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After helping dozens of B2B SaaS companies turn SEO into a revenue channel (including Awaio, where we generated 171 SQLs in 11 months) I've noticed a pattern: 99% of people think they're doing good SEO, but they're completely stuck at the lower levels.
You might be publishing blog posts every week, building backlinks, hitting all the technical checkboxes, and thinking you're doing everything right. But you're probably only operating at Level 3 or 4.
The difference between Levels 3 and 7 isn't just execution quality—it's fundamental understanding of what actually drives revenue through organic channels.
Let me map out these seven distinct levels so you can see exactly where you are and what needs to change to reach Level 7.
Level 1: Mr. Paid Ads Only
Organic pipeline: 0%
This person thinks the only real marketing is paid marketing. If you can't measure it immediately in a dashboard, it doesn't exist.
Their entire growth strategy runs on paid acquisition: Google Ads, Meta, LinkedIn. Everything measured in ROAS and conversion rates. SEO is "too slow" and "too uncertain."
To be fair, they're usually pretty good at paid campaigns. But that's all they know. SEO is a completely foreign concept they've never invested time to understand.
Success means ads are cash flow positive and the business is growing. Simple.
The problem: They're building their entire business on rented land. Ad costs increase year-over-year. One day CAC is €50, the next it's €200. They have zero organic pipeline to fall back on while competitors actively capture buyers searching for solutions.
What it takes to reach Level 2: A wake-up call. Either ad costs spike out of control or margins collapse. The required shift is purely mental—understanding that SEO isn't competing with paid ads, it's insurance against rising acquisition costs and a long-term asset that compounds over time.
Level 2: The Traffic Chaser
Organic pipeline: 1-5%
This person has decided to take SEO seriously. They're doing many things, but with no filter for what actually matters.
They've discovered keyword tools and pulled a list of 500 keywords. They're writing blog posts inconsistently. They installed Yoast and follow all its recommendations. They're doing basic link outreach.
Essentially, they're doing multiple things across the SEO spectrum, but none of it is focused or strategic.
Success looks like numbers going up. They're celebrating 5,000 visitors last month, even though exactly zero turned into customers.
The problem: They're chasing vanity metrics. There's activity without focus. And without focus, SEO never compounds.
What it takes to reach Level 3: Developing a filter. Stop asking "how much traffic will we get?" and start asking "would someone searching this actually be ready to buy our product?"
Understand search intent. Prioritize commercial and transactional keywords over informational ones. Stop measuring success by traffic and start measuring by qualified visitors and revenue.
As we covered in our analysis of what actually drives demos in B2B SaaS SEO, certain keyword types convert at 17x the rate of others. That's the filter you need to develop.
Level 3: The Technical Obsessive
Organic pipeline: 5-15%
They've developed a filter. They understand search intent now and know the difference between informational and commercial keywords. But they're spending 80% of their time in the wrong place.
Page speed. Schema markup. Crawl errors. Redirect chains. They're running site audits weekly and fixing every single issue. They think adding schema will make AI cite them as if it's just another technical checkbox.
They're actually pretty good at technical SEO. But they're so deep in the technical weeds that content and authority building get completely neglected.
Success means a perfect site audit: 90+ on PageSpeed Insights, zero errors in Search Console. They've spent three weeks optimizing Core Web Vitals from 92 to 98.
The problem: In 2026, technical SEO is table stakes. It's the minimum to compete, but it won't win on its own. While they're perfecting their site speed, competitors are capturing buyers with comparison content and competitor alternatives pages.
What it takes to reach Level 4: Rebalancing time allocation. Technical SEO should be 20% of your effort, not 80%. The remaining 80% needs to go toward content that actually converts and authority building that gets you cited.
Level 4: The Directionless Executor
Organic pipeline: 15-30%
Now they've rebalanced. They're executing across all SEO pillars: keyword targeting, technical optimization, content creation, link building.
But there's no strategic direction connecting it all.
They're publishing 3-4 articles per week—some about competitors, some thought leadership, some how-to guides, some product comparisons. They're building backlinks through guest posting and digital PR. Their technical foundation is solid and maintained.
They're very busy. They're executing. But if you ask them "What's your strategy?" they'd struggle to answer.
They're not stuck because they don't know SEO. They're stuck because they don't trust themselves enough to commit to one path.
Success looks like activity: 50 articles published last quarter, 30 backlinks built, traffic up, rankings improving for some keywords. But pipeline growth is inconsistent. Some months are great, some are flat. There's no predictability.
The problem: Lack of strategic focus. They're competent across the board but spreading effort too thin to see compounding results in any single area.
What it takes to reach Level 5: Developing strategic focus and confidence. Ask "What's the highest leverage thing we can do right now?" Then do that thing consistently for 3-6 months before adding anything else.
For most B2B SaaS companies, this means prioritizing bottom-of-funnel content over everything else.
Level 5: The Isolated Specialist
Organic pipeline: 30-50%
They've built a sophisticated SEO operation. Clear content strategy focused on commercial keywords. Publishing consistently, all targeting bottom-of-funnel topics.
