Improving Online B2B SEO With Semalt



In the world of SEO, it's the best who wins. So you need to put in place very effective strategies to come out ahead on the giant search engine of Google.

Indeed, if competitors keep on beating you or even overtaking you, it's a horror. But, I have some good news for you: with this B2B SEO guide, you can grow efficiently and satisfy Google to be featured on the first page.

Before we start: let's see what B2B referencing is?

Search Engine Optimization (in short: SEO) is important for every company. The fact that you have opened this guide says it all. Most likely you work in the B2B industry and you want your website to rank higher in Google. That's exactly what this B2B SEO guide is all about. So hold on.

B2B SEO is an online marketing strategy that has already helped many entrepreneurs to grow as a company to the next step and to get more in touch with their target group.

Key differences between B2B SEO and B2C SEO

Is there a difference between B2B and B2C? Of course, there is. If you want to keep it very superficial, you can say: B2B focuses on companies and B2C focuses on consumers.

That is, of course, very short-sighted. There are important differences between B2B SEO and B2C SEO that influence your strategy:

B2B SEO SPEARHEADS

  • Relatively low monthly search volumes compared to B2C
  • Targets many low volume keywords (long-tail / niche keywords)
  • Keywords have a high CPC average purchase price / Selling price is higher compared to B2C
  • At the moment it often happens that the content strategy is aimed at communicating the services (service-oriented) on the benefits / answers / solutions / questions of the customer
  • Content focused on the niche target group(s)
  • Time to request (lead) is longer compared to B2C
  • Content adds more
  • Publishes content to help potential customers
  • Little to no advertising on social media

B2C SEO SPEARHEADS

  • Higher monthly search volumes compared to B2B
  • Targets high search volume keywords
  • Keywords have a low CPC
  • Content-focused on a broad target group
  • Time to order or request is shorter compared to B2B

10 tips for an effective B2B SEO strategy that you can apply immediately

If you want to be visible to your potential customers - companies in this case - it is very important that you have an effective SEO strategy. The last thing you want is your product or service to be hard to find on Google.

We are experts in devising and developing an effective B2B SEO strategy. This B2B SEO guide has been developed to map the value of the internet for you and also to give you an idea of where you can start with an online strategy.

We have helped various B2B companies to realize more leads. Not only by growing, but also by saving costs on the current use of online marketing strategies. 

In addition, we have developed a very effective SEO tool that can easily help you set up a good SEO strategy. Don't worry! In this guide, we will discuss the usefulness of this tool at every step you need it.

TIP №1: Determine the business goals

Every company has goals. So is yours. Before you really start improving your company's SEO strategy, it's crucial that you have a clear SEO goal in mind. The purpose of your business aligns with the purpose of your SEO marketing strategy. And vice versa. To make it concrete, we look ahead to the next 12 months.
  • What do you want to achieve with your company in the next 12 months?
  • What do you want to achieve with content marketing in the next 12 months?  
For instance:
  • Increased brand awareness among X (X = target group)
  • Improved findability on a specific set of keywords
  • Realize more leads in the field of SEO / Google Ads / Social advertising

TIP №2: fill in the see - think - do - care model

The SEE-THINK-DO-CARE model provides insight into the information need per phase. The buyer persona (see tip 3) takes a journey before making a purchase or agreement. Fill in this model to be able to understand the target group per phase:

• SEE phase:

The target audience is not yet aware of the problem. → Awareness

• THINK phase:

The target group is now consciously looking for information → Orientation phase

• DO phase:

The target group compares various parties → Decision phase

• CARE phase:

The new customer becomes a returning customer → Aftercare/bonding

TIP №3: create your own buyer persona

If you want to correctly assess the needs of your target group, it is useful to create a fictitious buyer persona. This person is at the center of the target group. What is his need? How can you best reach this person?

Here are some topics that help shape the buyer persona:
  • Age group
  • Educational attainment
  • Preferred means of communication
  • Industry
  • Company size
  • Function
  • Required tools during work
  • Effect of their work
After the buyer persona has been worked out, you can delve further into your target group per phase and per need. Fill in the buyer persona scheme and find out what kind of content is needed.

TIP №4: use the right keywords

To rank well in the search engine, it is important to use the right keywords. For B2B content, you mustn't choose the top-performing keywords, but long-tail keywords that are relevant.

The more specific your keyword, the more likely you are to rank higher in Google and attract the right visitors.

For example: "shareholder dispute" is a specific keyword with less search volume, but more potential. Just "shareholders" as a keyword generates much more volume, but this keyword is immediately much less relevant and much too broad.

So how do you find those relevant keywords?

