This guide is a detailed resource for B2B SEO and content marketing teams looking to level up their company’s search presence and achieve tangible results through effective SEO.
Here’s a snapshot of what you’ll learn:
Whether you are building a new B2B SEO strategy or looking to refine your existing one, this guide shares actionable tips to help you navigate the complexities of B2B SEO.
Use the ToC below to jump to a chapter of your choice.
B2B SEO is the practice of optimizing a business’s website content and site structure to attract target business accounts through search engines like Google and Bing. The goal is to generate more visibility on search engines, and ultimately drive more leads and sales by targeting key decision-makers and influencers within the industry.
For example, this could mean a CTO searching for “data visualization software” or a startup founder searching for “payroll software”. By investing in B2B SEO, such software companies could get their website content in front of these decision-makers and potentially generate interest, free trials, or demo sign-ups.
There are four key areas of SEO that you need to focus on for an effective, well-rounded B2B SEO strategy. These are:
All these aspects have significant overlap, and together, they make up a holistic B2B SEO strategy.
Now, you may also be wondering: how does B2B SEO differ from B2C SEO?
While the above fundamental aspects of SEO remain the same, there are some nuances that make B2B SEO a bit different and more challenging.
The primary difference between B2B and B2C SEO lies in the target audience and the nature of the purchasing decisions.
The B2B sales funnel is significantly more intricate than its B2C counterpart. It’s not only longer but also typically involves multiple stakeholders, making the purchasing process more complex.
For instance, consider the simplicity of purchasing a pair of new running shoes versus the complexities involved in an enterprise acquiring new product management software — the difference is stark. This complexity necessitates that B2B marketers have a deep understanding of their audience, allowing them to capture targeted traffic at every stage of the customer journey.
Unlike B2C, where keywords often have broad appeal and high search volumes, B2B keywords are niche and highly specific, leading to lower search volumes.
For instance, see below the search volumes for “product management software” against “running shoes.”
Notice the monumental difference in search volumes?
So, in B2B SEO, you really need to nail your keyword research and targeting to account for high-value, low-volume keywords.
Put simply, effective B2B SEO requires precise keyword research to identify terms that attract a specific audience and guide them through the sales funnel.
As you just saw, B2C SEO involves playing with keywords that have much higher search volumes. And fewer decision-makers. Thus, SEO efforts are more likely to pay off in terms of turning a chunk of those visitors into customers. It’s a numbers game, really.
Whereas in the case of B2B SEO, you’re dealing with multiple stakeholders, elaborate sales cycles, and higher price points.
This means you should not expect to convert cold organic traffic into immediate sales. Instead, the focus should be on attracting traffic that aligns closely with your business’s products and nurturing these leads through detailed, informative content and resources.
Lastly, since B2B buyers are unlikely to convert on their first website visit, B2B SEO is more about embedding your brand in the potential customer’s memory than immediate conversions.
As a B2B company, SEO is all about consistently appearing in search results for queries related to your industry, helping to build familiarity and trust. Demonstrating thought leadership through blogging, podcasts, guest posting, webinars, etc. establishes your brand as an authority in your niche and builds the confidence potential customers need before they reach out for more direct engagement.
These are some key challenges with B2B SEO that you need to take into account. But with a strategic approach (which we’ll walk you through in the coming chapters), you can tackle them and ensure your SEO efforts are worth your while.
On-page, off-page, and technical SEO — coupled with content marketing — is indeed a considerable (and consistent) investment of time and effort.
But when you consider these B2B SEO statistics (curated from multiple, credible studies), it’s undoubtedly worth it. Here are some highlights:
Here are just a few of the many reasons why big B2B brands prefer SEO as their primary marketing channel.
SEO stands out as a long-term strategy meant to build and maintain a sustainable source of traffic. Unlike paid advertising which stops the moment funding is pulled, SEO continues to drive traffic long after the initial effort is put in.
