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6 B2B SEO Case Study Insights from Real Brands

In this post

Search engine optimization is what will allow your business to go from having a great product to one that has a great product and customers finding out about it.

Being on the first page of Search Engines Result Pages (SERPs) is key for making your business visible. In fact, the top three results of Google get 54.4% of all clicks–exactly where our client case studies end up.

However, it’s easier said than done.

To have a strong SEO strategy you need to focus on three elements:

• On-page SEO
• Off-page SEO
• Technical SEO

This means there are many moving parts and in order to have a successful SEO strategy you’ll need to know what you’re doing–and the latest trends.

We at Skale have a team of experts that are more than prepared and ready to up our clients’ SEO game in a way that helps them see real return of investment. Let’s look at some of our own SEO case studies. They’ll help you see how we got the results that we got–and how you can do the same!

1. Doubling product signups with a solid SEO strategy for growth

Slite is a Series A collaboration software platform that has raised more than $15.4m. Big names like Notion, Coda, and Slab are its biggest competitors.

The challenge (and what we did to double product signups):

After securing an $11m Series A investment they wanted to make SEO their scalable acquisition channel.

What we did:

• Analyzed and audited current setup and market
• Built a model to show the potential number of monthly signups that could be achieved through SEO
• Created a plan of action focusing on each page by understanding conversion rates by intent and the competitiveness of each topic
• Modified website’s architecture to build a scalable content system, and performed on-page optimization using SEO best practices and techniques
• Built dozens of high-quality SaaS niche backlinks on the pages we focused on
• Set up and ran several high-impact A/B tests through Google Optimize to increase the visit to signup conversion rate

The results we got in just three months:

• Signups doubled
• Visitors from non-branded SEO tripled
• Visit to signup conversion rates increased by up to 195% on some sections of the website
• Achieved position #4 worldwide for high competitive keywords

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How you can achieve the same results

The first thing to do in order to create a solid B2B SEO strategy is to make sure you know what you’re working with. This means you need to do a full site and content audit.

The best way to do a thorough audit is to use B2B SEO tools paired with the right knowledge and understanding of what to look for– ahem, an agency with a team of experts can be exactly what you need! SEO tools will help you better analyze what your keyword strategy and blog pages are doing for you in terms of organic traffic. You’ll also see what your landing page and referring domains are doing for you.

It’s also important to perform a technical SEO audit to make sure your content and website have all the technical aspects in place: site speed, crawlability, schema markup, etc. Additionally, don’t forget to do a competitive analysis. By doing a competitor analysis , you’ll see what’s working for your rivals, and what content gaps there are that you can seize.

2.  Increase organic traffic by 568% with a 12-month content marketing strategy

Nathan Latka is a serial entrepreneur, podcast host, and best-selling author. He helps SaaS founders and investors by providing insightful data on SaaS companies by region, industry, and more.

The challenge (and what we did to increase organic traffic): 

Nathan Latka wanted to compete against company insights databases such as Owler and Crunchbase., as well as attract a strong SaaS audience to his website. Among other tactics, this meant using SaaS-related keywords, which are extremely competitive.

• Audited Nathan’s current set up placing a special focus on its technical SEO efforts
• Built a developer-friendly plan for his engineering team to implement that would focus on increasing organic search growth
• Carried out extensive keyword research to build a 12-month SaaS content marketing plan
• Ran a ‘Top SaaS Companies’ ranking campaign to build SaaS-specific links back to his domain
• Crafted a link-building strategy with a focus on outreach to tech brands

The results we obtained twelve months later:

• Qualified organic clicks increased by 568%
• Dethroned giants like Owler and Crunchbase for high-intent keywords like “Typeform revenue,” “Loom revenue,” and “Semrush revenue”
• Scored page number one position for various competitive keywords such as “ARR,” “ARPU,” “run rate,” “revenue growth,” and “renewal rate”

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How you can see the same results

One of the best ways to increase organic traffic, and what we did with Nathan Latka, was focusing on on-page optimization.

Keywords are an important on-page factor. An important element of on-page SEO is keywords. In order to really get the most out of your keywords make sure you’re:

• Including them in your URLs
• Including them in your H1 titles, and H2 and H3 subtitles
• Using tools like Clearscope and Surfer to create high-quality content that includes relevant keywords
• Using them in your meta description

Additionally focus on placing high-quality outbound links and making sure that your user experience, mobile friendliness, and image optimization are on point.

3. Increase signups and organic clicks with a link-building strategy

Piktochart is a pre-seed web-based design app that helps users easily create infographics, presentations, reports, and many other graphic designs.

The challenge (and what we did to increase organic clicks)

Piktochart wanted to increase ranking on Google and product signups. However, since they’re a new player in an area with fierce competition such as unicorn Canva and Venggage, they wanted to focus on off-page SEO–specifically, link-building.

• Built a model to understand the potential number of monthly sign-ups and traffic that Piktochart could achieve through SEO based on their existing content
• Approached link-building by intensely focusing on pitching high-quality articles about a single topic (presentations) to authoritative partner websites in the business and design niche
• Link-building efforts were focused on only two key pages during one period
• Various on-page technical improvements were made across their website

The results we saw in just three months:

• Signups increased by 860%
• Visitors from non-branded SEO on two key presentation pages increased 9x
• Managed to rank #2 , above the billion-dollar giant Canva, for the highly transactional keyword “presentation maker”–with fewer referring domains than Canva

Link-building is a powerful practice, helping you:

• Optimize brand exposure
• Increase referral traffic, website visibility, and trustworthiness
• Connect with more people in your industry

To build a strategy that yields notable results, focus on quality over quantity . It’s about creating helpful content pieces, not about directly selling your product. With various tactics such as increasing linked brand mentions, backlinking using badges, and building brand visibility through your partners and vendors, you’ll start to notice a difference.

You can also use media, like B2B podcast interviews, press releases, and roundup articles to support your link-building strategy. It takes time, persistence, and effective networking, but, done right, your efforts will be worth their weight in gold.

4. Re-optimize existing pages to lower cost per opp 

Perkbox products support employee well-being, employee recognition, company culture, and more–all to help with recruiting and retaining the best possible talent for your team.

The challenge (and what we did to re-optimise existing pages)

Due to annual contracts in the industry, but high deal value, it was critical for Perkbox to make sure they were high on the rankings when the target audience was searching for a solution. This meant it needed to rank for high-intent keywords.

• In-depth SEO auditing to find out what needed to change to see the most impact in the shortest amount of time
• Thorough keyword research and content planning
• Optimization of existing content and landing pages
• Creation of new landing pages and blog articles
• High-quality link-building strategy

The results we achieved ten months later:

• Non-branded organic clicks increased by 49.2%
• Non-branded organic MQLs increased by 102%
• Opportunities increased by 40%
• Reached a cost per opp of just £110

Alistair Pike, Skale’s Growth Strategy Lead , shares how the SEO strategy played out: 

“We identified pages where MQLs had dropped when compared to their peak performance and established the cause. We refreshed the (dated) content model so that we had a more accurate and inclusive view of where the MQL potential lay. 

We also identified actions for key MQL-driving & high-potential pages: missing CTAs? Need links? On-page optimization opps? All of the above? Once we executed all of these, we saw an increase of 102% on non-branded organic MQLs.“

On-page SEO is just as important as off-page and technical SEO.

In this case, and for anyone looking for similar levels of success, on-page optimization is key. One element we focused heavily on was the meta titles and H1s.

For example, their platform page had strong backlinks, but the keywords they were using were not the optimal. By reoptimizing these pages for high-intent keywords, which included (but were not limited to the H1s and meta titles), combined with detailed content briefs, these pages now rank at # 1 on Google UK.

5. Rank first for competitive keywords through content and link-building

Moonpay is an extremely fast-growing cryptocurrency payments platform, launched in 2019. By 2022, they already have an impressive valuation of $3.4bn, after a Series A funding round of $555M.

The challenge (and what we did to win competitive keywords)

The crypto space is one with fierce competition. Moonpay wanted to rank for high-intent B2C keywords like ‘buy Ethereum with credit card’ or ‘buy USDT.’ To be able to do this, giants in the space had to be outranked: Coinbase, Binance, Kraken, and others alike.

What we did: We focused on creating a link-building strategy that would get valuable content from relevant topical authority websites in the cryptocurrency niche.

We vetted domains, researched and pitched content collaboration ideas, and then we created and published high-quality content that linked to target Moonpay’s URLs every month.

The results we saw in eight months:

We achieved an increase in non-branded organic clicks to targeted pages of over 7K per month.

There are multiple tactics you can implement to see similar results. First, find websites to reach out to, that have relevant topical authority. Gaining a link from these websites will boost your business’s credibility, which you can build on by constantly creating high-quality content. When a website has topical authority, it is more likely to be considered trustworthy. 

Additionally, you should use varied anchor texts for both internal and external links. A phrase match anchor text, for example, will include your target keyword(s) but link to a sentence or phrase related to the article you will link to. 

Anchor text diversity is key: done right, it can have a very positive influence on rankings. Conversely, it’s important to make sure you’re not using the exact same anchor text constantly, as it can cause search engines to view it as a way to manipulate their results.

6. Increase organic product signups through technical SEO

Attest is a series B consumer research platform that has raised more than $95m in investment funding.

The challenge (and what we did to increase organic signups)

Market research, consumer insights, and SaaS are all industries that are highly competitive. With players like Qualtrics and Survey Monkey, the playing field can feel pretty tight, and even more complicated when you’re competing for terms like ‘market research’ against giants like HubSpot.

Attest wanted to drive organic signups–they already had good non-brand organic traffic, but it came from low intent keywords.

• Audited the entire website and content and created a detailed keyword research and content planning
• Made sure technical SEO was on point and made adjustment where needed
• Created content that prioritized high intent keywords
• Applied on-page optimization
• Created a link-building strategy for the high intent keywords

The results we got in just over a year:

• High-intent keywords like “market research tools” and “how to measure brand awareness” now rank number one on Google
• Organic product signups have increased 8.5x
• Non-branded organic traffic increased by 1.85x

Making sure your website’s technical SEO elements are working will allow your content to have a chance to be crawled, viewed, and ranked by search engines.

Additionally, having the right link-building strategy will help you in a competitive space. However, remember that in order for link-building to work you need to establish a strategy and focus on just a few specific goals.

If you want to rank for 10+ highly competitive terms, you’ll probably fail. Choose the ones that really matter, the ones that have high transactional intent–if your goal is signups–and do a continuous effort in that direction.

When you’re focusing on high-intent keywords, the end goal isn’t about dedicating all of your effort to that term alone – it’s about creating a user journey to the high-intent term, which means including low to mid-intent content pieces that lead the user to the end goal. This helps you build out topical authority (because you’re also including the long-tail variations for the targeted keywords), improves your internal linking structure, and creates a holistic SEO strategy. Alexandra Hillyard, SEO content specialist Skale

Ready to scale your SaaS SEO with Skale?

Each case study we looked at shows that when you implement SEO in a smart and strategic way you can really drive the results you’ve been looking for. 

Let experts from a B2B SEO agency like Skale– hello! –do the heavy lifting for you. There’s no need for you to try and catch up with SEO trends , we’ll do that for you too. You’ve seen the results we can bring to our clients, want to see what we could do for your SaaS Book a call , and let’s find out.

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B2B SEO Case Study FAQ

1. is seo effective for b2b.

SEO is extremely effective for B2B companies–when done properly. It helps achieve strong organic visibility across all stages of the sales funnel, which will increase customer acquisition.

2. How do you write a B2B case study?

To write a B2B case study you should answer the following questions:

1. What was the challenge faced? 2. What were the goals established? 3. What steps were taken in order to achieve the desired outcomes? 4. What were the actual results?

Remember to only do case studies on brands you can actually name to not violate confidentiality agreements. Plus, don’t be afraid of asking brands for quotes to include in your case studies for further evidence of your work.

3. Are B2B case studies good for SEO?

B2B case studies are good for SEO for multiple reasons:

1. They help you add content to your blog that’s valuable to future customers 2. They are great as social proof of your capabilities 3. They add important keywords to your website

Whenever you have results that can be shared, construct a B2B case study and publish it. 

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B2B SEO: A Case Study

When I’m chatting with marketing VPs at events, they often ask the question: “So, what’s the best B2B SEO strategy nowadays?”

Even though there are many ways to answer that question, I can distill it to the following:

Identify your highest value keywords, rank them by transactionality , and then build a thorough page for each keyword, publishing at least twice weekly.

To elucidate this concept for you, I’ll now walk you through a case study involving one of our B2B clients, covering the initial analysis we performed, the SEO strategy we implemented, how we measured our efforts, and the results our campaign ultimately produced.

Detailed Analysis Informs Smart B2B SEO Strategy

To educate customers and increase their loyalty to their brand, iGPS focused on the following branding techniques, which we describe in our branding guide : 

• Unique Voice
• Original Thinking
• Clear Value Proposition
• Brand Ethos
• Infectiousness

As we determined in our onboarding phase, the overarching branding objective for iGPS is to project value using informative content that prompted customers to think deeply about the brand’s advantages. With the brand ethos established, we then took a closer look at iGPS’s customer base.

Customer Personas

Establishing a customer persona is the process of truly seeking to understand the key decision-makers—and their motivations. This undertaking is more than just identifying their industry, though that’s a good place to start. For iGPS, top target industries include: produce, pet food, paper goods, pharmaceutical products, automotive, and dairy and eggs. 

And it’s more than knowing their title, though that’s key too. For iGPS this ranged from CEOs, CFOs, and board members to transport, operations, supply, shipping, logistics, and warehouse managers, plus procurement team leads. 

Instead, think of a customer persona as a detailed, semi-fictional guide to the individual “type” of customer you most want to target : identify their role, title, demographics, goals, and challenges—and articulate how your solutions can help.

Why are customer personas so important? Because they help you identify the kinds of pain points and challenges that send them to the internet to look for solutions to their problems. For iGPS, use insights from our audience research and customer personas to develop a list of relevant conversion-oriented keywords to target with landing pages and blog entries for each industry our client serves. We knew if their website ranked on the first page for these keywords, they would see a significant increase in their number of leads. Which brings us to the next aspect of their business we analyzed: their website. 

Website Profile

• Site Speed: Their website was slow, which is an issue since Google ranks slower websites lower, automatically reducing the number of potential customers who see it. Then, if a customer does find the website and it takes too long to load, they skip it and go to the next one. 
• Meta Page Titles and Schema Markup:   Missing or haphazard meta page titles and schema markups are some of the most common issues we find on a website. Without MPTs and schema, Google doesn’t know how to categorize your web pages—so it doesn’t display them. This client’s website had no systemic meta page titles or schema, so it simply wasn’t ranking. 
• Security:   Google—and the people who use it—have security standards for websites, especially those which process transactions. Websites that don’t live up to these standards are penalized. 
• User Experience: Customers need to find what they’re looking for in as few clicks as possible. Additionally, websites should be aesthetically appealing, not busy or loud. We identified several user experience problems with this client’s website that were increasing bounce rates and reducing conversion rates. 
• Conversion Optimization: Each page on a website needs to provide a path towards conversion. We looked at this client’s website and decided it needed to both simplify and amplify its conversion channels. 
• Thought Leadership: Prior to working with us, this client did not have a blog and was, therefore, missing out on many potential conversions. The addition of thought leadership articles that target conversion-oriented keywords is a highly effective way of attracting customers to your site. As we’ll explore next, we developed a thorough keyword strategy and began posting thought leadership content twice per week. 

Let’s take a look at how we developed a custom SEO strategy and put it into action. 

Turning SEO Insights into Implementation

The Overlapping Benefits of Comprehensive Landing Pages 

First, we set out to craft uniquely insightful landing pages for each industry. On each of these pages, our goal was to outperform the competition by offering more comprehensive, valuable, and meaningful insights to iGPS’s readers. This quality content gave Google a reason to put iGPS on the first page. Secondly, we ensured a seamless navigational structure. To achieve this, we linked each of these landing pages from a clear and visible menu on the website’s top navigation bar. No matter if it’s the potential customer’s first or fourth visit to the iGPS website, it is now easy for them to find their way around the site. All the information they want is readily available—and so is the “contact us” page. As a result of these improvements, our landing pages both increased traffic to the client’s site and helped keep clients on the site longer once they were there. When customers were ready to purchase, we made it easy to do so. 

Supplementing Landing Pages with Targeted Blog Posts

Since our blog posts were positioned to rank quickly, they brought in new customers and increased Google’s trust in our client’s website overall. Because of this trust, our landing pages had a stronger ability to compete for higher-volume, “holy grail” keywords. After our new website went live, we continued to publish blog posts and new landing pages as necessary. Each new post targets a unique search term, widening and strengthening the reach of our client’s site. 

Next, we created a conversion funnel strategy to make it easier—even inevitable—that visitors would contact the iGPS sales team. 

Moving Visitors Down the Conversion Funnel

First, we piqued the interest of new visitors who just arrived on the website from a Google search. Many of these visitors landed on a targeted blog post. To move them down the conversion funnel, we included two details in every blog post: 

• Internal links: We linked to other related blog posts and landing pages throughout the articles. Specifically, we chose links that fell under the same broad container keyword as the longtail keyword used in the blog. We also linked to pages that would lead visitors further down the conversion funnel. For example, in a blog post about static vs. dynamic loads, we linked to a landing page related to iGPS’s plastic pallet durability because visitors looking for information about loads probably also wanted to know how much weight the pallets can carry before making a decision. 
• Clear calls to action (CTAs): We created unique CTAs at the end of every targeted blog post to directly move visitors down the funnel. If the blog answered all of the questions visitors had, they could immediately call or email iGPS. If they needed more information, we also gave them a link to the homepage to discover more resources. 

Second, we used landing pages to convert visitors who were further down the conversion funnel. These landing pages centered around the most transactional keywords, i.e. those that potential customers type when they’re ready to rent pallets. We created:

• Industry-specific landing pages to answer industry-specific questions visitors had
• Super long landing pages that offered solutions to the most common challenges customers faced
• Landing pages specifying the types of pallets offered and what their capabilities are 

As with the targeted blog posts, every landing page included a clear CTA and additional internal links. We wanted visitors to feel empowered by the information we provided and excited to take the next step. 

With the conversion funnel ready, we then set our sights on measuring the success of the B2B SEO strategy. 

Measuring the Success of the SEO Campaign

Keyword Rankings

To measure the success of our keyword choices for iGPS, we built a custom monthly keyword tracker that contained: 

• Ranking position by month for every page and the keyword it targeted 
• Changes in ranking from month to month
• Overall monthly domain ranking changes according to Ahrefs 

Using this information, we could see which pages were ranking well and which were not ranking as highly as we expected. From here, we could make adjustments to our keyword strategy to ensure that every keyword we targeted ranked at the top of the search results. 

However, keyword rankings weren’t the most important measurement for success. To get a realistic sense of which types of visitors we were attracting, we also had to look at visitor engagement and organic traffic coming to the website. 

Organic Traffic and Engagement

• Overall non-branded organic traffic: Using Google analytics and other tools, we tracked changes in organic traffic (visitors coming from search results, not paid ads) from the start of the campaign to the present. We also filtered results to remove traffic coming from typing in the iGPS name or its branded products. We were then left with an accurate number of visitors coming to the website from organic longtail keyword searches—new potential customers who were interested in our content. 
• Page-specific traffic: We tracked which pages received the most traffic and analyzed what made these pages so effective. 
• Engagement metrics: We looked at unique visitors, returning visitors, pages per session, bounce rate, user actions, and session duration to determine what most visitors were doing after they clicked on a link to iGPS from an organic, non-branded search. 

Using these metrics, we could prove that we were attracting potential customers to the website and that these customers were interested in our content. Next, we had to measure whether we were effectively converting these visitors into customers. 

Conversion Rate

Keyword rankings, traffic, and engagement helped us track our progress on a monthly basis, but higher conversion rates was the ultimate end goal for this B2B SEO strategy. To calculate this rate, we tracked the number of qualified leads that we could attribute directly to our campaign every month. This included customers who discovered iGPS through the blog, landing pages, or an organic, non-branded search result. 

Next, we divided the total number of qualified leads  by the number of new organic visitors the website received in that timeframe and multiplied this figure by 100%. From the start of the campaign to the present, iGPS’s conversion rate has grown from .04% to 0.22%. An impressive 484% increase.

The Best B2B SEO Strategy Gets Results

New Qualified Leads

Customer Engagement

We knew we were on the right track when we saw high organic traffic, unique and returning visits, multiple average pages per session, and increased total session duration. We also helped iGPS reduce overall bounce rate. It was clear that customers were not only visiting the website but also carefully considering the content and interacting with our CTAs. 

Thought Leadership

What You Can Learn from This Successful B2B SEO Campaign

We researched, wrote, and designed from March 2018 to August 2018, then pushed the new iGPS site live. At that point, we had 12 landing pages and over 20 blogs. In the words of one of our team members: “Like Athena, we popped out of Zeus’ forehead full grown.” Here are some of the improvements we tracked since we launched the new site: 

• 87,936 new users gained 
• 368 keywords on the first page of Google
• 230 leads worth approximately $15 million in lifetime value

Of course, we keep working to bring in even more users and leads to the site. Evergreen content on blog posts and landing pages will endure for years, maintaining and capturing market share all that time. After the first year, we also found that blog posts would not rank for their most competitive keyword, “plastic pallets,” so we created a hub page that all future posts would link to. Since fall 2019, this page on plastic pallets has achieved a spot on the first page. Since it is such a competitive keyword, however, it takes ongoing effort to keep it there, so we are enhancing our linking strategies and promoting this page when possible to maintain its visibility. As we write new pages and update old posts, we work to define our client as the foremost authority in the industry . Whenever a potential customer asks about pallets, we provide iGPS the opportunity to answer first. As they develop new products or enter new industries, we’re there to ensure their message is communicated as widely and effectively as possible.  