That's where you need a tool that can help you. There, I present you with the SEO Dedicated Dashboard. Indeed, this tool is a tool developed by experts who have a perfect mastery of each area of SEO. This being the case, they have endowed this tool with several features to help you effectively meet the need for a good SEO strategy. Among the features of this tool, we have Google SERP Analysis. You can use this DSD feature set to find the relevant keywords you will need to rank higher. In addition, this feature shows you the exact position of your website in the Google SERP as well as the TOP pages and the keywords they rank for. And that's not all!

Indeed, this tool is a tool developed by experts who have a perfect mastery of each field of SEO. So, do not hesitate to have this tool with you to be much more profitable and economical.

Moreover, the frequency with which you use a keyword certainly influences its findability. So, you need to be careful here. Google doesn't like it when content becomes spam.

TIP №5: analyze the current content

If you already have content on your landing page, it is interesting to read through and improve it. The following points are important for B2B SEO content, among others:
  • Keywords are used regularly and naturally
  • The content is valuable and helps the customer further in the process
  • The content is 100% original and smoothly written
  • The layout is clear and easy to read while scanning
  • Images support the text
Among other things, Google uses the term EAT to check the value of your content:

EXPERTISE: Show that you are an expert in your field. Provide reliable and customer-friendly content. Use technical terms and regularly post new content. This way Google knows that you are up-to-date.

AUTHORITATIVE: proof that your website has authority. You can do this by earning external links from strong websites (links: see tip № 9). Reviews and quality marks also increase authority.

TRUSTWORTHY: if your website is reliable, you will rank higher in Google. Make sure you have an SSL certificate, extensive contact details and reviews. Google also assesses reliability based on reliable links.

TIP №6: optimize the product and service page

Make sure that each landing page is written 100% uniquely. Otherwise, duplicate content will be created and this will be penalized by Google. The more unique your content is, the higher your ranking will be. The Dedicated SEO Dashboard has a feature that can help you check the uniqueness of your content. So, don't hesitate to use it to make sure that your content is truly unique.

Sometimes you see pages with little or no content. 50 words, maybe 100. Provide valuable content. Analyze the amount of content of your competitors or use at least 500 words as a guideline.

Do you really want to write more extensively and go for 1000 or 2000 words? Make sure every sentence adds value. Learn about the wishes of the target group and respond to them.

And a nice side effect: the more words, the more keywords you can add without spamming your customers.

To optimize the page even further, put the keywords in a strategic place:
  • Include the keywords in the H1 title
  • Place the keyword in the URL
  • Use variations of the main keyword
  • Write unique meta descriptions and meta titles, with keyword
  • Place the keywords especially in the first paragraph. In a natural way

TIP №7: create your own content calendar

Create new content regularly. This way you increase the reliability of your website. For Google, but also your customers. When they have a new question, they will search for your website faster.

Provide an overview, use a content calendar. Here you can plan when you will create new content and when you want to publish and promote it.

A complete content calendar contains topics such as:
  • Theme / Title
  • Content-type (eBook, PDF, blog)
  • Target audience
  • Phase
  • Target
  • Which keywords
EXTRA TIP: take special days into account. You can respond to this with your content. Also, place this in the content calendar.

TIP №8: determine the way of promoting

Your B2B SEO content is thoroughly written. Time to post and promote. Depending on the sector and target group, it is important to gear the way of promotion to this. Is the target audience active on LinkedIn? Then you can consider promoting your article on LinkedIn.

You can advertise and promote effectively through these channels:
  • Banner ads (display advertising)
  • Google Ads (text ads)
  • LinkedIn
  • Email Marketing

TIP №9: create valuable links to your page

If you want to be successful with SEO for companies, link building is an absolute must. Well-known companies automatically create natural links because they set an example. Magazines/trade journals and influencers refer to these sites more quickly.

To improve the authority of your website, you must generate reliable links. Buying or other ways of illegally obtaining links will be penalized by Google.

So how do you ensure valuable links?

Write valuable content with news value. Approach other websites and ask them to post a uniquely written piece about this. Save these websites time by writing the article yourself. Note: these websites must be relevant to your industry.

Provide interesting content and build a large following, so that readers will automatically link to your article.

Respond to current events (for example through an interview) and ensure that other websites link to your findings

TIP №10: have a fast website

After 9 SEO content tips for businesses, now comes a valuable technical SEO tip from our B2B SEO guide. You can write the most user-friendly, beautiful copy without ranking high.

Several technical factors can influence the lack of high rankings. One of the most important factors is the speed of your website. Google places fast websites higher in the rankings than slow websites. So you need to make sure your website's loading speed is good. To do this, you can use one of the features of the Dedicated SEO Dashboard called SEO Technical Audit. This feature allows you to do a thorough audit of your site to find out about any issues that may be related to your site's performance. In addition to showing you each of these problems, it gives you the strategy to adopt to solve each of them.