The Importance of SEO for B2B Companies and 5 Tips to Develop the Strategy
B2B SEO is a strategy whose goal is to increase website traffic and ranking in search engines organically. It's similar to SEO strategies in general, but the target audience of B2B and B2C companies is different. Therefore, the SEO strategy will also be different.
Even so, the strategy still uses elements like SEO strategies in general, for example:
technical. Covers areas such as XML sitemaps, website speed, and responsive design.
content. The content created must match the user's needs, so research needs to be done first.
on-page SEO. On-page SEO is optimization of the content posted on the website. Make sure to write down the meta description, alt text on the image, to the right keyword placement.
off-page SEO. Off-page SEO is related to providing quality backlinks in article content.
The difference between B2B and B2C SEO
Both B2B and B2C SEO have the same goal, namely for the audience to find the products offered by the company.
However, in practice there are a number of striking differences. Excerpted from Sprout Social here are the basic differences:
1. Time required
B2B companies sell their products or services to other businesses. So, of course, it takes quite a long time because many stakeholders are involved before deciding to buy. This is different when selling products directly to customers because he himself will decide.
However, for a company it takes a lot of time for decision makers to research and gather information before starting to make a deal. Because this takes a long time, content is certainly needed that is able to attract decision makers and convince them to immediately make a deal.
2. Using low volume keywords
The next difference between B2B and B2C SEO is seen from the use of keywords. In B2C SEO, you should use keywords that have high volume and are sought after by many people. In contrast, B2B SEO uses low-volume keywords because the content created is aimed at a more specific audience.
3. Low conversion rate
Content that is made as well as possible still does not promise high conversions because purchases for businesses are not as easy as purchases made by customers. You have to remember that these decision makers have to consider many things. So, after reading your content, they have to keep considering it so it doesn't lead to a direct purchase.
4. Type of content
The type of content created for B2B SEO is certainly more professional because the audience is decision makers from various companies. In addition, the content provided must also be more specific, informative and data-based to make it appear more credible.
Tips on Preparing a B2B SEO Strategy
What needs to be prepared in building a B2B SEO strategy? Here are the answers:
Create buyer personas
You won't be able to create quality content if you don't know who the target audience really is. Therefore, before creating content, first understand who the people will be targeted. In the B2B world it is not easy to determine the audience because the target is not people but businesses. By knowing what kind of business you want to target, it will certainly be easier to create the content they are looking for on search engines.
Do keyword research
As mentioned above, the keywords used in B2B SEO do not have to be high volume. So, usually long tail keywords are the right choice to use. Doing keyword research is not only limited to search engines. However, it is also necessary to do social listening so that you know what the target audience is discussing and needs.
Website and content optimization
Website performance is very influential on SEO. Make sure that your company website is not only visually attractive, but can also support SEO. That is why it is necessary to optimize several things, for example page load speed to a clear XML sitemap. The content created must also be optimized as best as possible, for example by including a meta description, an attractive URL structure, title tags, to alt text in images.
Create relevant content
Relevant content is the key to a successful B2B SEO strategy. Make sure the content is created according to the needs of the target audience. That is why it is necessary to do in-depth research before creating content. However, for B2B, it's best to prepare exclusive content such as e-books because such content is more attractive to decision makers in the company.
Promote content
Finally, make sure the content that has been created is properly promoted so that it can reach the target. You can promote through social media for professionals like LinkedIn. Apart from that, promoting through PR or influencers can also be considered. Don't let the quality content that has been prepared as well as possible go unnoticed by the target audience.