But they're obsessed with metrics that look good in reports but don't drive the business forward.
The biggest problem: They're doing all of this in complete isolation. They never talk to real buyers about what they searched before finding a solution. They're relying entirely on keyword tools and competitor analysis. Every decision is based on what SEMrush tells them to do, not what customers tell them.
Success looks like domain rating climbing from 28 to 45, building 20 backlinks per month from high-DA sites, rankings improving, traffic growing. They might even be tracking AI visibility. But revenue isn't moving proportionally, and they can't figure out why.
The problem: They're going in the right direction with the wrong compass. SEO metrics don't equal business outcomes. Domain rating doesn't matter—pipeline matters.
What it takes to reach Level 6: Customer insight integration. Stop chasing SEO metrics and start chasing business metrics.
Build links from sites your buyers actually use, not just high-DA sites. Prioritize keywords based on "will someone searching this become a customer?" not search volume.
Most importantly, start talking to customers. Sit in on sales calls. Ask customer support what questions come up regularly. Learn the actual language buyers use when frustrated and looking for solutions.
Customer interviews are the backbone of effective bottom-funnel SEO. This isn't optional at Level 6—it's fundamental.
Level 6: The SEO Strategist
Organic pipeline: 50-80%
This is where you've nailed the traditional SEO playbook. You understand the game completely.
You think in systems, not tactics. You've built a content strategy targeting the right keywords at the right stages of the buyer journey. Technical foundation is locked in. You understand that customer insights matter more than keyword tools.
At this level, you understand AI's citation model—that it pulls from 15-20 sources and that frequency of brand mentions actually matters.
The key shift: You understand you can't be best at everything. You're bringing in specialists. Outsourcing content creation to better writers. Bringing in a link building agency with relationships you don't have. You understand the value of niche expertise.
You still own the strategy, but specialists execute it.
Success means SEO drives 50-80% of organic pipeline. The systems are working. It's predictable, scalable. Sales is happy because leads are qualified. Finance is happy because these leads come in at lower cost.
The problem: The landscape is changing fast. Search is fragmenting. People aren't just Googling anymore—they're asking ChatGPT, searching on YouTube, finding solutions on Reddit.
While you're crushing the traditional playbook, you're not yet thinking about the full multi-channel reality of organic growth in 2026. This is exactly what we covered in the 3 biggest SEO shifts happening right now.
What it takes to reach Level 7: Expanding beyond traditional SEO. Start thinking about YouTube, Reddit, original research, digital PR—every channel that builds visibility and authority. Systemize customer insight gathering. Build a complete organic growth engine, not just an SEO operation.
Level 7: The Growth Architect
Organic pipeline: 80%+
This is the final level. The person who's transcended traditional SEO and built a complete organic growth engine.
They have all the skills from Level 6—content strategy, technical SEO, link building, customer insight integration. But they've added critical layers on top.
They've fully integrated AI visibility into their strategy, systematically building presence across the sources that ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude pull from. They're creating original research that gets cited. Building comparison content. Securing third-party mentions across review sites and industry roundups.
The key difference: They're not doing all of this themselves. They've built a network of specialists. They're not learning from anyone anymore—they're creating the playbooks others will copy.
At this level, 80%+ of pipeline comes from organic. The system runs without them being in the weeds every day.
Nothing is holding them back anymore. This is the end game. There is no Level 8.
This is the culmination of years of learning, testing, building, and expanding beyond the traditional playbook.
Where Are You Right Now?
Most B2B SaaS companies are stuck between Levels 3 and 5:
Level 3: Technically proficient but spending time on the wrong things Level 4: Executing across the board but without strategic direction Level 5: Sophisticated execution in isolation from actual customer insights
The jump from Level 5 to Level 6 is where most companies struggle. It requires fundamentally changing how you make decisions—from SEO metrics to business outcomes, from keyword tools to customer conversations.
If you're serious about reaching Level 6 and beyond, you need to understand what actually drives demos in B2B SaaS, not just what drives traffic.
Ready to Level Up?
If you're a B2B SaaS company doing at least €500K ARR and want to build a systematic path to Level 6 or 7, book a call with me.
I'll assess where you are right now, show you exactly what's blocking your progress to the next level, and map out the specific changes needed to get there.
No pitch. Just an honest evaluation of where you stand and what needs to change.
For more on what separates different maturity levels in B2B SEO, see our guides on choosing the right B2B SEO agency and what the best B2B SaaS SEO agencies actually focus on.
About Exceed SEO
We specialize in helping B2B SaaS companies move from Level 3-5 to Level 6-7. Our clients include Willo, InviteDesk, Buildbite, Crono, and Pelotech.
Our approach: bottom-funnel content prioritization, systematic customer insight integration, active testing and optimization, and 30-day rolling contracts.
See how we helped Awaio move from Level 1 to Level 6 in 11 months.
If this makes sense for your business, reach out.
