Do B2B websites really need to focus on SEO?
Yes! Many B2B companies don’t spend time and effort on their SEO as B2C companies do. But in reality, SEO is just as important for B2B inbound leads as it is for any other businesses. In fact, if a businesses’ SEO is not up to par, you are certainly leaving money on the table. Because even B2Bs need to search on Google to find potential vendors before actually selecting one.
So what does that mean for the B2B’s whose SEO is not up to par?
Well…it’s not good.
If you are a B2B and you haven’t included SEO as part of your marketing strategy, then you may never get the opportunity to compete and grab another B2B’s attention because your website is nowhere to be found. Even if your products, services, and everything else is significantly better.
Here are four ways to use B2B SEO to boost your marketing efforts, which, in turn, will skyrocket your income—GUARANTEED!
You’ve probably heard that SEO is dead…right? And there’s probably some truth in that, but not in the way you would think.
SEO is not dead, it has just changed, which means that traditional isolated onsite SEO for B2B companies is dead. So now, instead of using keyword only based research to develop your B2B SEO strategy, you now need to base it on the entire buyer’s journey instead.
And here’s how…
1. Use More Question-Based Content
Since the introduction of the Google Answer Boxes, the way to handle your SEO strategy has changed significantly. Which means you now need to produce content that answers question-based searches. You should do this in addition to your regular keyword research, rather than just keyword only based research.
Question-based content will contain much longer-tail phrases than say, a long-tail keyword would because they are questions. Therefore, if you want to find the questions users are searching for, you will have to dig deeper. We’ll get into how in a moment.
2. Target Relevant Topics Rather Than Just Using Keywords
This ties into what we were talking about above. So, you need to perform your long-tail question phrase research, but you also need to target relevant topics as well.
Google has changed their algorithm and their system now understands how different keywords, questions, and topics all relate to each other. So you no longer have to write a bunch of single topic pieces of content to rank for each of those topics, you can just write one in-depth piece of content that targets your related terms, topics, and questions.
For example:
Write a mix of regular content and content that answers a user’s questions (based on your research) around the entire user’s journey of related questions, terms, and topics.
- How long do you thaw a frozen turkey?
- Should you rinse your turkey before cooking?
- How do you prepare a turkey?
- How long do you cook a turkey?
- How to make natural turkey gravy?
- What is the best way to carve a turkey?
- Does every turkey have a wishbone?
- What should I do with my leftover turkey?
- How long can cooked turkey be kept in the refrigerator?
Do you see how one topic can be expanded out into a complete piece of content while incorporating questions into that content? Additionally, the most frequently asked questions can land your content into those ever-coveted Google Answer Boxes if your content is of high-quality and structured properly.
Great! But exactly how do you go about finding the right terms, topics, and questions users are searching for?
Well, believe it or not, this type of keyword research, if you will, is actually much easier (and more pleasant) than performing traditional keyword research. Here are some suggestions as to where you can begin your research.
- Follow social media sites such as Facebook, Quora, LinkedIn, and their industry-related user groups and discussions. You can also look through review websites such as Yelp.com or other industry related websites that have a question and answer sections. Look for what users are talking about, how they are talking about it, and what questions are they asking, etc. Then produce content based on your findings.
- Google autocomplete is another great place to find topics and questions users are looking for. This will not only help you expand your list of keywords, but it will also give you fresh new topics and the questions people want answers to. You can take everything you’ve learned during your research and turn it into an in-depth piece of content that Google and people alike will love.
3. How Voice Search Has Changed Everything
With machine learning and voice search being used more and more every day, it’s important that you incorporate natural language into your content strategies. This means businesses and your digital marketing agency as well will have to start using natural language in page tagging, for on-page content, and even in your YouTube video descriptions, etc. if you want your content to be shown in response to a voice search.
4. Always Include Schema Markup
Google relies heavily on Schema markup to present their users with the best possible page results. Think about Google’s recent trends such as the Answer Boxes we talked about above. Then there are Rich Snippets, reviews, etc. Schema markup is the language a search engine uses to determine what your website and its content are all about. And this is what will help ensure that your B2B brand is shown correctly to searchers.
What’s Next?
If you would like to learn more about implementing more SEO into your B2B marketing strategy, or if you are not happy with your current SEO agency, please Contact Us today. We are a digital marketing agency with a long history of helping B2B companies take their businesses to the next level.
Google and the other search engines are constantly adding new ways to help their users. It can be time-consuming and difficult to keep up with and dissect every change they make while learning the best way to use those changes to your advantage.
We have a team of SEO professionals whose job it is to learn this stuff inside and out. So they know exactly how to use every new technique to help your business exceed every goal and expectation you’ve set.
REMEMBER…”Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes!”
