The ultimate guide to B2B SEO success

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a tried and proven marketing strategy. The premise is pretty straightforward too. You only need your website to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) than your competitors. And there are lots of ways you can do that.

However, quite a lot goes into orchestrating successful SEO strategies. For B2B businesses, especially, SEO success relies on carefully executed tactics. In other words, B2B SEO can get complicated fast.

That’s why we’ve prepared this A-Z guide on B2B SEO. In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What SEO really means in the B2B space
• Why B2B SEO is such a big deal
• How B2B SEO differs from B2C SEO
• Proven tactics for high-impact B2B SEO
• How to maintain and scale your SEO efforts
• What B2B SEO success looks like

Let’s get started.

What is B2B SEO?

SEO is basically a means to leverage organic online traffic from search engines. Take Google, for example, the largest search engine. Google alone accounts for 63.41% of all web traffic referrals in the US.

Most online experiences actually start with a web search. Chances are, most of your web visitors will likely come from search engines. For example, when someone searches something related to your business, Google will present your website in its SERP.

However, search engines care that their users get the most relevant information or resources based on their search. So, they don’t just pick websites out of a hat. Instead, they use complicated algorithms to determine the most useful results for each search query.

And that’s where SEO comes in.

SEO simply means making your website more search-friendly. It involves enhancing the site’s technical elements, content, and branding in order to feature in relevant SERPs.

With B2B SEO, it’s all about connecting with the relevant audience. If you deal in medical supplies, for example, you want to be seen by hospitals, pharmacies, clinics, etc. By presenting your brand to the right businesses, SEO can help you to:

• Spread brand awareness
• Establish your niche in the B2B market
• Generate and nurture leads
• Build credibility and trust around your brand
• Turn leads into long-term B2B customers

Any B2B business can get in on SEO too. SEO works for just about any B2B enterprise, including those in the tech, commodities, energy, and professional services industries.

What’s more, you don’t even have to sell anything online. SEO is closely tied to e-commerce, especially in consumer markets. But that’s not always the case with B2B SEO. It could just be a way to boost your online visibility. SEO offers you the opportunity to tell other businesses who you are and what you can do for them.

Why B2B SEO matters

Is SEO really all that important for B2B companies?

Well, yes, B2B SEO matters a great deal.

It’s easy to dismiss SEO as just another digital marketing fad that’s far too noisy and flashy for the otherwise restrained B2B scene. But actually, if done correctly, SEO has a firm place in B2B online marketing.

In fact, SEO is the dominant marketing strategy in B2B markets. One report points out that SEO is a top marketing tactic with nearly 50% of B2B companies. And in a 2023 survey, 54% of B2B companies reported they were planning to increase their website budget for the next year in the name of brand communication.

Clearly, many B2B marketers have a soft spot for SEO. And the reason for that is simple—SEO works. Here’s what makes SEO such an attractive marketing effort for B2B businesses:

Initializes the B2B customer journey

The B2B customer journey is often long and winding. A single purchase or partnership can involve long and frequent back-and-forth with multiple decision-makers. And for the most part, there’s little you can do to rush the long sales cycles.

However, SEO can help you capture the attention of key decision-makers early on and streamline the customer journey. Since you’re not cold-pitching to executives, showcasing your brand’s merits becomes much easier.

Leverages the vast online audience

SEO is an excellent source of B2B leads. And high-quality leads too—businesses that actually want to work with you.

McKinsey’s research discovered a massive shift toward online interactions among B2B decision-makers after the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more B2B customers are researching businesses online and even interacting and buying from them remotely.

SEO allows you to leverage this evolving B2B interaction and purchase behavior. It exposes your brand to businesses actually interested in the products or services you offer.

Barely costs a thing

Search engine optimization has nothing to do with advertising. So, there’s no exorbitant and recurring ad spend.

On top of that, most SEO strategies, like publishing content, researching keywords, and optimizing site performance, are relatively low-cost. Best of all, these are long-term SEO strategies. Once you’ve set everything in place, it’s just a matter of periodic housekeeping.

Builds trust and credibility

It’s no secret that ads get considerably fewer clicks than organic results. People, and businesses especially, trust organic results and the brands behind them. SEO is all about that organic search visibility, which helps establish your brand as credible and trustworthy.

Trust building continues after a lead clicks on your site. Ensure the content showcases your brand’s expertise, quality, and competence in what it does. This will further reinforce your business as an authority in its niche.

Supplements other marketing efforts

SEO works hand in hand with other digital marketing strategies.

For example, organic search exposure can be a launching pad for strategic email marketing. Once leads are drawn to your site, you can then collect their email addresses and start meaningful conversations.

The same goes for launching the B2B customer journey. Have the leads on your site fill out forms or converse with a chatbot. You want to find out who they are and what they’re looking for. And that right there might be the start of a long-term B2B collaboration.

B2B SEO vs. B2C SEO

Fundamentally, B2B SEO is no different from B2C SEO. There’s no special search algorithm for B2B businesses. The ranking and visibility work the same for both B2B and B2C results. Plus, the end goals are more or less the same.

