voices in your brand identity, making their perspectives valuable. 
• Discovering New Keywords – UGC can help you discover keywords and relevant queries that no paid or free SEO tool will ever spot because customers use the language and voice of everyday people. 

The Benefits of UGC for B2B SaaS SEO

Since we are talking about SEO and all the benefits UGC brings to it, we have to explain them in depth. 

Surely, your whole SEO strategy for SaaS shouldn’t rely on UGC completely. It’s a small portion of everything you need to do to stay relevant in this highly competitive market because it gives you:

Increased Market Credibility

When a decision influencer or decision-maker roles check on your SaaS product, they surely estimate the overall content quality. However, they may not find the long blog posts useful enough if there are no real reviews and testimonials on your pages. 

The social proof gives a boost to your credibility, and the user-generated content may influence the decision roles to at least sign up for a trial and test how your SaaS product works.

Significant SEO Boost

We mentioned that the user-generated content for B2B SaaS can result in many unique but highly relevant keywords that even the best and most expensive SEO tools can’t really discover. That way, your website, social pages, or off-page content can easily appear for the very same queries that target the pain points of your target audience. 

Additionally, you can create new content based on the UGC or even get an idea for a podcast, webinar, or email educational sequence. Leveraging user-generated content ideas makes your brand friendlier and easily-discoverable online.

Embracing Different Content Formats

Real people give real voices to your brand. By reading the testimonials, comments, and even direct messages, you can spot patterns or detect problems you weren’t even aware of. 

That way, you can address a wide range of queries and questions and even improve the whole product and the way you provide the service. 

Encouraging Interactions and Engagement

You must encourage your customers to talk about your SaaS product and share their real experience using it. Enable comments, initiate discussions, or even send them surveys so they can rate the product. 

Not every user will engage, but those who decide to do that can bring unlimited value to your brand and overall SEO position. 

How to Gather User-Generated Content and Strengthen Your Community?

Gathering UGC is not an easy thing to do, but you need to at least try and see how it goes. You will be surprised how many people are ready to respond with comments and testimonials, especially when they’re satisfied with the product. 

Also, there will be those who aren’t completely satisfied with your SaaS products. They can be rude and share hateful comments, but you should handle that in a professional manner, offering a discussion or meeting. 

Anyway, even the negative UGC can be useful for you to address the gaps and improve your overall service. 

So, gathering UGC includes:

• Engagement opportunities like comments, conversations, and interactive campaigns
• Social media posts where the users can ask questions and share their opinion
• Reviews and testimonials because you appreciate customers’ feedback
• Featured case studies to highlight how customers use your SaaS product
• You’re allowed to moderate the inappropriate and harmful content
• Recognize the most valuable contributors who add the most value to UGC and motivate them to stay loyal

What are the Most Popular Types of User-Generated Content?

There are quite a few types of user-generated content that may boost your SaaS SEO strategy, such as:

• Text Content – Reviews, testimonials, comments, discussions, forum threads, and blog posts and articles created by contributors
• Visual Content – Photos, videos, social media content, and user-made infographics and tables
• Audio Content – Some users are confident enough to record audio testimonials and share their perspective
• Social Media Content – Stories, status updates, brand mentions, and shared opinions on pages, groups, or personal posts
• Forums and Discussions – Users often share their opinion on thread-based platforms and niche-specific forums
• Customer Feedback – Reviews, testimonials, surveys, and direct communication
• Knowledge Sharing – Some users may contribute to user-generated content by creating user documentation

Using these formats, you can collect relevant UGC based on experience and real-life SaaS product usage.

What’s One Reason why Brands May Fear Encouraging User-Generated Content?

The greatest fear of encouraging UGC, especially in B2B SaaS, is the fear of negative comments, rudeness, and direct attacks on the brand. And surely, there is always a chance that someone will say something negative to you.

That’s why you must learn how to embrace negative feedback and turn it into a learning opportunity. When brands are willing to listen to and address negative feedback, it shows that they are committed to providing a good customer experience.

Do I Need Permission to Use User-Generated Content?

There are a few things to understand here. When a comment or feedback is public, you can use it, but it’s still fair to consult the person who generated it for permission. Usually, they’re aware that their content is publically visible, but by asking, you showcase appreciation.

On the other hand, when the comment, experience, or feedback is shared through a private channel, like a direct message or email, you must ask the user to explicitly allow you to use the UGC. 

In some cases, you may be able to use UGC without permission if it is considered to be fair use. For example, if a user publishes a public Instagram post with a review of your product, you can still embed that post on your website. But even in these cases, it’s important to tell that person you’ll use the content or ask them if they’re fine with it.

If they share the same content on a personal platform, like a blog or custom video service, you must ask for permission and note that you were allowed to use the content by the creator.

And while there is no direct and exact answer to this question, we suggest consulting with the user directly so there are no problems and negative user-generated content in the future.

Is User-Generated Content Credible?

In general, UGC is credible, but credibility may vary depending on several factors. So, here are some considerations when it comes to content generated by your SaaS users:

• The credibility of the source, or whether the content creator is indeed a real user or someone who just has fun writing comments
• The level of moderation, i.e., if the content is spam or a real experience that needs some contextual improvements
• Is the UGC consistent and relevant to your product, or is it just a generic comment that appears on more pages
• User profiles, or are the creator bots or real profiles of real people and verified customers
• Well-written UGC with appropriate language and free of grammar mistakes appears more credible to readers
• Spam and fake reviews aren’t credible, even though they may appear relevant at first glance

In general, SaaS companies should review and evaluate user-generated content so it fits the context and brand consistency. If you receive a large volume of UGC, you must create a protocol for reviewing and approving it. 

Only the relevant UGC gives the SEO strategy value and may improve the overall SaaS company’s position online.

Summarizing Our Thoughts on UGC for B2B SaaS SEO

User-generated content is a great way to showcase experience, relevance, authority, consistency, and trustworthiness. You may recognize many elements of the popular EEAT signals that search engines use to evaluate your worth and improve the SERP ranking. 

Still, it’s important to recognize the relevant sources of UGC and find a fair way to incorporate them into your content and/or SEO strategy. That’s the only way to experience all the benefits we mentioned, especially targeting user-relevant search queries and answering all their questions while addressing specific pain points. Customer generated content marketing SaaS is crucial, and the time to start working on it is now!