B2B SEO

B2B marketing is different. So is B2B SEO. And if you’re a business seeking to sell to other businesses, it’s critical to know the difference between B2B SEO and B2C SEO.

B2B SEO: The Right Search Engines

There are numerous search engines out there. Most SEO firms say they optimize their clients’ websites for all of the major search engines. If you’re selling tennis shoes to consumers, that might be the right approach. However, for B2B SEO, a different approach is necessary.

Optimizing a site for all major search engines is like trying to serve many masters—you can serve all of them to some extent, but conflicts arise and sacrifices get made to keep all of them somewhat happy. B2B purchasers tend to focus on only a few search engines. Even if prospective customers favor certain search engines for personal use, they will also use another search engine for B2B use.

In B2B SEO, knowing for which search engines you should optimize your site is critical. We know the right search engines for B2B SEO and how to optimize for them—and that knowledge can be the difference between getting found and staying lost.

Writing for B2B SEO

The copy on your website is vital to search engine robots, the crawlers search engines send out to index and rank sites. That doesn’t mean you should write copy in search-engine speak; doing so would not effectively sell to your prospects (and it may actually hurt you in how you rank in the search engine results). You need to strike a balance. You need to know how to write for the search engines and, at the same time, make the copy interesting, accurate, and persuasive to your prospects.

Here is the rub. Many businesses sell complex or technical products and services that require sophisticated selling propositions to convert prospects into buyers. Most SEO firms and advertising agencies struggle with writing for these types of businesses. It’s not what they like; it’s not what they’re good at.

What’s more, in B2B SEO, you also need to write for multiple searchers who use varied search strategies. B2B SEO requires an understanding of the different parties that influence a purchasing decision. Most business purchases have multiple parties that influence the decision-making process. For example, the "economic buyer" concerned with ROI, the "technology buyer" concerned with performance, and the “end-user” concerned with ease of operation. In B2B SEO, you need to understand their different motivations and optimize your site for each one.

Francis SEO is a B2B SEO division of Francis Marketing, which for twenty years has specialized in B2B marketing. We not only know B2B SEO, but we excel in helping clients market and sell technical, complex, and sophisticated products and services to other businesses. The combination of the two sets us apart, and it’s why our B2B SEO clients get such good results.