Your prospects are searching for solutions. B2B SEO will increase the visibility of your business in the search results so that your business can be found by active buyers.
Every B2B purchase involves a healthy dose of research, and research always starts with a search engine. Whether you're renewing an existing customer or seeking a new prospect, search engine optimisation (SEO) is vital. Use B2B SEO to reach, convince and convert your next customer.
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90% of B2B researchers use the internet during the B2B research process. - Google
What's the role of SEO in the B2B buyer journey?
In the marketing funnel, search engine optimisation supports awareness, consideration and demand.
We live in a Google world. Potential customers are searching for solutions and you need to be found. Use B2B SEO to fill the top of your marketing funnel with high-quality leads. As digital marketers we often think in terms of cost per lead, the great thing about SEO is that you don’t pay per lead! This makes SEO hugely scalable. You could create one piece of content that performs well and as a result, attract hundreds of leads.
Search engine optimisation also has a role to play in the middle of the funnel. In the consideration phase, buyers will be comparing solutions, if your competitors consistently appear in better positions and gain visibility, it’s likely they will also be able to poach or at the very least influence your pipeline.
Use search engine optimisation increase awareness
- With B2B SEO you’ll be found when your customer is researching a challenge and looking for a solution.
- Your next customer will find you when they don't know it's you they're looking for.
Use search engine optimisation to support consideration
- Use B2B SEO to highlight the benefits of your product over a competitor.
- Ensure your content is found first when your prospect is researching features.
Use search engine optimisation to generate demand
- Develop high-value content that attracts traffic via search. Use data capture tactics to transition unknown visitors into prospects.
On average, B2B researchers do 12 searches prior to engaging on a specific brand's site. - Google
Why is B2B search engine optimisation important?
B2B search engine optimisation is an ongoing process for increasing organic traffic. Organic traffic is non-paid traffic generated from search engines. We already know a majority of online journeys begin with a search. A B2B buyer is likely to begin their customer journey with a search. With B2B SEO, digital marketers try to ensure that their websites have a prominent position in the search results when those first steps on the B2B buying journey are taken.
In any B2B purchase the buyer (often a team) are looking for the best solution and to minimize risk. Credibility in B2B is a major factor and SEO can help vendors establish credibility and brand awareness early in the buying journey. If your business appears highly ranked for a variety of relevant search terms, future buyers will regularly encounter your brand alongside other market leaders. If your competitors appear on page one and your business appears on page 3, that’s a significant blow to your credibility.
Here are a few more reasons why B2B SEO is important:
- A majority of B2B buyers begin the buying journey with a search.
- SEO will help your business be found, by the right audience.
- Prospects searching for a solution have an immediate need and are much more likely to convert.
- Ranking well, especially above your competitors, will boost your credibility.
71% of buyers start their research with a generic query, looking at topics not brands. - Google
B2B SEO supports buyer research & content marketing
Business buyers, influencers and decision-makers consume online content to ensure they are aware of what’s going on in their industries and beyond. B2B buyers research their purchases intensively before making any purchasing decisions. This means SEO plays a significant role in the B2B buying process.
Content marketing has long been popular because the B2B buyer journey is so heavily research-based. Research begins with search and being found early before your competitors means that you have a better opportunity to build relationships. B2B buyers use search engines to research vendors and their products before buying. This means that the value of being found can’t be understated.
Recent research on the importance of SEO in B2B markets has found that:
- 45% of B2B audiences consume content about technology and 24% about small businesses.
- 33% of B2B audiences read business-focused content, and 25% read reviews.
- B2B audiences are most likely to discover new content through search engines and social media
- The most popular reason for consuming business content is to stay informed about business and industry trends.
- 88% of B2B audiences consume business content at least once a week
(Research by Clutch)
SEO is critical for B2B success and reaching decision makers
Search engines 87% and social media 85% are the two primary routes for content discovery. Achieving visibility in search engines will give your business significant reach. Social media is a very close second. As any B2B SEO consultant will tell you, social signals play an essential role in SEO. This means SEO and Social must work together with a cohesive approach.
