Software Going Global 101: A 48-Hour SEO and KOL Marketing Workshop

If you're looking to learn about software going global, we recommend following Linkloud — one of China's most active communities for overseas expansion. Linkloud's founder Ning Gao previously worked at Hillhouse, where he invested in and supported several outstanding AI companies on their international journeys.

Recently, Linkloud launched the second cohort of its Overseas SEO & KOL Marketing Workshop — recommended for anyone who needs it.

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The following content is republished from Linkloud

Starting with the Overseas Expansion Handbook 2024

Earlier this year, Linkloud published "The Definitive Guide | Linkloud SaaS Overseas Expansion Handbook 2024". Despite generative AI seemingly accelerating product iteration and marketing operations, when answering "what hasn't changed," Linkloud found that companies still achieving "organic" growth from 2023 through today have consistently prioritized one thing above all — SEO (search engine optimization).

This also remains one of the areas where SaaS and AI products expanding overseas still have a gap to close with top international competitors.

Yet figuring out how to cold-start SEO and sustain investment is no easy task.

Why is overseas SEO so difficult?

First, unlike paid advertising where results and ROI are immediately visible, SEO generally takes three to six months before performance gradually becomes apparent.

Second, while some overseas companies have already invested in SEO and achieved certain results, they often don't clearly understand what they did right, nor how to systematically scale their SEO efforts.

Last Year's First Overseas SEO Workshop

Precisely for these reasons, last year we partnered with Span, SEO lead at Notta.ai, to develop exclusive Chinese-language course materials based on the pain points and best practices of domestic SaaS and AI companies going global. We launched China's first SEO Workshop targeted at overseas-bound software companies. More than a dozen companies including Monica.im, Vanus.ai, and StudyX.ai participated, helping attendees build an SEO strategy suited to their needs — and earning unanimous praise.

"I attended the SEO Workshop last July, and now roughly ten months later, our organic traffic has quietly grown 15x compared to back then! The three-day course didn't just equip me with tactical strategies — more importantly, I grasped the underlying principles of Google SEO. This gave our team a systematic framework for prioritizing optimization initiatives and setting performance expectations. Google's recent penalties against AI-generated pages over the past two months fully validate the importance of correct SEO values, which is exactly what instructor Span kept emphasizing. After the Workshop, Linkloud held monthly review sessions for several months, truly helping us integrate SEO methodologies into our actions. In short, I genuinely recommend this to product and operations friends preparing to go global or already doing so — SEO has tremendous potential." — Monica.im[1] Co-founder Huijie Yang

"What struck me most about Linkloud's SEO Workshop was two points Span consistently emphasized throughout: 1. SEO requires a long-term mindset. 2. Always maintain reverence and stay focused on delivering user value — every site setting and design decision should be considered from the user experience perspective. This Workshop gave me genuine confidence and determination to take SEO seriously and persist long-term, plus practical methodologies for our team. Encouragingly, six months after formally launching SEO efforts, our site finally reached millions in monthly organic search traffic. Here, I especially recommend Linkloud's Workshop series — incredibly substantive, high-quality course content; super professional and genuinely nice instructors and team; classmates with exceptional learning and execution abilities. Every cohort is a fantastic opportunity to efficiently level up yourself and your team." — StudyX.ai[2] Founder Ling Li

Why Does SEO Matter for Going Global?

While ChatGPT burst onto the scene and Perplexity emerged as a rising star, as of January 2024, Google remains the undisputed leader in U.S. web traffic referral at 63% — with search traffic as the primary source.

Starting last year, the industry saw a content production method adopted by many Silicon Valley AI startups — Programmatic SEO — spreading across the web in combination with generative AI. In our early-2024 article "In Depth: Zapier's Path to $140M ARR Through Content Marketing", we introduced Zapier as an "advanced player" in programmatic production. Subsequently, numerous AI companies gained massive traffic in short order through海量 landing pages and content matrices.

However, Google has rolled out multiple core algorithm updates and helpful content updates since last year, dramatically and profoundly impacting the SEO industry. Particularly the March 2024 algorithm update, targeting low-quality content, site reputation abuse, and expired domain abuse, showed us:

SEO Giveth, SEO Taketh Away

This update was expected to reduce "low-quality" content in search results by roughly 40%.

While not explicitly stated, Google's adjustments clearly targeted the growing problem of low-quality content generated through programmatic methods or generative AI. If the platform deems content lacking user value, it gets demoted and purged.

Yet we've also seen that adhering to correct methodologies and Google's longstanding E-E-A-T guidelines (Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) allows organic traffic to steadily build into a torrent for your site.