The exact same SEO strategy probably won’t work for your company, unless you happen to sell pallets, too. But if you’re interested in finding out what the best SEO strategy for your B2B firm is, get in touch with my team. We’d be glad to learn more about your business and your website to create an SEO strategy that will get results.

Evan Bailyn

Evan Bailyn is a best-selling author and award-winning speaker on the subjects of SEO and thought leadership. Contact Evan here .

Learn how Thought Leadership SEO can fit into your company’s marketing strategy

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Our 5 Best B2B SEO Case Studies

In B2B, SEO just hits a little different. Buyers are critical. Purchases are rarely impulsive. You can make serious cash from very low volumes. And the top of the funnel is a suspect investment. Below are 6 B2B SEO case studies 👇 ‍ - Expect a teardown of their entire strategy. - Expect hints, tips and SEO experiment results. - Expect exclusive interviews with the *actual* SEO behind the story.

1. How Monday.com Wrote 1,000 SEO Articles in 12 Months (and then IPO'd)

Pre-IPO Monday.com dramatically scaled its content production.

I'm talking over 125 new blog posts per month. 1,000 that year.

#moatbuilding paid off.

The traffic growth was stoopid good.

🙌 The headline: 100K to +1.2M monthly organic visitors.

And the story behind the scale is an operational masterpiece.

Expect to learn:

⚡ Documentation: What foundational guides are fundamental to scaling content creation? And the ones you must not miss.

⚡ Keywords: How to choose those that rank in a short space of time. So you see results now, not in 12 months.

⚡ Writer acquisition: How to find enough great writers for 125 articles per month. And filter out the rubbish ones.

⚡ Quality: How to write good enough quality for Monday, even on technical topics.

Read it here.

2. Hotjar's Traffic Explosion: 47% Increase in 2 Years

Hotjar's Senior SEO & Content strategist tells us how Hotjar leverages full-funnel topic clusters to drive success.

Hotjar's search volume increased 47% over the past 2 years.

That's millions of new visitors each year.

And the best thing?

Revenue results. It's driving *actual* revenue results.

Hotjar's SEO strategy is mission-critical customer acquisition.

And as a channel, the costs are proving to be significantly lower.

⚡ Topic choice: How Hotjar leverages customers to unearth high-converting topics to write about.

⚡ Topic clustering: How Hotjar builds topic clusters—it's not all about the keywords.

⚡ Content experience: How Hotjar consciously designs content to drive readers to become customers.

⚡ Backlink building: Does a website with DR 92 does backlink building

3. How Scribe Grew from 0-30K Monthly Visitors in 7 Months

This week's SEO case study is with the world-class SEO & content strategist, Jakub Rudnik .

Safe to say he's been around the block. He was at G2 during the hyper-growth years, on which he notes:

"At G2, the big thing was our big goal of total articles written not the end result. It was the biggest mistake we've made in our career , writing 500 articles that never generated traffic or revenue or anything.”

He's also an ex-writer for the Chicago Tribune and a journalism professor, giving him an eye for what grabs the reader's attention—more on that later.

Now leading content at Scribe , I catch up with Jakub to hear how his team grew monthly traffic from 0 to 30,000 in 7 months.

⚡ How to build a world-class content strategy that actually drives revenue.

⚡ How journalism and content marketing overlap (and where they don't).

⚡ How Scribe iterated its content strategy around revenue signals.

⚡ Whether SEO is right for your company, and how to leverage your product in your strategy.

4. How UserPilot Scaled to 100K Visitors in 10 Months

It took UserPilot three years to get its first 25,000 monthly organic visitors.

And, just 10 months to get to 100,000.

Whaaaat?! Triple the growth rate. 🤯

How on earth did they...

Well, in short, they:

• Learned how to build efficient content operations (scaling from 4 monthly blogs to 40)
• Leveraged programmatic SEO to scale production even further

All without a drop in quality. Interesting. 🤔

In this case study, I talk to UserPilot’s Head of Marketing, Emilia Korczyńska to hear her story.

It wasn't an easy journey. They made mistakes along the way.

But from the flames of challenge, efficient operations were born.

UserPilot is now capable of producing 29 long-form blog posts per hour .

Per. F*ucking. Hour.

In this week's write-up, I deep dive exactly how they use programmatic SEO to do this without losing quality, and explain how you can do the same.

⚡ How to build systems that overcome your reliance on any one individual, so your content production never slows.

⚡ How to leverage keyword patterns across content types to exponentially scale production.

⚡ The templates and databases required to do programmatic SEO yourself (Spoiler: It's not that hard, even I have done it using Webflow + Sheets alone)

5. How Typeform Built SEO into a $3M Annual Lifetime Revenue Channel

Jake Stainer joined Typeform in June 2015 as employee #29.

In his first couple of weeks, they celebrated hitting $1M in annual revenue from 5,000 customers.

By the time he left just 3.5 years later?

Typeform had:

• 10x the employees
• Grown to $13M in ARR
• Grown their SEO channel to $3M in yearly lifetime value revenue

In this week's SEO case study, we hear how a growth marketer scales SEO with:

• Product-led SEO techniques
• Retention-driven topic choices
• Growth modeling for search
• Processes designed to win

⚡ How Typeform selected and prioritized keywords to drive the most revenue growth (an example of product-led SEO in action)

⚡ How Typeform built out their template library, ranking for 1,000s of bottom-of-funnel keywords.

⚡ Typeforms unique backlink building technique that scaled them to 2.3M backlinks (and 93 domain rating)

⚡ How to build an SEO growth model that makes sure your strategy prioritizes revenue (with template)

www.SEOcasestudy.com

A How the F*ck Project

CN: 13705837 Westbury Court Church Road, Westbury On Trym, Bristol, United Kingdom, BS9 3EF

B2B SEO Case Study: How We Helped These 6 B2B Brands to Get More Traffic and Sales

Key Takeaways

• Learn how B2B companies like RevenueHero and Storylane achieved remarkable growth in organic traffic and conversions through targeted SEO and content marketing strategies.
• Discover the importance of in-depth keyword research and content optimization, as demonstrated by Storylane's success in ranking for high-intent keywords and ShippingChimp's 8X traffic boost.
• Understand the role of technical SEO audits, on-page optimization, and strategic backlinking in enhancing search engine rankings and driving business growth, as evidenced by Databrain and Multiplier's impressive results.

Google currently has a 91.37% market share of the search engine market worldwide. ( Statcounter )

Most professionals and decision-makers use Google to search for information and products. Hence, creating and implementing an SEO strategy is critical to B2B business success.

61% of marketers reported that improving SEO and growing their organic presence were their top inbound marketing priorities. (Source)

A B2B SEO strategy combined with your content marketing strategy is vital to generating relevant organic traffic and driving leads and revenue growth for your business.

Furthermore, it helps you to build a relationship with prospects at each stage of their buyer's journey, helping you get lasting results in terms of sales and conversions.

At TripleDart , we've worked with numerous B2B businesses to help them gain relevant topical authority and search engine rankings for their targeted keywords.

In this article, we bring you handpicked B2B SEO case studies from our B2B SEO agency's repository.

So, hold on tight and get ready to immerse yourself in some excellent insights from some real-world examples.

B2B SEO Case Study #1: How We Helped RevenueHero Achieve a 200% Increase in Organic Traffic

RevenueHero is a B2B software that integrates with a company's lead capture forms to qualify prospects in real time and then schedules meetings with the appropriate sales representative.

This process aims to shorted sales cycles and increase conversions.

In this case study, let us understand how we helped RevenueHero achieve its SEO goals.

To build and grow a sales pipeline from organic search for RevenueHero.

The Challenge

With a lack of an existing SaaS startup SEO strategy in place, TripleDart had to work from ground level to build an SEO and content marketing strategy that drives conversions for RevenueHero.

The Strategy

• We built and executed a product-led content strategy by creating 30,000 words of high-quality content monthly. We published 10 to 15 keyword-driven blog posts every month.
• Drove topical authority by implementing hub & spoke content structure.
• Conducted monthly content audit to improve ranking and relevancy and prioritised low-difficulty keywords.
• Combined organic marketing with performance marketing to accelerate results.

The Results

With our consistent efforts, we were able to achieve a 200% increase in organic traffic for RevenueHero in a matter of three months.

Furthermore, some of the blog posts we published quickly rose to the top of the SERPs. What's more, they got 50 plus rich snippet features.

How to do it for Your B2B Business

Go to the heart of the challenges your customers are facing and push out product-led content that aims to offer tangible solutions. Use search engine optimization as your key weapon to rank on search engines. Finally, don't forget to keep tabs on the latest B2B SEO trends.

Case Study #2: How We Helped Storylane 5X Their Organic Search Traffic

Storylane is a versatile no-code platform designed to help teams create and share interactive product demos quickly and efficiently.

It offers a range of features, including a browser extension for capturing product flows, a powerful editor for making HTML edits without coding, and the ability to add guides and widgets to highlight product features.

To create product awareness and drive sales with the help of SEO and content marketing.

The primary problem was identifying ways to create brand awareness for a unique product offering. At the same, we had to work on pushing high-intent content to drive conversions for this emerging startup.

Because the product operates in a narrow niche, it was for us to identify the best keywords across the customer journey.

• We created a content funnel for each product category/feature, creating content covering all intent combinations, which helped us boost the topical authority in relevant keyword categories. Also, this helped Storylane rank for the keyword - interactive product demo in 1st position in North America.
• We curated Top-of-Funnel (TOFU) content that was heavily focused on product demos. This helped create relevant content and attain topical authority.
• We captured high-intent search traffic with BOFU content and SEO-driven landing pages.
• We worked on getting several backlinks from Storylane’s client base. This helped us improve Storylane’s domain authority and search engine rankings.

We saw Storylane's traffic go up by five times. Also, our team helped Storylane get 400-plus demos and 140-plus paying customers in just six months!

Drill deeper into your keyword research to understand which keywords are most relevant to your business. Align your keyword research with your customer journey so you can deliver content that meets the needs of your audience.

Don't forget to back up quality content with backlinks and other promotional activities.

Case Study #3: ShippingChimp Saw an 8X Increase in Their Traffic

ShippingChimp is a cloud-based e-commerce operations platform that helps retailers automatically sync their orders, customers, and logistics information in one place to supercharge their customer experience and reduce operational expenses with data-driven decisions.

From contributing to the post-purchase experience to driving repetitive orders, ShippingChimp helps eCommerce companies to significantly scale their business.

To identify the relevant keywords and to generate organic traffic that leads to conversions.

Struggling with a vast range of ICPs, ShippingChimp encountered mixed results on search engines. That’s when they reached out to Tripledart seeking expert guidance on SEO combined with content marketing.

• Webpage migration
• On-Page SEO optimization
• SEO-focussed content strategy
• Improving the relevance of existing content
• Building page authority using strategic internal linking
• Performing frequent technical audits

With our SEO-focused content strategy, ShippingChimp saw an 8X increase in traffic, a 2.5X improvement in search rankings, and 5X in pipeline growth.

When doing content marketing, ensure you don't ignore technical SEO. It's ideal to make use of the right B2B SEO tools to conduct website audits regularly and keep your website free from any SEO-related issues.

Work on optimizing your existing pages and work on creating an optimum internal linking structure for your website.

Be persistent with your link-building strategies to acquire quality backlinks to some of your main website pages and resources.

Also, a thorough competitive analysis is needed to create valuable and audience-centric content.

Case Study #4: How Databrain Recorded a 16X Jump in Ranking Keywords in Six Months

Databrain is an embedded analytics solution that helps businesses build white-labeled reports for their customers. Making data-driven decisions is easier with this SDK solution as it helps you create reports that offer deeper insights and visual analysis.

Their SDK can be connected to anything, therefore giving businesses the option to add a reporting dashboard without creating their own from scratch.

As a new player in the embedded analytics space, Databrain had to start building its B2B content repository. At the same time, this enterprise SaaS company needed to work to compete with the likes of Tableau and Power BI.

To work on targeting BoFu keywords with relevant and in-depth blog content and drive high-intent website traffic that leads to conversion growth for Databrain.

From identifying the right target keywords to listing BoFu pieces, the SEO team at TripleDart found the missing piece in Databrain’s content marketing strategy.

• We focused on discovering bottom-of-the-funnel keywords to assist the client in steadily increasing high-intent website traffic.
• We identified and created industry-specific solution pages that address user pain points, a strategy that helped us boost conversions significantly.
• We also identified the top industry players and created comparison pages to showcase the benefits of choosing Databrain
• Our team diligently worked on developing cluster pages to display features like embedded analytics, customer-facing analytics, etc., to boost Databrains topical authorities in these areas of expertise.
• Our SEO experts conducted in-depth technical audits to identify and resolve persistent website SEO issues.
• After identifying low-performing website pages, we meticulously performed on-page optimization of all such pages by improving keyword density, using keyword variations, strategic internal linking, and improving page metatags.

With our dedicated efforts at executing a relevant SEO strategy, Databrain saw a 1600% increase in ranking keywords. Furthermore, our content creation efforts helped Databrain achieve a 2X increase in organic traffic in a span of six months.

As a B2B marketer, you must be aggressive about creating authority for important landing pages on your website. Be focused on linking these pages to valuable content that drives user action.

On the other hand, you can use content optimization to achieve SEO results for your branded content. Conduct regular technical audits to improve organic visits and online visibility.

Case Study #5: How We Helped Multiplier Scale Their Conversion Volume by 50%

Multiplier is a SaaS platform that eliminates the complications of international employment, payroll, and compliance.

Lack of cohesive demand generation strategy that uses organic SEO and paid campaigns for business growth. A fairly new website that required us to work harder to build its domain domain authority.

Building and growing their sales pipeline to drive conversions and revenue.

Multiplier hired us to spearhead their search engine optimization and content marketing combined with paid marketing efforts. We built an end-to-end lead generation engine to get consistent results for the SaaS product.

Here are the key elements of the strategy we executed for Multiplier:

• Longtail keyword research and targeting
• On-page SEO
• SEO focussed content creation
• Structured Google Ads
• Multichannel paid social strategy
• Landing page strategy

Using a long-tail keyword strategy as the foundation for creating valuable blog content, we were able to help Multiplier generate high-quality organic traffic and leads. As a result, they saw a 200% increase in organic traffic and a 50% increase in conversion volume.

Don't get disheartened by the fact that your domain rating is low. Targeting long-tail keywords for your B2B SEO can help you tap into the low-hanging fruits and quickly get relevant organic traffic for your website.

Complement this strategy with landing pages to convey why your services are the best. Keep tabs on your Google Analytics dashboard to track results and work on improving your content and your messaging.

Case Study #6: How BiteSpeed Witnessed a 100% Increase in Organic Impressions

BiteSpeed is a revolutionary SaaS product that helps Shopify-based e-commerce brands to move away from boring, impersonal marketing emails and sell with the help of B2C chat applications.

They help e-commerce store owners boost their revenue by helping them with abandoned carts and conversion optimization.

A wider TAM meant extensive content production to reach and connect with BiteSpeed's scattered customer base. Also, it was vital for us to focus on Shopify-focused keywords and topics. However, since these keywords had a high search volume, their difficulty level was also much higher.

Moreover, a large part of the SERP real estate for all such keywords was owned by Shopify and existing industry thought leaders.

To build and execute a steady organic marketing strategy for BiteSpeed.

Our SEO experts focused on three core elements of a winning SEO strategy: authority, relevance, and experience. We put all our energy into finding the right keywords and topics and creating high-quality content. Here's how we generated the desired business outcomes for BiteSpeed:

• SEO focussed content strategy
• On-page optimization
• Strategic internal linking
• Technical website audits
• Programmatic SEO to build important pages around best Shopify apps for several categories

By producing 150K words of high-quality and user-intent-focused content, we were able to help this D2C brand achieve a 200% increase in traffic and a 30% increase in opportunities on a month-on-month basis. With our efforts, BiteSpeed also got 50 plus rich snippet features in just three months!

Organic SEO and content marketing is about sticking to the basics. Keep creating valuable content and keep optimizing existing content to see your blog pages rise in popularity and attract relevant leads to your business.

Final Thoughts  

It is evident that SEO and content marketing are effective strategies to give wings to your digital presence and build a content-based marketing pipeline for your B2B business. These strategies not only help you get organic visits on your website, but they also help you drive lasting results in terms of sales and revenue.

At TripleDart, our team is passionate about helping B2B startups expand their businesses through B2B SEO and content marketing. With our single-minded focus and dedication, we were able to deliver amazing results for all the B2B companies mentioned in this post.

And we'd love to see your B2B company rise to the top and acquire a huge chunk of the SERP real estate.

So, if you're looking for a B2B SEO agency , please book a call with one of our experts.

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B2B SEO case studies

Explore the world of B2B SEO through our insightful case studies, shedding light on the bespoke strategies crafted for business-to-business engagements.

Uncover the meticulous processes of SEO content creation, competitor analysis, and on-page optimisation that have bolstered the online presence of B2B enterprises.

Each case study is a testament to the power of tailored SEO solutions in enhancing website visibility, driving quality leads, and fostering business relationships.

How We Won a Complete Product Category for a Brand with Semantic SEO Strategies. (Clicks up by 4,400%, Impressions by 1,900%)

An IT infrastructure company came to us for help to grow a particular product category which has recently become very important for them. This segment

Maximising Lead Generation During Low Season

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How we Boost a Website’s Impressions & Traffic in 4 months.

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Exploding Lead Generation with the Right SEO Content Strategy

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We achieved a 60% growth in organic traffic within 3 months by doing this!

We took up work for a Singapore based client that deals in local rental and coworking space business.  We started working on the website at

555% Growth in Total Impressions and Clicks in Just 2 Weeks After Removing Toxic Backlinks

See what happened when we took over this client in the charts below. For results filtered only for Google Malaysia, clicks from organic search results

Local Parts Factory Expands Globally with SEO Content

When this client first approached us for help to expand globally, we were able to identify three main problem areas: An old website (more than

Hardware Manufacturer Reached Max Capacity Through SEO Content Strategy

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How We Helped a Plastic Molding Manufacturer Get Out of a Google Penalty and Scale Business Internationally

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An IT infrastructure company came to us for help to grow a particular product category which has recently become very important for them. This segment is

In today’s highly competitive digital marketplace, businesses must consistently generate organic leads to remain profitable. However, certain industries experience seasonal variations in demand, which can result

The client is a Malaysian website that provides rental equipment and services for organising events. We took over as their SEO partner in July 2022.  The

This is a quick extension of a previous case study for our client, which deals in local rental and coworking space business in Singapore. They had

We took up work for a Singapore based client that deals in local rental and coworking space business.  We started working on the website at the

See what happened when we took over this client in the charts below. For results filtered only for Google Malaysia, clicks from organic search results increased

When this client first approached us for help to expand globally, we were able to identify three main problem areas: An old website (more than a

This client is a bulk contract hardware manufacturer. One of the major challenges we identified when we first spoke to them was that the company is

In early October 2018, a plastic molding manufacturer from Thailand came to us for help. Their biggest complaint was that the website was not generating any

B2B SEO stats

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Increasing Year-Over-Year Organic Traffic for Our Website by Over 130%

Unlike others in our field, we decided to invest in SEO as a key marketing channel for increasing the online exposure of our digital marketing resources.

Llama Lead Gen has been busy in the last couple of years, looking for ways to expand our digital presence and bring value to our online audience. We drew on our team’s deep digital marketing expertise to create and publish extensive B2B marketing resources on our website as part of this effort.

Today, we'd like to share a rare ‘peek under the hood’ moment with you to review some of the best B2B SEO strategies that helped us increase our organic traffic year-over-year by more than 130%.

#searchengineoptimization

increase YoY in organic traffic

decrease in bounce rate

increase in average session duration

Keyword growth

Organic keywords: 1406

Page 1 keyword growth

* The spike in organic keywords in February 2021 coincides with a Google core algorithm update. It is not uncommon for keywords and rankings to be volatile during core updates. A few weeks after the update, the keyword volume normalized and continued with steady quarterly growth.

How We Did It

Our starting point was the blog content that we had already created. In 2020, we created several pieces of content for our blog around a variety of digital marketing topics, such as Linkedin marketing and advertising, budgeting, and A/B testing for digital marketing campaigns. Nevertheless, this content didn’t move the needle in organic visibility as much as we initially hoped.

After carefully reviewing our content and website strategy, we decided to break away from our “business blog” SEO strategy and instead focus on creating content clusters around our core competencies.

Content strategy pillars

Marketing Guide

Services Page

Featured Content

This fundamentally altered our content-creation process. Instead of tackling each marketing guide for our business blog as a standalone project, we adopted a circular approach. Each of our core competencies is represented by a marketing guide, a services page, a case study, and an external piece of content (news feature, etc.). Moreover, each part of the content hub focuses on a different level of the marketing funnel.

Case Studies

Although our goal was to document our success stories initially, we decided to use this content to showcase our expertise across various industry verticals. This strategy proved to be an excellent tactic for SEO lead generation, and our marketing case studies became the foundation for each of our content clusters. In the last two years, we’ve published over 15 in-depth marketing case studies covering verticals such as Healthcare Marketing, Political Advertising, B2B SaaS, Digital Transformation, and more.

The number of website clicks and search impressions attributed to our case studies in a 16-month window.

Megatutorials

After overhauling our content marketing strategy, one of the critical activities that we undertook was to consolidate our blog content into long-form marketing guides, a.k.a. Ultimate Guides. Such pieces of content demonstrate several unique traits and advantages:

Many marketing studies correlate content length to high Google rankings

Long-form pieces of content are an excellent way to target long-tail keywords

There’s enough ground to optimize content for Google’s passage indexing by providing nuanced answers to niche queries

Long-form content provides more opportunities for interlinking

Ranking on page one for multiple long-tail keywords is an excellent way to build natural links and improve rankings for high traffic keywords

Service Pages

Although the digital marketing space is hyper-competitive SEO-wise, our primary goal was to present the marketing services that we offer professionally and comprehensively. As a result, our initial focus was to expand our services pages across marketing verticals. 