This makes SEO a cost-effective strategy for businesses, especially in B2B markets where long sales cycles are the norm. By investing in SEO, you can ensure a steady inflow of potential customers finding their way to your website organically.
When sales cycles are longer and decisions are heavily researched, visibility and credibility are paramount. SEO helps by positioning your brand prominently in search results for relevant queries.
This visibility not only increases traffic but also enhances the perceived stature and trustworthiness of your company. A high ranking in search results signals to potential customers that your company is a leader in its field, which is crucial for making that first strong impression.
Effective SEO is highly targeted. It allows you to reach potential customers at various stages of the buying process with tailored content that meets their specific needs and questions.
This precise targeting capability of SEO is particularly valuable in B2B marketing, where understanding the nuanced needs of various stakeholders in the buying process is critical. SEO enables you to create and optimize content that caters to these specific audiences, improving the quality of lead generation.
Content marketing and SEO are synergistic. High-quality, valuable content is crucial for good SEO, and SEO research provides insights that can guide content creation, making it more effective. For B2B companies, where educational and informational content plays a critical role in the sales process, SEO can greatly enhance the reach and impact of such content.
By aligning content strategy with keyword strategy, you can ensure that your content not only reaches but also resonates with the right audience, driving engagement and conversions.
As a SaaS SEO and content marketing agency, we’ve been in the B2B SEO trenches for over six years. We have helped 40+ B2B brands organically scale their business via SEO-backed content marketing.
For instance, we’ve helped Mind the Graph — an infographic design SaaS for the scientific and research niche — successfully increase organic traffic by over 200%, doubling its referring domains, and achieving a 40% rise in the number of organic keywords ranked. Our SEO strategy included revamping the website architecture, developing a targeted content production plan, optimizing content, and improving their backlink profile. Feel free to read the detailed case study.
The point is: done right, B2B SEO can drive incredible results in terms of better rankings and reach, ultimately leading to more leads (no pun intended) and sales.
For B2B SEO to work, you need to lay strong groundwork. In this chapter, we’ll walk you through the key steps of building a buyer persona, conducting keyword research, and a technical SEO audit to ensure your efforts are pointed in the right direction.
Your buyer persona is a clear illustration of your ideal customers — the decision makers at your target companies — that embodies their characteristics, based on real data and some select educated speculation.
To develop buyer personas, you need to gather data from customer interviews, sales team feedback, and market research. Consider both quantitative and qualitative data, such as demographics, job roles, industries, company sizes, challenges, and business needs.
Semrush’s free buyer persona tool can help streamline the persona creation process by guiding you through a series of steps to define and understand your target audience’s preferences and behavior patterns.
This foundational step helps you clearly define who your SEO efforts are targeting and align your content creation with their expectations and the specific phases of their buying journey.
Effective keyword research is fundamental for crafting a B2B SEO strategy that puts your brand in front of potential customers at each stage of their buying journey.
Here’s how to approach keyword research, from narrowing down high-intent, bottom-of-the-funnel keywords (buyer keywords) to broadening the scope with top-of-the-funnel keywords (informational keywords).
Start by identifying keywords that signal buying intent. These are typically long-tail, more specific phrases that indicate readiness to purchase, such as “best project management software for agencies” or “recruitment CRM pricing comparison.”
These keywords tend to have lower search volumes but higher conversion rates because they target decision-makers with a high buying intent. Creating detailed yet focused content around these keywords can be just the nudge needed for turning those visitors into sign-ups.
Once you’ve targeted those closer to a purchase, expand your research to top-of-the-funnel keywords. These are broader and more informational, aimed at building brand awareness and capturing interest at the initial stages of the buyer’s journey.
Examples include “project management tips” or “what is CRM software”. These keywords help you attract a larger audience (due to a higher search volume) that might be in the awareness or consideration stages.
When narrowing down your keywords list, consider the following metrics to ensure effectiveness:
Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Semrush to analyze all these metrics.
By covering both ends of the funnel and considering these key metrics, you can more effectively align your SEO strategy with the actual needs and behaviors of your target audience, thereby increasing the relevance and impact of your content.