A highly buzzed-about AI startup last year saw its traffic nearly "zeroed out" overnight after the March algorithm update

A company that participated in Linkloud's Workshop last year began seeing rapid traffic growth early this year!

Why Does KOL Marketing Also Matter for Going Global?

Similarly, another critical marketing approach that all AI companies are likely watching closely this year is KOL marketing, particularly on platforms like Twitter and TikTok.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub's May report, of 237 marketers surveyed, 67% plan to continue increasing their KOL marketing budgets — yet 32% consider KOL marketing ineffective, highlighting the massive gap between doing it right and doing it wrong.

From conversations with many AI companies going global and their growth teams, we've found that the seemingly straightforward process of sourcing, negotiating, and delivering with KOLs is far more complex than imagined.

Because standardization is so low, key challenges include:

• How to cold-start, including selecting the right channels and finding KOLs who match your product.
• How to approach, engage, and negotiate fairly with KOLs — where best practices are sorely lacking.
• How to correctly calculate return on investment (ROI).

Whether PLG or SLG, KOL marketing is a crucial channel for promotion and growth — different approaches combined fast and slow, short and long term. And behind it all, we believe you need to build an efficient execution formula:

Correct top-level methodology x Appropriate data analytics tools x Time

Over the past year, more and more SaaS companies have bravely taken their first steps, many AI companies have gradually found their footing in crowded markets, and our own understanding of building systematic approaches to SEO and social media marketing has continued to evolve.

"Last year's SEO Workshop helped overseas expansion beginners systematically understand how to acquire customers at low cost over the long term, with detailed operational guidance. Span has rich hands-on experience, particularly deep expertise in SEO-driven customer acquisition for global markets. Combined with analysis of the latest Google algorithm dynamics, it gave me clearer insight into SEO development trends. Even more valuable was the post-Workshop coaching. Every month someone followed up, answering various questions we encountered in practice and helping the team grow quickly. Overall, the course arrangement was truly excellent — whether you're a beginner or have some foundation, I think everyone can learn a lot." — Vanus.ai[3] Product Director Xiaofu

This July, Linkloud's Upgraded SEO Workshop

Chen Chang has participated in overseas market strategy and operations for products including Otter.ai, HeyGen, Bardeen.ai, MileIQ, and Microsoft Office 365 in various roles — spanning SaaS standouts, AI-native stars, and mature product lines at major tech companies, all serving the U.S. and global markets from day one. Truly seasoned and on the front lines!

This time, we've invited her back to China to join our instructor team, not only helping iterate our Chinese-language SEO materials but also expanding coverage to include:

• How to build correct Programmatic SEO methodology.
• How to cold-start and construct KOL marketing content and workflows.
• GTM best practices for SaaS/AI startups from 0 to 1.

Linkloud Workshop Cohort 2

How to Efficiently Build an Overseas SEO System and Social Media Marketing

Who It's For

• SaaS, AI, or tech companies planning to launch SEO, social media, and/or KOL marketing.
• Founding teams of SaaS companies with global operations, plus content marketing or growth leads.
• Planned enrollment: 15-20 companies, maximum 2 participants per company.

Learning Objectives

• For founding teams and SEO leads:
  • Understanding SEO's long-term value, setting correct expectations, and recognizing challenges.
  • Building systematic SEO methodology (manual content creation, programmatic, etc.).
  • Knowing how to launch SEO projects from 0 to 1 tailored to your business.
• For SEO leads:
  • How to plan site-wide content.
  • How to rapidly scale SEO results.
  • SEO execution processes, priorities, and details.
  • How to respond to Google algorithm changes, and how to improve content visibility in large model applications.

Location & Schedule

• Location: Hangzhou.
• Dates: July 6-7, 2024 (Saturday and Sunday), two full days, plus three months of monthly SEO policy update interpretations, practical reviews, and Q&A.

Pricing

💰 RMB 25,000 per company (includes 2 participants).

Agenda

Day One:

• SEO values and principles;
• How to develop overall content strategy;
• How to build priority SEO pages;
• How to control content quality;
• How to build quality writer teams;
• How to execute On-page SEO & Technical SEO.

Day Two:

• How to correctly implement Programmatic SEO;
• How to launch Influencer Marketing;
• How to build backlinks;
• How to strengthen E-E-A-T;
• Facing generative AI, how to prepare for SEO's future;
• Best practices for startups to launch and execute SEO and KOL marketing!

Registration & Inquiries

References

[1] Monica.im: http://monica.im/

[2] StudyX.ai: http://studyx.ai/

[3] Vanus.ai: http://vanus.ai/