Your SEO Services Guide To B2B SEO
In this SEO Services Guide to B2B SEO, we will look the differences between a B2B and a B2C SEO strategy. This is because B2B tends to focus more on keywords specific to the key decision-makers in the company and what they search for while at work. The following guide will provide your business with a step by step playbook needed to create a successful B2B SEO strategy and reap the rewards of higher search ranking positions.
B2B vs. B2C: What’s the difference anyway?
Although distinct in their respective strategies, there is no actual difference between B2B and B2C Google ranking factors and they are both analysed by exactly the same algorithm. In this SEO Services Guide to B2B SEO, we want to teach you the thinking behind the B2B target user and the funnel of the B2B audience that leads to your services or product.
Although SEO best practices apply to both B2B as well as B2C models, the content approach to B2B SEO is completely different. This is where you really need to understand your target audience.
The biggest difference being of course the demographic B2B SEO will target. In B2C SEO, the target market is typically far larger in volume, so utilising keywords that with larger search volume that thousands of people search for each month makes sense. The B2B target group consists of decision makers and is much smaller, honing in marketing managers, CEOs, or small businesses and may use keywords that only generate 10 – 50 searches a month.
B2B and B2C also require very different approaches to content creation – for example, social media platforms like Tik Tok work great for B2C audiences, while B2B content might gear it’s marketing efforts more towards blog content, email marketing and Linkedin. This where our SEO services guide becomes really helpful.
As you can see, there are many ways these two models differ. Below we will focus on creating an efficient B2B SEO strategy.
Our SEO Services Guide’s steps to better B2B SEO:
Step 1: Create a Decision Maker Persona
The very first step to a successful B2B SEO Strategy is of course figuring out who exactly you will target with your SEO. Now for B2C, the audience is pretty obvious, the customer: if you sell soccer shoes, you are going to focus 100% of your marketing on people who play soccer. Pretty straightforward.
But, in the case of B2B, things get a bit more complicated as our target ‘customer’ is really a business.
Therefore, we need to figure out who exactly, inside of that business, we are attempting to gain the attention of. This will likely vary between businesses and the decision-maker may be a product lead, a stock manager, or someone that’s in charge of inventory, it all depends on who will help us advance our product or service in the fastest and most successful manner. An example is in this SEO services guide, focusing on you who is reading this, hopefully a decision maker.
Step 2: Selecting Keywords: Bottom of the Funnel
Now that we have a persona, we will use the idea of a funnel to visualise the customer journey and figure out how they search for what you are selling before they complete your website objective.
For B2B marketing, picture your funnel divided into two sections, the classic funnel is 4 sections: top and bottom.
In this step, we will be looking for bottom of the funnel keywords – i.e. short phrases of words that people enter in the search bar when they are ready to buy, so commercial or transactional in intent. How do we identify them? Below, in this SEO services guide, we share a few options.
The Seed Keywords Engine
This tool effectively takes the guesswork out of the equation when it comes to what your decision makers search to find your products.
To use The Seed, simply create the scenario you wish someone to search for – ie. make sure to design the scenarios around what you are selling, the context of the deeper section of the buying cycle. The next part of the process is to send the URL of a given scenario to people that are congruent the persona’s profile that you identified in Step One.
You will receive a list of words and phrases those people actually use when responding to your scenario ie. when they search for your product or service. As an SEO services provider, we think this is extremely helpful.
Google’s Autocomplete Function
In most cases, people and businesses struggle more with long tail keyword generation. A simple and effective solution to long tail keywords is Google’s autocomplete feature. We use this sane procedure in our SEO services, to guide us in choosing keywords.
Very simply begin to type begin to type out a term related to your product or service and take note of the autocomplete suggestions that come up.
Competitor Keyword Analysis Tools used in SEO services
SEMRush is another amazing tool for SEO that will assist you in this process immensely. One of its many advantages is its speed – simply input a competitor’s keyword and get a list of thousands of results. Now as an SEO services provider, the price tag for this SEO software males sense but it its on the high side for you, use the other methods we share.
The keyword overview tool will also assist you in analysing the search volume of your keywords. B2B keywords that are bottom of the funnel offer far lower volume than B2C keywords at this point of the funnel, this is why advanced tools such as SEMrush are important.
This is not to mean they shouldn’t have some search volume, but for bottom funnel keywords, don’t focus on that statistic too much but rather the high transactional intent of the user when they enter these keywords into the search bar.
What you should be paying attention to however is the Cost Per Click (CPC), or in other words, how many people are bidding in Google ads for that one keyword or search term. This becomes important when you understand the higher cost per click of the search term, the more actual buyers are using that word. So, if you find a keyword that both describes what you sell as well as a high CPC, it is a good one to include in your bottom funnel keywords. Because even if the search volume for that word is relatively low, but the CPC is high, it indicates very valuable traffic that is likely converting well into actual buyers and therefore the reason the bidding on it is so high.
Therefore, ranking highly for that keyword in Google search means a heavy stream of traffic and regular customer enquiries which in turn results in a great ROI.
Step 3: SEO Services Guide to Selecting Keywords: Top of the Funnel
Next up, let’s turn our attention to finding our top of funnel keywords that will ultimately generate your blog content too.
Top of the funnel keywords are usually more inquiry or research based than bottom of the funnel, ie. The people searching with these kinds of keywords and terms are still in the exploratory phase and not quite ready to make a purchase… yet.
