B2B SEO Is Evolving – How Can Your Business Keep Up?

Business purchases tend to involve more research, more decision makers, and more consideration. This results in a longer buying cycle with more convoluted customer journeys.

Advertising on top-of-funnel (discovery) terms could quickly become expensive. Media budgets might be put to better use elsewhere. Organic search listings are free, making them a great alternative to position a company’s website in front of users searching for information at the early stages of the buying journey.

SEO enables B2B firms to grow quickly by offering a number of advantages. These include:

1. Increased visibility in online searches for a wide variety of queries ranging from research about a topic to questions about a particular issue;
2. Cost savings compared to pay per click search advertising, and the longevity of organic search rankings;
3. Engaging potential leads earlier in their buying journey rather than only when they are ready to make a purchase.

The last point is an especially important one for B2B, as a competitor that’s present throughout the evaluation process is more likely to build trust than a brand that’s only present at the end of the decision-making process.

Organic search shouldn’t be seen as just a top-of-funnel activity. Implementing effective SEO strategies can unlock new markets and audiences while also increasing sales over time. The ideal strategy combines both paid and organic placement at various stages.

Marketing strategies for B2B firms that offer professional services will obviously differ from those selling business consumables or SaaS. However, the following core components of a successful B2B SEO strategy remain the same for all sectors:

• Technical SEO: Creating a search-friendly site is fundamental. This means ensuring all your content is tagged semantically, can be indexed and categorised appropriately, and  is delivered in the right language and currency.
  • Capabilities needed: Strong HTML & CSS knowledge, experience working with XML and JSON, familiarity with the content management system.
• Keyword strategy: The biggest advantage of SEO in a B2B context is the ability to target a wide range of search terms at relatively low cost. For example, CPCs for ‘enterprise cloud backup’ keywords can go over £50. Ranking organically for upper-funnel terms in this case could save thousands. Identifying the most important keywords in each market and optimising content to rank for these terms can make the difference between rapid growth and insolvency.
  • Capabilities needed: Native-language fluency for each market targeted, familiarity with local trends, experience working with Google Keyword Planner and other keyword research tools.
• Content creation: Once the keyword strategy has been determined, existing content must be optimised or new content created to provide helpful information for potential customers. Scaling content creation for SEO is often a challenge for B2B companies, especially large enterprises operating in multiple countries, and finding solutions that facilitate this is critical for the success of the SEO strategy. There may be a temptation to use AI for content generation, but this should be handled with extreme caution, as modern search engines can also detect content that’s generated by AI.
  • Capabilities needed: Copywriting in each language, understanding of SEO fundamentals, video / image / audio production where multimedia content is involved.
• Link growth: Acquiring high quality backlinks from authoritative sites at a steady pace can significantly improve the chances of ranking organically for competitive keywords. This requires an on-going digital PR strategy, and cannot just be a one-off exercise. For multinational businesses, it’s often important to run link building campaigns in each local market, alongside the always-on campaigns.
  • Capabilities needed: Connections with local journalists, bloggers, and thought leaders, copywriting in each language, email marketing, networking to build and maintain connections.
• Measurement: Organic search impressions and clicks, keyword rankings, and core web vitals are some of the most important metrics to measure the SEO strategy’s performance. This data will help identify areas of improvement.
  • Capabilities needed: Expertise with GA4 (see our top 10 GA4 reports for SEO) or other visitor analytics tools, familiarity with Google Search Console.