Once we hit that goal, we decided to expand our services pages towards industry verticals in which we have extensive experience. Additionally, our keyword research uncovered some excellent opportunities for SEO growth by niching down to the different industries that we service, such as with our Pharmaceutical Marketing Services.

Off-Site Content

While working on repurposing our content and compiling our long-form marketing guides, we found that some content inevitably wouldn’t fit our new strategy. As a result, we decided to use some of this material as off-site content to increase our digital footprint. In other words, we drew heavily on content that didn't fit our strategy and published in-depth pieces on digital marketing topics on other established websites.

This supplemented our other digital PR, and business development efforts and resulted in an Ahrefs Domain Rating score increase from 2 to 21, in less than two years. Domain Rating is a proprietary Ahrefs’ metric that shows the strength of a target website’s total backlink profile in terms of its size and quality. Although we don’t believe that a single metric can reflect a website’s SEO, it’s still an indicator of our dynamic growth in a short period of time.

This case study is a summary of the SEO tactics and strategies that we used to jump-start our own SEO efforts and start generating traffic from Google to our website. Although we benefited from these strategies, it’s important to remember that SEO is a very technical field, and every business is different. There are many potential tactics that can be used to help your business rank better on search engines, but it's important to keep in mind that every tactic should be tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of your company.

If you’d like to know more about how SEO can help your business grow, and what kind of strategies we recommend, contact us today for a free consultation.

Ready to take your SEO  efforts to the next level? 

Struggling to effectively and efficiently budget for your advertising campaigns? Save time, money, and resources by hiring Llama Lead Gen as your digital marketing expert.

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B2B SEO Case Study: Organic Traffic Soars for PDF Generation Library (787% Increase)!

Business-to-business (B2B) companies face unique marketing challenges like:

• Standing out from the competition 
• Complex sales funnels 
• Long sales cycles 
• Finding unique ways to connect with target audiences 
• Creating content that guides prospects through their sales funnel 

There’s one marketing strategy that successfully deals with all these challenges when implemented properly, and that’s SEO. 

That said, it’s no wonder why SEO is the #1 way that B2B companies promote their products and services. 

According to Sagefrog’s 2023 Marketing Mix Report, SEO is the most popular marketing tactic amongst B2B marketers, and the B2B SEO case study we’re about to share perfectly illustrates why that is. 

This is the story of how we were able to increase a B2B client’s organic traffic by 787%, get them ranking in the top 10 for 1,500+ relevant keywords, and build thousands of valuable backlinks for their most important pages.

The kicker?

We did it entirely through link outreach. 

That’s right; no web copy or content creation was necessary for us to achieve the aforementioned results. 

This case study is also a testament to the massive impact high-quality backlinks have on a website’s search rankings and overall online visibility. 

Read on to learn how we catapulted our client’s organic traffic into the stratosphere (and how we can do the same for you). 

The Client: A PDF Generation Library for Web Developers

Our B2B client operates a PDF library that runs on the C# programming language. 

It’s a powerful toolkit for web developers that lets them generate, read, edit, sign, and save PDF files in the .NET framework. 

Without getting too technical, they license their library out to developers to use in their C# projects.

Despite the quality of the clients’ service, they were being overshadowed by competitors in search engine results, especially Google.

They needed a way to boost their online visibility and establish themselves as a major player in the PDF library space, and they knew SEO was their ticket to achieving both goals. 

After doing some research online, they came across some of our rave reviews, and decided to get in touch with our team. 

Mind you, this was back in late 2018, so we’ve been working with this client for quite a while now (67 months, to be exact). 

During our consultation, the client gave us the rundown of their situation:

• They were producing top-tier blog content that, while extremely well-written, wasn’t bringing in enough traffic. 
• Their website was in desperate need of high-authority backlinks from reputable websites in their industry. 
• They weren’t ranking for important industry keywords yet. 

Since they had diverse goals, a complex sales funnel, and a lengthy sales cycle – we decided that a HOTH X campaign would work out best. 

Getting set up with a HOTH X campaign 

HOTH X is our managed service where we handle every aspect of a client’s SEO strategy. Each client gets hooked up with a dedicated campaign manager who develops a long-term gameplan to ensure success. 

Our clients love HOTH X because it’s truly a ‘hands-free’ service. 

We’ll handle your SEO for you so that you can focus on running your business instead, which is exactly what took place with our B2B client. 

They had enough going on managing their PDF library and creating top-tier blog content, so we took the wheel for their SEO. 

HOTH X campaigns also use a combination of our SEO products to help clients achieve their goals. 

However, in this case, we determined that we only needed one of our products to help them dominate the search results – and that was Link Outreach .

This is because we knew high-value backlinks were what the client needed from us to achieve all their goals (and then some). 

Since they were already creating outstanding blog content on a regular basis, we didn’t need to provide any content of our own. Their website was also immaculate, so we didn’t need to tighten up or optimize their web copy. 

Building backlinks was the name of the game for this SEO strategy, so we got ready to start sending lots and lots of outreach emails. 

Also, the campaign lasted 67 months in total, which comes out to approximately five and a half years. 

Nearly every month of the campaign included a 14-pack of link outreach orders, which is a whole lot of link-building. 

The importance of backlinks for ranking on Google 

Before we continue any further, let’s explore why backlinks are such an important ranking factor on Google (and other search engines, but Google places the most importance on backlinks by far). 

A backlink is a link on an external website that directs back to your site. 

On Google, backlinks act as ‘votes of confidence’ for the quality of your content. The idea is similar to how term papers cite academic journals to back up their claims. If other websites that Google already trusts are linking to your content, it signals to Google that your content is also trustworthy, accurate, and high-quality. 

This sums up why building backlinks has a positive impact on a website’s search rankings. 

The more backlinks you have coming from high-quality, relevant websites in your field, the more Google will trust that your content is worthy of higher rankings. 

9 times out of 10, if a client we’re working with is getting outranked by a competitor, it’s because the competing website has stronger backlinks. 

The game then becomes closing the gap by building more high-quality backlinks than the competition. 

This is link-building 101, but it explains why link outreach was our primary focus for this B2B client’s SEO strategy. 

The SEO Audit: Getting Our Footing 

Every HOTH X campaign kicks off with a comprehensive SEO audit, and we have a very good reason for this. 

The last thing you want to do with SEO is get ahead of yourself, as it can cause you to miss foundational mistakes that negate your efforts. 

For example, let’s say we forgo an audit and start building backlinks to one of the client’s most important blogs – failing to realize that two versions of the blog actually exist (which is known as duplicate content in the SEO world). 

This confuses Google’s algorithm because it doesn’t know which version of the blog to rank in its search results, which usually causes both versions to disappear from the search results entirely. 

Therefore, if we started putting in the hard work necessary to build backlinks to the blog, it wouldn’t matter because the content isn’t even ranking. 

That’s why it’s imperative to begin every SEO campaign with a thorough audit, regardless of the goals involved. 

What takes place during an SEO audit?

We analyze:

• On-page SEO factors like keyword usage, placement, and metadata 
• Technical SEO factors like page loading speed, broken links, and duplicate content 
• Site architecture and URL structure 
• The website’s backlink profile (and its quality) 
• Any keywords they’re currently ranking for and in which position 
• How much organic traffic they’re generating (and from where) 

We have more than a few tools to help us out during the audit process, most notably Google Search Console (GSC) and Google Analytics (both of which the site owner has to provide us access to). 

GSC lets us look at a website’s keyword position rankings, organic traffic, and clicks/impressions. 

Google Analytics is more about analyzing a website’s demographics, such as its geographic location, and identifying the main sites that direct users to it. 

Identifying easy-win keyword opportunities during the audit 

Once all the technical and user experience issues are squared away, we move on to looking for easy-win keyword opportunities for the client. 

What are those?

Easy-win opportunities are keywords that the client’s site already ranks for, just not very high. The good news is that with some optimizations, it’s pretty easy to get these keywords ranking higher (sometimes even in the top 3). 

The reason we go out of our way to look for easy-win keywords is they provide speedy results . 

Google’s crawling and indexing process

SEO is a long-term process that takes some time to start generating steam, especially for newer, more obscure domains. This is because you have to wait for Google to crawl and index your content before your optimizations will impact your rankings. 

It takes quite a bit of energy for Google’s bots to crawl and index websites, which is why they have crawl budgets. 

There’s also a tier list involved with the indexing process that’s split into high, medium, and low-priority levels.

High-priority sites are the most popular sites on the web (think Amazon and Wikipedia), so Google recrawls and indexes them most often. 

Medium priority sites are still popular, but not on the level as legacy websites like Amazon. Low priority websites are obscure (or brand-new) domains that are rarely indexed. 

This means low-priority sites may have to wait 6 to 12 months before their content is recrawled and reindexed, which can be frustrating. 

Easy-win keywords mitigate this issue because the content is already indexed and ranked. This means it won’t take nearly as long for optimizations to impact search rankings. 

As a result, easy-win keywords can provide ranking boosts within a few weeks instead of months, providing clients with some much-needed traffic generation early on in their campaigns. 

The impact of easy-win keywords 

Our B2B client had quite a few easy-win keywords that we happily capitalized on as soon as possible. 

This is because, as stated before, they had an extremely active blog that covered topics relevant to their target audience. 

They were bound to start ranking for web developer-related keywords due to their blogging efforts, which was exactly the case. We honed in on keywords ranking in positions 4 – 30, which are prime easy-win keyword opportunities. 

Which optimizations did we make?

The usual fare, but that’s usually all it takes with easy-win keywords, such as:

• Adding the target keyword to the title tag, H1 header, metadata, and first 100 words of the content
• Making sure image alt text contained target keywords 
• Beefing up pages with thin content (less than 1,000 words) 
• Adding internal links to pages with the most backlinks (to pass link juice) 

Campaign Strategy: Link Outreach All the Way 

Once the audit was complete, it was time to start building links like our lives depended on them. 

As stated previously, the client ordered 14-packs of Link Outreach every single month. 

What does link outreach entail?

We’re glad you asked. 

While other SEO agencies stick to cold outreach emails using generic (and boring) templates, we take a far more nuanced approach to the process. 

Also, we’re extremely picky with the websites that we target for backlinks, which is part of why our product yields such outstanding results. 

For every backlink opportunity, we analyze the website’s:

• Domain Authority (DA) score . Domain Authority is a metric developed by Moz that approximates a domain’s likelihood of ranking in Google’s SERPs. It looks at a domain’s backlink profile AND general SEO performance (including on-page factors). 
• Domain Rating (DR) . Domain Rating is another metric for measuring the ranking power of a domain, but this one was developed by Ahrefs. Also, DR only looks at the strength of a domain’s backlink profile, and nothing else. 

We take a look at a domain’s DA and DR scores to ensure it’s worth pursuing for our client. 

Also, each client has the freedom to set a preferred amount of monthly traffic for each backlink prospect. That way, you’re guaranteed to receive a backlink from a website that’s as popular as you want. 

Building relationships with other sites in the web developer space 

In addition to the rigorous way we vet backlink opportunities, our outreach approach is equally as ambitious. 

Instead of treating each backlink target as a one-and-done deal, we always aim to forge long-lasting relationships with relevant bloggers, media outlets, and website owners. 

That’s because a positive relationship will lead to multiple backlinks (and other marketing opportunities) instead of just one. 

Yet, for relationship-based link-building to work, we have to engage in personalized outreach. 

For our B2B client, we did some in-depth research into major players in their industry. We read influencer posts, looked at their LinkedIn profiles, and recognized areas where we shared common ground. 

From there, it was about drafting extremely personalized emails that exemplified our knowledge of the prospect’s website and content. 

We would make a point to mention specific pieces of content that we thought were especially helpful or thought provoking. 

Sometimes, we would engage with backlink prospects for months before even bringing up the idea of adding a backlink on their site. 

This paid off in the long run, as we built numerous relationships with influencers in the web development world, something which led to tons of valuable backlinks for our client. 

The Results: Insane Organic Traffic Generation, Over 1,500 Top 10 Keywords, Thousands of High-Quality Backlinks  

All that outreach paid off, as we were able to boost the client’s organic traffic by 787%. 

It’s important to note that we saw a rapid increase in traffic and keyword generation within the past year and a half. 

Here’s a look at their organic traffic and keywords in January of 2023:

Compare those numbers to June 2024:

As you can see, their organic traffic began to skyrocket in March of 2023, and it hasn’t let up yet! Their traffic grew from an average of 2,045 visitors to 18,151 (and still climbing)! 

They’re also ranking for 378 keywords in the top 3 , which are directing tons of users to their industry leading blog content. 

Here’s a glimpse at the client’s main keyword wins (without giving away too much):

These are primarily TOFU (top-of-the-funnel) keywords that direct users to our client’s blog content (which contains CTAs to land conversions and leads). 

This campaign was a perfect example of our services working in tandem with a client’s already successful content creation. Our link outreach was the perfect compliment to the client’s in-depth blog content, and it finally got the client the recognition (and traffic) they deserved for their hard work. 

The relationships that we built led to countless link placements on authoritative websites in the web development niche, which helped our client rank in the top 3 for so many crucial industry keywords. 

Using B2B SEO to Dominate Your Niche’s Search Results 

Our client’s website is still tearing up the charts, so to speak. 

SEO is a gift that keeps on giving when done properly, which is why our client is continuing to generate more traffic than ever before. 

B2B SEO is complicated, so why not let us handle it for you?

If you’re ready to take your B2B company to the next level, don’t wait to sign up for a HOTH X campaign to achieve results similar to those of the client mentioned in this case study.

B2B SEO Case Study: How We Helped Boost Mind the Graph’s Organic Traffic by 400%

• 1. About Mind the Graph
• 2. SEO Strategy for Mind the Graph
• 3. Technical SEO & Website Restructuring
• 4. Effective Content Strategy
• 5. Building Backlinks
• 6. A B2B SEO Success Story

The 2023 Marketing Mix Report shows that search engine optimization (SEO) is the most implemented B2B marketing strategy. B2B organizations from several industries use this tactic to improve brand awareness, target relevant audiences, and generate leads.

This B2B SEO case study proves that SEO and content marketing can target even the most elusive audiences. If you are wondering whether you can use SEO to target that one particular designation in one specific industry for your B2B company, this case study will answer your question.Here’s an account of how Growfusely turned Mind the Graph into a B2B SEO success story.

About Mind the Graph

Mind the Graph is an online designing tool specifically created for scientific and academic purposes. The platform caters to a very niche audience comprising of scientists, academicians, and students of scientific disciplines.

Mind the Graph wanted to increase its online visibility to attract relevant audience. But, the platform’s target audience was a tricky one. They could not be targetted with general high-volume keywords and would not respond to popular content formats.

Scientists and academicians have a unique approach to research, even when looking for an online designing platform. This audience would only accept information from credible sources with exceptionally high standards.

SEO Challenges

• Mind the Graph targeted a very niche audience with a very specific need.
• The website’s structure was not organized.
• Several users were spamming the website.
• The website had many irrelevant backlinks.
• The blog pages had thin content and poor keyword targeting.
• There were limited credible opportunities to generate backlinks for the niche.

Mind the Graph approached Growfusely to seek help with their SEO and content marketing strategy. The project began in September 2020, and we saw significant results within six months.

• To generate organic traffic for Mind the Graph’s website
• To attract scientists, professionals, academicians, and students of scientific disciplines
• To get brand mentions from authoritative websites

SEO Strategy for Mind the Graph

We were targeting a unique community for Mind the Graph. That makes this campaign an interesting B2B SEO case study. While the broader aspects of the SEO strategy remained the same, we had to dig deeper at each stage to reach this distinctive audience.

Targeted Keyword Research

We divided keyword research into three phases:

• Phase 1: Identifying existing keywords on the website
• Phase 2: Identifying short and long-tail keywords for different audience segments
• Phase 3: Identifying keywords for individual content pieces

Keyword Research Phase 1:

The first phase was part of the technical SEO audit. We exported a list of keywords and phrases on the website. Then we separated the ones it was already ranking for. Based on this, we searched for relevant keywords and contextually related search terms.

Keyword Research Phase 2:

We used SEO tools to search for keywords to target different audience segments based on the following criteria:

• General terms that people used to search for such tools.
• Keywords related to challenges faced by users in designing scientific visuals.
• Keywords related to various uses of Mind the Graph platform for different purposes.

We listed out a set of keywords to target each group based on these criteria. Most of these were long-tail keywords with relatively low monthly search volumes. But they helped us precisely target our intended audience. Alongside these, we also targeted high-volume keywords that people used to search for such graphic designing tools.

Keyword Research Phase 3:

This phase of keyword research ran alongside content marketing . Each piece of content targets a set of keywords. In this phase, we looked for similar, closely related, and contextually related words/phrases for each targeted keyword.

In each phase, we prioritized the keywords based on relevance, volume, and competition. The first two phases gave us keywords to optimize the on-page optimization and link-building. The third phase gave us keywords for content marketing and building topical authority.

Technical SEO & Website Restructuring

The technical SEO revealed a lot of structural issues with the website. These problems hampered crawling and indexing. Below are some of the biggest technical SEO problems that we identified and fixed:

Unnecessary Scripts

Mind the Graph’s website has several unnecessary scripts that hindered web crawlers. These scripts also hampered the website’s loading speed. We removed all such scripts from the website.

Subdomain Migration

Mind the Graph hosted some important web pages on a sub-domain. We helped them successfully migrate these to their primary domain.

Duplicate Content

Owing to a technical glitch, the search engines were indexing multiple versions of certain web pages. We used 301 redirects on mirror versions to remove duplicate content. This created a single indexable version of the website.

Index Saturation

Some pages were obstructing search engines from indexing important pages. We identified the URL pattern of such pages and used nofollow and noindex commands to fix this problem.

Several visitors were spamming the website with irrelevant URLs and blank infographics containing backlinks. This reduced the website’s credibility. We removed all such links from the website. Additionally, we used nofollow and noindex commands for some of the website’s features, which prevented the users from spamming the website.

Low-Quality Backlinks

The website had several backlinks generated through forums and RSS feeds. Many of these backlinks were irrelevant and came from low-quality websites. We disavowed all such links to improve the website’s reputation & topical authority.

Aside from these, there were several minor technical SEO issues we fixed to improve the website’s indexability, loading speed, architecture, core web vitals, and user experience.

Effective Content Strategy

Before initiating a new content strategy, we analyzed the existing content on Mind the Blog’s website. We discovered the website had thin content in blogs and landing pages. While some of these blogs had potential, others were harming the website’s SEO and had to be removed.

Thereafter, we split the content marketing strategy into three operations:

• Updating existing content.
• Create high-quality blog content for Mind the Graph’s website.
• Contribute valuable content to high-authority websites to generate quality backlinks.

Content Operation 1: Updating Existing Content

We turned thin content pages into detailed articles and optimized them for relevant keywords. A majority of these were informative guides on how to create visuals for different scientific disciplines.

Content Operation 2: Creating Blog Content

We created unique content for different audience segments such as students, researchers, PhDs, and so on. We also diversified the content based on the uses of scientific visuals in research papers, dissertations, educational materials, etc.

These articles included user guides, checklists, tips, techniques, and best practices to help the audience design diagrams, infographics, posters, and GIFs. The new content also improved the website’s keyword targeting, internal link structure, and topical authority on relevant subjects.

Content Operation 3: Guest Blogging

We collaborated with high-authority websites to generate valuable content for their audience. For this, we focused on the websites that had topical authority for targeted keywords and the ones that were used by our target audience as a source of information.

Building Backlinks

Mind the Graph has a unique niche, so there were only a few websites with relevant topical authority. So we morphed our approach to get backlinks through these sites.

The backlink-building strategy for this B2B SEO success story focused on three goals:

• Establishing Thought Leadership
• Promoting Blog Content & Landing Pages
• Developing Topical Authority & Domain Authority

Our guest blogging efforts achieved all these goals. They got us a lot of valuable backlinks from high-authority websites as well as reputed scientific websites. We also got citations for our home page, service pages, and template pages through this activity. 

The key difference in our backlink strategy for Mind the Graph was the anchor texts. Instead of focusing on just relevance, we used the anchor text to build topical authority on high-volume keywords. This nudged the search engines to consider Mind the Graph’s landing pages to rank for those keywords.

Our strategy got Mind the Graph featured on some renowned platforms. Here are some of the prominent ones:

It was not just Mind the Graph that benefited from our contributions. Many of our guest posts received positive reactions on the host website. Some of these generated over 17,000 reads. So you can use this B2B SEO case study to guide your guest blogging and backlink strategy as well.

A B2B SEO Success Story

The success of an SEO strategy depends on a lot of factors. The Mind the Graph campaign is a great B2B SEO case study because each factor worked perfectly and it is evident in the results.

400% Higher Organic Traffic

We began the SEO campaign in September 2020 and by March 2021, the organic traffic was 400% higher. The below graph shows organic visits per month.

You will notice that there are two major upswings in organic traffic. We can attribute the first one to fixing technical SEO issues. These practices were the foundation for our B2B SEO success story. The second upswing resulted from consistent efforts in content marketing, on-page optimization, and off-page SEO.

100% Rise in Referring Domains

We also saw excellent output from content marketing and backlink-building efforts. The number of referring domains went from 430 to 880 between September 2020 and March 2021 (see the graph below).

420% Rise in Referring Pages

Alongside referring domains, we also saw a 420% rise in the number of referring pages (see the graph below). The rising number of referring domains and pages can be attributed to content marketing and link-building activities.

