What Is B2B Search Engine Optimization?
B2B search engine optimization, or B2B SEO, is a digital marketing strategy that involves optimizing your website content so it appears in Google search results.
SEO consists of a series of tactics related to both the content you create and the technical design of your website. The goal of these tactics is to satisfy Google's ranking algorithms so that your site appears as high as possible in relevant search results.
The goal is for users to find your content when they search for terms related to your business, at which point they will visit your site and learn more about your brand.
Why B2B Search Engine Optimization Matters
For B2B SEO, marketing on Google is fundamental to your business success. If you don't optimize your site to appear in search engines, people will find your competition before they find you. For companies to find you and decide to hire you, they first need to discover your business.
93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine, which means there is no better place to market than through Google. When someone wants to find a B2B company to partner with, they are very likely to perform a Google search to find the right company.
For this reason, the success of a B2B SEO campaign can make the difference between stagnation and growth.
B2B SEO vs. B2C SEO: What's the Difference?
Doing SEO for B2B is very different from doing SEO for business-to-consumer (B2C) companies. Here are three critical differences between B2B SEO vs B2C SEO:
1. B2B Customers Spend More Time in the Sales Funnel
One of the most significant differences between B2B SEO and B2C SEO is their respective sales funnels. While the funnels may be structurally similar, the way audiences move through them is different.
In B2C companies, potential customers typically move from the top of the funnel to the bottom. However, in B2B companies, potential customers move through different stages of the funnel until they convert.
This movement across different stages is because B2B companies have multiple decision-makers. It takes companies more time and research to figure out if your company is the right fit for them.
So how does this affect SEO?
For B2B companies, it means you need to continuously establish a presence in search results to attract qualified traffic. Not to mention that, since potential customers move through different stages, you'll need to provide them with useful content to constantly guide them toward conversion.
This increase in content creation, however, helps drive more potential customers through the different stages of the funnel.
2. B2B Companies Focus on More Precise Keywords
Another difference between B2C and B2B SEO is the keywords targeted. For both B2C and B2B, the focus is on long-tail keywords that contain three or more words.
However, for B2B companies, the keyword selection process is more exhaustive. Since B2B companies have multiple decision-makers, they must focus on several keywords to attract these different people.
Additionally, B2B companies tend to focus on low-volume keywords. Although these keywords may have less traffic, they tend to have more qualified traffic.
3. B2B Companies Produce More Content
A critical component of SEO is content creation. Content drives people to visit your website and learn more about your business. For people to find that content, it needs SEO to help it rank.
When we look at B2C and B2B companies, a significant difference is that B2B companies produce more focused content.
Since B2B potential customers take longer to make decisions, you need to continuously offer them useful content that guides them toward conversion. As a result, B2B companies tend to create more content for their audience.
How to Create Your B2B SEO Campaign
If you want your campaigns to deliver results, you'll need to set up your B2B SEO for success. Here's a six-step overview for launching your B2B SEO campaign:
1. Determine Your Audience
The first thing you should do when starting a B2B SEO campaign is figure out who you're targeting. It's about selling to businesses.
Start by determining what type of companies you're targeting. Then determine who in those companies is involved in the decision-making process. These decision-makers can range from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to a sales director or a secretary, depending on what you're selling.
To help you in this process, you can create buyer personas, which are hypothetical people with characteristics common to the people you want to reach.
2. Understand the B2B Marketing Funnel
To move people from prospects to customers, you need to consult the B2B marketing funnel. SEO plays a fundamental role in the funnel, as it helps take people from complete unawareness to considering becoming customers.
The marketing funnel is a model that helps you visualize how the buyer's journey works. Imagine a funnel, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The top of the funnel is made up of people who have just discovered your business and are still learning about you, while the bottom of the funnel is made up of people ready to convert. You can divide the B2B funnel into six stages:
- Awareness: People have just discovered your company, introduce yourself.
- Interest: At this stage, you want to get people interested in your products or services.
- Consideration: You begin to inform your audience about your products or services so they consider you a viable option.
- Intent: At this stage, use marketing such as free trials to push people toward actively seeking to buy from you.
- Evaluation: At this stage, people analyze their options to decide on the best one. You want to convince potential customers to choose your company over the competition.
- Purchase: In this final stage, you want to push people to take the final step and convert.
The reason you want to be aware of the B2B funnel is to know exactly which stage of the funnel you're targeting at any given time. If you're writing content, it's very different if you're targeting someone in the awareness stage versus the evaluation stage.
Also, keep in mind that not everyone moves linearly through each stage of the funnel. Sometimes people skip stages or go back -- that's natural!
3. Choose Your Keywords
Once you have a complete idea of who you want to reach, it's time to start with the actual marketing. That process begins with optimizing for relevant keywords.
Keywords are fundamental to SEO, especially for B2B SEO, because the key terms in your content help Google determine where to rank that content. For a blog post to rank in a search for "how metal manufacturing works," you'll include that exact keyword throughout the article.
However, it's not about picking any keyword that sounds good and starting to stuff it into pages. You should target keywords that are highly relevant to your business and that you believe your target audience will use.
An excellent type of keyword is long-tail keywords, which are those with several words. Being longer, they tend to be more specific to particular queries. They also have less competition, as a smaller niche of companies will be targeting those key terms.
When you integrate keywords into your content, try to place them strategically. Include them in the body text, but also make sure to include them in titles and headings.
4. Create Compelling Content
Once you've selected your keywords, you can start creating content. Content can take different forms: you can produce a series of videos for your website, design infographics, etc. The most beneficial content for SEO is written content, such as blog posts and service pages.
Every time you write content, you should target a specific keyword. Therefore, don't write a blog post and then try to shoehorn a keyword in -- choose the keyword first and then write the blog post specifically to answer that query.
Likewise, you should try to satisfy the user's search intent. That means asking yourself: "What are they looking for when they visit this content?" You can determine search intent by looking at what already ranks for your keyword.
Another thing to keep in mind when writing content is to keep it evergreen, meaning write it in such a way that it will still be relevant years from now. Avoid unnecessary references to specific years or current trends. That will keep your content ranking for as long as possible.
5. Implement Technical SEO
Your content is what makes your site rank in search results, but to do so you also need to optimize its technical elements. Make sure to optimize each of the following:
- Page speed: Your pages should load in three seconds or less so users don't get impatient and hit the "back" button.
- Responsive design: Responsive design allows your site to change its layout to fit the screen it appears on, making it more mobile-friendly.
- Image optimization: You should compress all image files on your site to prevent them from slowing down your pages and assign them alt tags so they are accessible to screen readers and Google crawlers.
- HTTPS: Make sure your site uses HTTPS instead of HTTP, as it is more secure. As a result, users will trust more and be more willing to visit your site, and Google will rank it higher.
When you optimize each of the above features, you'll end up with happier users and higher rankings, which will benefit your overall B2B marketing strategy on Google.
6. Use Off-Page SEO
Not all B2B SEO takes place directly on your site. There are some ways to increase your visibility on Google using other platforms.
To start, you can earn backlinks. Backlinks are links from third-party websites to your content. If a reputable website links to you, Google notices and assumes you are also reputable. As a result, it ranks you higher. For this reason, it's a good idea to reach out to authoritative sites in your industry to request backlinks.
The other main type of off-page SEO is Google Business Profile, a platform that allows you to create an online profile for your company. You can upload information such as your name, address, and phone number, among other details.
Still don't know where to start? At LeftArrow, we help you generate content to start making your company visible.
