What do content leads look for in a SaaS blog?

You send in a draft to your team lead. And then? Silence. Somewhere between “submit” and “publish,” decisions get made that most writers never see. I wanted to open up that black box. So I spoke with three B2B SaaS content leads—people who’ve handled hundreds of drafts and know exactly what pushes a blog forward or pulls it back.

They spoke about the signals they look for, the mistakes they don’t forgive, and the habits that separate a solid draft from a publish-ready one. Here’s what I found, and how you can use it to shape your own SaaS writing.

A huge shoutout to these SaaS content leads for contributing to this piece:

Garima Behal, Senior Content Editor at ClickUp

Satabdi Mukherjee, Content Lead at TripleDart Digital

Shalini Murthy, Head of content at RevvGrowth

1. What’s the first thing content leads notice in a draft?

I wanted to understand what the content leads immediately pick up on when they look at a submitted draft for the first time. The quick check that tells them, “yes, this is headed in the right direction.”

Key benefits: 

• Catches weak spots before your editor does, and reduces the back-and-forth.

• Signals that you know the audience, the product, and the topic.

• Sets your draft up for clarity, so the rest of the review starts on the right foot.
  

How to get this right:

The first quick check is to see if the draft is heading in the right direction.

Satabdi Mukherjee	Shalini Murthy
“Is it speaking to the correct audience? Are we highlighting the correct aspects of the product and the ensuing benefits to the audience?”	“I pay close attention to the H2s and H3s in a content piece. They quickly show me whether the content is moving in the right direction or drifting off track.”

2. Which mistakes sink otherwise good drafts?

This was one of my favorite questions because good-but-not-good-enough is where most writers can get stuck. Spoiler alert: a draft that meets the brief can quickly move from “solid effort” to “needs a rewrite.”

Key benefits: 

• Avoids rewrites that eat into your time and energy.

• Protects your authority by showing that you understand both the product and the reader.

• Lets your strongest insights shine, without being buried under fixable flaws.
  

How to get this right:

Positioning, formatting, and an audience-first approach can save you a rewrite. 

Garima Behal	Satabdi Mukherjee	Shalini Murthy
“Getting the product positioning wrong in a blog post that otherwise satisfies the search intent and writing style I expect.”	“If the article does not speak to the right audience, even the most well-researched piece is not useful. Also, if the article lacks an understanding of the awareness level of the audience and their challenges, desires, and motivations, I request a rewrite.”	“Formatting matters. A well-formatted document tells me you care about your work before it even reaches the editor. If I receive a draft with more than two or three formatting issues, I’ll send it back because clarity starts with presentation.”

💡Satabdi’s Pro Tip: If your blog misses the right audience, it often shows up in the introduction you write, the examples you choose, and the stats you cite. Do a three-point check, and if even one of them doesn’t speak to your reader, rewrite.  

3. Are there writing rules content leads will never break?

Every content lead has a mental list of lines they’ll never cross when writing a B2B SaaS blog themselves. These are the red flags that can turn an otherwise solid blog into something that simply won’t be published. I asked them to share those non-negotiables.

Key benefits: 

• Prevents your draft from being dismissed for something that could’ve been avoided.

• Keeps the reader’s trust intact by steering clear of shortcuts.

• Saves everyone time by knowing the lines you shouldn’t cross before you even start.
  

How to get this right: 

We should try to avoid these practices because the leads do as well.

Garima Behal	Satabdi Mukherjee	Shalini Murthy
“Yes. Over pitch the product/solution I am writing about. Force fit keywords. Make the reader feel inadequate or inferior.”	“I would not assume who we're addressing and what they're looking for. I write for the reader, so I must know the reader well so that I can structure the article to best meet their needs.”	“Linking to third-party blogs that simply rehash the same keyword or topic is a big no for me. Even if they’re not direct competitors, they’re essentially writing the same things we are, without being true experts. It adds no value.”

💡Shalini’s Pro Tip: Always trace the information back to the original source and link it in your draft.

4. How do content leads balance product, SEO, and audience needs?

This question was about juggling priorities. All SaaS content has to serve multiple masters: the reader, the search engine, and the product. How do content leads balance them without turning the piece into a mess?

Key benefits: 

• Strengthens your writing by weaving product, search, and reader needs into one story.

• Positions your blog as both discoverable and persuasive.

• Future-proofs your drafts so they work as business assets.
  

How to get it right:

Ask three content leads how they balance product, SEO, GEO, and audience, and you’ll hear three variations of the same principle.

Content lead	Approach	Framework
Garima Behal	“Audience needs always come first.”	Put intent at the center of your content Use SEO tactics to meet them where they are, keeping keyword insertion as natural as possible Tell the product story by showing how it solves the reader's problem, instead of a feature-dump
Satabdi Mukherjee	“I believe that when you write for the reader, SEO, GEO, and the rest of the acronyms take care of themselves.”	Map the topic to the use case for the product Decide which features/modules would help the reader solve the problem in question Keep the keyword in mind, and structure the article to provide a comprehensive answer to the topic
Shalini Murthy	“I don’t! When you split SEO into too many parts, it starts to feel huge and overwhelming…at the end of the day, it’s the audience who decides the fate of any content. Focus on them, and everything else works out.”	Write for the audience while keeping solid on-page SEO best practices in place

💡Garima’s Pro Tip: Keep your writing reader-in rather than tool-out. Lead with the reader’s problem, and then show how the tool solves it in their context. For example, write like this: “Here’s how you can solve A, B, and C using ClickUp.”