After identifying your top-of-funnel and bottom-of-funnel keywords, the next step is to organize these keywords into a structured content strategy known as the pillar-cluster model. This strategy helps streamline your SEO efforts and aligns your content creation with user intent at various stages of the buying journey.
Begin by defining several broad topics relevant to your business — these are your pillar pages. Pillar content should provide a comprehensive overview of a topic and include top-of-funnel keywords that attract a broad audience. These pillars serve as the foundation for more detailed cluster content.
Each pillar topic is supported by cluster content that delves into specific aspects of the topic. Use your bottom-of-the-funnel keywords to create these detailed cluster pages.
They should address specific queries and pain points, providing in-depth answers that lead back to the pillar content through hyperlinks. This interlinking helps boost SEO by showing search engines the semantic relationship between the broader topic and the more detailed subtopics.
By linking all related cluster content back to its corresponding pillar page, you enhance the authority of the pillar page around its central topic, improving its visibility and ranking in search engine results. This organized linking structure not only helps search engines crawl your site more efficiently but also improves the user experience by providing a clear, intuitive navigation path through your content.
Consider our hypothetical product management software example from earlier.
In this case, one of the pillar pieces might be titled “A Comprehensive Guide to Product Management,” covering broad aspects relevant to potential users at the top of the funnel. This pillar page would include sections on the what, why, and how of product management, along with relevant tools and resources, using top-of-the-funnel keywords like “what is product management” and “benefits of product management tools.”
Cluster content could then include detailed articles like “X Best Practices for Integrating Product Management Software with Existing Tools,” “How to Choose the Right Product Management Software for Your Business,” and “Advanced Features of Product Management Software to Enhance Team Collaboration.” These articles would target more specific, bottom-of-the-funnel keywords and link back to the main pillar page, strengthening the pillar’s authority and improving SEO for those targeted keywords.
A technical SEO audit ensures that your website is optimized for search engine crawling and indexing.
Here are the key aspects of technical SEO you need to focus on:
These are just a few of the many aspects of technical SEO you need to evaluate for your site. Tools like Screaming Frog SEO Spider and Google Search Console will come in handy to properly analyze your website’s crawlability and indexability, duplicate content issues, and various other aspects. To dive deeper, read the second chapter on technical SEO audits in our extensive guide to technical SEO.
To sum up, by carefully addressing these foundational elements, you set the stage for a B2B SEO strategy that enables you to attract the right audience and provide them with an engaging experience. This foundation supports all subsequent SEO efforts, from content creation to link building and beyond.
Before we get into the how of creating content to reinforce your B2B SEO efforts, you need to ensure your most important landing pages are optimized for SEO and conversions.
Because ranking high on SERPs and driving traffic is great. But your end goal is to convert users and drive sales — so your landing pages need to be in their best shape to do that.
Let’s take a quick look at some key action areas for enhancing on-page SEO and user experience (UX) to drive better engagement and conversions.
Organize information logically using headers and subheaders. Break down product features and benefits into bulleted lists for easier consumption, and ensure that each section clearly conveys one main idea to avoid overwhelming the reader.
Perform keyword research (as discussed above) to find terms your target audience is searching for. Incorporate these keywords into critical elements like the title tag, meta description, headings, and throughout the content in a natural, reader-friendly manner.
Place CTAs prominently on the page, use contrasting colors to draw attention, and use imperative, value-driven language that tells users exactly what they will get by clicking, such as “Start a Free Trial” or “Download the Guide.”
Include high-quality product images, annotated screenshots, GIFs, and/or videos that demonstrate the product in action. Ensure media is optimized for fast loading and is relevant to the accompanying text.
Embed customer testimonials, user reviews, case studies, trust badges (such as from platforms like G2, Trustpilot, etc.), and client logos. Link to detailed case studies or third-party review sites for users seeking more in-depth validation.
