B2B SEO: How to start the B2B SEO strategy
Businesses don’t Google products or services, people do. Whether you are marketing to a B2B or B2C target audience, the biggest notion to remember is that people will purchase these products or services.
What is B2B marketing?
Business to Business (B2B) marketing refers to marketing strategies that are targeting other businesses and organizations. Any company that sells products or services to another business versus consumers is considered a B2B.
B2B marketing strategies when it comes to SEO will be a bit different than the B2C marketing efforts.
Business to Consumers (B2C) marketing strategies are marketing directly towards consumers, but not consumers making business decisions. When it comes to B2C marketing, it can be easier than B2B only because the consumers are making decisions about the products right now.
On the other hand, B2B marketing’s sales funnel is known to take longer than the B2C sales funnel. This is because a B2B consumer is purchasing products for a business or organization which means they have the consider these products and services for longer periods of time.
The awareness stage can be longer for B2B marketing, the interest and desire can build up over time before they finally take the final action.
A great example of this is when a marketer hires our Colorado SEO services for their nonprofit, organization, or small business.
As Over Think Group states, “B2B SEO is the science of reaching professionals via search engines. This can include a CMO searching for an ‘omnichannel marketing.’ A startup founder searching for ‘HR software.’ A facilities director searching for “sound masking.’ A surgeon searching for most comfortable surgical gloves.’”
In all of these search inquiries, the consumer is searching for products or services with the intention of utilizing them within their business efforts.
This matters to SEO because the entire strategy should be directed towards your target audience.
These are the strategies that can help create the best B2B SEO strategy for your company.
1. Research pain points
Successful B2B marketing starts by doing research to ensure that the marketing efforts are in demand while answering the problems of your audience. If the target audience is searching for HR software, what is different about the software you offer versus others on the market?
Answer the pain points to understand what the consumers are really wanted and needed from this software. A great way to understand how you stand out against the competition is to send surveys out or interview current customers to understand why they went with your HR software over the competition.
2. The importance of long-tail keywords
There are two different types of keywords that Colorado SEO services implement within every B2B SEO strategy. There are short-tail and long-tail keywords.
Short-tail keywords with higher-volume opportunities that are shorter phrases. A great example of this would be “HR software”. There are millions of results that populate with this high-volume keyword.
On the other hand, long-tail keywords are lower-volume opportunities with longer phrases. A great example of this would be, “the best HR software”. This still populates about 971K results. While this is still a large number of search results, the volume of this keyword is only 10 out of 100.
Why would you want long-tail keywords just as much, if not more than short-tail keywords? This is because a smaller more qualified amount of website traffic will come from those long-tail keywords because they are searching for those exact keywords.
3. Content development
This content should be developed around each stage of the sales funnel that this target audience will go through as they work down the funnel. Whether it is the awareness stage or right before their final decision, keywords, an understanding of your audience, and content development should all be around each of these decisions.
- What are the problems they face?
- What are the solutions?
- How can you be the solution?
- What sets you apart from the competition?
- What are the biggest selling points?
These questions and others should be part of a strong content development strategy in regards to the B2B SEO strategy.
Remember, that just because you sell products and services to other businesses does not mean those businesses themselves are searching for those products and services. Are you speaking to the CMO? The CFO? The C-Suites? Each piece of information should be strategically developed for each persona for each stage of the sales funnel.
This can be quite the undertaking for any company out there, and those without an internal marketing team could find themselves struggling. (Even those with an internal marketing team.) For those searching for Colorado SEO services, contact our SEO experts today.