42.59% Rise in Ranking Keywords

In August 2020, Mind the Graph’s website was ranking for 6,538 keywords. We saw a gradual rise in this number as the campaign progressed (see the graph below). By March 2021, the website was ranking for 9,323 keywords.

It is important to note that these results took time to manifest. Aside from organic traffic, the other metrics began to rise within 3 to 4 months. But, once the strategy showed results, it was definitely a B2B SEO success story. The campaign involved a lot of intricacies that were unique to the website and its target audience. 

But you can use B2B SEO case studies as examples to help design your strategy. However, as each business is unique, you will need to alter your approach based on the industry and target audience.If you like, you can get help from Growfusely to design and execute your SEO strategy. You have already seen the results we can achieve in this case study. We can do the same for you and more. Let’s start a conversation .

Pratik Dholakiya is the Founder of Growfusely, a SaaS content marketing agency specializing in content and data-driven SEO.

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Expert's Guide to B2B SEO - 8 Simple Steps [2021 Update]

• October 23, 2020

SEO is one of the most lucrative marketing channels you can invest in 2021.

Do it right, and you’ll have qualified buyers lining up for your product/service every month without having to spend a single dollar in ads.

But how do you do it right?

There are thousands of guides, articles, training, and courses on the topic, so it’s very easy to get overwhelmed.

Where do you even start with your B2B SEO?

Well, that question led us to creating this guide.

At Apollo Digital, we have a TON of experience with B2B SEO. We’ve helped several of our B2B clients go from 0 to 200,000 monthly organic traffic with our proven, step-by-step SEO process .

And in this guide, we’re going to spill the beans on what, exactly, we do to get such results.

Everything we’re going to cover here is super practical and step-by-step, so all you’ll have to do is implement what we teach you, and you’re on your way to getting insane results .

Here’s what we’re going to cover:

• B2B SEO Basics - Everything you need to know to get started.
• B2B vs B2C SEO . What’s the difference, and how it matters.
• The SEO Formula , or, how Google decides what ranks, and what doesn’t.
• Our 6-step process for doing B2B SEO (and getting our clients to 200,000+ monthly organic traffic).
• B2B SEO Case Study - Step-by-step case study on how we grew a B2B client from 0 to 200,000 monthly organic traffic with SEO.
• B2B SEO FAQ (to answer any questions you might still have).

So, let’s get started.

B2B SEO 101

Before we can teach you how to do B2B SEO, we’re going to cover some basics.

If you’ve already dabbled in SEO, just click here to skip ahead.

Otherwise, here we go:

SEO, in a nutshell, is the process of reaching your target audience by ranking for search phrases on search engines like Google.

B2B SEO, on the other hand, is pretty much the same thing, with the only difference being that your target audience is decision-makers in organizations. For example:

• A CEO founder looking for a “project management software”
• A CMO searching for “CRM tools”
• An HR manager searching for “employee onboarding checklist”

To make this more clear, let’s say, for the sake of the example, you’re selling a B2B CRM software. Meaning, you’re selling software for managing leads.

You’d want to rank for direct intent keywords (i.e. keywords people use to find and buy products/services such as yours) such as:

• CRM software
• Customer relationship management solutions

As well as educational keywords . These are words your target customers use to look up information around your product (or the product’s use-case).

For example, a VP of sales looking up information on sales commission structure .

While your CRM doesn’t have anything to do with sales commission structure, there’s a good chance that anyone looking up this topic is starting a new sales team (and hence, is going to need a CRM).

If you actually Google “sales commission structure,” you’re going to see that HubSpot (a CRM software) is one of the top ranking results:

If you open their blog post, you’ll see that that are trying to capture your email through an opt-in (sales training template):

If you do opt-in, they’re going to eventually upsell you their CRM.

A good SEO strategy targets both direct intent and educational keywords .

B2B vs B2C SEO

If you’ve done SEO for a B2C business, you’ll find that B2B SEO does actually differ.

Some of the most blatant differences between the two are:

• B2B SEO is all about targeting decision-makers in organizations. B2C, on the other hand, can mean that your target audience is literally anyone, depending on the niche.
• B2B keywords tend to have significantly lower search volume than B2C. E.g: fewer people look for “enterprise BPM tools” than “how to make a resume.”
• On the other hand, ranking on B2B keywords can have a significantly higher ROI than B2C.
• From our personal experience, B2B SEO tends to be easier than B2C in most niches due to less competition.

Want to learn more about the differences between B2B and B2C marketing? Check out our B2B marketing guide.

The SEO Formula

This is where we talk about SEO top-down. We’ll give you a general run-down on how it works, and then go into the nits and grits in the next section.

The formula to achieve good rankings is as follows:

(1) Technical SEO + (2) on-page SEO + (3) high-quality content + (4) backlinks + (5) continuous improvement = Good rankings

Here’s how each part of the equation plays their part:

(1) Technical SEO is the foundation of your SEO. If your website doesn’t follow Google’s best practices, your rankings site-wide will suffer.

(2) On-page SEO . If your pages aren’t optimized around a keyword, they won’t get good rankings.

(3) The quality of your content is one of the most important factors that determine whether you rank or not. If your content is 10x better than everything that currently ranks, you’re going to get good rankings even if you don’t get any backlinks.

(4) Backlinks (i.e. links to your web pages) are (usually) the final and most important factor on whether you’re going to rank or not.

In an “end-game” niche (that’s where everyone knows what they’re doing, and is investing heavily in SEO), everyone has amazing content. In cases like this, what determines the order of rankings are backlinks.

Finally, (5) Continuous improvement . With SEO you can never stop improving, optimizing, testing, and iterating, over and over again.

Our B2B SEO Process

Now, let’s talk about the “how” of B2B SEO - what does “doing” B2B SEO involve, and what are the day-to-day tasks you’ll need to do?

Most SEO guides you’ll read on the web are way too much theory and not enough practice. So, to help change that, we’re going to stick 100% to practical work.

Here’s the EXACT process we use to grow clients to 2,000,000+ monthly organic traffic.

We’ll split up the process into several stages, including:

• Site Speed Improvement . Making sure that your website is as fast as possible and satisfies Google’s Core Web Metrics (and yes, most of the time, this DOES impact your rankings).
• Technical and On-Page SEO . Ensuring that your web pages follow Google best practices.
• Keyword Research . Finding phrases people use to search for topics around your business.
• Creating SEO Landing Pages . Creating pages meant to rank for direct-intent search keywords.
• Quality Content . Writing articles and web pages optimized for specific keywords.
• Ongoing Link-Building . Getting backlinks to your web pages.
• Interlinking . Regularly interlinking all your web pages, ensuring high website engagement metrics.
• Ongoing SEO Work . All things you’ll need to be doing on a regular basis.

Stage 1 - Site Speed Improvement

As of May of 2020, Google rolled out its newest ranking algorithm update (which will take ~1 year to take effect).

This Core Update introduces 3 new “website health” metrics, called the Core Web Vitals .

Because this might sound like gibberish to some people, we made a simple table to explain what each metric represents.

While we can’t teach you everything that needs to be optimized in order to achieve the above GOOD results, we’ve compiled a general checklist that can help!

Some things you can do to improve site speed are as follows:

• Resizing your images with Javascript or CSS
• Lazyload images on your website
• Enable Gzip compression
• Minify JS, CSS, and HTML
• Make your website mobile-friendly

Or, if you’re using WordPress, you can use the WP Rocket plugin and it’s going to do most of the work for you!

Want a more in-depth run-down on how to improve your website load speed? Grab our checklist here , and forward it to your IT team!

Stage 2 - Technical & On-Page SEO

The second step in doing B2B SEO is ensuring that your website is following Google’s best practices site-wide.

Meaning, your website should be technically sound , and all your web pages should follow on-page SEO best practices .

The on-page part is relatively straightforward: if you’re using WordPress, download RankMath, and optimize all of your web pages with it.

This includes mentioning the right keyword on each page, adding meta descriptions to all images, etc.

Not using WordPress? Here’s an on-page SEO checklist.

Technical SEO, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. If you have a tech team, feel free to just give them the following technical SEO checklist:

• Create a Google Search Console account if you don’t have one
• Create a sitemap.xml file and submit it to GSC so your pages start getting indexed.
• Optimizing site architecture - ensure that the crawl depth for every page on the website is less than 4
• Use alt text on all images - try to include the keyword in the alt text whenever relevant
• Make sure that only one version of your website is indexable. Ensure that staging pages are NOT indexed by Google
• Make sure that you don’t have any duplicate pages
• Ensure that your website is accessible by crawlers
• Use structured data.
• Upload a robots.txt file
• Make sure your text to HTML ratio is above 40-50%.

Stage 3 - Keyword Research

Finally, now that we managed to get past all the technicalities, it’s time to talk about keyword research.

Keyword research is the act of finding the phrases your target audience uses to look for your business (or information around the problems you solve) and figuring out how to rank for them.

So for example, let’s say you have an Employee Onboarding Software .

Some keywords people can use to Google you are:

• Employee onboarding software
• Employee onboarding tools
• HR software
• Employee offboarding

On the other hand, your target audience can also be searching on Google for informational keywords like:

• Employee onboarding checklist
• How to onboard employees
• Employee orientation

And so on, you got the point

During keyword research, you need to find both types of keywords - direct intent (keywords used to find your software), as well as informational (keywords used to find information).

One of the most common mistakes newbies make with keyword research is targeting the same keyword in several variations. This leads to keyword cannibalization.

For example, the following keywords are all actually the same keyword - you don’t have to make 3 pages and try to rank for each of them:

• Small business accounting apps
• Best small business accounting apps
• Best small business apps for accounting

Creating a Keyword Sheet

To get started with your keyword research, step #1 is to create a keyword sheet. This is where you’ll coordinate all your content marketing and SEO operations, as well as keep track of the keywords you’re targeting.

So, grab our template here , and start filling it in.

Here’s what the sheet should contain:

• Target search phrase . I.e. keyword you’re targeting.
• High-priority keywords . These keywords are high search-volume, low-competition, high buyer-intent, or all of them at the same time.
• Mid-priority keywords . These are the OK keywords, which we focus on once we’re done with the high-priority stuff.
• Low-priority keywords . Low volume, low-conversion, or just extremely hard to rank keywords
• 1 - Idea phase
• 2 - Writer is going to focus on this article for the week
• 3 - The article is a work in progress
• 4 - The article is being edited
• 5 - The article is finished and already published on the blog
• Topic cluster , or the category of the blog post.
• Monthly search volume . Pretty self-explanatory. This helps prioritize which keywords to target first.
• CPC (low & high bid) . Cost per click you’d be paying if you were advertising for this keyword. The higher the CPC, the more your competitors are willing to bid for this keyword. Meaning, this keyword probably converts well.

Direct-Intent Keywords

Once you’ve got the keyword sheet up, it’s time to populate it with keywords.

We usually start with direct-intent landing page keywords (ones used to look for your product/service), and then move on to informational ones.

For these keywords, you’re going to be creating landing pages, instead of articles or blog posts.

So here, start off by listing out your main products/services.

E.g. if you’re a B2B sales & outreach agency, for example, you’d include:

• LinkedIn outreach
• Email sales

Make a complete list of the keywords, so you’re as comprehensive as possible.

Then, transform these keywords into direct-intent keywords one-by-one.

E.g. “sales” would be:

• Sales agency
• Sales consulting firm

And any other variation.

Once you’re done with all the products/services, your list should be pretty comprehensive.

Informational Keywords

Finding informational keywords is a bit harder, and can take a long time.

Here, we recommend you start with competitive research.

Get an SEO tool like SEMRush , and run your top 3 SEO competition (competitors with good SEO rankings) through it.

E.g. if you’re selling accounting software, your competition would be QuickBooks, Xero, etc.

Now, you go through each of the competitor’s keywords, and extract them into your keyword sheet.

You keep doing this until you have around 200 keywords in total.

At this point, you can already stop and move on with the next step (i.e. creating landing pages and articles meant to rank for these keywords). Working with our clients, we usually stick to 200 keywords as a start, and when we cover them, we expand the keyword research on-the-go.

If you want to make the sheet as comprehensive as possible right now, though, you can do it using UberSuggest.

The way this works is, you take one of your high-volume keywords, run it through UberSuggest, and it’s going to give you a list of all associated keywords.

Pick up any of the keywords that seem relevant, and then just input another keyword from your sheet, until you manage to cover all possible keywords in your niche.

Stage 4 - Create B2B SEO Landing Pages

At this stage, we create the landing pages for direct-intent keywords.

The process here is relatively straightforward. First, pick one of the direct-intent keywords you found in stage #3.

Then, depending on the keyword, you’d want to create 2 types of landing pages:

• Generic Landing Page Template . If you’re targeting keywords that actually mean the same thing (e.g. sales software, CRM software, etc.), you can just take your homepage as a template, and re-create it as a landing page tailored for the given keyword. All you have to do is change the URL slug (make it the keyword you want to rank for), sub-headings, headers, re-word the copy on the page, and you’re good to go.
• Unique Landing Page . On the other hand, if you’re targeting keywords with different use-cases (e.g. workflow management software VS project management software), you’d create a completely custom landing page.

For a practical example of what an SEO landing page looks like, you can check out our SaaS Marketing Agency page.

Once you are done with the landing pages, just use RankMath to optimize it for the respective keyword, and you’re good to go.

Yep, it’s that simple.

Now, all you have to do is build links to the page and interlink it through the rest of the website (we’ll explain how this works in a bit).

Stage 5 - Create Quality B2B SEO Content

Once you’ve got the landing pages down, it’s time to create content targeting the informational keywords.

The SEO content creation process is done in 2 parts:

#1. Creating the Content Outline .

This is where you create a content outline for your writer (or for yourself - it still helps!).

An outline looks something like this :

And the purpose for it is to give the writer a direction on what they need to write in order for the content to rank.

See, unless you’re working with a writer that’s also an SEO specialist, you can’t just tell them to knock themselves out and write whatever.

Chances are, whatever they do won’t rank.

You need to tell them exactly what they need to write in order for this article to rank on Google.

So, how can you do this?

First, Google any given keyword. Let’s say, for example, you’re selling sales training to organizations, and want to rank for the keyword “sales funnel.”

You need to go through each of the articles ranking on the keyword, and use them as inspiration to come up with a structure for your article.

You’ll see that most ranking articles have a similar structure that looks something like this:

• Introduction [h2]
• What is a Sales Funnel [h2]
• #1. Awareness [h3]
• #2. Interest [h3]
• #3. Decision [h3]
• #4. Action [h3]

So, what you can take from this is that your article should be structured in a similar way (if you want to satisfy the Googler’s search intent and rank with your article, of course). You need to explain what a sales funnel is, and what each stage of the funnel means.

So, you’d slap that on your outline.

Then, you need to think how you can add additional value to the topic. How will your article differentiate (and one-up) whatever is already ranking?

Some ways you can do this include:

• Add more in-depth information on the topic . E.g. you could include what type of marketing initiatives can help drive a sales prospect from one stage to another.
• Add more practical examples . Everyone likes a practical article they can instantly turn into something useful (vs reading about boring theory).
• Make the article more comprehensive . Add additional information that others haven’t covered.
• Add results-based case studies.
• Make the article more visually appealing and readable . You can do this by adding more images, visuals, etc.

Whatever you decide, add them to your outline.

Finally, you need to decide on how much word count the writer should aim for. There’s no golden rule on what works here, but we usually recommend the following:

Make the article as comprehensive as you possibly can. If that means hitting 2x your competitors’ word count, go for it!

If, however, your competitor’s articles are already as good as they can be, you can just stick to the same length.

Usually, you’d want to aim for 1,000 to 5,000 in word count. Anything less is not comprehensive enough, and anything more can be too comprehensive.

Of course, there are exceptions to this, but this is the general rule.

#2. Creating Amazing Content

Once you’re done with the outline, it’s time to get to writing (or give the outline to a writer, anyway).

At this stage, all that’s left is for them to write really, really good content.

We’ve had a lot of our clients ask, “what’s good writing, exactly? How can I know if a content piece is good or bad?”

Here’s what you should focus on if you want to create quality content:

• Write for your audience . Keep in mind who you’re writing for. If your audience is a suit-and-tie lawyer, for example, you’d want to stick to a formal and professional tone (and avoid Rick and Morty references). If you’re writing for 19-year-old hipster skateboarders, though, you can go for a casual, humorous tone.
• Never, ever, fluff . After writing each sentence, ask yourself “ so what? ” If you removed this sentence, would the article lose any value? If the answer is “no,” you probably don’t need the sentence in the first place.
• Make your content practical . Good content is practical - no one cares about the theory. Include practical examples, real-life case studies, and so on.
• Keep your audience’s knowledge in mind . If you’re writing on a beginner accounting topic, you need to keep in mind that the reader probably doesn’t know what credit/debit is, so you’d have to explain the very basics. On the other hand, if you’re writing about the ins and outs of corporate finance, you can probably skip the basics.
• Create writer guidelines to make sure that your writers know what exactly, you expect from them. Or, just steal ours !
• Write for a 6th grader . When writing content for the internet, you need to make sure that it’s readable by just about anyone. No one wants to decipher shakespeare-level writing in their free time & Google for word definitions. They want to get the info quick and easy.

Don’t have a qualified writer on-hand? Learn how to hire SEO content writers with our guide.

Stage 6 - Ongoing Link-Building

Link-building is the act of getting other website owners to link to your articles and web pages.

In competitive industries where everyone’s already following most SEO best practices, what really decides the rankings are the backlinks.

If you Google “Best VPN,” for example, you’ll see that the #1 ranking article has over 200,000 backlinks.

So what that means is, even if you create the best article on VPN services that was ever written, it won’t see the light of day without a ton of links.

Even in non-competitive industries, backlinks are what determine how long it’ll take for your web pages to rank.

An article that would rank in 9 months without backlinks can rank in 4 with quality backlinks.

There are a TON of link-building strategies out there, so we won’t cover every single one of them here.

That being said, some of the most popular link-building tactics include:

• Broken Link-Building . You find articles with broken links on similar topics to yours, and reach out to the website owner, letting them know about the broken link, and proposing to replace it with yours.
• Guest Posting . Reaching out to popular blogs in your niche and asking them to publish your guest posts.
• “Linkable Asset” Link Building . Creating super useful resources and promoting them all over the web.
• Skyscraper Technique . This one’s a technique created by Brian Dean from Backlinko. It involves finding linkable resources, creating something even better, and promoting them to people who linked to this resource before.

Want a complete list of link-building tactics? Check our Brian Dean’s article .

At Apollo Digital, we have our own spin on link-building. Instead of reaching out to website owners and asking for links at scale, we create epic content, promote it on the web , and land links and traffic that way.

Want to learn more? Check out our content marketing case study . By promoting one single article, we managed to get insane results like:

• 10,000 traffic in one week on a fresh blog
• $50,000 in generated revenue

Stage 7 - Internal Linking

Internal linking, or interlinking, is the process of linking your web pages and blog posts together.

Proper interlinking can have a significant impact on your Google rankings for 2 reasons:

• The more internal links any given page has, the more authoritative it is in the eyes of Google. It assumes since a specific page has a lot more links than others, it’s probably important.
• Internal links help improve traffic retention. I.e: if someone lands on one of your articles, and then finds another relevant article through an internal link, they end up sticking around longer on your website (which is a ranking factor for Google).
• Proper internal linking makes your content easier to access by Google’s crawlers.

We usually do interlinking in 3 different ways.

First , we make sure that our writers link to relevant existing content in any article they’re writing. E.g: if they’re writing about a SaaS topic, we ensure that they link to all our existing SaaS articles.

Then , whenever a new article is published, we go through our existing content on the same topic, and link to the fresh post.

Finally , we also do 3-4 interlinking initiatives per year. Every few months, we go through all of our blog posts, and manually make sure that every article links to as many relevant pages as possible.

Stage 8 - Ongoing SEO Work

SEO work is never done - you don’t just wake up one day and realize you’re getting everything you want from Google, close shop, move to a beach in Thailand, and sip on mojitos for the rest of your career.

There are a ton of things you can be doing on an ongoing basis to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your SEO:

• Regularly keep track of the CTR on your ranking articles, and ensure that your headlines are clickable in order to drive as much traffic as possible. If a given article has a lower CTR than you’d expect, you can A/B test different titles. For more on CTR optimization, check out this article .
• Is the content not as comprehensive as it can be?
• Did the writer miss the point with the article?
• Is the article not interlinked well with the rest of your web pages?
• Does the article not have enough links?
• Disavow spammy or PBN links coming to your website to ensure that you’re not at a risk of being penalized by Google.
• Ensure that you don’t have any broken links on your website.
• Establish relationships with other bloggers, and collaborate with them on link-building.

B2B SEO Case Study - 0 to 200,000 Monthly Organic Traffic

We get it - it’s one thing to read about a topic, and it’s something completely different to implement it.

To help you really understand the entire B2B SEO process, here’s our case study on how we grew a B2B workflow management SaaS from 0 to 200,000 monthly organic traffic.

And this wasn’t just vanity traffic, either. We managed to rank for some very competitive, high-CPC keywords (20 USD per click and above!).

Here’s exactly what we did:

• Audited the client’s keyword strategy and trimmed it to only what was really relevant. We only kept topics on process management and workflows, and cut out topics like SEO, marketing, etc.
• Found pages that were cannibalizing each other and merged them.
• Audited the client’s existing content and split them between Good , Salvageable , and To-Delete .
• Established new writer guidelines and pushed the writers in a new direction.
• On an ongoing basis, we interlinked all articles to increase site stay time metrics.
• Improved the blog visuals and started using custom CSS boxes.
• Kept track of CTR for all pages & optimized headlines.

Want to get the whole story? Read the complete SEO case study here .

B2B SEO FAQ

#1. how long does it take for b2b seo to bring traffic.