Although the buying intent might be lower for these kinds of keywords, they are still super valuable in the sense that they have a much higher search volume. For example, a bottom of the funnel keyword might get around 200 hits, while a top of the funnel keyword would get up to 7x the amount of searches. Trust an SEO services provider on this one.
So not only are these keywords important in terms of traffic, but the SEO long-game, you can convert those top of the funnel searchers to customers with time. You can do this in various ways, like encouraging customers visiting your site for the first time (likely from a top of the funnel keyword search) to sign up to your mailing list. Using your mailing list content as a way to establish yourself as an expert, when the time comes for them to buy, you/your business will be top of mind already.
So as you can see, people visiting your website from top of the funnel keyword searches might not convert into a sale straight away, but make them into email subscribers and the likelihood of turning them into buyers with time is very strong.
Step 4: Optimising Product and Service Pages for Best Results
On-page SEO optimisation is a critical step in your overall SEO strategy. As you would expect, the focus would be the bottom-of-the-funnel keywords you identified in Step 2, you need to optimise a page for each of these keywords. Using those keywords, apply them to the following:
SEO Services Guide to on-page tactics for B2B applications
1. 100% Original Content
Make sure every single one of your landing pages contains 100% unique, human-generated content in order to rank successfully.
Although it can be a pain to write distinctive content for each page, especially when it comes to different pages for different cities or different pages optimised around different keywords, but unfortunately, if you want to rank highly on Google, this process is non-negotiable.
2. Prioritise Long-Form Content
It is pretty common to see B2B pages with very thin content which becomes an issue as they are super tough to rank. This is due to the fact that there simply is not enough content for Google to actually understand what it is your page is about.
In order to be ahead of the curve, increase the word count of your most important landing pages by 500 to a couple thousand words of new content. This recommendation is based on a ranking study that included millions of websites and found that the average Google first ranking result consists of a page of 1 447 words of cotnent, according to a trusted SEO influencer, Backlinko.
3. Use Keywords Strategically
To state the obvious, you want to include your target keyword several times throughout your landing pages, but cramming it in over and over again will actually end up doing more harm than good.
To avoid this mistake, focus on using your keywords in a smarter way:
– H1 is the number one spot to begin, WordPress websites generally will turn this into the site title too
– The URL of your page must contain your target keyword
– Look up synonyms and use variations of that keyword
– Meta descriptions matter! Write an original meta description with the goal to boost click-through-rate
– It’s better to mention your keywords as high up on the page as you can, within the first 50 words if possible.
Step 5: Create a Highly Valuable B2B Blog
Blogging is an integral part of any B2B SEO strategy because it greatly assists and advances our SEO goals.
If you create valuable enough content around your business, other people will link to it, and those links will result in higher rankings in search. But more on backlinks in the next step in our SEO Services Guide To B2B SEO.
Really, high quality blog content helps to establish your company as an expert in your space, building trust and confidence with your target audience,
To steer your blog in the right direction, here are some tips to get it off the ground:
1. Related Topics
Many B2B companies make the mistake of writing blog content that is directly about what they are trying to sell. This kind of content usually results in less traffic, and no backlinks. In other words, the opposite of what we are trying to achieve with our blog.
To avoid this, focus on writing around shoulder topics. These are topics that are tangentially related to your business, instead of a direct promotion of your product/service.
2. Utilise a Guide Format
Especially if you’re new to B2B content writing, putting together ‘ultimate guides’ whereby you focus on creating one comprehensive source of all the information a person would need to know on your topic of choice (your top of the funnel keywords) is a great place to start.
Becoming the singular, go-to resource on your topic does wonders for website traffic and ranking position, truly a win-win on all fronts.
3. Consider your Writing Style
It is a common experience to find B2B writing particularly dry, and boring. Due to the fact that B2B in general carries a sense of professionalism, this is understandable, but in this SEO services guide, we still advise to introduce a tone of excitement.
The above is not an excuse to write un-engaging content. Why not opt for a “Business Casual” style to your writing instead? This approach ensures your content remains professional but makes you sound approachable too.
It might not be the typical B2B writing style, but it does make for content pieces people will actually care to read, which brings us to our sixth and final step…
Step 6: Building Backlinks
Backlinks are an essential part of any SEO strategy, but in B2B especially. But how does your business begin to build these backlinks? Well, a great place to start is through content writing discussed in Step 5, but give these a go too:
1. Online PR
When doing SEO for a B2B business, the goal is not mainstream media as most people would assume when they hear the term “PR”. Instead, focus your PR efforts on fellow industry leaders, blogs, and news. Your content might not break into the mainstream, but the quality backlinks that will be built out from other businesses in the same industry is highly valuable.
2. Create Helpful Tools or Calculators
Without a doubt, one thing websites always love to link to is a helpful tool for whatever issue it is they’re looking to make easier. This doesn’t have to be the most complex tool to work, as long as it’s useful.
3. Include a Partners Page
If you do business with any kind of suppliers, manufacturers etc. then a partner page link strategy may make sense. Simply create a page with the logos of every partner you work with in any capacity and link each of them to their respective websites. Once complete, reach out to each of the partners you have listed and see if they have a partners page too, if so, just request to be added. Simple!
By following the above steps in this SEO services guide and implementing them effectively, you will soon have a successful B2B SEO strategy of your own, resulting in higher ranking positions and ultimately, that is sure to see your business (and profits) grow!