However, in practice, B2B SEO is very different from B2C SEO. Here are five reasons why the B2B approach is unique:

Target audience

The main distinction between B2B SEO and B2C SEO is, of course, the target audience. Pursuing businesses is a whole different ball game than chasing individual consumers.

B2B customers prioritize value over everything else. They’ll want to know exactly what your brand brings to the table. So, you must create highly informative content that demonstrates that value. Remember, to the business, you’re not just a supplier or service provider. Most B2B customers seek strategic long-term partners who solve their unique challenges.

On the other hand, most direct consumers buy with their hearts. It’s no wonder most B2C SEO strategies try to appeal to the buyer’s emotions.

Lengthy buying journey

As we mentioned earlier, businesses take their time before arriving at a purchase decision. The decision-making process can take days, months, or even years, depending on what’s at stake.

That’s something you have to account for in your B2B SEO strategy. SEO might not even be a big part of the customer journey. It should serve as the initial contact point for the buyer’s research and correspondence. That is to say that your SEO efforts should not be focused on super-fast conversions.

It’s very different from B2C SEO. In this case, you want to grab the leads’ attention and convert them as quickly as possible. For this reason, B2C SEO is more punchy and fast-paced.

Low search volume keywords

B2B keywords tend to be more informational and technical, with pretty low online search volumes.

Let’s go back to our earlier medical supplier example. If your business delivers medical supplies to healthcare facilities, these are some of the keywords you might want to consider:

• “Nursing accessories wholesale”

• “Surgical supply distributors”

• “Nursing medical supply”

These do not exactly roll off the tongue. And there are not that many people querying Google for such terms. It takes deep research to determine the most relevant keywords for a particular B2B niche.

Keywords in B2C SEO are more transactional in nature. These are your “buy now,” “clearance sale,” “sign up today,” etc. Such keywords have high search volumes and are easy to incorporate into web copy, though they’re often highly competitive.

Metrics and KPIs

B2B SEO is focused on generating and nurturing leads. Meanwhile, B2C SEO is more about conversions and sales—getting site visitors through a brief sales funnel.

With B2B SEO, you’re aiming to connect with key business decision-makers. The goal here is not to push for a sale right away but to convince the customer that your brand would be a great addition to their portfolio.

So, it might not be fair to judge B2B SEO performance using sales figures. It’s more reasonable to look at the number of quality leads gathered.

Content formats

The nature and delivery of content in B2B SEO are also different. B2C SEO content such as product descriptions, reviews, social posts, and ads rarely work with B2B audiences. B2B SEO relies on richer, in-depth, and more refined content such as:

• White papers
• Case studies
• Webinars
• Newsletters
• Research papers
• Survey reports

The content must be highly tactical, truthful, and informative. You need such content to create awareness around the problem your business solves, educate prospects about your offerings, and foster long-term customer relationships.

B2B SEO strategy

Let’s get down to business. What does it take to build a successful B2B SEO strategy?

The first thing you should know is that SEO is a multifaceted marketing approach. It involves a number of strategies leading up to a common goal. For simplicity, we’ve broken down B2B SEO into seven distinct steps.

1. Set your goals What do you want to get out of your SEO campaign?Perhaps you want businesses to know about your brand, attract web traffic to your site, grab the attention of fresh prospects, or bring new ideas to light. Whatever it is, your goals will form the basis of your SEO efforts.
2. Conduct keyword research Keyword research is the backbone of any SEO strategy. It’s basically about finding out what phrases or words people search online when looking for businesses like yours or the solutions you provide.B2B SEO keywords are not always so obvious or popular. So, you really have to dig deep to find the most relevant keywords associated with your niche. Luckily, powerful tools such as Ahrefs, Keyword Planner, and Semrush will help you find those obscure, long-tailed, and industry-specific search terms.
3. Create great content Content is king when it comes to SEO. Great content is what wins your site favor with search engines. The more valuable your content, the more likely it is to attract audiences. And that means visitors will spend more time on your site and will likely keep coming back. That alone indicates to search engines that your website is a good recommendation.High-quality content will also help you communicate your marketing or branding message. The various publications can inform, engage, and even persuade business leaders to take action.The trick to great content is ensuring the material resonates with the target audience. Focus on meaningful subject matters that businesses in your niche deeply care about. For example, publish content that recognizes and addresses your customers’ pain points.
4. Take care of on-page SEO On-page SEO means optimizing the structure, elements, and content of your web pages for both users and search engines. It involves the following techniques that make it easier for visitors and search engines to navigate the site:
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5. Adding keyword-rich meta descriptions, meta titles, and headers
6. Formatting content for easy readability
7. Incorporating internal links
8. Optimizing URLs for relevance to their pages
9. Enriching textual content with multimedia such as images and video
10. Including alt text for videos and images
11. Adding a schema markup
12. Get technical There’s a technical side to SEO that involves coding and other aspects of web design and development.The idea of technical SEO is to maximize the site’s performance and user experience. This matters in SEO because site performance and user experience are key SERP ranking signals.Here’s what you can do in terms of technical SEO:
    • Design pages to be responsive and functional on mobile.
    • Optimize the robot.txt file.
    • Create an XML sitemap.
    • Check your site for crawl errors.
    • Fix broken links and 404s.
    • Speed up the site by leveraging caching, optimizing plugins, and compressing media.
    • Implement SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).
    • Prune your site of unnecessary pages, elements, and resources.
13. Build links A backlink is a link on an external site leading back to your site. The more backlinks you have, the stronger your SEO ranking. However, different types of backlinks must come from authoritative sources and, ideally, from businesses or niches related to your own.The best way for link building in the B2B space is by collaborating with other industry players. For instance, you can partner with other businesses on research, hosting events, and marketing content.
14. Consider local SEO Does your business operate within a specified geographical area? If it does, you might want to optimize your site and content for local search.Local SEO helps you target businesses within your service area. Those are the businesses most likely to purchase your products or services.