It really depends on a variety of factors, including:

• How high your domain authority is. I.e: how many quality backlinks you have, how old your website is, etc.
• Competitiveness in your niche. If a competitor’s page on a given keyword has thousands of backlinks, you’ll have to really try hard to get on the same level.
• How well-written the content in your niche is. I.e: are there low-quality articles ranking for your keywords, are all of them super high-quality long-form?

If your niche isn’t all that competitive, and you have a website that isn’t completely fresh, you can expect rankings within 6 months to a year.

On the other hand, if your website is completely new, or your industry is very competitive, getting results can take anything from a 1 to 5 years.

#2. Is B2B SEO the right choice for my business?

Depends. SEO is a very long-term strategy. If you want to get new users tomorrow , then SEO might not be the right choice.

However, if you’re willing to invest in your growth for 1-2 years, then yes, you should go with SEO.

On the same note, you should also consider that if you have a very niche target audience, it might be better to do direct outreach or sales instead.

E.g. you’re selling enterprise software, and there are ~300 max target customers worldwide, you’re better off just reaching out to them directly.

If B2B SEO doesn't work for your business, check out these 11+ other B2B marketing strategies .

#3. Is SEO important for B2B?

SEO is very important for B2B companies. You can use it to drive leads on autopilot, make your brand memorable, and grow your business without spending thousands on paid advertising.

Most B2B high-intent keywords are very expensive when it comes to running ads. You can expect to pay anything between 10 and 50 USD for a click.

#4. How does SEO affect your business?

SEO can have a very large impact on your business. If you dominate the SEO space of your niche, you can expect hundreds or thousands of new leads every month (without any paid advertising).

#5. Is SEO dead?

Obviously not. The “SEO is dead” articles are just pure clickbait. If you know what you’re doing, SEO can be one of your top marketing channels in 2021.

#6. Should I use blackhat techniques or PBNs?

Unless you have a time machine and can go back to the 2000s, the answer is a clear NO .

In 2021, blackhat SEO is way too high risk and low reward.

Imagine this - you spend 1-2 years building up your Google rankings with a PBN. You spend tens of thousands of dollars buying PBN links, and even more on quality content.

You get your rankings, you’re driving leads and SEO is finally paying off…

...Right until Google finds your PBNs, and penalizes your website, bringing you back to square one.

#7. What are the best SEO blogs where I can learn more on B2B SEO?

Some of our favorite SEO blogs include:

• The Apollo Digital Blog
• QuickSprout

#8. What's the difference between B2B SEO & content marketing?

While content marketing is part of SEO, the reverse is not necessarily true. B2B content marketing can drive both traffic and leads without getting any rankings on Google.

Want to learn more about content marketing without SEO? Check out our B2B content marketing guide .

Work With Apollo Digital - A B2B SEO Agency

Unless you’re already an SEO expert, getting started with B2B SEO can be really tough.

You’ll need to:

• Understand the ins and outs of writing high-quality content
• Master the art of outreach to start getting backlinks
• Create a high-level SEO strategy and execute it

If all that sounds like too much to handle, we can help .

Apollo Digital is a B2B SEO agency, and we’ve helped several companies such as yours set up an SEO strategy and execute it from the bottom-up.

Whether you’re looking for a consultant to make sure that you’re doing everything right, or an implementation partner to handle 100% of the SEO management for you, we can help.

Click here to get in touch .

Wow, you went through the entire 5k-word article!

At this point, you should know all you need to know in order to get started with your B2B SEO initiative.

Now, all we can say is, best of luck!

And of course, if you need some help with your SEO, reach out to us for a free consultation .

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B2B (Business to Business) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Guide: Strategies and Case Studies

Business to Business (B2B) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is organic search visibility increasing strategy to increase the revenue, conversions, brand value, and organic traffic on search engines such as Google, Yandex, Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Yep. B2B SEO involves business analysis, and content marketing for key decision-makers such as CEOs, CMOs, and CFOs. Business to Business Search Engine Optimization helps small and big businesses to achieve their sales targets. B2B SEO focuses on industrial businesses as buyers and sellers to create revenue. B2B SEO is different from Business Consumer (B2C) SEO.

What is B2B SEO? B2B SEO is the optimization of Business Websites for better search rankings on Google, and Bing-like search engines. B2B SEO provides better business economics by increasing sales for industrial channels. B2B SEO has its own challenges such as low search demand for keywords, the requirement of expert authors, intense corporate communication, small and lesser-known markets, and the requirement of multilingual content for different countries. To exceed the B2B SEO challenges with B2B SEO Strategies, using various search engine optimization verticals such as Local, Technical, Semantics, and PageSpeed optimizations are required.

What are the facts about B2B SEO?

• B2B SEO Strategies involve content marketing, writing, the keyword (search query term) research, topical map creation with semantic SEO, local SEO verticals, and Technical SEO.
• B2B SEO with Content Marketing: Content marketing involves making content visible, shareable, and consumable by the targeted audience while answering the questions of the market.
• B2B SEO with Technical SEO is to improve the crawling and indexing efficiency of the website for better and faster organic search results and search rankings.
• B2B SEO with Local SEO is to provide better local relevance, explorability, and entity-oriented search reputation by optimizing the Brand SERP, further.
• B2B SEO with Page Loading Performance Time Optimization is to improve conversion rates, and usability of the website for mobile, desktop, and portable web surfing devices such as handheld smartphones, and desktop computers.
• 1. What does B2B SEO Guide focus on?
• 2.1.1. 1. What is Low Keyword Search Demand?
• 2.1.2. 2. Longer and more Complicated Sale and Conversion Funnels
• 2.1.3. 3. Low Conversion Rate
• 2.1.4. 4. Thought Leadership
• 2.1.5. 5. Legit Online Presence
• 2.1.6. 6. Years of Experience in Signals
• 2.1.7. 7. Trust Elements for Industry
• 2.1.8. 8. Digital Public Relations
• 2.1.9. 9. Certificates and Licenses for Industry
• 2.2. What is the Difference between B2B and B2C SEO?
• 3.1. 1. Analyze Buyer Personas for B2B SEO
• 3.2. 2. Determine a Target Audience
• 3.3. 3. Perform Topical Research for Higher Coverage
• 3.4. 4. Analyze Competitors’ Web Pages, and Anchor Texts
• 3.5. 5. Extract all the Knowledge Domain Concepts and Experts
• 3.6. 6. Determine a Content Production Guide for Expert Authors
• 3.7. 7. Design Conversion Funnels
• 3.8. 8. Determine Conversion Steps and Obstacles
• 3.9. 9. Determine Content Production Formats
• 3.10. 10. Perform Internal Linking and Anchor Text Optimization
• 3.11. 11. Audit Content Expertise and Accuracy of Information
• 3.12. 12. Improve Relevance, Accuracy, and Comprehensiveness Always on
• 3.13. 13. Analyze User-engagement and Feedback
• 3.14. 14. Use Omnichannel User Retention Practices
• 3.15. 15. Promote B2B Content for Digital PR
• 3.16. 16. Increase Page Speed and Crawling Efficiency for Users and Search Engines
• 3.17. 17. Increase the Historical Data of the Website by Staying Active with Higher User Satisfaction
• 3.18. What are the Most Important Steps for B2B SEO Strategies?
• 4.1.1. Results of the B2B SEO Case Study for the Metallurgy Industry
• 4.1.2. Using the Pages and Crawl Stats Reports of Google Search Console for B2B SEO
• 4.1.3. Using Google Search Console Page Experience Report for B2B SEO
• 4.2.1. The Results of B2B SEO Case Study in the Pool Construction Industry
• 4.2.2. Analyzing Google Search Console Pages (Coverage) Report for B2B SEO
• 4.2.3. The Indexed and Non-indexed pages analysis for B2B SEO involves the efficiency of the website for being understood and crawled to be indexed by the search engine. The visual expression of the analysis of the indexed and non-indexed URLs for the B2B SEO is below.
• 4.2.4.1. Analyzing Google Search Console Page Experience Report B2B SEO
• 4.2.5. Crawl Stats for the Pool Construction B2B SEO Case Study Project and their Analysis
• 4.3. B2B SEO Case Study for Gift Production Industry
• 4.4.1. Understanding B2B SEO with Google Search Console Crawl Stats
• 4.4.2. Understanding B2B SEO with Google Search Console Core Web Vitals Scores
• 4.4.3.1. Response Code Analysis from GSC Report for B2B SEO
• 5.1. Why is SEO Important for B2B Marketing?
• 5.2. What are the SEO Templates for B2B Market?
• 5.3. What are the B2B SEO Best Practices?
• 6. Last Thoughts on Holistic SEO and B2B SEO

What does B2B SEO Guide focus on?

The content of the B2B SEO Guideline is given below.

• B2B SEO Guide involves B2B SEO Strategies.
• B2B SEO Guide explains Content Marketing, Writing, and Publishing strategies that involve communication campaigns.
• B2B SEO involves social media marketing and crowdsourcing for better brand visibility.
• B2B SEO Guide involves a B2B SEO Case Study with over 100% Organic Click Increase

What is B2B SEO?

B2B SEO is to create an organic search conversion funnel according to the B2B customer’s search journey with long-term marketing strategies for ranking on search engines, primarily Google. B2B SEO involves conducting keyword research, creating a buyer persona, establishing expertise and authority for an industry with thought leadership, and comprehensive content marketing. B2B SEO best practices change according to the business industry. For example, SEO best practices for a business from the tourism industry changes compared to an enterprise for laser cutting. Large and small businesses need different B2B SEO Strategies. Thus, knowing the components of B2B SEO is important to create the best B2B SEO Strategy.

B2B SEO helps for eliminating the dependence on paid media while creating money pages that convert faster and better.

What are the Components of B2B SEO?

Components of B2B SEO involve the B2B SEO practices and their requirements, such as having knowledge domain experts as authors, and including thought leadership in the branding process. The conditions for B2B SEO are required for the components of B2B SEO practices. The conditions and components of the B2B SEO are listed below.

• Low Keyword Search Demand
• Longer and more Complicated Sale and Conversion Funnels
• Low Conversion Rate
• Thought Leadership
• Legit Online Presence
• Years of Experience Signals
• Trust Elements for Industry
• Digital Public Relations
• Certificates and Licenses for Industry
• Semantic Content Network

1. What is Low Keyword Search Demand?

Low Keyword Search Demand or Volume means that the number of searches for a specific phrase is lower than normal searches. Low search demand makes search engine optimization more details by explaining knowledge domain concepts and industrial trade components for the business. B2B SEO involves low keyword search demand by making the conversion funnels more complicated. Thus, to improve brand awareness and have topical authority in B2B SEO, brands need to process different but connected concepts and topics. For example, for accounting software, the brand needs to process accounting concepts, and methods or types to show the expertise, and canalize the users to the conversions.

2. Longer and more Complicated Sale and Conversion Funnels

The Longer and more Complicated Sale and Conversion Funnels in B2B SEO involve harder predictions for search behaviors. The market segments in B2B marketing are smaller than in B2C, thus the individual nature and personality create the difference when giving key decisions. Thus, the B2B SEO has more complicated sale and conversion funnels. Conversion path and funnel involve different types of theories, such as the 3 Click Theory, which states that every click funnel shouldn’t be longer than 3 clicks. But in B2B SEO, many companies need different channels for conversions, such as phone calls, emails, or video calls. B2B SEO Companies and Agencies focus on industry sale channels by creating a higher-profile communication campaign that involves Digital PR, news and press releases, and events for the industry. Complex B2B Sales funnels for SEO requires creating multiple landing pages, and multiple conversion actions, better call to action that explains the needs of the business’s key decision-makers. To create a million dollars worth of purchases in B2B Marketing, multiple meetings are required.

Using fairs of industry, show-rooms, 3D, and Augmented Reality technologies in B2B Marketing and SEO is needed for higher conversion rates and to increase the chance of complicated sales funnels. Fairs show the expertise of the brand, and leveraging fairs in SEO, especially Barnacle SEO methodology, helps B2B SEOs to decrease the needed phone calls or video calls before the conversion.

3. Low Conversion Rate

Low Conversion Rate is a component of B2B SEO, as complicated conversion funnels and low keyword search volume. The low conversion rate in B2B Search Engine Optimization causes due to value per sale. Value per sale involves the amount of monetary value per successful conversion. The value per sale and conversion rate is in inverse proportion. Low Conversion Rate in B2B SEO is measured differently from “click-to-sale” and “click-to-inquiry”. The “click-to-inquiry” conversion rate is higher than the “click-to-sale” conversion rate. Usually, “click-to-inquiry” conversion rates change between 4-11% according to the business industry, and “click-to-sale” conversion rates are not over 1% in B2B SEO. To increase B2B Conversion Rate, branding, and conversion path analysis and tracking are needed.

4. Thought Leadership

Thought Leadership is expertise for a certain topic or area to demonstrate professionalism, success, and experience with unique value. Thought leadership is a way of marketing, and expressing of talents and dedication of the person. Thought leadership belongs to a person who has exponential growth and success in an industry. Thought leadership in B2B SEO helps for boosting industry presence while building brand awareness faster. B2B SEO leverages thought leadership to be a reliable source and authoritative brand for a specific topic. Content marketing, social media marketing, and online and offline event ownership are different ways of showing thought leadership. As Thought Leadership examples, Steve Jobs, and Fran Blanche can be given. And, Apple SEO Project leveraged Steve Jobs’ thought leadership for higher brand awareness for many years.

5. Legit Online Presence

Legit Online Presence involves proof of the legality of the company such as a legal address, phone number, email address, company founders’ identity, headquarters, names of teammates, their background, and views for the company, a tax ID, and license of the company. Legit online presence is reflected on review and complaint websites along with investment portfolio websites that include investors, companies, CEOs, and others. The Legit Online Presence helps for B2B SEO by improving the brand’s Expertise-Authoriteveness-Trustworthiness (E-A-T) in the eyes of search engines and users. A legit online presence helps for better conversions, especially in the B2B SEO, since most of the purchases cost hundreds of thousands of United States Dollars.

6. Years of Experience in Signals

Years of Experience signals involve the length of industrial activities of the company for the industry with invoices, successes, sales, and events. Google My Business (Google Business Profiles) shows the experience of the companies by giving its foundation date, and labeling it by saying in Business for 1, 2, or 3 and more years. Google’s understanding of serving the search results whether it is for local search results, whether web results represent their understanding. To show years of experience in B2B SEO for better organic rankings, demonstrating proof of long or intense experience is needed. Google search engine measures the expertise with historical data and consistency. Google doesn’t rank websites a few days after they publish their articles. Google B2B SEO requires patience and demonstration of expertise through reviews, case studies, publications, product variations, and unique value with consistency. Years of Experience in B2B SEO involves the main 7 components below.

• The foundation date of the company is a B2B SEO factor for demonstrating company experience.
• The intensity of the length of experience involves the value of the length of experience. A company with two years of experience might have better value than a company with 10 years of experience.
• Company Success Stories involve case studies, research, publications, books, webinars, seminars, education sessions, and social responsibility campaigns to demonstrate the business value to the industry. Company success stories help B2B SEO by creating brand value, and better E-A-T.
• Company Press Releases and Coverage helps B2B SEO by providing a corporate image by demonstrating the company’s value.
• Company CEO’s Length of Experience helps to strengthen the experience of the company. A company with 0 years of experience takes advantage of a high-level, experienced CEO.
• Company Product Line involves the products that the company produces. A long product line shows the success of the company with variations of the same product.
• Company Review Count and Review Deepness demonstrate the business feedback. Older reviews and detailed reviews show the experience level of the company in satisfying the clients and customers. B2B SEO and company reviews are connected due to E-A-T, and conversion funnels.

The experience signals help B2B SEO agencies to boost organic search visibility for small and large businesses, including enterprises with a faster conversion path.

7. Trust Elements for Industry

Trust Elements for Industry involve the trust signals such as positive relationships, good judgment, consistent success, and unique expertise. Trust elements differ between industries. For example, for a business in the automotive industry, the big automobile manufacturers as partners might signal trust for the company. Trust elements help for Business to Business search engine optimization to convince key decision makers for big purchases. Trust Elements as a component in B2B SEO help businesses for convincing more clients. Search engines use trust elements to filter unreliable web sources from the prestigious and confident service providers and product producers in B2B and B2C industries. The fundamental website and company trust elements for B2B SEO are listed below.

• Success Stories
• CEO Background
• Social Responsibility Projects
• Citations of the Company name in reliable sources
• Positive user and customer feedback
• Strong social media existence
• Having a live customer support
• Having an open address, phone number, and email address on the website
• Expertise signals such as unique research and rewards.
• Reliable partners in the business world

8. Digital Public Relations

Digital Public Relations for B2B Marketing and SEO involves different media coverage with magazines, newspapers, TV, and digital publications. The return on investment for Digital PR is higher than for Business to Consumer Digital Public Relations. According to a study by CMO Council, 87% of BtoB (Business to Business) buyers are affected by digital public relations and online content marketing. 17% of the B2B buyers meet with the suppliers through physical contact and meetings after the exposure to Digital PR. Digital PR for B2B SEO helps for acquiring more referring domains, and backlinks to increase the PageRank, and approval from the web while boosting referral traffic along with the trust for the company. The digital PR budget for B2B SEO is arranged according to cost-per-click metrics, and tangible results.

9. Certificates and Licenses for Industry

Certificates and Licenses for Industry are a part of B2B SEO to improve the trust and conversion funnel success. Certificates and Licenses for Industry norms help a business to prove its success, and authoritativeness, along with expertise for the specific topic. For example, the automobile industry needs certain types of manufacturing licenses, or automobile selling licenses, and for the laser cutting industry, the “HOBBY Series Certification”, and “Pro-Series” certifications are used. The used certifications and licenses should be specific to the brand so that the company can prove its responsibility. The B2B SEO leverages certificates, licenses, and media coverage of the company for further relevance and topical authority.

10. Semantic Content Network for B2B SEO

Semantic SEO, and Semantic Content Networks, are fundamental for B2B SEO. Creating a glossary for the industry, explaining production, and manufacturing methodologies, produced components, their types, materials, and service types. For example, a company from laser cutting and 3D Printing services has to cover all the materials, machines, machine parts, types, produced components, colors, and improvements. Covering all the possible phrase taxonomies, products, search intents, query networks, and groups, and reflecting the best possible lexical relations, and query semantics on web pages’ content is important for B2B Semantic SEO.

What is the Difference between B2B and B2C SEO?

B2B SEO and B2C SEO differences involve branding, content marketing, keyword research, and semantic SEO differences mainly. B2B SEO campaign budgets are bigger than B2C SEO campaigns, even if the B2C SEO campaigns require more authors and bigger content networks. To see the main differences between B2B and B2C SEO strategies, read the comparison table below.

What are B2B SEO Strategies?

The 15 main B2B SEO Strategies and tactics for improving the organic search performance of B2B companies are listed below.

• Analyze Buyer Personas for B2B SEO
• Determine a Target Audience
• Perform a Topical Research for Search Behaviors
• Analyze Competitors’ Web Pages, and Anchor Texts
• Extract all the Knowledge Domain Concepts and Experts
• Determine a Content Production Guide for Expert Authors
• Design Conversion Funnels
• Determine Conversion Steps and Obstacles
• Determine Content Production Formats
• Perform Internal Linking and Anchor Text Optimization
• Perform Content Expertise and Accuracy Check
• Improve Relevance, Accuracy, and Comprehensiveness Always on
• Analyze User-engagement and Conversions
• Use Omnichannel User Retention Practices
• Promote B2B Content for Digital PR

B2B SEO Strategies involve different methodologies and techniques from semantic SEO and Technical SEO verticals. Increasing crawling efficiency, creating a buyer persona, simplifying conversion funnels, building scalable content marketing, and producing strategy are different aspects of B2B SEO. Read the B2B SEO Strategies below to increase the organic search performance of B2B SEO projects.

1. Analyze Buyer Personas for B2B SEO

Buyer persona involves characteristics, demographics, and traits of the targeted market individuals. A buyer persona is used for messaging and planning content marketing. Interesting topics used on social media platforms, and instant messaging applications along with the search behavior of buyer persona help B2B SEO for content syndication, repurposing, and formatting. B2B SEO usually targets smaller markets and groups of people compared to B2C SEO. B2B SEO uses Buyer Personas to improve content reach, engagement, and conversions. Making detailed buyer personas decreases the complexity of B2B SEO. The questions that are asked, the feelings during the online or offline meetings, lead generation paths, and methods are optimized according to a buyer persona. In search engine optimization, buyer personas are used to analyze searchers’ backgrounds, so that related topics can be targeted within the same content network for better conversion funnel coverage. Conversion funnel coverage means touching more Moment of Truths during the buyers’ searching journey from the beginning to the end of the funnel. Buyer persona creation is called buyer persona development. Buyer personas are called marketing personas, target personas, or audience personas by marketers. B2B SEO uses the buyer personas for analyzing the traits below.

• Demographics of buyer persona involve age, gender, marital status, homeownership, ethnicity, religion, disability status, health, income, and education.
• Occupation and Economics of buyer persona involve debts, financial independence, occupation, and career.
• Interest areas and lifestyle of buyer persona involve house, car, transportation, sports, movies, books, and family life.

B2B SEO uses buyer persona traits to leverage communication with the targeted audience. Using interviews, contacts database, forms, and phone calls help B2B SEO to update and expand the Buyer Persona for better rankings and higher conversion rates.

2. Determine a Target Audience

Determining a target audience in B2B SEO refers to differentiating the group of individuals that are targeted for reaching out for B2B sales. Target audience and intended audience are two different marketing concepts. The target audience is directly for conversions while the intended audience is broader, and involves people who are interested in the topic, but far away from the conversions. Using target and intended audiences in B2B SEO campaigns help a brand increase its awareness and user loyalty.

