What are Seed Keywords?Seed keywords are the initial, broad terms that define the core topics relevant to your SaaS product: the starting seeds from which comprehensive keyword research grows. They are typically short (one to two words), high-level terms like sales automation, project management, or customer onboarding that represent the broad categories your product
What are Seed Keywords?
Seed keywords are the initial, broad terms that define the core topics relevant to your SaaS product: the starting seeds from which comprehensive keyword research grows. They are typically short (one to two words), high-level terms like sales automation, project management, or customer onboarding that represent the broad categories your product serves. From these seeds, you branch out to discover the full universe of related terms, questions, long-tail variants, and modifier combinations your audience searches for. Seed keyword identification is the first step of any SaaS keyword research process.
How to Identify Seed Keywords for SaaS
Effective seed keywords come from multiple sources: your product core value proposition (what problem does it solve?), your competitors homepage positioning, the language your customers use to describe their needs (mine sales call transcripts, onboarding surveys, and G2 reviews), category terms from industry analyst reports like Gartner and Forrester, Google autocomplete suggestions for your category, and the terms your SDRs use in cold outreach to describe what you do.
Seed Keyword to Full Keyword Universe
Each seed keyword is expanded through keyword research tools: enter sales automation into Ahrefs Keywords Explorer and explore parent topics, matching terms, related terms, and questions. This reveals the full search landscape from head terms to informational long-tail to commercial long-tail to comparison queries. The goal is a keyword map that covers every meaningful query your ICP might use at any stage of their research journey.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many seed keywords should a SaaS company start with?
Start with 5-20 well-defined seed keywords that span your core product categories, buyer personas, and key use cases. Too few seeds create blind spots; too many dilute focus. For a multi-product SaaS company, organize seeds by product line and buyer segment. Revisit and expand your seed list quarterly as new product features, use cases, and buyer segments emerge.
What is the difference between seed keywords and pillar keywords?
Seed keywords are research inputs: starting points for keyword discovery. Pillar keywords are strategic choices: the high-priority terms that anchor your content cluster strategy, typically one per major topic pillar. A seed keyword may generate 200 related keywords, from which you select the pillar keyword and organize the rest as cluster content around it.