The Importance of B2B SEO (and Ecommerce)
The rise of e-commerce has opened up huge possibilities for businesses across the country to innovate and improve the way they deliver their products. Many organisations, especially in recent times, find that a large proportion of their marketing budget is spent on paid advertising. However, the recent turmoil in the UK economy has forced many brands to be more careful with their budget allocations. This is where strategic, cost-effective SEO (search engine optimisation) can help, delivering quality results in the long term.
Over the years, many managers SEO and Professional Content Writing This is because when you have offline marketing like phone calls, emails, word-of-mouth referrals, or you're targeting business-to-business (B2B), you'll need a different approach than direct business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. However, this is a complete misconception, and with the rise of e-commerce and digital channels like Google, SEO will remain a valuable asset for many years to come.
Justin Aldridge, SEO Agency and Certified Shopify Partner Artemis Marketing (This year marks the 20th anniversary of Achievements Symposium, a non-profit organization that helps businesses in all sectors, has put together a short guide to help you maximize your SEO potential if you sell products to other businesses online.
Maintaining a B2B focus from start to finish
Your target audience and buyers regularly search for information, products and services on the internet, so it makes sense to optimize your website to get in front of them and provide them with an easy and seamless buying experience. A site visit is typically the first touchpoint for many B2B e-commerce buyers, with many turning to search engines as the primary way to find new partners and suppliers. Estimated 24 million E-commerce stores around the world are increasingly competitive, with the UK being the third largest e-commerce market in the world.
The fundamental methods for increasing online visibility and boosting sales through ecommerce SEO remain the same for B2B and B2C. However, B2B brands should be aware of some specific differences and strategies to maximize their online success with ecommerce. These B2B ecommerce SEO tips and strategies can help your business gain a valuable advantage over your competitors.
Understanding the B2B Buyer Journey
One of the biggest differences between B2B and B2C SEO is buyer behavior and decision-making processes. B2C marketing funnels usually revolve around specific buyer profiles (end users), so they are often easier to understand and optimize.
B2B purchases, even e-commerce, tend to require a lot more consideration and research, with the target buyer (another business such as a supplier or vendor) often spending days or weeks researching the product and asking the right questions about whether it's worth their investment.
In a B2C buyer journey, the decision factors are usually related to cost, convenience and personal preference, but in a B2C conversion, there are far more decision criteria to consider. For example, a supplier may have multiple decision makers and stakeholders that they need to convince that their product or service is worth buying and engaging with their business.
As such, these deals carry much higher value and therefore purchasing risk. The decision must be rational and logical, taking into account not only the target company's budget, but also whether tangible benefits, cost savings and revenue improvements are achievable.
That’s why your SEO strategy needs to address the information needs and unique pain points at each stage of the buying process.
Prioritize high-value keywords and search intent
“Quick buy” transactions or commercial keywords (e.g.buy gps tracker online” While sales cycles are crucial for e-commerce brands that sell direct to consumers, they tend to be less important for B2B products and services, which have more complicated sales cycles. The largest percentage of B2B sales (30%) are completed in about 1-3 months. Research by Databox.
Instead, you should focus your keyword research and content strategy on:
- High value, Information Keyword Phrases These are used by buyers at different stages (awareness, consideration, decision).
- Mastering Search intent Create content that answers common questions and provides concrete use cases to reinforce your brand's expertise and trust.
- include Long-tail keywords High purchase intent (e.g.Lawyer practice management software) may have lower overall volume, but they may also be less competitive.
- Incorporate Brand search As brand awareness and asset value increases.
- Apply related keywords logically On-Page SEO Use it where it's intended (page titles, meta descriptions, headings, URLs, alt text, etc.) without being spammy.
Creating detailed guides, similar product comparisons, and case studies (tailored to your specific product, high-value keywords, and audience pain points) are crucial in strengthening trust. But ultimately, content exists to drive traffic to your site, and in the competitive e-commerce space, it's important to determine what content brings the most value to your customers and meets Google's many requirements.
Harness the power of content marketing
As the B2B sales cycle gets longer, leads need to be nurtured from the initial awareness stage through to purchase and customer retention. Content marketing goes hand in hand with SEO and lead generation, and in a B2B context, recent studies have shown that buyers tend to engage with 3-7 pieces of content before engaging with a salesperson. Industry Reports.
Some of the most effective B2B content assets include (but are not limited to):
- Articles and Guides
- E-book
- Video tutorials and webinars
- Case Studies and Testimonials
- Authoritative Industry Reports
- Research Studies and White Papers
- Compare Products and Services
- Interviews and panel discussions
Creating a wide range of high-quality, relevant content helps build authority and trust among your loyal B2B customers. When potential customers notice your great service, product quality, and flexibility, it's likely they'll be inspired to contact you and start a new sales discussion. This is even more likely if they find what they're looking for on a product or category page that ranks high on the coveted search engine results pages (SERPs).
Building authority through EEAT
According to Google's content guidelines, Eat (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Credibility) factors are important even in e-commerce. In certain industries, customers want reassurance before purchasing, and EEAT’s exemplary content certainly provides that peace of mind.
B2C brands can leverage EEAT through product and customer reviews, and to some extent B2B brands can do the same, as well as leverage their industry expertise and other assets that strengthen their reputation.
This one:
- Business or industry certifications/memberships
- Quality backlinks obtained from relevant industry publications and organizations
- Thought leadership content delivered by industry experts
- Original research and data that serves important purposes for the sector
Leveraging the above to reinforce product excellence will be crucial in driving long-term online e-commerce sales.
Find Professional B2B Ecommerce SEO Support
With so much to do every day as a busy business owner, not many have the time to understand and apply all of the evolving SEO best practices. Because SEO is a constantly changing field, without ongoing attention, your business website is unlikely to be successful after launch.
To ensure the success of your B2B e-commerce brand, it's important that search engines like Google update their algorithms, incorporate new features, and be ready to adapt as new technologies and opportunities emerge. To save time, resources, and stress, many B2B business owners prefer to outsource the services of professional SEO and marketing agencies that can monitor and optimize their websites on their behalf.
If you're a business owner who wants to focus on what's really important to you – growing and running your company – why spend countless hours making complex technical changes to your website? Time that would be better spent on higher value tasks like finding new business opportunities, maintaining customer relationships, and identifying new markets and partnerships.
As part of a broader omnichannel marketing strategy, SEO should help you enjoy the things you're passionate about even more.