Optimize image sizes, utilize caching, and minimize the use of heavy scripts. Regularly test and tweak the page based on insights from speed optimization tools such as PageSpeed Insights. Use responsive design principles to adjust layouts, text sizes, and interactive elements for mobile screens. Test functionality and usability on various devices to ensure consistent user experiences.
For inspiration, here are the landing pages the snippets of you which you see above:
Emulate these B2B product landing pages in terms of structure, content, and performance, and you’re solid.
Effective B2B content creation hinges on a deep understanding of your audience, building on the insights gained from keyword research discussed in the third chapter.
Let’s look at how you can craft B2B blog content that directly addresses the specific stages of your buyers’ journey.
Specifically, we’re talking about product-led content.
While not specific to bottom-of-the-funnel topics, product-led content is a strategic approach to B2B content creation where the product is intricately woven into the narrative. This type of content uses the product to illustrate key points, solve problems, or help the audience achieve their goals more effectively. It’s not merely about showcasing the product, but about integrating it into the content in a way that feels natural and adds value to the reader.
Product-led content is particularly beneficial because it introduces potential customers to your product in a context that demonstrates its value and utility. This early exposure can help anchor the product in the minds of prospects as a viable solution to their problems, easing the path to conversion. For existing customers, it reinforces the product’s usefulness and can uncover additional ways to leverage the product, enhancing customer retention.
Here’s a great example of product-led content done right: Enterprise SEO Challenges & Mistakes You Need To Overcome
Besides product-led content, here are three key types of bottom-of-the-funnel B2B SaaS content you can focus on:
Illustrate how your product has successfully resolved challenges faced by similar customers.
Use a storytelling approach to describe the customer’s problem, the process of solution implementation, and the benefits realized. Include quotes from the customer and specific results to add authenticity and impact.
Here’s a neat example of a B2B case study: How Nutrisense grew its social media community by over 400% with help from Sprout Social
Differentiate your product from competitors by highlighting unique features and benefits.
Structure the content to directly compare features, pricing, and performance with competitors. Use charts, graphs, and bulleted lists for clear, visual comparisons. Ensure all information is up-to-date and factually accurate.
For inspiration, check this comparison post out: Canto Software vs. Brandfolder: Compare Two Top-Rated DAMs
These demonstrate how specific features of your product work and how they can be used to solve industry-specific problems.
Create detailed, step-by-step guides that explain how to use these features. Include screenshots, videos, and practical examples to enhance understanding and engagement.
For all types of bottom-of-the-funnel content, it is crucial to maintain a clear focus on conversion. Include strong, clear calls to action, such as “Schedule a Demo,” “Start Your Free Trial,” or “Contact Sales,” to guide the reader to the next step in the customer journey.
Top-of-the-funnel content is designed to attract and educate potential customers at the earliest stage of their buyer’s journey. This type of content aims to establish your brand as a thought leader and a trusted resource, paving the way for deeper engagement.
There are plenty of types of ToFu content (ranging from infographics to free tools), and here are a few of the most impactful ToFu content formats you should focus on:
Good ol’ blog articles and listicles (think “X Tips to…” or “X Best Tools for…”) help capture interest and educate readers on relevant topics.
Focus on broad topics that relate to your industry or customer challenges. Even when writing for a B2B audience, use a conversational, informative tone. Ensure that each post is optimized for relevant keywords but prioritize readability and value. Blog posts should provide actionable insights or introduce new perspectives that encourage further exploration.
Check out this example of a ToFu blog post: 8 Key Steps for Creating an Effective B2B Integrated Marketing Campaign
Long-form pillar guides serve as a comprehensive resource on a particular subject.
For these, choose broader topics that are extensive enough to warrant deep dives. Organize the content with a clear structure (introduction, main body, conclusion, FAQs), and include internal links to related articles and external links to authoritative sources.
Incorporate images, videos, infographics to break up text and enhance understanding. Pillar pages should not only inform but also engage users, prompting them to explore related topics through well-placed internal links.
