Over 61% of B2B decision-makers start the decision-making process with an online search, making SEO as important for B2B marketing as it is for B2C. It is no longer a good-to-have but rather a requirement.
Businesses that invested in SEO during the pandemic experienced stable and increased sales and revenue even after marketing budgets were cut at the start of the year. On the other hand, businesses that relied largely on advertisements saw a significant drop in traffic and sales.
Why SEO is important for B2B
As marketers, our greatest desire is to give our business as much visibility as possible. We know that we can impress and delight our ideal customers if we get more people to see what we offer. However, expanding our marketing efforts isn’t easy. Increasing our spending on ads used to be the simple solution, but as markets become more saturated, ad costs rise, and profits fall.
As a result, we’re compelled to consider other options for expanding our customer reach. However, given the increasing complexity of establishing and implementing digital marketing strategies and dealing with pressure from senior management to cut costs and maximize profits while maneuvering in an uncertain economy, we must ensure that we choose the right plan.
How B2B SEO is different from B2C
There is no such thing as a “B2B algorithm” or any additional procedures that B2B sites must take to rank in Google. B2C SEO best practices are the same that apply to B2B. However, in practice, B2B SEO is different from B2C SEO.
B2B targets low volume keywords and publishes content for decision-makers, whereas B2C targets high volume keywords and publishes content for a broad audience (in most cases). In addition, B2B SEO content is highly tactical, giving less focus to social media marketing, while B2C SEO could be fun and emotional, giving focus to social media marketing.
The keywords in B2B SEO also have high CPCs as opposed to those in B@C SEO, which have low CPCs.
Components of SEO Strategy
- Build Your Decision Maker Persona
This helps to know who you are targeting with your SEO. Since it’s B2B, you need to figure out the person in a particular business that will do the search so that you know what they are likely to search on google. - Choose Your Bottom of the Funnel Keywords
After creating your persona, you need to determine how they search for the products you sell. Marketing funnels are a visual representation of a customer’s journey. They are sectioned into two parts: the top and bottom of the funnel. The bottom of the funnel keywords are words that individuals look for when they are ready to buy the product. - Find Top of the Funnel Topics
These are the keywords around which you’ll build your blog content. Top-of-the-funnel topics are more popular than bottom-of-the-funnel terms in terms of search volume. - Optimize Your Product and Services Pages
This refers to optimizing each page to be about one of the bottom-of-the-funnel keywords you discovered in Step 2. - Create an Insanely Valuable B2B Blog
Blogging is a crucial component of any optimization strategy. A useful blog can benefit your SEO in a variety of ways. People will link to you if you publish high-quality content, and such links will aid in your SERP ranking. - Build Backlinks for Your B2B Website
Link building is essential if you want to succeed with SEO. Get quality backlinks for your B2B company, and you will be well on your way to success.
Benefits of SEO for B2B
SEO increases your website traffic
New clients find your business online with SEO services simply by looking for the product you sell. If you aren’t already optimizing your website, you should consider incorporating SEO, as it will result in lead generation. The best part is that website leads are interested in your product, so all you have to do is let them work with you. SEO gets your website organic traffic.
The primary source of web traffic is organic traffic
Organic traffic is usually a result of people’s searches on search engines. SEO is the most effective approach to boost organic traffic. The more optimized your website is, the more it will appear in search engines as a top-ranking page for specific keywords.
Good SEO reduces the sales cycle
A smart optimization strategy shortens the sales cycle since you don’t have to convince your customers to work with you. Users will discover you organically and will find all the information they require to make informed decisions.
A smart SEO strategy builds trust and credibility
The purpose of SEO is to build a strong foundation for an attractive website that is simple to navigate and provides a wonderful user experience, not just to drive more people to your site. People have faith in Google. When your website appears on the first search page, you establish instant credibility with the user. If you have great content, you establish even more credibility.
Most people research before making a purchase
Every firm needs a solid SEO plan. According to studies, 70 to 80 percent of people conduct online research before making a purchase. If a competitor outranks you and has a superior search engine reputation, they may be gaining a lot more business. With a better search engine optimization strategy, you could get these customers to buy from your business instead.
Other benefits include:
- Good SEO means a better user experience
- Local SEO leads to increased traffic and conversions as well as lead generation.
- Win the click against competitors and stay top of mind
- A good SEO strategy is cheaper than paid advertising
- SEO always produces results.
The most important reason to consider SEO is that it works. Trust a team of specialists with your content and optimization needs to realize the true worth of a solid strategy.
