B2B SEO: Strategies for Success in 2024

It’s true: read any standard SEO guide you come across, and they’ll typically be aimed at business-to-consumer (B2C) outlets. However, it is a marketing strategy that is just as essential for those operating in the business-to-business (B2B) world.

Despite this, the B2B SEO strategy is a different story to its B2C counterpart.

Sure, your normal SEO factors all play a key role in the process. Think keywordKeywords are the words and phrases that potential customers might search for to find your business. optimization, authoritative backlinks, and high-quality content. However, there is one significant difference between the two: audience.

B2C vs B2B SEO Strategies: What’s the Difference?

As mentioned, audience is the biggest difference between a B2B SEO strategy and the B2C equivalent. Although when we say audience, don’t take this for a small variance. It’s something that trickles down into various other areas of the process. It influences everything from the tone of message to which keywords are targeted.

Here’s a quick breakdown of how B2C and B2B SEO tactics differ:

B2C

• High-volume keyword focus: B2C SEO targets high-volume keywords to attract a large, general audience. The aim is to generate significant organic trafficOrganic search traffic (sometimes called natural or unpaid search) is the traffic that's driven to a website because of unpaid placement on a search engine results page. to increase the chances of leads and conversions.
• Lighthearted and entertaining content: Content often has a more casual tone – sometimes purely for entertainment – to engage a broader audience and enhance brand appeal.
• Extensive use of social media marketing: B2C SEO often heavily utilizes various social media platforms for marketing. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook – channels like these are leveraged to connect with consumers and boost visibility.

B2B

• Low-volume keyword focus: An SEO for B2B strategy targets niche, low-volume keywords. This is because it caters to specific business decision-makers, the type that aren’t making general search enquiries.
• Professional, factual content tone: B2B content is more professional and less emotional. The focus is on conveying expertise and value to business owners and industry leaders.
• LinkedIn for social media: Unlike B2C, social media marketing for B2B SEO is predominantly based around LinkedIn. This platform is best-suited for reaching decision-makers and distributing industry-specific content like blogs.

Creating a B2B SEO Strategy: 2024 and Beyond

As highlighted, there are significant differences between B2B and B2C SEO. Nevertheless, the basics remain the same. You’ll still require keyword researchKeyword research helps websites unearth the best keywords to drive traffic and visibility. This research is supported by a number of powerful web-based tools, the best of which we’ve listed here.. Backlinks are highly valuable. A frequent SEO audit schedule is a must.

We could go on and on.

While you have to keep all of that in the back of your mind, the following will concentrate on the unique steps associated with B2B SEO. Yes, these are not going to be new to you in general – but the specific approach for each will demonstrate the importance from a B2B perspective.

Establish a buyer persona

The first step is a critical one: establishing a buyer persona. This is built around creating a detailed profile of your ideal customer. This will be based on market research and existing data, and should include the likes of demographic information, business goals, pain points, and buying behavior.

The result: a clear buyer persona helps in understanding your target audience’s specific needs and decision-making processes.

Don’t underestimate the power of this initial step. In fact, it acts as the foundation for everything that follows. It assists with keyword research, content creation, and overall messaging. A targeted approach ensures your SEO efforts resonate with the right audience, ultimately generating increased conversionA conversion is a desirable result on a website that leads to an action such as completing an order, filling out a form, or simply clicking on a link. rates.

Conduct B2B keyword research

The next step in the process is to conduct B2B keyword research. If you’ve performed keyword research in the past, you’ll generally know what this involves. The difference is that it involves identifying the terms and phrases potential business clients use when searching for products or services in your industry.

Unlike B2C keyword research, B2B focuses on more niche, industry-specific terms that are relevant to a smaller, more specialized audience.

You won’t be aiming at a massive group of potential customers. No, that’s not an issue. Even when a B2B keyword only receives 20 searches a month, it can still be relevant to your buyer persona – making it relevant to your content creation. The goal is to uncover keywords that reflect the intent of your target audience, where the balance towards relevancy is more important than search volume.

The basis for your on-page SEO efforts, productive keyword research is necessary for generating content that addresses the specific needs and questions of your B2B audience.

Content calendar

A successful B2B SEO strategy can only be achieved with content which can be supported massively with a calendar.

As you can likely gather, a content calendar is a structured schedule that outlines when and what content will be published. This planning tool is useful for maintaining consistent, timely content creation – something that is imperative for SEO and audience engagement.

A quality content calendar doesn’t just align with your buyer persona and the stages of their buying journey. It should also utilize various types of content – from whitepapers to case studies – that match the interests and informational needs of your B2B audience.

High-quality backlinks

Ah, backlinks. From our technical SEO audits to SEO management services, no campaign would be complete without backlinks. They’re also a fundamental aspect of B2B SEO. Reputable, relevant linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. have the power to drive your website up the search rankings, as well as attract targeted traffic.

Quality over quantity should generally be the focus with backlinks – this is especially true in B2B contexts.

Strategies to acquire authoritative backlinks include creating high-value and shareable content, collaborative efforts like guest blogging, and even participating in industry forums. We can also point you in the right direction towards creating a valuable backlink profile through our SEO consultancy.

Conclusion

An effective B2B SEO campaign hinges on a number of elements. This includes understanding your audience, conducting thorough keyword research, and acquiring high-quality backlinks. This doesn’t look much different than any old SEO strategy on the surface, but there are key differences to cover with B2B.

Need a little help with putting together a content schedule or effective link buildingLink building is a process of acquiring links pointing to your website. These links are obtained by creating content, participating in social media or commenting on other blogs.? Perhaps a full, bespoke SEO campaign is in order? Discover how Click Intelligence’s expertise can elevate your strategy with our SEO services.