Determining a target and intended audience for B2B SEO is helpful for connecting with target potential customers and turning visitors into customers. Having a flywheel marketing understanding is helpful to convert target audience individuals to brand ambassadors. B2B SEO is highly intersected with B2B marketing. To have a better brand search volume, and demand, or triggering Brand SERP features that promote the company’s successes with People Also Ask questions, Google-related search terms, or autocompletion is done by being closer to the target audience than B2B competitors. To determine a target audience in B2B SEO, use the referring domains of the competitors, forums, forum threads, questions, answers, influencers, and influencer interactions along with the video portals and search engines such as YouTube by analyzing their behaviors. Covering the targeted audience and market characteristics inside the website to increase brand penetration.

3. Perform Topical Research for Higher Coverage

Perform topical research for higher topical coverage for better organic search rankings and topical authority. Topical research is a method to cover certain topics along with search query groups and networks with the correct angle. Keyword research and topical research are different, but connected things to each other. Topical Research involves finding the main, sub, and side topics for a business for reaching out and covering the users’ search journey for the conversion funnel. Topical research is a method for understanding semantic web behaviors in the context of semantic search engines. Web users perform semantic search behaviors in certain patterns to reach out to a certain target on the open web. For example, searching for a dental implant material, and a specific material’s health effects, in the long run, are connected to each other. Both of these topics might be covered by different websites, such as a dentist website, or a dentist material website. According to the brand’s identity and the web source’s purpose, the topical research and topical coverage are performed by semantic SEOs.

Why is topical research beneficial for B2B SEO? B2B SEO uses topical research for proving thought leadership, unique information to prove the expertise of the source, and higher historical data for proving the web source’s consistent expertise and quality increase. The topical research benefits include proven expertise, and a higher user, and customer base.

4. Analyze Competitors’ Web Pages, and Anchor Texts

Analyze competitors’ ranking web pages and anchor texts in B2B SEO. Anchor texts are indexed by the semantic search engines to understand the conceptual connections and the topical-contextual alignment between the source and target pages in hyperlinks. The anchor text differences signal the topical connections between the web pages, to demonstrate the importance of the specific web page. Title, meta description, introduction paragraph, heading vectors and words, anchor texts, list elements, and table column names create the topicality of the page. The context mismatch between the web page content components such as anchor texts, or titles creates contextual relevance dilution. To prevent such a situation, understanding how search engine algorithms are trained by authoritative sources, and creating more granular and closer connections in a clear methodology is better.

The main improvements for the anchor texts and competitor web page comparisons for B2B SEO are below.

• Auditing anchor text words from competitor B2B competitors.
• Auditing words and terms appear in anchor text on B2B web pages.
• Checking harmony and alignment between headings, and titles along with headings and anchor texts.
• Exploring knowledge domain terms and expertise level of competitor B2B pages’ content for comparing the credibility.
• Matching the anchor text terms to the Google autocomplete suggestions for queries to see how the internal navigation of competitors and Google’s understanding of the search behaviors are aligned with each other.

The Competitors’ Web Pages signal the trust elements that are used for users and search engines E-A-T-related algorithms. Thus, auditing competitors’ pages for web page layout, trust, and communication elements including typography, design, and link positions are helpful for B2B SEO.

5. Extract all the Knowledge Domain Concepts and Experts

Extract all Knowledge Domain Concepts and Experts for B2B SEO. Knowledge Domain Concepts and Experts are used to signal the expertise level of the content related to the business industry. Using and defining the knowledge domain concepts by using the authority sources with the information consensus help to convince the users with high information literacy. The knowledge domain concepts include the terms that are used especially in the specific topical cluster. The contextual terms are used to demonstrate the topical relevance of the web source while showing its authenticity for the industry.

Having research, PDF files, statistics, surveys, and university citations for defining the knowledge domain concepts and being mentioned as an expert together with other experts help B2B SEO to prove credibility and topical authority. Using unique, richer definitions with examples for the knowledge domain concepts is a method for being a higher authority for the B2B Industry.

6. Determine a Content Production Guide for Expert Authors

Determine a Content Production Guide for Expert Authors in B2B SEO. SEO Campaigns shouldn’t use non-expert Authors, in B2B marketing. Business to Business industries requires a high level of expertise and deep information for the industry concepts, or production methodologies to prove the authenticity, uniqueness, and originality of the company. Content Production Guide educates Expert Authors to write and compose expert information for B2B Content Marketing. The content production guide is called the “Content Engineering Guide” in Holistic SEO since based on certain methods and principles the authors produce the content. Content engineering requires determining sentence structures, question and answer formats, average content detail, length, image, audio, or video production methodologies, style, and tonality of the content. The content production guide is chosen and designed according to the industry of the B2B SEO Campaign. For example, a B2B SEO campaign for Pharmacy needs to have a more serious and scientific article and content production methodology than the B2B Gift industry.

7. Design Conversion Funnels

Design Conversion and Click funnels for B2B SEO. B2B SEO has a higher pricing point that affects the complexity and patterns of Conversion Funnels. B2B Conversion Funnels have multiple channels such as emails, phone calls, form submissions, physical meetings, or in-person store visits. The forums and exhibitions are the least used but most converting parts of the conversion funnels in B2B Marketing. To prove the authority, uniqueness, and authenticity of the B2B Campaign, using every step and vertical of the conversion funnels in B2B SEO is needed. Including offline and online conversion channels and patterns together in SEO campaigns help for higher conversion rates, along with an average shorter timeline per conversion.

To design a proper conversion funnel for B2B SEO, the average click and visit count before the conversion is measured. The demographics, psychology, and most problematic steps in the conversion path are analyzed. The conversion funnel designs for B2B SEO are to simplify conversions while supporting the key decision makers and sales teams of international or small businesses. To simplify the conversion funnels, examining the questions that come from customers, listening to existing partners, attending exhibitions, and examining the audience are methods to improve B2B SEO conversions.

8. Determine Conversion Steps and Obstacles

Determine Conversion Steps and Obstacles for B2B SEO. Conversion Steps involve the moment of truth for performing the purchase. The moment of truth defines the moment that the customer decides to buy something. It is examined by marketers to understand how customers decide, or when deciding, to purchase a product. Conversion steps and obstacles for B2B SEO and marketing are connected to the moment of truth to analyze the multiple types of the moment of truth. Conversion steps for B2B SEO include familiarity, trusting, purchasing, and advocating for the company. The purpose of B2B SEO is not to sell a product or service only once, it is to have lifetime partner companies. Thus, the end step for B2B Marketing and SEO is having business partners from related industries with positive commercial relations. Thus, the obstacles for B2B SEO and Marketing are the amount of time for gaining the trust of the key decision maker and providing the service or the product end-to-end. Providing a product or service end-to-end means making everything ready for the buyer company. For example, a factory owner that buys certain types of machines needs software, training, transportation, and installation. Thus, partnership, companionship, and long-term business relations are needed in B2B Marketing. B2B SEO has to show the trustworthiness of the company with end-to-end service solutions to overcome obstacles of B2B SEO conversion funnels.

9. Determine Content Production Formats

Determine content production formats for B2B SEO. Content production formats involve the content forms for B2B SEO and B2B content marketing. The content formats such as PDF, PPTX, or Infographics, articles, videos, podcasts, audio, and music determine the communication style through content marketing. Choosing the correct content format for the correct content vertical is important. Content verticals involve the platform where the content is used for content marketing. Social media B2B Marketing and Podcast B2B Marketing are different from each other, thus selecting different content formats is needed. To perform omnichannel content marketing for B2B SEO, combining and deciding correct content repurposing and reformatting methodologies are used. For example, an international stock trading consultancy company for other companies requires podcasts rather than Instagram marketing.

10. Perform Internal Linking and Anchor Text Optimization

Optimize Internal Linking and Anchor Text for B2B SEO. Internal Links and Anchor texts help search engines to relate web pages to each other, while search engine crawlers understand the web pages’ purpose better. Every web page is created for a specific purpose. Thus, anchor texts describe the purpose of the web pages. The summary parts of the web page are the title tag, heading 1, and meta descriptions. The purpose of the web page, and summary parts of the web pages align with each other for better B2B SEO performance. The Internal Linking and Anchor Text optimization from a Business to another Business Search Engine Optimization are below.

• Close the anchor text gap for showing the naturality and relevance of the web pages to each other better.
• Do not use the anchor texts just for closing the anchor text term gap.
• Use only descriptive anchor texts, do not include words such as “read more”, or “click more” for anchor texts.
• Do not use more than 4 concepts in the anchor texts.
• Use the shortest anchor texts on the most important web pages for the most important pages.
• Limit the number of internal links on a web page to weigh the existing internal links more.
• Place the related internal links at the same or closer places to each other.
• Do not use the internal links before explaining the definition of the concept in the internal link.
• Explain the connection between linking and linked web pages to show the possible purpose, or the need, of the click on the link.

Internal Link optimization and anchor text types are helpful to understand the prominence of internal links for B2B SEO from user experience optimization and search engine optimization points of view.

11. Audit Content Expertise and Accuracy of Information

Audit content expertise and accuracy of the information and expertise level for B2B SEO. Auditing content accuracy requires checking the facts on the web page by classifying the factual information. Google and other semantics search engines try to have consensus for scientific topics by auditing the citations, and information sources, such as researchers. Auditing content expertise and accuracy of information require having an expert content manager, or the company’s own employees and teammates need to be experts. Search engines improve the quality and expertise thresholds for being ranked on search engine result pages. Thus, the need of including expert information with accuracy for B2B Content items, and expertise for the same knowledge domain is a must for the company’s team members.

What happens if there is inaccurate information in B2B Content? Google and Microsoft Bing are semantic search engines that understand inaccurate information by corroborating web answers from multiple web sources. The wrong, inaccurate, and misleading information on content signals low information quality on the website. Thus, algorithmic demotion for the organic search rankings happens over time. Understanding facts, and evaluating factoids are tasks for search engines to differentiate true authorities and experts from the imitated expertise.

Including Unique and First-time facts, and asking new and original questions to explain a knowledge domain, is an easy and efficient way for being a better authority.

12. Improve Relevance, Accuracy, and Comprehensiveness Always on

Improve Relevance, Accuracy, and Comprehensiveness always-on for B2B SEO. Improving the relevance and accuracy of the information in the web page content is related to content decay. Content decay is a fundamental concept for fresh and valid content. Freshness and Query Deserves Freshness are concepts for Google Search Engine ranking algorithms. Fresh web pages with updated and valid information have a higher click-satisfaction and ranking chance on the SERP compared to outdated content. The queries on Google Search are new by %25 every day, according to Google Search Relations. The new and unique search queries on Google are classified by the Hummingbird based on semantics and query clustering algorithmic decisions. The new information for a concept, or knowledge domain and new search queries for the fresh information make the old and non-updated content less rankable over time. Google Search Quality Rating Guidelines involve different types of outdated and decayed content examples to explain that the Page Quality score is not good enough to be ranked for web search engine users. B2B SEO requires to be improved, updated, and configured content for higher relevance, and comprehensiveness. The newly added information and possible combinations of questions are answered by adding new sections to the existing content or merging different content items.

13. Analyze User-engagement and Feedback

Analyze user engagement and feedback for B2B SEO. B2B SEO has a low conversion rate, thus analyzing the user engagement for B2B SEO mostly involves non-returning users or informational user behavioral metrics. To analyze the user engagement for a B2B SEO campaign, there are 3 main steps. First, segment the website into different parts in Google Analytics 4, or other web analytics technologies for differentiating user behaviors from each other. Second, analyze user-flow metrics to see which pages have the highest exit rate, and when the users do not scroll down or perform their visit purpose. Third, use A/B tests with tools and technologies such as Google Optimize to understand how the users give feedback while visiting the website. Analyzing user engagement and feedback is beneficial to make the content more responsive to the users’ possible and related search activities.

14. Use Omnichannel User Retention Practices

Use Omnichannel User Retention Practices for B2B SEO. SEO is not done only via Google search pages. Holistic SEO involves every vertical of the web including social media, video portals, news publishers, podcasts, etc. Thus, omnichannel user retention practices are related to Holistic and B2B SEO. Omnichannel User Retention involves communicating with the user via multiple communication channels such as email newsletters, YouTube channel subscriptions, website visits, or push notifications. Omnichannel user retention helps to improve conversion rate and have more brand advocates. According to the Holistic SEO, users that follow a brand from social media, and subscribe to the newsletters of the same brand convert by a %25 higher possibility.

15. Promote B2B Content for Digital PR

Promote B2B Content for Digital PR for B2B SEO. Digital Public Relations (PR) is the process of improving brand awareness by positioning a brand for higher quality and authority in the perception map of consumers. Digital PR helps brands to improve their prestige, and trustworthiness along with their popularity. Having a higher search demand with positive sentiments, having higher positive reviews, or acquiring external hyperlink references (backlinks) help Google search engines to trust a web source with higher confidence. Increasing the PageRank of a website, and its relative importance in a link graph helps a website rank higher by proving its trustworthiness and quality. The Digital PR provides external references and mentions along with reviews by showing the brand as an authoritative source. Thus, Digital PR and Business to Business SEO are related to each other. Promoting B2B Content with Digital PR to show authoritativeness by being mentioned by national and local news publishers, editorial opinion owners, and thought leaders helps for higher organic search rankings in B2B SEO.

16. Increase Page Speed and Crawling Efficiency for Users and Search Engines

Increase Page Speed and Crawling Efficiency for Users and Search Engines for B2B SEO. Technical SEO and B2B SEO are connected to each other. Page Speed and Crawling Efficiency for a better user experience, and a faster, less-costly crawling experience for search engines are required for B2B SEO. To improve Page Speed or decrease page loading time, there are 5 main techniques. These are using server-side compression technologies such as Brotli and GZIP, minifying HTML, CSS, and JS files by removing the whitespace, using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for faster server response times, using less resource request count, and smaller resources. The crawling Efficiency of a website means how efficiently search engine crawlers crawl the website. The metric for measuring the crawling efficiency of a website involves the amount of resource crawl hits compared to valuable web page count and total time for crawling the website. Crawling efficiency increases if the resource crawl hits are less compared to the valuable web page count. Crawling time is another type of cost for the crawling efficiency calculation that decreases crawling efficiency when crawling takes longer time for the website. B2B SEO and crawling efficiency are related to each other because search engines do not prefer a non-crawlable and indexable or highly costly website for being crawled for ranking purposes. Low-cost and high-value websites are always more important for being ranked in B2B SEO.

To allocate and arrange the web development resources of the B2B SEO Campaign, having a solid relationship with the Chief of Technology Office, and web developers in the company is needed. Preparing Technical SEO and page speed improvement tasks for CTO and web developers with clear documentation, and practical involvement to improve B2B SEO efficiency with technical aspects.

17. Increase the Historical Data of the Website by Staying Active with Higher User Satisfaction

Increase the Historical Data for the Website by Staying Active, with Higher User Satisfaction. Historical data involves the user’s activities over a period of time on the search. Historical data is used by search engines to evaluate the websites for ranking and quality assessment. Historical data without a proper quality signal from the search behaviors data cause websites to lose traffic, while high-quality websites give higher quality signals over time. Google Broad Core Algorithm Updates use historical data to change the prioritization of web sources. To have enough historical data, search engines wait enough time for performing and testing an algorithmic update. Historical data and B2B SEO are connected to each other. A website with higher historical data has a higher potential for being evaluated by the search engine with higher confidence. Search engines work with machine learning algorithms by labeling websites with critical dimensions such as their quality, identity, design, and layout. The rule-based systems and machine learning (ML) algorithms work together to evaluate the websites with historical data. B2B SEO and Historical Data are connected to each other. Because, to have higher historical data, the website needs to have higher search activity. Thus, having higher mentions, reviews, impressions, clicks, or mouse hover effects or being ranked in the image pack, and other types of search activities help websites to increase their historical data. The positive user feedback historical data helps SEO Campaigns to increase their chance of being ranked. The B2B SEO requires a higher topical coverage to increase the positive historical data for being evaluated by the search engine as an authoritative source. Every negative user feedback from a search behavior that affects the historical data decreases the ranking of the website and increases the chance of demotion during the Broad Core Algorithm Updates. Thus, increasing positive user-feedback occurrences in the historical data of search behaviors is required for B2B SEO Campaigns’ successes.

What are the Most Important Steps for B2B SEO Strategies?

The most important steps for B2B SEO Strategies involve using having an omnichannel user retention strategy, having a strong brand existence with digital public relations and brand positioning, writing and producing expert-level accurate and unique information, being a thought leader for the industry, and simplifying the conversion funnels for the business. The most essential and critical steps for B2B SEO Strategies are related to having a target audience with an accurate buyer persona, and a connection with the decision-makers through the beginning and bottom of the conversion funnel.

SEO Case Studies for B2B Industries

The B2B SEO Case Studies in Holistic SEO include heavy metallurgy, laser cutting, CNC machining, 3D printing, Plastic Injection Molding, Pool Construction, and Mass Gift Production industries. The B2B SEO Guide of Holistic SEO includes two different websites. One is a company from New York that works in the industries of heavy metallurgy, 3D printing, CNC Machining, and printing, molding, and manufacturing on demand, and the other one is from the pool construction business. In the next sections, the successful SEO Case Studies in B2B markets are explained.

B2B SEO Case Study for Heavy Metallurgy Industry

The B2B SEO Case Study subject website name is kept hidden due to the NDA agreement below. The subject website for heavy metallurgy B2B SEO is a multimillionaire Wall Street company. A section from the NDA Agreement to keep the website’s and brand’s name hidden for possible SEO case studies or other types of activities is given below.

Results of the B2B SEO Case Study for the Metallurgy Industry

The Heavy Metallurgy Industry B2B SEO Case Study results are given below.

• 115% Organic Click Increase in 3 Months YoY Google Search Console Performance Comparison
• 97.6% Organic Impression Increase in 3 Months YoY Google Search Console Performance Comparison
• 36,000+ New Organic Search Queries
• 1126 New Top 3 Ranking Organic Search Queries
• 2665 New Between 4-10 Organic Search Queries
• 34,000 New 10-100 Organic Search Queries

The Heavy Mettalurgy Industry B2B SEO Case Study results from Ahrefs to demonstrate the over 100% organic click increase in 5 months are below.

One month later, the B2B SEO Project’s organic search performance is visible below, with another 20% organic click increase and a %15 query count increase.

The Heavy Metallurgy Industry B2B SEO Case Study results from SEMrush to demonstrate the over 100% organic click increase in 5 months is below.

The B2B SEO Project’s performance graphic from another SEO traffic tracker is below with another %15 organic search, and a %7 query count increase, after 1 month.

The Heavy Metallurgy Industry B2B SEO Results from Google Search Console are given below as naked.

One month later, the organic search performance for the last 6 months reached from 370,000 clicks to 507,000 clicks.

The 3 Months Year-over-Year Comparison that demonstrates over 100% organic click and impression increases from Google Search Console for the B2B Heavy Metallurgy SEO Case Study is below.

One week later version of the Organic Search Performance of the B2B SEO Project is below. The website reached another organic click and impressions peak inside the Positive Ranking State.

The Google Search Console performance report for the B2B SEO case study demonstrates positive ranking and traffic growth is above.

Same comparison, one more month after the version is below.

Using the Pages and Crawl Stats Reports of Google Search Console for B2B SEO

The results for the B2B Metallurgy SEO Case Study from Pages and Crawl Stats reports are below.

• The Not Indexed and Indexed Page balance is important for Cost-of-Retrieval.
• The Not Indexed Page count shouldn’t be higher than the Indexed Page Count.
• The Indexed Pages should have enough level of quality so that the search engine continues to crawl and value the website.
• The Total Crawl Requests for the source are on the left side.
• The 786,000 crawl request is a high amount, but since the response time is below 200 MS, the source is able to save itself despite non-necessary resources and pages.

Below are the visuals of the Crawl Stats and Pages Reports of GSC for Metallurgy B2B SEO Case Study.

The Crawl Stats from the Google Search Console Report for demonstrating the file types and Googlebot type for the characteristics of crawl hits for B2B website is below.

• The source doesn’t show the HTML Documents as it should be shown to the search engine.
• To have a better B2B SEO Result, the website should prioritize the indexable content in crawl stats such as HTML, and Image files rather than JSON, or CSS and JavaScript files.
• Thus, the Resource Load hits are too high.
• It demonstrates a High-level of Cost of Retrieval.

The JSON, JavaScript, and CSS resources have a higher percentage than HTML documents. HTML Documents are crawled around 17% which shows the real indexing value resources do not take attention from the search engine due to a crowded source code which signals the need for a re-organization of the coding structure of the website.

The Response Code distribution from the GSC for B2B SEO involves the responses of the web server of the B2B SEO subject website for the requests of the Googlebot. The 304 and 200 status codes are valid for a healthy crawling profile for SEO, including B2B Vertical while internal redirects, and 404, or 302 URLs should be cleaned by improving the internal crawling signals of the website. The results of the B2B SEO Metallurgy Website’s GSC Crawling Report’s “By Response” and “By Purpose” areas are below with their results.

• Having 304 and 200 status codes over 90% in total is important.
• Here, the %92 of the response codes are actually 200 and 304 Status Codes.
• It shows that the website has a healthy crawling response code.
• It incentives search engines to crawl further for finding the content since it doesn’t waste resources.
• The %3 Discovery Crawl Hits help source to refresh itself in Google’s index by showing that the website is actually an active source.

Using Google Search Console Page Experience Report for B2B SEO

The Core Web Vitals Report of Google Search Console demonstrates the real-user experience data for specific page speed metrics such as largest contentful paint, cumulative layout shift, and total blocking time. The Core Web Vitals for B2B SEO matter, especially for more competitive niches. The results of the GSC Page Experience Report for the B2B SEO project are below.