Organic search leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound marketing leads have a 1.7% close rate. - (HubSpot)
Getting started with B2B SEO
Search engine optimization is a combination of great content that people will value, marketing that promotes this content and technical factors. The content on your website must be of genuine value to your target audience, your content must be promoted across various channels, have links pointing back to it from trusted third-party sites, and finally, it must be accessible and understandable for search engines. In this article, we share a few insights for those of you just getting started with B2B SEO.
Why do I need to think about B2B SEO?
B2B search engine optimization (B2B SEO) refers to the tactics and methods you can deploy with the aim of generating more traffic from search. Organic traffic is often the best form of traffic a website can receive because you don’t pay for every visitor that clicks through to your site, and if you have undertaken optimization correctly, the traffic you attract should be relevant to the product or service that you offer.
Critical in business-to-business markets where information hungry buyers are doing their own research before contacting a vendor, B2B search engine optimization helps your future customers find you in the search engine results. Your future customers will want to find solutions to their challenges often without knowing who can help. They will use a broad range of terms that align to their challenge and expected outcomes.
What & how do I optimise to increase the visibility of my website?
Optimization occurs on several fronts, on page, on-site and off-site.
On page optimization
On-page optimization is about making sure that you have the best content and that content is well structured. The most fundamental part of on page optimization is making sure that you have the best possible content for a particular query. On-page optimization will then look at page structure, headings, and accessibility of a page. Once you have the best content, on page optimization will help search engines understand and index the page.
On-site optimization
On-site optimization looks at the optimization tasks that can be undertaken which impact the entire site, for example increasing the speed of your site or adding a search engine friendly sitemap. On-site optimization practices are often technical in nature.
Off-site optimization
Off-site optimization is where you try to encourage others to link to your site from their own websites and share your content across social media. Off-site optimization is the most difficult form of SEO but also the most valuable. It’s linked to content marketing where great content is promoted across appropriate channels. Off-site optimization is an evolution of PR. Traditional PR was about trying to get journalists to talk about you in their physical publications. Modern PR is about building relationships with publications and websites in your niche.
What technical expertise do I need to get started with B2B SEO?
Most SEO journeys start with a website audit. This is a technical task that evaluates your website from a search engine optimization perspective. The audit will highlight issues in your code, site structure, and other areas. Once the audit is complete, technical expertise is needed to apply recommendations to the site. For example, the audit may reveal that your pages need better title and meta tags or identify an issue with the way redirects work on your site. You need a level of expertise to fix such issues.
What subject matter expertise do I need to get started with B2B SEO?
Search engines want to display the best results to their users. This means that your content must offer something of value. To offer something valuable, you must have subject matter expertise on a topic and a unique perspective. If your content is the same as everyone else’s and you can’t offer new information or a unique viewpoint, it’ll be difficult to compete.
How important is content in B2B search engine optimization?
Search engines attempt to understand what web pages are about, how well pages answer a question and if the answer is better than the millions of other pages they could show instead. To rank at all, your subject matter expertise must be evident in your content. You must have the skills to create content that search engines will understand and crafting good content takes time. The investment of time to create content is much greater than other forms of traffic acquisition. It takes time and expertise to craft great content that your audience will value. Search engines want to show the best answer and to rank in the search results, you must deliver content that shows that you have the best answer. Search engine optimization is a tactic where people with great ideas and great things to say will succeed if their content is optimized.
Where next in B2B SEO?
B2B SEO Tools
Want to make B2B SEO easier? discover our collection of B2B SEO tools.
SEO Articles & Insights
We've put together a collection of SEO resources including guides, tools and training.
B2B SEO Stats For Your Business Case
90% of B2B researchers who are online use search specifically to research business purchases. - (Google)
71% of B2B researchers start their purchase research with generic search terms. This means are searching for broad solutions, not brands. - (Google)
Long form content works better for SEO. The average word count of a page that appears first in the search results is 1,890. - (Backlinko)
Content with at least one image out ranks content with no images - (Backlinko)
57.4% of B2B businesses say SEO has the biggest impact on lead generation goals. - (MDG Advertising)
Organic search leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound marketing leads have a 1.7% close rate. - (HubSpot)
70-80% of search engine users are only focusing on the organic results. -(MarTech)
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