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Article's Content
“When you dance with the devil, you wait for the song to stop.” — Unknown
G2 is the world’s leading software review platform.
The relationship that many SaaS companies have with G2 is one of love and hate. SaaS companies love the value that G2 provides in terms of third-party validation and leads, but SaaS companies hate having to compete with G2 for SERP positions, both paid and organic. The most successful SaaS companies have grown to be okay dancing with G2 as long as the results continue to trickle in and the ROI is a net positive for everyone involved.
Let’s start with the basics.
What is G2?
G2 (formerly known as G2 Crowd) collects verified customer reviews and provides vendors with valuable insights to boost their ratings and visibility in the B2B SaaS market. With its comprehensive review data, G2 helps customers make informed purchasing decisions while providing a platform for vendors to showcase their offerings within a competitive landscape.
Since its launch, G2 has successfully taken a leadership position at the forefront of the Yelpification of B2B. The Yelpification of B2B is the shift in which more B2B buyers begin to make decisions around the software and providers they purchase based on the reviews of other people. After raising a Series D round, G2 has continued to grow and play a pivotal role in the SaaS buying process and the SaaS ecosystem at large.
Why Does G2 Play Such a Key Role in SaaS?
A lot of organizations often debate whether or not they should or shouldn’t invest in G2, but the reality is that G2 is being used by B2B buyers every single day. A lot of Savvy marketers, influential tech heads, and gurus will say, “no one actually uses G2,” but the numbers don’t lie. The numbers suggest that G2 is still very much a key factor in driving decisions for B2B buyers and that SaaS brands ignoring the channel might actually be missing out.
The structure of G2’s website is one of the most important things to understand when it comes to determining whether this site is worth investing in. As you form a decision about whether or not investing is right for your SaaS company, it is helpful to become familiar with the types of content it produces and the landing pages that exist.
G2 can be broken down into two key content assets that can influence your buyers:
- Category pages
- Product pages
More than 1,200 categories of software solutions exist on G2’s website.
The structure of these is broken down into master categories and subcategories below them. For example, there’s a “CRM & Marketing” category that has subcategories like Pricing Software, Product Analytics Software, and Creative Management Platforms.
It’s on these category pages where SaaS companies show up and have the opportunity to compete to be listed as the #1 product within their individual category.
Here’s what the top of the email category page looks like:
It’s a basic page that speaks to two important search terms in almost every SaaS buyer’s journey: “What is [NICHE] Software” and “Best [NICHE] Software.” The development of over 1,100 pages with this same format has served G2 well, helping these pages generate hundreds of thousands of visits every single year. Here are some interesting data points on this page:
The search term “Email Software” has 52,800 searches a year and the search term “Best Email Software” has 9,000 searches a year. G2’s Email Software Page generates over 30,100 visits a year across more than 880 different variations of these phrases and keywords.
Not bad, right?
As you scroll through the page, you will be met with the various “Email” solutions sorted by their G2 Score. As a user, this is an amazing experience because you can start to immediately see who the best of the best is within your space and understand who views these products as the most applicable for their use case, the industries, and even the key differentiators.
These category pages link to the product pages, and it’s here where individual reviews are able to be read and submitted. If a user clicks on a product page, they are then taken to a page where they can learn from actual product users what they thought of the product and use that information to determine whether or not the product will be good for their own needs.
Here’s what the Google Workspace G2 account looks like:
The Google Workspace account is optimized well for G2 and embraces a few key things:
- The account has been claimed, giving it the ‘verification’ to signal to users that the company not only wants their feedback but also that it’s using G2 and listening to their feedback.
- The banner for Workspace isn’t just an image—it’s optimized to be a video that tells its story in a more engaging and interactive way. This allows the brand to be on full display.
- Google Workspace is tapping into G2 deals and providing its potential customers with a discount if they sign up directly from its G2 page. Here’s the promo for 10% off:
Smart right?
The person looking at G2 to make a decision about Google Workspace is very likely in the later stages of the decision-making process, and a 10% discount code might do the trick to make them buy. It’s also brilliant for Google Workspace because this will give the company some clear attribution to revenue and how G2 is or isn’t playing a role in helping it acquire new customers.
So, what should you do?
Why SaaS Companies Should Invest in G2
The main reason why SaaS companies should invest in G2 is the opportunity to capture highly relevant leads, traffic, and visitors through SEO. In addition, the benefits of investing in G2 include establishing both a presence that is differentiated from competitors and an effective and transparent communication channel between the brand and its users.
