6 Important SEO Tips and Strategies of Your B2B Business

Today you’re going to see exactly how to execute a B2B SEO strategy in 2020.

I’ve personally used the steps in this post to grow my B2B Company’s website to over 357,576 search engine visitors per month.

And in this post you’ll learn:

• How B2B SEO works
• How SEO for B2B is different than B2C
• How to create content that turns into leads
• Unique backlink opportunities for B2B businesses
• Lots more

Let’s get started.

What Is B2B SEO?

B2B search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing strategy designed to help B2B website pages rank higher in search engines, like Google and Bing. Unlike SEO for B2C, SEO in the B2B world tends to focus on keywords that key decision makers within companies search for while at work.

B2B SEO vs. B2C SEO

Is SEO in B2B different than B2C?

Kind of.

When it comes to Google’s actual ranking factors, SEO in B2C is exactly the same as B2B. In other words: there’s no “B2B algorithm”. Or any special steps that B2B sites need to rank in Google. And the same SEO best practices that apply to B2C also apply to B2B. But in practice, B2B SEO IS actually very different.

Techniques of B2B SEO:

• Target low volume keywords.
• Publishes content for decision maker.
• Keywords have high CPCs
• Minimal or no Social Media Marketing
• Content is highly tactical

Techniques of B2C SEO:

• Target low volume keywords.
• Publishes content for broad audience.
• Keywords have low CPCs
• Focus on social media marketing
• Content  can be emotional and fun

And here I have pointed out some basic steps for an effective B2B SEO strategy:

Step #1: Build Your Decision Maker Persona

The goal here is to find out WHO you’re going to target with your SEO. In B2C, this “who” is pretty straightforward: it’s your customer. So if you sell tennis shoes, then you’re going to focus your marketing 100% on people that play tennis. But in the B2B world, this step is a little bit more complicated. Your target customer isn’t a person. It’s a business. So you need to figure out WHO inside of that business you need to get in front of. That way, you can figure out what types of things they search for in Google.

Step #2: Choose Your Bottom of the Funnel Keywords

Now that you have your persona, it’s time to figure out how they search for what you sell. In other words: bottom of the funnel keywords. As a quick recap, marketing funnels are a way to visualize the customer journey. In other words: keywords that people search for when they’re ready (or almost ready) to buy.

Here’s how to find bottom of the funnel keywords for B2B.

• The Seed Keywords Engine
• Google Auto complete (This is a simple tactic that’s GREAT for finding long tail keywords.)
• Competitor Keyword Analysis

Step #3: Find Top of the Funnel Topics

Next, it’s time to find a set of top of the funnel keywords and topics. These are keywords that you’ll ultimately create blog content around. For example, check out this example funnel from the delivery logistics industry.

Step #4: Optimize Your Product and Services Pages

Now it’s time to optimize your product and service pages for SEO. Specifically, you want to optimize each page around one of the bottom of the funnel keywords. To be clear: on-page optimization is a massive topic. If you want to nerd out, I recommend checking out my on page SEO tips.

But if you just want the 80/20 tasks that will give you the biggest bang for your buck, I recommend these 3 strategies for optimizing B2B landing pages.

1. 100% Unique Content

Every single landing page needs 100% hand-written unique content. Otherwise, you’ll run into issues with duplicate content. And your pages won’t rank.

• Long-Form Content

Most B2B landing pages are SUPER thin. Most of them only have 50-100 words of content. I can tell you from experience: these super short pages are tough to rank. There just isn’t enough content there for Google to fully understand the page. So I recommend beefing up your key landing pages with 500, 1000 or even 2000 words of content.

• Smart Keyword Usage

Yes, you want to include your target keyword several times on your landing page. But I don’t recommend cramming your keyword 100x into your page. That can do more harm than good.

Instead, you want to use your keyword strategically.

• Mention your keyword in your page’s H1 title and title tag
• Make sure your page URL includes your target keyword
• Use synonyms and variations of your main keyword
• Write a unique meta description aimed to boost your click-through-rate
• Try to include your keyword high up on the page (within the first 50 words or so)

Step #5: Create an Insanely Valuable B2B Blog

Blogging is an important part of any legit B2B SEO strategy. That’s because a valuable blog can help your SEO in a bunch of different ways.

Here are some tips for getting your B2B blog off on the right foot.

• Shoulder Topics

Shoulder Topics are topics that are related to your business. But they’re not directly tied to your actual product.

• Ultimate Guides

If you’re new to B2B content marketing, I recommend focusing on ultimate guides. Why? Because  they work SUPER well.

• “Business Casual” Writing Style

Most B2B content is SUPER boring. But that doesn’t mean your copy needs to be boring and stiff. Instead, I recommend using a “Business Casual” writing style. This approach is professional… but approachable.

Step #6: Build Backlinks For Your B2B Website

If you want to succeed with B2B SEO, link building is a must. The question is: how can your B2B business get quality backlinks? It’s simple: tap into this list of strategies that are designed specifically for B2B.

• Submit Press Release
• Helpful Tools, Calculators and Make a list
• Partner Pages

Do you do business with suppliers, manufacturers or other strategic partners? If so, you might be able to build a handful of links from their partner pages. For example, here’s a partner page from a B2B company.

Article Courtesy: backlinko.com