Why marketers need a B2B SEO content strategy and how to put it into action: Part two

In the first of our two-part blog series on B2B SEO content strategies, we explored the mechanics of SEO and why it benefits your overall content strategy. In this post, we’ll look at some of the specific techniques used when drafting long-form digital content including the use of keywords, internal and external links and other tips thought to contribute to better rankings on the search engine results page (SERP).

A well-executed B2B SEO content strategy should inspire, educate, engage and entertain its audience. It should align with your business goals and build authority and credibility. It will drive traffic and boost your search volume, leading to greater visibility on Google and brand awareness.

So what exactly constitutes long-form content? 

To some, it’s a piece of content that exceeds a word count of 750 while others suggest it describes blog posts, articles, case studies and thought leadership pieces that exceed 2,500 – even 3,000 words. 

Whichever school of thought you belong to, when drafting long-form SEO content there are some best practices for B2B business to adhere to, and a number of ways to ensure content is designed to be valuable, accurate, clear and insightful. 

Consider these simple steps to start or hone your content strategy:

1. Know your target audience and understand their search intent – what are decision makers (buyers) looking for? What topics interest them? 
2. Create content that is organised, clear and concise
3. Use a variety of content types; consider adding images and video, for instance 
4. Gain credibility by including statistical or anecdotal evidence
5. Use on-page SEO to optimise content such as  meta titles, meta descriptions and URLs

Building links to your page 

Increasing your ranking on the SERP is crucial visibility for a B2B company in particular, from the initial awareness stage of the sales process, to the final conversion phase, when a sale is made – often a lengthy and complex journey for B2B buyers.

Google’s algorithm favours long-form content because it aligns with its ‘E-A-T’ guidelines (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) and rewards this type of content with higher rankings. One of the most effective ways to increase your E-A-T is via backlinks – or ‘inbound links’. This is when another website mentions your brand, product or service (most often resulting from a digital PR campaign) and includes a link back to your website – and is considered a way of validating that your content is ‘valuable, credible and useful’. Content pieces that are 3000+ words long will get an average of 77.2% more backlinks than shorter articles and tend to have higher organic SERP rankings. 

B2B SEO vs B2C SEO keyword research

A crucial part of any B2B SEO content strategy is effective keyword research; optimising your web content with keywords will deliver better information to search engines so it can be properly indexed and displayed within search results. 

Because a B2B business sales funnel is more complex than B2C and click-to-sale conversion rates generally lower, getting keyword research right is even more critical. It must go deeper, identifying those specific words or phrases that allow you to target decision makers with the right content that pushes them through to the next stage of the sales funnel.

Put yourself in your buyers’ shoes; imagine how they would search online for your product, service or brand. By doing this, you can create a list of:

• Specific keywords your buyers are already using to find your website via organic traffic from search engine results (known as navigational queries)
• Keywords your buyers are also searching when doing non-specific online research (known as informational search queries)
• Evaluate existing keywords different competitors are ranking for and look for any ‘gaps’ / quick wins in these lists to identity words that you can also rank for
• Branded keywords (your company, brand or product name)

Maintain, update and improve content 

Maintaining and improving your website’s visibility and traffic rate requires constant attention but it’s important to keep long-form content fresh, current and optimised in order to achieve visibility on Google’s results page and get noticed by your target audience.

It takes more time to produce quality, newsworthy content as part of any digital PR campaign but by creating SEO optimised content through longer, informational and comprehensive pieces, B2B businesses can generate more organic traffic, build brand authority and benefit from impactful and valuable results. 

To learn more about how implementing an SEO content strategy can improve your B2B sales programmes, reach out to the GingerMay team today.