5. How do content leads measure success once a blog is live?

A blog can rank, but does that mean it’s successful? Not always. I asked this because the writer places a lot of importance on traffic, but does it hold the same weight for the rest of the team? 

Key benefits: 

• Shapes your work to meet the signals that content leads actually value.

• Aligns your writing with long-term goals.

• Proves the worth of your words by tying them to results that matter.
  

How to get this right: 

These answers stretch beyond ranking to check whether a blog is pulling its weight.

Garima Behal	Satabdi Mukherjee	Shalini Murthy
“1. Features/citations in AIO/LLMs  2. SERP ranking  3. CTRs and conversion rates 4. Product signups/downloads  5. Asset downloads”	“Initially, in the first couple of months, it is impressions and clicks. From then onwards, I would focus on average sessions per user, scroll depth, bounce rate, and where possible, via CRM data, check the MQLs generated from blog posts.”	“For me, the most important signal isn’t just rankings: it’s engagement time. That tells you how long readers actively spend with your content. If people are staying and actually reading, that’s a clear sign your content resonates. Rankings and other metrics are useful, but if you want to know whether your content truly connects with the audience, start by looking at engagement time.”

6. What should writers do before writing a blog to set it up for success?

Drafts often fall apart at the start. A misaligned outline, a vague brief, or unclear audience focus can doom a piece before it gets off the ground. That’s why I wanted to know which habits content leads think make the biggest difference at this early stage.

Key benefits: 

• Saves hours of last-minute panic or mid-brief confusion.

• Shows editors you’ve done the groundwork related to audience, purpose, and structure.

• Builds with intent, so your draft flows instead of stumbling halfway through.

How to get this right:

Their advice spans three angles: knowing your “why,” questioning the brief, and building an outline that leaves little room for guesswork.

Garima Behal	Satabdi Mukherjee	Shalini Murthy
“Ask themselves why and for whom they are writing it in the first place. Everything else falls into place when we get that right and use it as our North Star.”	“Build a detailed outline and get it approved by the content SPOC. This reduces downstream efforts significantly - less editing for editors, less rework for writers.  The key term here is "detailed." A list of H2s and H3s does not make a detailed outline.”	“Read the brief carefully. If something feels unclear or doesn’t sit right, ask questions. Challenge the brief if needed—we’re all working toward the same goal: creating content that’s genuinely useful for the audience.  Quietly following a brief that could be improved doesn’t help anyone. Sometimes the brief itself can be made stronger, and I appreciate writers who dig in, ask for clarity, and push for better.”

7. What can writers do after delivery to make life easier for content leads?

This one was about partnership. Once you hit send, the draft enters a new stage: review, editing, and stakeholder alignment. A writer’s job might seem “done,” but how you handle this stage often determines whether a content lead wants to work with you again.

Key benefits: 

• Showcases reliability by treating delivery as part of the process.

• Accelerates the review cycle by providing clean, clear, and easy-to-work-with content.

• Earns repeat work by proving you’re invested in the long game.
  

How to get this right: 

Content leads pay attention to what happens after delivery just as much as they do to the draft itself.

Garima Behal	Satabdi Mukherjee	Shalini Murthy
“Be open to feedback and actively engage with it.”	“1) Check if the client/editor has Editing access. It's quite frustrating to have to ask for access and lose time while you wait for it.  2) Document any feedback provided by the editor (or the client, if it's an agency). Do not repeat those errors.”	“..by double-checking the basics before hitting send: formatting, links, grammar, and fact accuracy.  That way, the editor’s time is spent on sharpening the content, not fixing preventable issues..leave a quick note explaining their thought process, sources, or why they made certain choices.  It shows ownership and helps me review faster. Finally, being open to feedback is another important trait I would love in a writer.”

How can you improve your own blogs?

This is a writer’s survival kit. Five minutes with it before you hit submit might save you hours of rewrites later.

Section	What you can do
Audience and purpose	Define your “why” and “who” before writing to have a clear start.
Outline	Develop a detailed structure that incorporates a clear argument, relevant examples, and a logical flow.
Product positioning	Show how the product solves problems in context.
SEO + GEO + Product	Anchor in reader intent first, then layer SEO naturally and tie in product value.
Formatting	Use clean headers, spacing, and consistency to show you care about your work and its presentation.
Red flags	Avoid keyword stuffing, over-pitching, and third-party links.
Post-delivery	Double-check basics, leave notes regarding your thought process, and document feedback for next time.

Cracking open the black box

My intention with these questions was to make visible what usually stays hidden: the quick scans, the quiet no’s, and the small details that decide whether a blog moves forward or stalls.

Across all three content leads, the pattern repeats: speak to the right audience, frame the product as a solution, and respect the reader’s time. Do those three things, and everything else,  from SEO rankings to conversions, falls into place. What this really means is that strong B2B SaaS blogs aren’t accidents. They’re built on intent, shaped by clarity, and refined with discipline.

If you’re already building with that mindset, you’re on track. And if not, you’ve got the framework now. Instead of guessing what makes a blog publish-ready, write with the same lens that the content leads are using.

Did you enjoy this blog by Manya? Drop her a comment or a message so she knows what to write about next!