A High-Level Look at B2B SEO

Every B2B marketing strategy’s goal is cost-effectively connecting with target clients. SEO is a powerful marketing channel that enables B2B companies to reach and target prospects with precision, making it one of the most important tools in a successful marketing strategy.

In this guide, we’ll explore why having a comprehensive SEO B2B strategy is important, actionable steps to increase your visibility in search, and how to address common B2B SEO challenges along the way.

What is B2B SEO?

Business-to-business search engine optimization, or B2B SEO, is a core component of digital marketing, focused on increasing a brand’s ranking position in search results to connect with a target audience. Sound B2B SEO strategies prioritize keyword-enriched content, technical SEO, and link-building to improve a website’s ranking position on search engine results pages (SERPs), generate leads, and increase sales.

Does SEO work for B2B? Absolutely. It’s the most cost-effective way to reach targeted decision-makers, generate and nurture leads, enhance brand visibility and discoverability, and stay competitive online.

An SEO B2B strategy differs from B2C because precise audience targeting, lead generation, and lead nurturing through the extended sales cycle are much more important in B2B. Effective B2B SEO strategies require a comprehensive understanding of the sales cycle and in-depth keyword research to create high-ranking content that targets prospects in each stage of the cycle.

How Important is SEO for B2B Companies?

If you want to connect with the 90% of B2B decision-makers who cite search engines as their #1 business purchase research resource, you have to be at or near the top of search results. Of these decision-makers, 66% start with a generic Google search (like “enterprise CRM software”).

They’re looking for a product, not your company specifically, so enhancing your discoverability and visibility in SERPs is critical to tap into this stream of ready-to-convert leads. Achieving a higher ranking position is key to generating more traffic, leads, and sales—95% of all web traffic goes to websites that rank on the first page of SERPs, and 1-10% of B2B traffic converts into sales on average.

Almost half of all B2B brands prioritize SEO in their marketing strategies. If you’re not visible on the first page of SERPs, your best prospects will choose a brand that is and may never discover what you have to offer.

Increased visibility is great, but what about the returns? Is organic traffic important for B2B sales? Yes:

• 72% of B2B marketers say organic search combined with content marketing drives more revenue than paid search and PPC, social media, and email
• B2B companies generate twice the revenue from organic search than other channels
• B2B SEO drives more revenue than paid channels, according to 70% of marketers

SEO helps you make data-driven decisions that powerfully impact lead generation and sales—without paying for leads or ads.

Challenges in B2B SEO

So, what’s the catch? Pinpointing your target audience with precision, going after keywords with lower search volumes, intense competition in SERPs, and developing content written for prospects in each stage of the sales funnel can make B2B SEO challenging without the right strategy to guide your efforts.

Addressing these challenges proactively can help you avoid the most common SEO pitfalls for B2B brands.

• Audience targeting challenges: Defining your ideal customer profiles (ICPs) and buyer personas, market research, and competition analysis help you hone in on your small but mighty target audience.
• Search volume challenges: A big slice of a small pie can be more satisfying than a small slice of a large pie—targeting long-tail keywords that are laser-focused on your ideal customer results in highly-targeted, high-converting traffic.
• Competition challenges: Consistent SEO measures, like creating quality, keyword-enriched content for each stage of the funnel, prioritizing technical SEO, and engaging in targeted link-building help you remain competitive in SERPs.
• Content challenges: Buyers doing research want more than fluff, so create compelling, data-driven content that demonstrates your expertise and industry authority to drive more impactful clicks from organic search.

How To Integrate SEO Into Your Marketing Strategy

Bringing it all together, you can optimize your B2B marketing strategy with SEO best practices. What are effective B2B marketing strategies? Implement these strategies or sign up with a trusted B2B SEO services provider to start generating leads, increasing visibility, and driving revenue with SEO.

• Schedule a technical SEO audit to find issues preventing your site from being seen and highlight areas you can optimize further.
• Analyze past data to identify your strengths and weaknesses to adjust existing strategies.
• Perform keyword research for precise targeting that converts at a higher rate.
• Create content that’s better than what’s already ranking with researched keywords.
• Optimize meta elements on your site and build a cohesive framework for new pages as you add them.
• Develop a link-building strategy to boost digital authority and improve ranking position.

Some brands with an experienced team can devise and implement these strategies in-house, but many B2B companies enlist the help of B2B SEO services to tap into expertise and get measurable results.

Optimize Your B2B Marketing Strategy With CSP

As the most cost-effective way to market your brand online, generate leads, and increase revenue, SEO remains a foundational part of optimizing your B2B marketing strategy. Getting it right can help you achieve growth goals, correct long-standing issues, and outrank the competition.

At CSP, we recently did a B2B case study with a management and advisory firm that saw traffic and leads decimated by a Google algorithm update. Our B2B SEO services (content, technical, and link-building strategies) helped the firm increase impressions by 120%, significantly boost traffic, and double the number of first-page ranking positions in just six months.

CSP can help you build a better B2B marketing strategy driven by SEO best practices. Leverage our SEO expertise for increased website visibility and generate leads like a pro. Talk to an SEO expert now—from an SEO audit to content and link-building solutions, we’ll help you optimize your marketing strategy to achieve your goals.