We Analyzed 2,991 Keywords Across 12 B2B SaaS Verticals. Here's What We Found.

We Analyzed 2,991 Keywords Across 12 B2B SaaS Verticals. Here's What We Found.

Most B2B SaaS SEO strategies start with the same handful of head terms — "b2b seo agency," "saas marketing," "content marketing for SaaS." Every agency fights over them. Every client expects to rank for them. And the result is a keyword landscape where a few dozen terms absorb all the budget while thousands of high-intent, low-competition keywords sit untouched.

We wanted to see how deep the opportunity actually goes. So we pulled 2,991 keywords from Ahrefs across 12 B2B SaaS verticals, categorized them by intent and difficulty, and mapped them against what the top-ranking agencies are actually doing. The findings reshape how we think about content strategy for B2B SaaS.

Here's what the data shows.

The Dataset

Source: Ahrefs, February 2026. 2,991 validated keywords across 12 categories spanning B2B SaaS, SEO services, PPC, demand generation, fintech, healthcare, and more. Every keyword was mapped to a target landing page, scored for keyword difficulty (KD), and cross-referenced against the top 5 competing agencies in the space.

The 12 categories and their keyword counts:

Category	Keywords	Total Monthly Volume	Avg KD
B2B SaaS / Tech	676	221,520	4.8
Glossary / General	816	175,340	5.4
SEO General	382	138,360	6.2
SEO Agency / Services	312	118,630	6.4
Local / Vertical SEO	220	82,260	3.8
Marketing General	220	72,330	6.3
PPC / Paid	111	30,980	6.3
SEO Strategy / How-To	75	23,270	5.8
Industry Verticals	54	19,030	3.9
Demand Generation	57	14,130	4.5
Fintech	33	14,000	2.7
Content Strategy	17	8,760	5.6

The first insight is in the average keyword difficulty column. Every single category averages under KD 7. For context, Ahrefs considers anything under KD 10 to be "easy" — meaning the majority of B2B SaaS keywords are winnable without an established domain authority or backlink profile.

Finding 1: The Keyword Difficulty Distribution Is Remarkably Low

Across all 2,991 keywords, the average KD is 4.9. That's not a typo. The B2B SaaS SEO landscape is significantly less competitive than most agencies lead their clients to believe.

The category with the lowest average difficulty? Fintech at KD 2.7. The category with the highest? SEO Agency / Services at KD 6.4 — and even that is well within "easy" territory.

This matters because of how agencies typically price and position SEO engagements. The narrative is: "SEO is a long-term investment, expect 6-12 months before results." That's true for head terms like "best seo company" (KD varies, high competition). But for the long-tail — where actual buyer intent lives — the timeline is dramatically shorter.

A Series A fintech company targeting "fintech seo agency" (900 monthly searches, KD 0.7) or "fintech marketing agency" (1,200 monthly searches, KD 0.7) can realistically rank on page one within 60–90 days with well-structured content and basic technical SEO.

Finding 2: 500+ Content Gap Keywords Where Competitors Rank at KD Under 20

We ran a content gap analysis against the top 5 competing agencies — Directive, SimpleTiger, First Page Sage, Powered by Search, and Breaking B2B. The question: where are they ranking that we're not?

The answer: 500+ keywords where at least one competitor ranks on page one, with keyword difficulty under 20.

The highest-value gaps:

Keyword	Volume	KD	Competitors Ranking
saas seo	2,500	6	4 of 5
b2b seo tools	1,700	0	3 of 5
saas seo services	1,500	2	3 of 5
enterprise seo companies	1,000	2	3 of 5
marketing agency for saas	1,000	2	3 of 5
saas marketing agencies	900	3	3 of 5
seo agency for saas companies	800	3	3 of 5
demand generation agency	800	5	3 of 5

The pattern: high-intent keywords with real monthly volume, low difficulty scores, and multiple competitors proving the keyword converts by ranking for it. This is the opposite of a vanity keyword list. These are terms that buyers type when they're actively evaluating agencies.

Finding 3: The AEO White Space Is Wide Open

This is the finding that reshaped our entire positioning. We mapped keywords related to AEO (AI Engine Optimization) as a category:

Keyword	Volume	KD	Competitors Ranking
aeo services	600	0	0
aeo optimization	300	0	0
ai search optimization	200	1	Near-zero
how to rank in chatgpt	~200	0	Near-zero
generative engine optimization	100	0	1 (SimpleTiger, but not using “AEO” term)

Zero competitors own "AEO" as a category term. Six hundred monthly searches for "aeo services" with literally no one ranking for it intentionally. SimpleTiger has a /services/ai-seo-agency page, but they use "GEO" and "AI SEO" — not "AEO." No one has claimed the term.