• The Core Web Vitals affect the rankability of the sources for competitive niches.
• Since there are multiple candidates to be ranked, the User Experience and the page loading time become more important.
• The B2B SEO Case Study Subject Website doesn’t pass the Core Web Vitals.
• Only 32.7& of the URLs pass the Core Web Vitals on Mobile, and 71.3% of desktop URLs pass the Core Web Vitals.
• The Mobile CWV improvements are correlative with the ranking increase.

The image clicks and impression performance changes overall for the B2B SEO Project are below.

The image SEO performance comparison for the B2B company SEO project for the last 6 months is below with the key points and strategic points.

B2B SEO Case Study for Pool Construction Industry

The second B2B SEO Case Study in B2B SEO Guide is from Pool Construction Industry. The pool Construction industry is a hard and tiny, but valuable niche in providing millions of dollars of income per sale. Thus, the traffic that is acquired in these topics is really valuable. The B2B SEO Case Study from Pool Construction Industry involves many technical SEO problems, but thanks to the brand search-demand increase, and semantic content network creation, it increased its overall authority and topical relevance. The Pool Construction B2B SEO Case Study subject website involves multilingual SEO since it exports its products to other countries.

The name of the Pool Construction Company name is explained in the future coming book “Information Responsiveness in SEO”, and after the launch of the book, the name will be added here.

The Results of B2B SEO Case Study in the Pool Construction Industry

The results of the B2B SEO Case Study from the Pool Construction Industry are given below.

• 254.24% Organic Click Increase in Google Search Console in 3 Months YoY Comparison
• 299% Organic Impression Increase in Google Search Console in 3 Months YoY Comparison
• 6672 New Organic Search Queries
• 364 New Top 3 Ranking Organic Search Queries
• 544 New Between 4-10 Ranking Organic Search Queries
• 5900+ New Between 10-100 Ranking Organic Search Queries

The Pool Construction Industry SEO Case Study results from Ahrefs with organic search performance graph are below.

The Pool Construction Industry SEO Case Study results from SEMrush with organic search performance graph are below.

The over %200 Organic Click increase in 3 months of year-over-year comparison in Google Search Console for B2B SEO Case Study from the Pool Construction industry is below.

The overall organic click and impression increase from the naked and open Google Search Console Data for the B2B SEO case study is below.

The B2B SEO Case Study from Pool Construction Industry subject website has increased its positive ranking state further, and 2 weeks later, the year-over-year 3 months Google Search Console comparison graphic started to show a 254% organic click increase, and over 250% organic impression increase.

The Summary of the results of the B2B Pool Construction Brand’s SEO Campaign is below visually.

The second visual for the results of the B2B SEO for Pool Construction Company is below.

Analyzing Google Search Console Pages (Coverage) Report for B2B SEO

Analyzing Google Search Console Pages Report for B2B SEO requires understanding the prominence of Technical SEO for success. The “alternate page with the proper canonical tag” involves URL differences for the same or highly similar content, while “Not Found 404” pages are dangerous for the website’s trustworthiness and freshness along with the crawling efficiency. Most B2B SEO projects use old web development frameworks and systems, thus technical SEO problems matter more. The B2B Pool Construction SEO Case Study’s search console report for “Pages” is given below.

• The Page’s Report example from B2B SEO Case Study demonstrates the number of web pages that are not indexed from different verticals.
• Having Soft 404 pages, Duplicate without user-selected canonical, and pages with redirect decrease the quality of the crawl path while making the website costlier for the search engine crawlers.
• The B2B SEO Case Study from Metallurgy Industry shows that the content quality and brand authority might incentive crawlers further despite big numbers of non-indexed pages and unnecessary resources.
• The Pages Report from Google Search Console of the B2B SEO Company from Pool Construction Company.
• The high amount of 404 URLs, internal unnecessary redirections, Soft 404 URLs, and internal 404 URLs, server response errors are problematic.
• The “423 crawled not indexed” and “Discovered not indexed 263” URLs involve quality issues for some product pages.

The Pages Report Analysis for the B2B SEO Pool Construction company visually is below.

The indexed and non-indexed pages report of GSC for B2B SEO pool construction website analysis is below.

• The Pages Report from the Google Search Console of the B2B Pool Construction Company.
• The Not Indexed Pages count is higher than the Indexed Page Count.
• The Cost-of-Retrieval is high, while the unnecessary pages decrease the quality per web page.
• Despite that, the content pruning is implemented, thus the indexed and total page count is decreased.

The Indexed and Non-indexed pages analysis for B2B SEO involves the efficiency of the website for being understood and crawled to be indexed by the search engine. The visual expression of the analysis of the indexed and non-indexed URLs for the B2B SEO is below.

Analyzing Google Search Console Page Experience Report B2B SEO

Analyzing Google Search Console Page Experience Report B2B SEO involves the overall performance of the page speed and user experience of the web pages of the B2B campaign website. The mobile and desktop devices’ speed for rendering the B2B website’s web pages, and HTTPS along with interstitials usages, is helpful for SEOs to analyze the overall situation of the website. The Page Experience Report analysis for the B2B SEO project example is below.

• There are no good URLs, as stated before.
• There is no HTTPS URL problem.
• But, due to crawling pattern issues, there are Mobile Usability issues.
• The Mobile Performance issues affect the website slightly because B2B marketers and buyers usually use desktop devices.
• The good URL count in the Page Experience report for both mobile and desktop is 0.

The analysis of the Google Search Console Core Web Vitals Report for B2B SEO involves a detailed version of the Page Experience Report for only the web page speed metrics and scores as “good, bad, and need improvement”. The classified URLs with example representations and scores are given for improving the performance of the B2B SEO project URLs. The Summary and the visual snapshot of the B2B SEO Core Web Vitals report are below.

• All the mobile URLs have direct “poor” performance scores.
• There is not a single good URL for the specific website.
• Still, the website is able to increase its performance thanks to semantic content network quality and publication frequency.
• Despite the bad Mobile Core Web Vitals, the website continues to rank higher.

Crawl Stats for the Pool Construction B2B SEO Case Study Project and their Analysis

The crawl stats for the Pool Construction B2B SEO Case Study Project involve the total crawl requests, total download size, and average response time to analyze the project’s efficiency for communicating with the Googlebot systems. The B2B SEO Case Study crawling stats examples from the pool construction company are given below.

• The 66,000 crawl hit requests are not bad, but the average response time is over 3 seconds, which is awful.
• Being able to increase the rankings with such a bad time to the first byte for crawlers happened thanks to quality content production and brand authority increase.
• Technical SEO and Semantic SEO along with Brand Reputation support each other in B2B SEO.
• The average response time is over 3 seconds, which is more than 15 times what Google suggested.

Response Code Distribution in Crawl Stats for B2B SEO Pool Construction Project

The Response Code Distribution in Crawl Stats for B2B SEO Pool Construction Project involves the 200, 301, 404, 302, 304, and 500 response codes to demonstrate the response of the web server for the crawlers that come with the purposes of refreshing the index or expanding the index with new discovered URLs. The Response Code Profile of the B2B SEO Case Study is below.

The Visual representation and analysis of the crawl stats report for status codes and the purpose of the crawler of the search engine is below.

B2B SEO Case Study for Gift Production Industry

The B2B SEO Case Study for Gift Production is related to the Query Semantics highly. The brand name of the B2B SEO Case Study for the Gift Production Industry will be explained. The B2B Gift Production SEO Campaign focuses on mass gift buyers and orders for certain types of local themes from different countries. The B2B Gift Producer and Manufacturer has a production line for producing any desired type of product, but the order value has to be higher than tens of thousands. Thus, the query context and brand purpose are mostly different. To align the brand identity with the query context, the gift-type of query networks are used for a semantic SEO sprint along with other relevance and responsiveness-focused SEO practices. The early results of the B2B SEO Case Study for the Gift Production Industry are below.

• %767.16 organic click increase in 3 Months GSC Comparison
• %1.012 organic impression increase in 3 Months GSC Comparison
• %28,57 Organic CTR Increase in 3 Months GSC Comparison
• %141 Organic Average Position Increase in 3 Months GSC Comparison
• %359,78 Organic Click Increase in the last 6 months.
• From 0 to 30,000 Organic Search Traffic for a Gift Producer in B2B Industry.
• 7800 New Organic Ranking Queries.
• New Top 3 Ranking Queries.
• New 635 Between 4-10 Ranking Queries.
• 3498 New Organic Queries between 11-50 Rankings.
• 1919 New Organic Queries between 51-100.

The SEMrush graphic to demonstrate the organic growth of the B2B SEO project is below.

The Ahrefs Organic Growth graphic for the B2B SEO project is below.

• The continuous highest-ranking graphic is clearly seen.
• The Semantic Content Network and created New Product Pages with E-Commerce and B2B Purposes have shown its effect.
• The localized product themes for gifts are used for better semantic relevance and consolidation.

The Google Search Console 3 Months Year Over Year Organic Search Performance Comparison for B2B SEO Gift Industry Project is below.

• From 6730 clicks to 58100 clicks.
• From 124,000 organic impressions to 1,380,000 organic impressions.
• From 5.4% Average CTR to 4.2% Average CTR.
• From 29,5 Average Position to 12,9 Average Position.

The overall change for the B2B SEO Project subject website is below.

The 6 months comparison for the Google Search Console Organic Search Performance for the B2B SEO Gift Industry Project is below.

• From 18,400 clicks to 84,600 clicks.
• From 523,000 Impressions to 2,110,000 Organic Impressions.
• From a 3.5% Average Click-through Rate to a 4% Click-through Rate
• From 17 Average Position to 14.2 Average Position.

The Visual Representation of the GSC 3 Months Y-o-Y Comparison for B2B SEO Gift Website is below. One month later, Google Search Console Report for the B2B SEO for Gift Industry subject website is below with 400% organic growth.

Image Search Growth for B2B SEO Gift Industry Project

Image search is important for B2B SEO because prospects search products and services visually as much as textually. The visual SERP features increase its coverage on the universal web results. The B2B SEO Gift Industry Image Search Growth is given below.

• From 1250 to 3810 Organic Image Clicks
• From 154,000 to 842,000 Organic Image Impressions
• From 0.8% to 0.5% CTR for Image Search
• From 77,2 Average Position to 61,5 Average Image Ranking Position

%359,78 Organic Click Increase in Last 6 Months Comparison from the Google Search Console Report of the B2B Gift Industry SEO Case Study is above.

Understanding B2B SEO with Google Search Console Crawl Stats

Understanding B2B SEO with Google Search Console Crawl Stats involves an examination of the total crawl requests, total download size as bytes, and average response time as milliseconds for grasping the effects of the SEO implementations from Googlebot behaviors point of view such as fetching the resources, refreshing the index. The overview and results of the B2B SEO Gift Industry subject website’s crawl stats reports are below.

• The 270,000 crawl hits, 13,4B download size, and 484 MS average response time.
• The PageRank increase with external references increased the crawl requests.
• The indexation speed and indexed web page count have increased thanks to branding and Digital PR.

Understanding B2B SEO with Google Search Console Core Web Vitals Scores

Understanding B2B SEO with Google Search Console Core Web Vitals Scores is analyzing and examining the Core Web Vitals metrics of the B2B website within the GSC Report with LCP, TBT, and CLS metrics to see whether the web pages are engaging and user-friendly. To B2B SEO Gift Industry subject website’s GSC Core Web Vitals analysis is below.

• Both Desktop and Mobile URLs have Poor and “Needs to Improvement” URLs.
• There are 2344 Poor Desktop URLs.
• And, there is 2343 Need to be Improved Mobile URLs.
• The reason that the mobile URLs have a higher performance than the Desktop URLs is the mismatch.
• In other words, the web source presents multiple versions of the same website based on the user agents.

Understanding B2B SEO with Google Search Console Crawled Resource, Crawler, and Crawling Types Reports

Understanding B2B SEO with Google Search Console Crawled Resource, Crawler, and Crawling Types Reports involve auditing the crawled resource type such as HTML, Image, CSS, crawler type such as smartphone, desktop, and crawl response status codes such as 200, 404, 301. Understanding B2B SEO with GSC Crawling Stats that involve file types or crawler types is necessary to understand how the website is perceived in a healthy or unhealthy way by the search engine. For example, the excessive amount of 404 status codes in crawl stats, or the fewer HTML requests signal that the website is not crawled properly, or understood by the search engine. The overall analysis and overview of the B2B SEO Crawled Resource, Crawler, and Crawling Type for the B2B Gift Industry is below.

• The HTML hits are over 60% which is good, but still, it is not over 80%.
• The Images have a %20 percent of the share which crawled a lot after the 12th September Core Algorithm Update of Google which affected the website positively.
• The CSS, JS, and Font files are crawled less, but still, there are unnecessary %9 crawls because of the bad-content type.
• JavaScript and Syndication requests are lower than %1.
• The Image requests are over 20%, and they increased via PageRank increase mainly, which signals a way of ranking the images via Landing Pages. Thus, the image search growth should be remembered.

Response Code Analysis from GSC Report for B2B SEO

• The Response Code Status Codes of the B2B SEO Gift Industry are on the left side.
• The B2B SEO Gift Industry Website has %90+ over 304 and 200 status codes, thus it is a healthy crawling pattern.
• But, there are DNS Errors, which are bad for the brand authority in the eyes of the search engine.
• The Brand has %7 discovery hits thanks to always updated product descriptions and newly published content, which keeps the web source active for better ranking states.

What B2B Companies should know about SEO?

The concepts, components, mindsets, and tips for better search engine optimization execution methodologies and results are listed below.

• Understand that a topical map for B2B SEO doesn’t have to be shaped according to personal opinions, or taste.
• Accept that users and customers do not have to be similar to the CEO of the company, or the highest-paid person.
• Find the weak points of competitors in their brand image, and create a Surround Sound, and Barnacle SEO project for a better brand positioning for the B2B SEO Campaign.
• Understand the basic Search Engine concepts to communicate better with the SEO Agency or the Consultant.
• Understand that every SEO tasks collaborate together. A missing SEO improvement might affect the other SEO tasks.
• To learn SEO, use basic and fundamental SEO Books so that communication with SEO is improved.
• Follow the SEO news and updates from Google, Microsoft Bing, and other search engines to understand the future and possible risks or opportunities for the B2B SEO Campaign.
• Do not try to measure the Return on Investment for SEO campaign spending without having the first Broad Core Algorithm Update positive results.
• Create thought leadership to help SEO Campaign with further E-A-T signals.
• Use every license, reward, or exhibition like real-world expertise and quality signal by digitalizing them and opening them to search engine crawlers and users.
• Make the SEO team meet with CTO, Web Developers, and Sales Teams at the same time while using an SEO Mindset and understanding as an activator for higher marketing efficiency.
• Do not differentiate the Paid Search and Organic Search teams from each other completely. Make both teams collaborate for a lesser cost per conversion.
• Do not expect every user, or even every %4 of the users, to create a conversion, or generate a lead for a possible conversion. B2B SEO and marketing aim to create a loyal user base, brand awareness, and brand partners, advocates, and messengers to have a constant and continuous conversion flow.
• Understand the historical data concept for topical authority and search engine trust. Keeping a website, or a certain part of the website bad for a day, month, or three months creates a non-quality signal for the website in the eyes of search engines. These collaborative and marginal negative effects might cause SEO progress to get hindered for B2B marketing purposes.

Why is SEO Important for B2B Marketing?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is important for B2B Marketing to take organic traffic from the right audience by ranking the search results higher. Ranking on Google with higher visibility helps B2B Companies to establish online reputation, and autopilot their conversion funnels. B2B Marketing and B2B SEO are connected to each other. Even though, B2B Marketing entails broader activities for B2B SEO, both target the same goal which is increasing revenue by providing sales where the client meets are satisfied. Thus, SEO helps B2B Marketers to increase their conversions. For example, according to Holistic SEO research, the companies that publish 6 blog posts a month acquire at least %26 more leads than other companies. B2B Marketers leverage SEO and content marketing to reach out to a wider audience to increase brand awareness and provide conversions.

What are the SEO Templates for B2B Market?

B2B SEO templates include web page layouts, content marketing strategies, HTML, and CSS templates, along with communication and tonality templates for customers. B2B SEO templates involve checklists for Technical SEO, Local SEO, Branding, and Brand SERP optimization, and more SEO verticals to improve the practical appliance of search engine optimization. B2B SEO Templates are created to help SEOs to create better results while onboarding the B2B company marketing teams better. An example of a B2B SEO template for determining a strategy is below.

• Determining trust elements, and using customer testimonials on the homepage.
• Choosing topical entries as n-grams to distribute to the entire website from the boilerplate content to show the main focus of the web source.
• Opening the company profiles for the platforms that can entail the reviews about the quality service of B2B Companies.
• Creating a glossary section for the B2B Concepts on the company website to demonstrate the expertise.
• Using more readable and brandable typography inside the website.
• Determining brand colors, communication channels, mottos, and social media managers’ tonality for brand positioning.
• Creating a topical map and semantic content network to increase positive user feedback with historical data.
• Determining the amount of CSS, JS, and Font files to be used per web page.
• Using Performance Budgets for a better Page Loading Timing.
• Determining Content Writing Guidelines for the Expert Authors

The B2B SEO Templates change from industry to industry and B2B brand conditions. For example, an automotive manufacturer which has a big author team can leverage the content publication frequency with higher topical coverage, while a solar panel manufacturer can focus on solar panel materials’ advantages to show the products’ efficiency without the need for an extensive amount of content. Thus, B2B SEO templates are shaped and configured according to the industry, topic, and conditions of B2B companies.

What are the B2B SEO Best Practices?

B2B SEO Best Practices are a summary of the B2B SEO methodologies with the highest effective ones such as having a strong Expertise, Authoritevness, and Trustworthiness in the industry, and semantically optimized content networks to consolidate relevance for search queries and keywords better. The best B2B SEO practices for B2B Marketing beginners are given below.

• Create a Buyer Persona to Narrow the Target Audience who has decision-making authority.
• Simplify Conversion Funnels for increasing conversion rate.
• Improve Brand Authority, optimize Brand SERP, and have a positive sentiment about the brand in the reviews.
• Use Unique Information, and Expert level accurate knowledge to prove the expertise of the company.
• Create a proper topical map with related entity-attribute pairs and relations to have a better content network.

The B2B SEO Best Practices involve different SEO verticals’ practices. For example, simplifying conversion funnels as a B2B the best SEO practice focus on user experience, while using unique information for expertise leverage E-A-T with reputative content creation. Thus, B2B SEO Best Practices are quick fundamentals and basics for higher rankings on web search engine result pages.

Last Thoughts on Holistic SEO and B2B SEO

B2B SEO and Holistic SEO are related to each other because B2B SEO involves multiple SEO verticals. Holistic SEO is the unification of multiple other SEO verticals such as local, technical, semantic, and branding SEO verticals. Thus, every B2B SEO Campaign requires using a Holistic SEO mindset and techniques. The Holistic SEO amplifies B2B SEO practices by providing collaborative, multichannel, and consistent quality improvement methodologies for search engines’ algorithms, and users’ visit purposes. For example, a user who is a key decision maker for a company’s purchases of products and goods, audits multiple other service providers and product manufacturers, or material logistic companies to be sure that the production band won’t have a problem. Thus, providing a holistic approach for the user’s possible search journey during one’s exploration stations on the surface of the web by optimizing from social media activities to blog, or email newsletters to exhibitions, licenses, press releases, brand prestige is needed in the context of B2B SEO.

The B2B SEO Guide and Case Study involves B2B SEO Strategies, Practices, Templates, Methods, Mindsets, and Tactics with concrete, real-world B2B SEO Successes, and analysis. The Business to Business Search Engine Optimization guide is refreshed in light of the new information, regularly.

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2 thoughts on “B2B (Business to Business) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Guide: Strategies and Case Studies”

Wow Koray, thanks for your extensive thoughts about B2B. I must admit that we have always used only some of these possibilities, and the worst was when the client simply did not have the manpower to implement the most important elements – developing personas. I’m also glad that you showed how SEO works with other areas of marketing – unfortunately, there are few sources on this subject, and many people simply think that B2B uses very basics of SEO. PS: We are waiting for the book!

Thanks for this amazing case study Koray… A lot of notes, take aways, and aha moments here.

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The complete guide to B2B SEO

Written by by Jenn Chen

Published on  July 1, 2021

Reading time  9 minutes

The practice and industry of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been around for quite a while now. People generally tend to think about an SEO strategy in terms of ranking high in popular keyword searches. But for business-to-business (B2B) companies, the strategy shifts from a broad audience to a very specific one.

B2B SEO has a few basic areas that differ from B2C SEO. In this guide, we’ll outline those key differences and how you can better your own B2B SEO strategy.

What is B2B SEO?

B2B SEO is the online practice of using various techniques – like keyword research and a page’s metadata – to reach the decision-makers of a company. A successful strategy means that someone actively researching the product or service that you’re offering reaches your company’s website.

There are a few different elements to B2B SEO. Each one plays a role in your overall strategy. If you’re lacking in one area, it means you’ve still got room to optimize your site.

• Technical SEO : These are the optimizations you make to the backbone of your website. It covers areas like your XML sitemap, load speed and a responsive design.
• Content SEO : B2B content marketing for SEO is the practice of using research on user needs and search intent to create content. You go through the steps of research, ideation, content creation and promotion.
• On-page SEO : This is the optimization of the content itself. On a page or blog post, it includes the meta description and title tag, alt text on images and structuring the content so information is relevant to both the user and findable by search engines.
• Off-page SEO : Also referred to as backlinks, having high-quality pages link to you on a specific topic increases your perceived expertise in said topic. It also includes engagement on the page or post. The links in the below blog post from Affirm show off an example of using off-page SEO.

In a blog post about small business customer acquisition, Affirm links the phrase “find your CAC” to a HubSpot article on what a CAC is. For HubSpot, this is considered a backlink (or a win for off-page SEO) and a good one since it’s both a reputable website and a relevant keyword phrase.