Overall, the most important reason, from my perspective, is the SEO benefits. G2 is an SEO juggernaut, and the only thing that could slow down its ability to win is how Google treats G2 in the SERP as it continues to become a ‘review site’ of its own. Today, though, the data surrounding G2’s presence in the search engine results page is enough to make a case that it’s a channel that most SaaS companies should consider investing in.
The Data on G2 as a SaaS Investment
The team at Foundation recently conducted an analysis of some of the most popular category pages on G2 to better understand which categories were the most valuable and which categories generated the most traffic. The goal of this analysis was to gauge just how much traffic these pages were generating and what type of value SaaS companies were missing out on by not having a listing on these pages. The research found that more than 35 G2 category pages were generating over $593,000 worth of organic traffic every single year.
The most highly valuable page was the ERP Systems page, followed by Legal Practice Management, VOIP software, CRM software, and AP Automation. All of these pages generate over $110,000 worth of organic traffic per month, totaling over $1M in value for the year:
A G2 page listed in one of the top categories could arguably pay for itself in just a month for these pages. The ROI for these highly trafficked and visited pages makes it a no-brainer for SaaS companies in these categories to run an initiative and campaign to optimize their G2 profiles and generate more reviews on their product pages. The key ranking factor for G2 is positive ratings from users, so if you’re in any of the categories listed above, take the time to consider how you can make reviews a key part of your marketing mix.
If you want to look at category pages from a branding lens, the best metric to look at is traffic. Not to anyone’s surprise, some of the most valuable trafficked pages are also some of the most highly visited pages, but there are a few surprises on this list as well.
CRM showed up at the top of the list, generating over 30,000 monthly visits, followed by ERP Systems, which was just under 30,000 organic monthly visits. The third software category (and most surprising) was Cryptocurrency Exchanges. The “Cryptocurrency Exchange” key phrase ranks high among the most annual organic traffic but not so much in the ‘value’ category because the total PPC value of the keywords it ranks for doesn’t compare to more legacy and traditional industries like ERP Systems and VOIP.
How can you run a similar analysis to determine whether you should or shouldn’t care about G2 as a part of your SEO strategy? Find the category page and product page that are relevant to your industry and brand. Use one of the various keyword research tools available today to understand how much traffic this page ranks for and what keywords it ranks for. Some of these tools will also give you the total value of these keywords, making it easier for you to calculate the savings you could potentially have by investing in a more organic growth strategy.
How to Get the Most Out of Your G2 Listing
After seeing this data, it’s very possible that you’re convinced that this is an opportunity that you should pursue. In that case, my recommendation for you is to start by understanding what resources you have available (both people and money) and then make a strategic investment in G2 that will set you and your organization up for growth on the back of this marketing channel.
Here are a couple of things that you can do to turn your G2 presence into a flow of revenue:
Use Reviews for Sales Enablement Activities
Once you’ve gathered the data about how your page is doing on G2, your next step should be to start building out the sales enablement materials that will be used by the sales team. This could include creating demo decks that highlight how customers can use your product, webinar content that provides a deep dive into specific features and functions of your product, or even white papers that cover the most frequent questions asked by prospects.
You should also consider using reviews from G2 to back up your sales claims. For example, if you have customer reviews that say something like “this product saved us X amount of time,” you can use those reviews as proof points in your pitch deck or other materials. This helps build trust with potential buyers and gives them a good indication of what they can expect from their purchase.
Use G2 Credibility in Your Marketing Messages
One way to integrate G2 reviews into your marketing messages is by including them in the product pages on your website. Showcasing customer satisfaction demonstrates that buyers have already had positive experiences with your brand, and this can help encourage potential customers to make a purchase.
Additionally, you can display G2 ratings along with other metrics like pricing and performance specs that further illustrate the quality of your product. G2 reviews can also be incorporated into cold sales emails or other outreach materials. Prospects are more likely to open an email if it contains a customer review, as these reviews can build credibility and demonstrate the value of your product. You may even want to use G2 reviews as part of any follow-up emails you send after an initial contact has been made, as it helps you keep the conversation going.
Finally, social media campaigns provide another ideal opportunity for using G2 reviews in your marketing efforts. Posting customer reviews on platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter/X allows you to reach a larger audience and build more trust with potential leads who may not have known about your product before.
