In the past, if you wanted to increase your chance of success in marketing campaigns, you could just throw money at additional ads and better time slots on television and radio. Today, it is a bit more complicated than that.
While you are probably still buying ad space in other places, digital marketing is a driver of campaign success. This isn’t surprising considering that 49% of users state they use Google to discover or find a new item or product.
However, getting to the top of search engines requires you to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on your content. You can use this to drive your business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategy.
By utilizing the power of SEO, you will drive leads and grow your business. This is done by using B2B SEO which is a marketing strategy designed to help your B2B online content rank higher in search engines, like Google and Bing. B2B SEO focuses on keywords that decision-makers search for while in the office.
This post will introduce you to the world of B2B SEO. We’ll look at:
B2B SEO is essential for the success of your business. It allows you to develop a way to generate sustainable and profitable marketing strategies. However, how exactly do you go about creating content and optimizing it? Well, that’s what we’re here for.
A B2B SEO company, like Accelerate Agency, uses experience and the latest tech to leverage SEO and attract valuable leads and build relationships. Through a team of B2B SEO experts, data, and machine learning, these companies build your online presence designed around you and your target audience. We do this by employing strategic content, SEO, outreach, and link building.
Companies like ours help customers reach success by boosting non-brand traffic and its value. Look for SEO agencies that have case studies that fit with your company’s needs.
SEO is important for B2B because of the nature of search engines and their users. When was the last time you scrolled past the first page when you searched for something? If the answer was “Never” or even “Sometimes” then you’re in good company. Most users don’t delve further than that first page.
And don’t think you can just pay to get on that first Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Over 70–80% of online users focus on organic search results over paid listings. So, in terms of having an effective digital marketing strategy, your web pages need to rank highly in organic searches.
This is even more important when you’re a B2B company. Decision-makers at companies lead busy work lives. They are looking for a highly regarded company that has high visibility online. In fact, 71% of B2B researchers begin their research with generic Google searches.
In addition to higher visibility, here are some other reasons that SEO is important for your B2B company:
You may want to start investing in your B2B SEO strategy but lack the expertise and time to develop and implement an SEO strategy in-house. With a B2B marketing agency, everything is done for you while you still reap the benefits of a high-quality content strategy.
Consider the following ways your business could benefit from hiring a B2B SEO Agency:
As a business owner or a manager, you probably don’t have the time to add the additional tasks of developing and maintaining an SEO campaign. B2B SEO and content marketing require many hours to research, optimize, and upkeep web content.
When you outsource, you leave all of this work to professionals which frees up your time to focus on other important tasks.
Undertaking SEO by yourself requires you to invest in the payroll, software, and equipment to implement a marketing strategy in-house. While you still have to pay for an agency to develop your content strategy, they are more cost-effective and produce a higher ROI than developing content yourself.
They also have a wide range of clients that allows you to build backlinks while not breaking the bank. Backlinks allow you to gain trust from Google by hyperlinking your website to other sites.
When you are hiring an SEO agency, make sure that it has experience with brands like yours to experience this benefit. The right agency will have worked with many brands like yours.
They know your field and they know the intricacies of SEO to raise your company to that #1 search result in Google. From SaaS companies to small ecommerce businesses, they can use their experience to increase organic traffic to your landing page, sales pages, or other content.
Because industries and SEO strategies and digital marketing tools are constantly changing, it is hard to stay in touch. However, because SEO agencies make it their job to know how to engage in B2B search marketing, you don’t need to worry about keeping up with the latest trends.
Your agency will know exactly how to develop an effective strategy based on the latest trends in SEO, digital marketing, and your industry.
By using an agency, you get important additional features that wouldn’t come automatically if you created the content yourself. Agencies use tools like Google Analytics to track metrics and monitor specific KPIs.
With an agency, you will be able to track that data, but they will know how to fine-tune your online strategy for maximum impact.
When it comes to SEO agencies, there are a lot of options out there. However, not every SEO company is created equally. Also, not every amazing company will work for your industry, so consider the following when choosing an SEO agency.
On-page SEO (also known as on-site SEO) optimizes your web page content for the search engine and its users. Even if your website framework is perfect, our on-page SEO strategy is tailored to your target audiences’ search intent.
It makes sure that you have high keyword rankings and are working with search terms that will generate qualified leads.
The on-page SEO services include:
Off-page (or off-site) SEO focuses on improving your rankings within SERPs by taking actions outside your own web pages.
Off-page SEO services include:
Content SEO creates content that helps your web pages rank higher in search engines. It includes everything to do with the development of content for your brand.
Content marketing services increase your brand recognition, identity, and visibility. Our content strategies have longevity because we think about the bigger picture. We factor in your brand, your customers, and where they are in their customer journey.
Services that come with content SEO include:
Technical SEO ensures that your website meets the technical requirements of search engines. It focuses on improving organic rankings. It makes sure your website works with the search engines’ algorithms they use to rank.
Services available for Technical SEO include:
So, what exactly sets accelerate apart from other B2B SEO companies? Our 360 approach allows us to look at your technical, on-page, content, and off-page efforts from all angles to produce a full-funnel strategy guaranteed to produce results.
Our methodology has three distinct phases:
We talked about how SEO was cost-effective, but how much should you expect to spend on optimizing your online presence? Well, in the US, SEO agency services cost an average of $100–$250 per hour.
In terms of what the cost is per month depends on the company, your plan, and the amount of SEO and content marketing your company requires. When you are choosing an SEO agency, make sure you look at the cost against the features they offer to make sure you are meeting the cost with value.
Like with haircuts and tattoos, the cheapest option is rarely the best option, while the most expensive doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best. Consider what they offer in terms of services and plans, and weigh that against the cost.
Many SEO agencies offer monthly or annual contracts. These plans should be tailored to fit your needs. They should also be flexible and not one-size-fits-all.
We’ve already discussed the average cost-per-hour of US SEO agencies. This works for B2B companies that do not need a lot of regular or long-term help managing content. It can also be a nice way to see if outsourcing SEO is the best strategy for your company.
Read our comprehensive guide on SEO pricing.
Search engine optimization is the process of improving your online presence to increase your brand’s visibility when people search for products and services. It focuses on increasing the quality and quantity of your traffic made through organic search engine results.
Essentially, SEO grows your business by growing your online presence and visibility. It does this by:
A good SEO strategy reflects your brand while appealing to your customers and working within the parameters of search engine algorithms and predicting what prospects will be searching for. To do this, you can follow these steps:
This may look like a lot of work but just remember that here at Accelerate, we are ready to help. We won’t just make up a generically good SEO strategy — we’ll make up the best possible SEO strategy for your business.
B2B SEO is very similar to B2C SEO because it involves the same process. However, here are some strategies to make yourself stand out to other businesses.
If you have any more questions on B2B SEO or how you can start benefiting from using an SEO agency, chat with us, or set up a consultation with the Accelerate team today.
Nick Brown is the founder & CEO of accelerate agency, a SaaS SEO agency. Nick has launched several successful online businesses, writes for Forbes, published a book and has grown accelerate from a UK agency to a company that now operates across US, APAC and EMEA and employs 160 people. He was also once charged at by a mountain gorilla