Here’s a great example of a long-form guide: How to Use Instagram: A Beginner’s Guide [Expert Insights + New Data]
Publishing original studies, surveys, insights, and data is the best way to produce unique content that establishes your company’s credibility and authority.
While a time-intensive strategy, if you can survey your existing customers, use internal company data, or compile industry data to create compelling narratives or uncover trends — you’re bound to rank high on the SERP and gain links from relevant websites.
Present your original research with clear methodologies and visually through charts and graphs. Make sure to highlight key findings early to grab attention and encourage sharing. Here’s an example of this in action: SaaS market report for May 2024: Growth predictions for B2B & B2C
Utilize SEO tools and insights from Chapter 3 to integrate keywords that improve discoverability without compromising the content’s educational value. Continuously analyze the performance of your top-of-the-funnel content. Use metrics like page views, time on page, and social shares to gauge interest and refine your future content strategy.
In general, focus on producing well-researched, thorough content rather than high volumes of lesser quality. Quality content is more likely to earn backlinks, increasing its reach and impact. This brings us to the next chapter.
Building backlinks is a crucial component of SEO.
Backlinks are a major ranking factor for Google, in particular. They signal to Google that other websites consider your content valuable and trustworthy, and thus your site’s rankings deserve a bump.
Moreover, quality backlinks from high-traffic websites can lead directly to increased site visits. Being featured on reputable sites can enhance your brand’s visibility and credibility in your industry. Plus, link building often involves reaching out to established publishers and influencers, which can help establish valuable industry relationships.
So, without a doubt, the efficacy of your B2B SEO strategy hinges on having high-quality, relevant websites linking to yours. Here are a few battle-tested ways to make that happen:
Let’s consider our hypothetical product management software example.
In this case, you begin by digging up reputable product management blogs and niche publications that accept guest articles. Here’s how:
Ensure your article submissions are all about actionable insights and naturally incorporate a link back to your content or specific landing page.
Besides gaining you valuable SEO links, guest posting enhances your visibility among product professionals and drives relevant traffic to your site.
Quick Tips: Focus on creating insightful, actionable content. Integrating a natural link back to your site can drive qualified traffic and establish your brand’s authority in the product management space. Regular contributions can solidify your reputation as a thought leader, continuously drawing visibility to your brand.
Use tools like Ahrefs Site Explorer to find broken links on other websites, such as product management blogs and resource pages.
Once you find a broken link, offer a valuable replacement for the broken link with content that adds substantial value, such as a comprehensive article on “Product Backlogs.” This method not only secures a backlink but also fosters professional relationships, enhancing your network within the industry.
Quick Tips: Always approach with courtesy, focusing on how replacing the broken link benefits their audience. Provide an easy way for them to see the value in updating their content with your link.
Build and launch free resources such as a product management checklist or template that professionals can use. Promote these tools in your blog content, forums (like relevant Subreddits), and LinkedIn.
Tools that offer real value can naturally attract backlinks from niche blogs, industry sites, and even competitors.
For instance, Gusto, a payroll software offers a free tool to calculate hiring costs for a new employee.
As you can see below, it has a total of 127 backlinks presently that have been growing on autopilot in the past year.
Quick Tips: Ensure the tools are user-friendly and include features like social sharing and email-a-colleague to facilitate reach.
As we touched upon earlier, conducting and publishing research on relevant product management industry issues can position your brand as a data-driven authority.
For example, Gusto effectively employs this approach by utilizing their economists to analyze extensive data collected from the hundreds of businesses using their platform. This research focuses on identifying and elucidating emerging trends, which aids small businesses in maximizing their operational efficiency. Their findings have been recognized and cited by leading academic institutions, policymakers, and prominent media outlets, resulting in valuable backlinks and mentions from high-authority websites.
Gusto enhances their research by also providing interactive, real-time data visualizations on key metrics like remote work trends, hiring and termination rates, and average hourly earnings using Tableau.