Here are some tips to maximize your visibility in online searches with local intent:

1. Fill your Google Business page.
2. Cite your business’s name, address, and phone number on every page.
3. Use locale-focused keywords in your URLs, metadata, and content.
4. Add location pages to your site (if you serve more than one area).
5. Participate in local events.

Maintaining and scaling your B2B SEO efforts

SEO is not a one-time task—it requires ongoing refinement and scaling to stay effective. This section explores practical ways to track performance, refresh content, and align SEO efforts with evolving business needs to ensure continuous success.

Track KPIs and analyze results

SEO key performance indicators (KPIs) are the metrics you use to gauge the success of your SEO efforts. There are several metrics you can track, though these five are the most useful in B2B SEO:

• Organic visibility and traffic

Are search engines actually recommending your website to your target audience? You can find this out by tracking impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and overall organic traffic volume on your site.

• Keyword ratings

This metric helps you find out how well your site ranks on SERPs for particular queries. It essentially describes the performance of your selected keywords. Low ratings might indicate changes in search behavior or poor choice of keywords. Either way, you’ll want to rethink your keyword strategy.

• Lead generation

One of the main objectives of B2B SEO is to generate leads. So, are your SEO efforts actually bringing in new prospects?

A lead is any business that expresses interest in your solutions or brand. They can express that interest by sharing their contact information or actually reaching out.

An increase in leads shows that you’re doing everything right. It means your targeting, keywords, and content are spot on.

• Bounce rate

A bounce is a site visitor who exits the site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate indicates that your keywords are not targeting the right queries or that your content/site is not relevant to the target audience. The visitor is coming into your site and quickly realizing it’s not what they were looking for.

• Conversion rate

If you sell B2B services or products online, this might be a useful metric to track. It’s a measure of how many people visit your site versus those who actually end up buying.

A high or growing conversion rate means your SEO strategy is properly aligned with the customer journey.

Repurpose and refresh content to stay relevant

Over time, business opinions, search behavior, and even ranking algorithms change. Such changes can render older content irrelevant, unappealing, outdated, and even counterproductive.

However, some old pieces of content do have some life left in them. So rather than scrap everything, it might be worth sprucing up old material to align with current audiences and developments.

Here are some useful tips on how to keep your SEO content fresh and evergreen:

• Add new keywords.
• Fix broken links and references.
• Update changing facts, statistics, and dates.
• Restructure the content (format, style, flow, media, etc.).
• Enrich old content with captivating visuals.
• Break down long-form content into more digestible bundles.
• Optimize the reading experience for mobile.

Refreshing old material is a quick and low-cost way of extending your content’s life. Updated content piques the audience’s interest. Plus, search engines just love content updates.

Align SEO with brand-building content

As much as content is a ranking factor, remember you’re writing for human readers. More importantly, the content must align with your brand-building strategy.

Publish content that supports your brand as an authority in its niche. We’re talking about content that earns recognition and trust for your brand.

For example, rather than regurgitating the same old ideas and information floating around in your industry, publish bold, new, original insights. Find unique angles to explore old problems and subtly plug your offering as the much-needed solution.

Create content that sets your brand apart by demonstrating thought leadership and problem-solving. Then, consistently carry that messaging and tone across all platforms to reinforce your brand identity.

Scale your strategy for long-term success

Finally, position your SEO strategies for growth. The world of SEO never stands still. The keywords, content, and tactics that work so brilliantly today might not be so effective tomorrow. Plus, as your business grows, your SEO needs are bound to evolve.

Grow your SEO strategies with long-term success in mind. Some of the ways you can do that include:

• Expanding your keyword focus to target new niches
• Building content clusters to reinforce topical authority
• Monitoring algorithm updates and exploring new SEO techniques like voice search optimization
• Continuously measuring and fine-tuning SEO performance

Conclusion

There you have it, a complete guide to successful B2B SEO.

Just to recap, B2B SEO is dynamic and multifaceted. It’s a blend of several digital marketing strategies, including content marketing, keyword research, web design best practices, and search behavior analysis. More importantly, B2B SEO is an ongoing effort requiring constant monitoring and care.

But the rewards are well worth the time and energy. SEO could be the key to bringing your brand to the masses, asserting your industry authority, and forging long-term relationships with strategic business partners.

Jan 10, 2025