Key Distinctions in SEO for B2B
This article was published on July 25, 2024
Categorized in: Digital Marketing, SEO
Search Engine Optimization is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to digital marketing. There are a few factors involved with it, such as keyword selection, on-page optimization, and the technical elements, that need to be in place in order for the business to optimize its SEO efforts.
While all the elements will be the same for every business, there are some key distinctions that need to be considered when it comes to B2Bs (as opposed to B2Cs). Here’s a look at the best practices involved for approach SEO for B2Bs:
B2B Audiences Are Different and Search Engines Know It
With B2Bs, the target audience are other businesses. This is an important consideration for SEO because it will be the underlying factor for all of your decisions. On the surface, it may seem like SEO is designed purely to please the search engines, but this isn’t the case. Search engine algorithms are designed to assess if, through your SEO and wider digital marketing efforts, you are doing a good job at making your target audience happy. If they’re not happy, they won’t enjoy your site.
The search engines know that if your target audience doesn’t find your site valuable, useful, and easy to navigate, this will impact the way they feel about your business. Please your audience, and you’ll perform better in the search results, because this is an underlying factor in the way the algorithms are written these days.
Audience Will Impact Your Other Choices Related to SEO
Understanding your audience is the beginning of your SEO efforts. This means that every choice you have after it, such as choosing keywords and even writing content, will be impacted by your knowledge of the audience. Since for B2Bs, the audience is other businesses, this needs to be considered when forging ahead.
What does this mean, exactly? Well, you need to think about what your audience even needs. Knowing exactly what they need will help you hand-select keywords that are targeted to align with these needs, while also aligning with your business goals. On a broader scale, this will help you select better content topics, which will not only further help you connect your audience, but also give you more chances for your business website to be returned in search results. Everyone wins when you understand your audience.
Consider the Whole Picture with B2B SEO
On the surface, it looks as if B2B SEO is fairly straightforward. To many, it is the art of getting your website and business found in the search engines. While this is certainly the case, it doesn’t show the big picture, which is that the whole process starts with understanding your audience. Knowing that the audience are other business shapes the whole process going forward.
From there, the other elements fall into place. Of course, you also need to be connected to your business goals. After all, that is why you’re in business in the first place. You need to know your audience, but you also need to know yourself, in order to find success with B2B SEO.
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About the Author: Brick Marketing President, Nick Stamoulis
Nick Stamoulis is a digital marketing expert and President of Brick Marketing. With 25+ years experience, he specializes in solving complex digital marketing challenges through SEO, content marketing, social media, PPC, email marketing, SEO for AI (GEO) and conversion optimization.
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