Quick Tips: Amplify the reach of your research by issuing press releases, engaging with your audience on social media, and sending tailored summaries to prominent industry influencers who might reference your findings in their own work.
Generate and share newsworthy stories about your product’s unique features or significant updates.
Use digital PR platforms like Cision PRWeb to craft and distribute press releases, ensuring your news reaches the right audience.
Effective digital PR can result in valuable backlinks from respected news outlets and prominent industry blogs, significantly boosting both SEO and brand visibility.
Quick Tips: Tailor your pitches to journalists who specialize in product management technology, offering them exclusive insights or data to increase the appeal of your stories. Provide clear, direct links to pages on your site that expand on the news item.
There are a lot more link building strategies you can use. To dive deeper into each of these methods (and more), check out our guide to link building.
SEO is a continuous process, not a set it and forget it activity. In this chapter, we’ll discuss some tips for tracking your SEO performance and maintaining the efficacy of your efforts over time.
Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential for measuring the success of your SEO strategy and making data-driven decisions.
Focus on metrics that directly reflect your SEO goals such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, click-through rates (CTR), backlink growth, and conversion rates from organic search.
Utilize Google Analytics for traffic and behavior analysis, Google Search Console for search performance, and Ahrefs or Semrush for backlink and keyword tracking. Set up custom dashboards that integrate data from these sources to provide a comprehensive view of your SEO health.
Furthermore, schedule monthly or quarterly reviews of these KPIs to assess progress, identify trends, and adjust strategies as necessary. This ongoing analysis helps in pinpointing successful tactics and areas needing improvement.
SEO is a continuous process, not a set it and forget it activity. In this chapter, we’ll discuss some tips for tracking your SEO performance and maintaining the efficacy of your efforts over time.
Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) is essential for measuring the success of your SEO strategy and making data-driven decisions.
Focus on metrics that directly reflect your SEO goals such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, click-through rates (CTR), backlink growth, and conversion rates from organic search.
Utilize Google Analytics for traffic and behavior analysis, Google Search Console for search performance, and Ahrefs or Semrush for backlink and keyword tracking. Set up custom dashboards that integrate data from these sources to provide a comprehensive view of your SEO health.
Furthermore, schedule monthly or quarterly reviews of these KPIs to assess progress, identify trends, and adjust strategies as necessary. This ongoing analysis helps in pinpointing successful tactics and areas needing improvement.
Maximizing the reach and utility of your content involves adapting it into various formats and updating it to remain relevant.
We have detailed articles that cover the nitty gritty of content refreshing and repurposing, feel free to go through them:
“Brand-building content” refers to content that not only educates and engages but also effectively communicates your brand’s core values, mission, and unique selling propositions. This content type is crucial for establishing your company’s identity, enhancing recognition, and fostering trust with your audience.
In the era of AI Overviews — where Google creates content from indexed data to provide immediate answers on search results pages — it’s increasingly important to focus on a brand-centric rather than solely SEO-driven content strategy.
AI features, including Google’s AI Overviews, tend to prioritize content from established brands recognized for reliability and authority. This is often due to the perceived trustworthiness and high-quality content such brands consistently produce, aligning well with search engine standards for accuracy and authority.
Here are some tips to enhance your brand-building content in the AI-driven SEO landscape:
By implementing these tips, you can effectively shift your focus towards creating brand-building content that not only appeals to your human audience but also performs well in AI Overviews.
If you’ve read so far, you’re now aware of the essential components of a successful B2B SEO strategy, from understanding the basics of SEO and its importance in the B2B context to developing targeted content and building a resilient backlink profile.
Whether it’s creating valuable bottom-of-the-funnel content that aims to convert or top-of-the-funnel content that educates and engages, the quality of your content directly impacts your SEO success (and you’re in the right place if you need help with that). Ultimately, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint. Patience and persistence are your best friends for long-term success.
Pratik Dholakiya is the Founder of Growfusely, a SaaS content marketing agency specializing in content and data-driven SEO.
Let's find out if we're the SaaS content marketing company you’re looking for.
