B2B SEO: A Business Guide

As you might know, the B2B (business-to-business) model focuses on selling products or services to other businesses, rather than the traditional B2C (business-to-customer) approach, where the products or services are sold to customers. Naturally, this difference results in some distinct differences business-wise. One such is digital marketing, and particularly, search engine optimization. In today’s article, we will help you understand the specifics of B2B SEO, and how to craft your own strategy for optimal results. Readers Also Enjoy: 11 Essential Tips to Building a Lead Generating B2B Homepage – DevriX

What Is B2B SEO?

B2B SEO is part of a B2B marketing strategy. The main goal is to help B2B websites rank higher in search engines and increase their expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, all while making more sales. Now, a logical question comes to mind: how is a B2B SEO strategy different from any other? Well, let’s compare them and see. Readers Also Enjoy: SEO Product Description: Your Business Cannot Live Without It – DevriX

B2B vs. B2C SEO: What Is Different?

The first and main way B2B and B2C SEO differ is the audience. Sure, the search engines do not have a separate algorithm for business-to-business, so the same optimization practices apply. However, there are some adjustments to the overall SEO strategy that need to be made, in order to target the right audience.

B2B SEO	B2C SEO
Uses low-volume keywords	Uses high-volume keywords
Blogging and e-mail marketing	Social media marketing
Content focused on decision-makers	Content-focused broad audience
Lower conversion rates	Higher conversion rates

1. B2B Keyword Research

The first major difference is in the way the keyword research process goes for B2B companies. Since they have to target a very specific group of people, they need to carefully pick the right keywords. B2B keyword research, for example, needs to be very precise in terms of what phrases the key decision-makers are looking for. Let’s say that you are a company offering digital marketing services to other companies. You would need to really think about what would grab the attention, and trigger an action of the people in charge there. Not only does the volume of the keyword matter, but also the intent. More often than not, you will be targeting key phrases with commercial intent, rather than informational ones, as the first tend to be more likely to convert users into customers. Readers Also Enjoy: How to Pick the Right Keywords for Your Content – DevriX

2. B2B Marketing Channels

B2B, unlike traditional business-to-customer marketing, where social media is heavily used, is quite unlikely to benefit from exposure to social media. Instead, more focus goes on improving the website’s blog and creating a top-notch email marketing plan. This is easy to understand because it simply does not make sense. Why should a B2B company, offering digital marketing services, invest in social media marketing? Especially, when there is a very small chance that their target audience spends time on said social media, and even less of a chance they will use it for making a purchasing decision. On the other hand, being on top of a SERP, or sending out personalized emails, would have a much greater impact on buying decisions and a much higher chance of attracting clients. Readers Also Enjoy: Have You Heard of Email Cadence? Yes, It Is Important – DevriX

3. B2B Content

Writing content for a B2B website is also dependent on the decision-makers you want to target. It is important to get them on the conversion path as soon as possible. To achieve this, it is a good idea to optimize your landing pages by adding digestible and easy-to-understand content, a CTA button, compelling images, and headlines that grab the attention. Furthermore, another good strategy is to structure your content into pillar pages and content clusters. By strategically connecting your pages with internal links, you can boost your rankings. Readers Also Enjoy: The 4 Pillars of SEO and How They Define Your Online Success – DevriX

4. B2B Conversion Rates

B2B customers typically take more time to make decisions, and quite often it is not up to just one person. In fact, according to our CEO, Mario Peshev, the average B2B transaction’s due diligence can last up to 8 months. This, respectively, leads to a longer purchase cycle, and lower conversion rates, compared to B2C businesses. All this also requires a lot more thorough optimization, and general marketing efforts from B2B businesses, as failing to convert a lead after so much time can truly be painful. Readers Also Enjoy: Top 10 Lead Conversion Strategies to Boost Your Business Success – DevriX

B2B SEO Strategy: A 5-Step Plan

1. Create Buyer Personas
2. Do Sales Funnel Keyword Research
3. Optimize Your Landing Pages
4. Define Your Content Strategy
5. Grow, Adapt, Overcome

1. Create Buyer Personas

The first step in your B2B SEO strategy should always be to create buyer personas if you haven’t already done so. Quite simply, a buyer persona is a detailed description of the perfect client for your business. It is a fictional character who represents your already existing or desired audience. In other words, it’s the person you want to target. Keep in mind that very thorough research needs to go into creating a persona because only that way does a business have a higher chance of success. Readers Also Enjoy: A Guide to Customer Lifecycle Management: From Leads to Loyal Clients – DevriX

2. Do Sales Funnel Keyword Research

When talking about keywords, another of the B2B SEO best practices is to do your research with your sales funnel in mind, including the top and bottom of the funnel. The top of the funnel needs to have informational keywords or phrases that people would look for in the initial stages of their buyer journey. Your goal here is to attract potential customers. Top-of-the-funnel content is a lot broader and aims to educate the audience about topics, without being too promotional. For example, an SEO agency could write informational pieces about the benefits of SEO, how SEO can help your business grow, etc. Of course, they could use the opportunity to link to their services, but the bigger advantage is that they can rank better in the search engines for terms closely related to their business niche. Readers Also Enjoy: Marketing Funnel Content Mapping: Content Across the Customer Journey – DevriX

3. Optimize Your Landing Pages

As we mentioned earlier, optimizing your landing pages is an essential part of your B2B SEO strategy. After all, you want to not only bring people to your website but also convert them into customers. To optimize your B2B landing pages, it is best to work on them one by one, ensuring that their content is 100% unique and original. Carefully analyze and incorporate keywords on said pages, and don’t forget to add meta descriptions, title tags, and internal links. Readers Also Enjoy: 9 Tips in Creating a Landing Page for Your Marketing Campaign – DevriX

4. Define Your Content Strategy

Every B2B business can benefit from additional visibility. More often than not, the way to ensure said visibility is through executing a great content strategy. Your B2B blog strategy defines a large portion of your content strategy, therefore it is essential to create and maintain an insanely good blog. You must constantly deliver content that is original, offers unique insights, solves problems, and is entertaining, all at the same time. Yeah, no one said it was going to be easy, yet if you manage to successfully achieve this, you will reap the benefits. One such benefit is all the backlinks that will be coming your way, which will then help you rank higher. Of course, publishing such helpful content will also help your company cement its position as a valuable resource. Readers Also Enjoy: Personal Brand: Why, When, How? [Examples] – DevriX

5. Grow, Adapt, Overcome

In the competitive world of B2B, the landscape will always be changing, and requiring constant monitoring and adjustments. Having said that, you must make sure you continue to evolve and grow your business, even if you have already achieved a lot of success. Remember that you cannot rely on past fame. You have to scale your business all the time, and that includes your marketing and SEO efforts. Readers Also Enjoy: How to Grow a Small Business in 2023? – DevriX

Summary

B2B SEO is a process that requires continuous effort, but it can lead to sustainable, long-term success. Feel free to use the advice we gathered in this article to plan your B2B SEO strategy, and tailor it, according to your own needs. Before we wrap up for today, don’t forget that DevriX has a lot of experience in partnering with, and scaling B2B companies, so make sure to give us a call if you need any help, be it technical or marketing expertise.