This is a category-creation moment. The total AEO-category search volume exceeds 1,200 monthly searches and growing. By comparison, "b2b seo agency" — the most fought-over term in our space — has 10,000 monthly searches, but Directive owns position 1 and the KD reflects years of competition. AEO has the same buyer intent with zero incumbents.

This is why we built our practice around the Dual-Index Strategy — optimizing simultaneously for Google's search index and the LLM knowledge bases that power ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude. The SEO side targets the 2,991 keywords in this dataset. The AEO side targets the white space that no one else is filling.

Finding 4: The Top Agencies Are All Running the Same Playbook

We analyzed the top 5 competing agencies' content strategies. The patterns are strikingly similar:

Directive — Owns "b2b seo agency" (#1, 10,000 volume) through a listicle blog post, not a service page. Their /blog/27-seo-agencies-built-for-b2b-growth-2025/ drives 3,805 monthly traffic with a $49,301 traffic value. They also run a glossary and multi-region pages (US/UK/CA).

SimpleTiger — Glossary machine. Over 200 definition pages in /resources/glossary/ drive the bulk of their organic traffic. Their homepage ranks for "saas marketing agency" (5,000 volume). Fifteen years of SaaS focus gives them domain authority.

First Page Sage — Volume king. Over 1,000 low-KD keywords across verticals, mostly through "Best X Agency" listicle patterns. They rank for "best seo company" at position 3 (7,700 volume).

Powered by Search — Content hub model with /learn/ directory. SaaS-focused playbooks and conversion content. Smaller footprint but higher intent per page.

Breaking B2B — Proof that small sites can win. Only 29 pages, but tight niche focus on SaaS SEO, fintech, and logistics verticals.

The common thread: every agency competes on SEO terms and ignores AEO entirely. None of them have published content about AI search optimization, AI engine optimization, or how to get cited by ChatGPT. None of them are building the Entity Authority Stack — the structured data, content architecture, and topical depth that earns AI citations.

This is the Pipeline Gap in action. These agencies produce content that generates traffic and brand awareness, but they're optimizing for a single index — Google's. The buyers who research in ChatGPT and Perplexity before opening Google are a growing segment that no one in our competitive set is serving.

Finding 5: Vertical Keywords Are the Lowest-Hanging Fruit

The category with the lowest average keyword difficulty is Local / Vertical SEO at KD 3.8, followed by Fintech at KD 2.7 and Industry Verticals at KD 3.9.

Specific vertical opportunities:

Vertical	Keywords	Volume	Avg KD
Healthcare	80	30,920	4.2
Fintech	33	14,000	2.7
Construction	26	9,940	1.9
Manufacturing	16	6,900	2.6

Construction SEO averages KD 1.9. Manufacturing SEO averages KD 2.6. These are verticals where a single well-optimized page can rank on page one within weeks — not months.

The strategic implication: while every agency fights for "b2b seo agency" (KD varies, position 1 held by Directive), the vertical pages offer faster time-to-rank, more specific buyer intent, and natural expansion into industry-specific content clusters.

What This Means for Your SEO Strategy

If you're a B2B SaaS company evaluating your search strategy, this research suggests three priorities:

1. Stop competing only on head terms. The keyword landscape is deep. There are 2,991 validated keywords with an average KD under 5. Your competitors aren't ranking for most of them. The content gap alone — 500+ keywords where competitors rank at KD under 20 — represents years of content opportunity.

2. Start building for AI search now. The AEO white space won't stay empty forever. The first companies to build entity authority — schema markup, structured definitions, quotable frameworks — will be the ones LLMs cite by default as AI search adoption grows. This is a first-mover advantage that compounds.

3. Think verticals, not just categories. If you sell into healthcare, fintech, manufacturing, or construction, the vertical SEO keywords are dramatically easier to rank for than the generic "SaaS SEO" terms. And they attract buyers with higher specificity — a VP of Marketing at a fintech company searching "fintech seo agency" is further down the funnel than someone searching "b2b seo."

Methodology

All keyword data was pulled from Ahrefs in February 2026. Keywords were validated against minimum search volume thresholds (10+ monthly searches) and de-duplicated across categories. Competitor analysis was conducted against five agencies that rank for B2B SaaS SEO terms: Directive, SimpleTiger, First Page Sage, Powered by Search, and Breaking B2B. Content gap analysis identified keywords where at least one competitor ranks on page one with KD under 20.

This research is updated quarterly. The next refresh is scheduled for April 2026.

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This analysis is part of how we approach every engagement. Before writing a single page, we map the full keyword landscape to identify where the real opportunity lives. If you want to see what this looks like for your specific vertical, book a free keyword landscape review.