These four SEO types combine to create your SEO strategy at a high level. Now we’ll go into more detail on how to apply these functions to a B2B marketing strategy.

What is the difference between B2B & B2C SEO?

Conceptually, B2B and B2C SEO have a similar basic goal: you want people searching for you to find you. But in practice, it’s a lot more complex and the strategic approach is different. Here are four key differences between B2B and B2C SEO.

1. More time in each sales stage

The B2B sales funnel has the same stages as a B2C funnel but the time spent in each one is much longer. In B2B, a decision-maker spends a lot of time in the research stage, collecting information about various offerings. There’s often a significant back-and-forth between the seller and the potential client where the prospective customer will read up on case studies, watch product demos and negotiate a contract. Because of this long period of time and the different needs of each step, a lot of different content is produced for each stage to entice the potential buyer.

2. Don’t ignore low-volume and long-tail keywords

Another difference in B2B SEO ideation is how you approach keywords. In B2C, you want a lot of people to search for your product type and then buy yours. Ranking high in common keyword searches is important. In B2B SEO, it’s often important to also target low-volume keywords. These are specific and entice only a small number of searchers. But these people are the ones who are most interested in the content you present. These highly specific phrases are often called long-tail keywords.

In the above example, someone might be researching the benefits of using a customer service chatbot . The article from Intercom is an introduction to chatbots and how they can improve customer service. It’s the perfect article to show up for this search result. Motivated buyers are much more likely to search highly specific queries like this, compared to a broad but higher volume one like “what is a chatbot,” which might only be a general information search.

3. Low conversion rate

Going hand in hand with the long time in each sales stage is the conversion rate. Because so much time is spent gathering info, it means that a lot of content is also being consumed. But all that content isn’t going to immediately lead to a purchase. It’s rare for a business decision-maker to browse a page and then decide that’s the product they’re going with. This leads in to the need to approach content planning strategically for B2B SEO.

4. Content for decision-makers

When you write your blog posts or landing pages, you aren’t usually writing in a casual, playful, eye-catching manner like you would for B2C content. B2B content tends to veer into the more informative, professional and data-driven territory. Many different types of content are utilized with each one aimed for a different B2B sales stage. Oftentimes, the content is also specific. For example, someone searching for a PR agency won’t just search “PR agency.” They’re going to look for one in their industry or market such as “Houston restaurant PR agency.” Having content for each industry you serve makes each piece far more valuable.

Tips for creating an effective B2B SEO strategy

Now that you know the differences between B2C and B2B approaches to SEO, it’s time to set up or examine your strategy. Having every element of your SEO approach working together is most effective, compared to devoting all your resources to one aspect. Having content show up in a relevant search won’t do you any good if that page isn’t loading quickly. And targeting high-volume keywords at random won’t help you reach the right people without greater audience insight.

Create buyer personas

A key part of conducting B2B market research for your company includes creating buyer personas. Just like a customer persona, a buyer persona details who they are, which industry they’re in, what their position is, who they consult for making a decision and more. The more details you have about the buyer persona , the better you will be in crafting content.

Before you create a buyer persona , make a list of questions you need to know about each buyer. Make it a template so you can easily fill it in for each persona. In the above example, you can see how one company crafted a persona that includes education, responsibilities and sources they trust.

Conduct keyword research

Keyword research allows you to know how many people are searching for each given phrase. But more importantly, it helps guide your buyer persona, build your content strategy, conduct a competitor analysis and more.

Keyword research is not limited to search engines. It includes social listening , where you can see what people are discussing online and evaluating your brand sentiment.

In the above example, someone searching for commercial juice press machines would end up on this page. Mid-page, the company inserted a free eBook on a very relevant topic for their target audience. The ebook demonstrates the company’s knowledge about the subject and hopefully reinforces that idea in the buyer’s mind.

Optimize your website & pages

Work on that technical and on-page SEO. Depending on how your website is designed, it might already have built-in SEO enhancements or you might need assistance from developers to improve it. Sites built with WordPress have a wide array of SEO plug-ins to choose from. Sites built with out-of-the-box templates may be harder to edit the specifics you need to optimize your content.

Website and on-page optimization includes but is not limited to the below:

• Image compression
• Page load speed
• XML sitemap

• Equally important is alt text’s role in accessibility . Search engines continue to prioritize an overall strong user experience. While accessibility may not be an ‘official’ ranking factor, having a poor site performance that segments of your audience simply can’t use will most likely lead to fewer links, clicks, shares and overall search visibility.
• Linking to other internal pages.
• Repeated usage of different keywords you want to rank for, including repeated–but natural–use of primary keywords (keyword density), using keywords in informative headers, and using variations or secondary keywords for readability and further search targeting.

Create relevant content for each sales stage

There’s so much content to choose from, what do you focus on? Start small by creating one piece of content for each sales stage. Enhance each one with SEO strategies and create for the buyer persona that you’re targeting.

The above table shows examples of where each type of content can be used for each sales stage. As you create more content in each area, note down the data associated with each one. Are webinars gaining more attention than expected? Create even more in targeted topic areas.

If you already have content on your site, take a look at the older blog posts. If they’re still relevant, try updating them with fresh information or create a different content type on the same subject. A how-to video could easily be turned into an article with photos.

As mentioned earlier, being specific in your content is helpful for B2B SEO. Having a landing page tailored for each buyer persona or business type that you aim for makes that page more valuable than a generic one. In Sprout’s menu, you can see how business types and industries are divided up. The Travel and Hospitality link leads to a page that includes current travel customers, how a company would deliver customer care and testimonials from related brands. The copy is written specifically for someone who works in the travel industry and whose company serves travel customers.

Promote the content

Having great backlinks can only make your website seem more authoritative. Off-page SEO includes both website backlinks and social media posts. But this portion of B2B SEO is more difficult because it’s less within your control. Cold emailing a company and asking them to link to your blog post could be considered poor form and isn’t likely to be a good use of your SEO team’s time. .

Instead, there are some other options you can consider. Craft a B2B social strategy that includes the promotion of your current content. How will businesses know about that great white paper you spent days working on if you don’t promote it everywhere? Don’t wait for a business to land on your site to finally share that piece of content. Similar to your approach to social media content , creating high-quality and informative content that is inherently share-worthy can help it gain links organically as audiences find it useful.

Also, using other resources like a PR agency or influencers can increase your chances of getting backlinks. Product reviews, social media recommendations and CEO interviews in articles are all ways to work on your off-page SEO.

Get started on your B2B SEO strategy

B2B and B2C SEO may have a similar marketing funnel , but the time spent in each stage and the content supporting the strategy differs. While much of B2C SEO is focused on getting a lot of people who are searching for a popular keyword to find your company’s website, B2B aims for lower volume results. The content is specific and informational, written with the company’s buyer persona in mind.

Your B2B SEO strategy will not be the type that you set it and be done with it. You’ll need to consistently optimize and update existing pages, develop new content update new pages with SEO, create new blog posts for different keywords and edit your buyer personas as time passes. To get started, check out our guide to developing B2B social media posts to start getting inspired on your content.

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How These 7 Successful SEO Case Studies Transformed Online Visibility

By analyzing and diving deep into numerous SEO case studies, you can understand how the top SEO agencies did it before and how you can overshine them.  

From solving technical puzzles to creative content innovations, we’ll share 7 examples in detail to prove the strength and potential of dedicated search engine optimization efforts.

Before diving deep, here are some key insights for your review so you can grasp more!

• The case studies page is the second most visited one, according to Fractl’s data.
• In-depth case studies attract new clients by letting the results speak for themselves .
• As Content Marketing Institute highlights, case studies rank among the top three content types for converting leads .
• Case studies provide inspiration and actionable SEO strategies.
• Case studies must be enhanced with images, videos, data, and text , making them more appealing to potential clients.

Table of Contents

• Taktical x Artsy
• Smartsites x AGA Parts
• Nifty Marketing Australia x Acer
• Major Tom x Criteo
• Seoplus x Trellis
• Ignite Visibility x Fame and Partners
• Major Tom x Orkin

Why Are SEO Case Studies Important?

7 successful seo case studies with proven results.

SEO case studies can be your golden key to showcasing the direct impact of search optimization strategies. They demonstrate real-world examples supported by numeric information, which is a great eye-catcher!

Potential clients always check the previous work of the agencies they are considering. For example, Fractl shares on HubSpot that their case study page is the second most visited on their site ! (This shows that their case studies significantly influence lead conversion.)

You can gather extremely valuable insights into effective strategies while learning how to share your own success stories in SEO. When you explore these 7 search engine optimization case studies by top agencies, you’ll learn how to transform mere data into actionable insights and a story to drive more leads. 

Learn from these SEO experts to tell your very own stories of success and demonstrate how you can overcome the challenges.

1. Taktical x Artsy

Challenges:

• Artsy’s site did not appear in Google search results because it was built using JavaScript, which Google couldn’t read effectively.
• Taktical Digital collaborated closely with Artsy’s developers to create a custom solution that involved converting screenshots of the site into hard-coded HTML.
• The site was broken down into sections to evaluate commercial keyword value.
• Artist and artwork pages were identified as key SEO targets.
• The website design was optimized for conversions, and a robust link-building plan was implemented.

• 2000% increase in monthly visitors
• 636.69% increase in conversions
• 258% increase in conversion rate

2. Smartsites x AGA Parts

• AGA Parts needed to optimize a complex site for international markets and specific part numbers.
• The approach involved conducting extensive market research and prioritizing keywords for optimal results.
• The website design was tailored to target international clients and translated into four languages.
• A strategic link-building campaign was implemented to enhance online visibility and authority.
• Significant increases in conversions and click-through rates, along with a reduction in cost per click

3. Nifty Marketing Australia x Acer

• Acer’s website was outdated and lacked the necessary eCommerce functionality and effective marketing tools.
• It hindered the ability to engage customers and drive online sales.
• The project included a complete website overhaul, incorporating advanced eCommerce features to enhance the user experience and sales capabilities.
• A comprehensive SEO strategy was deployed to improve search engine rankings and drive organic traffic.
• Highly targeted Google Ads and social media campaigns were launched to maximize reach and engagement with the target audience besides SEO strategies.

• 163% growth in online sales
• over 300% increase in orders within the first month post-launch
• significant improvement in Acer Australia’s digital presence and overall sales performance

4. Major Tom x Criteo

• Criteo needed an external partner to create a robust digital strategy aligned with complex B2B needs.
• They wanted to improve conversion rates and enhance the value of content.
• A B2B-specific digital strategy was crafted to effectively target business clients and enhance overall market presence.
• A content hub was developed, and marketing automation was implemented to streamline processes and improve lead generation.
• YouTube content was optimized by leveraging existing assets, driving increased engagement and conversions.

• 200% increase in organic SEO traffic
• 78% rise in website conversions

5. Seoplus x Trellis

• Trellis had limited content marketing and SEO efforts in a highly competitive industry.
• They struggled to gain market share and improve online visibility and needed to attract more targeted traffic to their website.
• A comprehensive strategy was implemented, focusing on content creation, technical SEO enhancements, and strategic link-building.
• The goal was to increase site traffic, improve search visibility, and enhance keyword rankings across targeted search terms.
• 132% increase in overall site traffic
• 164% rise in search clicks
• substantial growth in keyword rankings, positioning Trellis as a stronger competitor in their market

6. Ignite Visibility x Fame and Partners

• Ignite Visibility aimed to enhance online visibility and increase sales conversions.
• Fame and Partners operates in a highly competitive fashion market.
• A dual strategy was developed, focusing on both SEO and email marketing to maximize overall digital effectiveness.
• Existing content was optimized, and targeted email campaigns were implemented to drive more organic traffic and improve conversion rates.
• Significant increase in organic search traffic
• Noticeable boost in sales conversion rates

7. Major Tom x Orkin

• Orkin had a large website, causing user confusion despite strong SEO results and a negative impact on the user experience and conversions.
• The website was redesigned with a mobile-first, user-friendly approach to enhance accessibility and the user experience across all devices.
• A hyperlocal digital ad strategy was implemented to streamline user interactions and improve lead generation in targeted areas.

• 50% year-over-year increase in leads
• 29% decrease in cost-per-lead
• 54% increase in overall company revenue

When you learn more about SEO case studies, you immediately discover the paths that lead to success and the pitfalls to avoid. 

Let’s look at why they’re invaluable for both agencies and their clients, as they:

• Show how SEO impacts business performance,
• Provide proof of an agency’s ability to deliver measurable results,
• Guide future SEO investments with practical examples,
• Illustrate how different SEO challenges are successfully addressed,
• Allow businesses to compare their performance with industry standards,
• Enhance client trust in an agency’s capabilities when choosing an SEO company ,
• Help attract new clients by showcasing successful past projects.

For the agencies themselves, these case studies are:

• Their success stories told in vibrant detail,
• Recounting how strategic thinking transforms SEO challenges into measurable gains,
• Painting a picture of a journey from problem to solution to success .

And clients get more than just a glimpse of possible outcomes. They get:

• A detailed view of what to expect when they embark on their own SEO journey,
• Information about specific tactics that have worked ,
• Insights about the outcomes that were realized.

And beyond the basics, these case studies reveal the creativity and innovation that set some campaigns apart from the rest. They show how the best SEO agencies in the US can think outside the box to deliver exceptional results, whether it’s through unique content strategies, advanced technical optimizations, or strategic link-building initiatives. 

Final Thoughts

As we close the book on our deep dive into 7 standout SEO success stories, it’s clear that digital marketing is as intricate as it is thrilling.

These real-world SEO examples show just how much flexibility and creativity it takes to stand out online. Each story sheds light on how the right SEO strategies can dramatically boost a business’s visibility and growth. 

What we see isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution but rather a collection of smart, personalized approaches that bring together the best of expertise, innovation, and teamwork. 

Whether you’re just starting out or running a large company, these insights encourage you to think creatively, act decisively, and adapt swiftly to seize opportunities!

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How to Write a B2B Case Study: A Step-by-Step Guide

B2B case studies are incredible conversion assets. They help marketers provide insights about the capability of their product and serve as sales enablement content for salespeople to close deals.

Mariah Parker, Head of Growth at Trustworthy :

In a previous role, I increased our sales call conversion rate to 50% by providing case studies for our sales team. The case studies help buyers to set expectations and see how companies like theirs had performed on our platform.

Beyond Mariah, many marketing teams are winning customers with B2B case studies and y ears of Content Marketing Institute research proves it. 

In 2018, 40% of B2B marketers said customer case studies were the most effective asset for turning potential clients into buyers.

In 2022, 39% of B2B marketers said customer case studies are still the most effective for demand generation.

Clearly, how B2B buyers choose to evaluate your product has changed by only 1% in four years.

So whether you are a founder or marketer, you need case studies in your marketing mix.

Besides showing the value of your product in the words of your customers, case studies back bold claims you make about your product. Rooted in cold, hard facts, B2B case studies are a must-have for eliminating all traces of buyer objection.

But how do you create an excellent one that drives revenue?

That’s what we’ll be unpacking in this post.

I’ll show you my process for creating a traditional B2B case study, which have led to feedback like this:

In this post, you’ll learn:

• Why you should care about writing B2B case studies
• B2B case study pre-work
• Why it’s best to conduct video interviews
• How to write an interesting B2B case study

Why Care About Writing B2B Case Studies?

1. create content your competitors can’t copy.

It doesn’t take long for your competitors to rip off your assets like blog posts. Worst-case scenario, they’ll do it once your content hits page 1 of the SERP. 

Competitors can also steal your product design, sections of your website copy, and duplicate most things you do. 

What they can’t steal? Your case studies. 

Case studies are unique content marketing resources that spotlight the experiences of your customers. 

Since your customers control the story, every case study will be different and no competitor will dare copy the words of your customers.

2. Add credibility to your top of the funnel (TOFU) content

The timeline for turning prospects into customers should be short. Traditionally, some content marketing funnels look like this:

• 👊 Prospects read your TOFU blog post. 
• 📥 Prospects enter your email list.
• 💻 Prospects read your case studies.
• 🔥 You do retargeting with ads.
• 💵 You win the sale.

You can shorten this process by including case studies in your TOFU content. This will add credibility to your content, instantly prove the value of your product, and you could win the sale faster.

As Lizzie Davey explains, “Case studies give your prospects something to visualize.”

A really simple way to add credibility to your posts? Case studies! 🙌 Show how you've done something in the past. Show how someone else has done something in the past. Just show whatever it is you're writing about in action! Give people something to visualise. — Lizzie Davey (@lizziedavey) January 24, 2022

3. Build social proof

“People don’t trust anyone or anything anymore. We don’t trust our institutions, we don’t trust our companies, we don’t trust our social networks. There’s this crisis of trust going on,” says Brian Halligan, CEO of HubSpot.

Trust is scarce today because several companies have burned many customers in the past. This is where case studies shine by allaying your prospects’ fears through the relatable evidence from your customers.

As Sam Brenner, Senior Product Marketer at Close notes:

“Case studies show your prospects how them + your product = real success.”

When you create case studies, you also arm your salespeople with an asset for demolishing buyer objections.

This is how Jordan Ross puts it:

Have case studies and stats ready for your sales team Send them at least one case study and story a week for 1- social proof for THEIR confidence 2- ammo for the sales call — Jordan Ross (@jordan_ross_8F) August 23, 2022

B2B Case Study Pre-work

Before writing your case study, there are some steps to take.

You need to find the right customers for your case study, contact them, prepare interview questions, interview the customer, and transcribe the interview.

Let’s go over each step.

Step 1: Find the right customers to interview

Once you have the right customers for your case study, you’ll get a brilliant case study. It’s that simple. 

To find the right customers for your case study, use these tips.

Recency of customer story

It sounds logical to feature a customer who has used your product for several years. Undoubtedly, this will increase the credibility of your story. 

But w hat if this customer can’t remember why they chose your product over others? 

This piece of information may be crucial to your story. 

So when deciding on customers to interview, find those who started using your products in recent years. This ensures they can recollect their challenges with previous solutions before they found yours.

Positive customer experience

Customers who you choose to feature in your case study should be loyal fans of your brand. 

They should have experienced impressive results while using your product or have a decent ROI.

Align with one of your core ICPs

Prospects want to see how your product solved the challenges of those who look like them. A founder’s pain points differ from those of a content manager. Same goes for two different companies earning $5 million and $500 million in ARR.

If you want to attract founders with your case study, feature the stories of founders who overcame their challenges by using your product.

Ashley Howe, content marketer at Tapfiliate , says:

“Marketers should tailor each case study to a specific customer. An ecommerce customer will differ from a SaaS customer, so they will look for case studies about their company type.”

Step 2: Contact your customer 

How you choose to contact your customer is entirely up to you.

To get your customer’s nod for your case study, contact them where they are most active. This may be Twitter, LinkedIn, or Slack. But to keep your request formal, you’ll want to email customers you choose to feature.

Need an email template to contact customers for your case study? I got you. Just ensure you tweak the template so it aligns with your relationship with the customer. 

Here’s my email template, which you can remix:

Hi [customer name],

I am (your name), (your role) at (your company). I’m thrilled that you’ve had outstanding successes using our product. Our team deeply appreciates the positive feedback we’ve been getting. We’d like to amplify your feedback by featuring your story in our case study. Agreeing to work with us would put a big smile on our faces. That’s why we’ll send a backlink to your site to say a huge thanks to you. 

Our case study writing process is pretty simple. First, we’d do one 30 to 45 minute video interview with you. Next, we will write the case study. Finally, we will send you the final draft for your review.

After you give the case study a thumbs up, we’ll publish it on our website, distribute it on our social accounts, and use it in our marketing materials.

If you’re open to working with us on this case study, please schedule a video interview with us or reply to this email with your calendar link and we will be more than happy to schedule a time that works for you.

We can’t wait to share your story.

Your Email Signature.

Step 3: Write your case study questions

Brilliant case study questions will uncover your customer’s situation before, during, and after using your product.

A simple way to think of this is to ask questions about:

• Your customers’ challenges
• Unfit solutions they tried
• How your product came to the rescue
• Results from using your product

When your questions fit the above criteria, you’ll unlock powerful stories, quotes, and stats. This will help you create an interesting case study for your ICP.

Here are some typical questions I ask when interviewing customers:

Conducting the Video Interview

You can do customer interviews using email, phone, in-person, or video. However, I prefer doing video interviews. Here’s why:

I can probe deeper

Video interviews allow me to unlock more insights from a customer. For instance, I once wrote two case studies for an accounting project management software. During one of the customer interviews, I asked, “What were your top challenges before using my client’s product?” The customer responded, mentioning a previous product that wasn’t a fit. I asked further, “ Did you use any other project management software besides the software you mentioned?” The customer responded. I wanted more insights, so I asked, “Did you use spreadsheets as well?” Asking these followup questions would be impossible if I used email.

Plus, there’ll be many back and forth when asking the customer to clarify some details. This can wean off the customer’s appetite to continue with the case study. You don’t want that to happen.

Get insights from different people at once

It’s not uncommon for two people from the same company to show up for an interview. I’ve had this experience where two people provided useful insights that I used as quotes. The chance of having two persons respond to an email, phone, and in-person interview is slim.

Ease of reviewing customer responses  

Doing video interviews allow you to review customer responses easily.

Now, if you conducting customer interviews using video, note these:

• Do the interview in a quiet place.
• Use a stable internet connection to prevent loss of valuable information and asking customers to repeat themselves.
• Request the customer’s permission to record the interview.
• Use a real-time transcription software like Otter AI to take meeting notes.
• Don’t interrupt the customer when they are speaking.
• Stick to time. 30 minutes should be 30 minutes.

How to Write an Interesting B2B Case Study

Now that you’ve gathered all the information you need from your customer, the next step is to write your case study. Here are the steps that’ll help you go from customer interview to your first draft:

1. Write a memorable headline

I can wager that you’ve watched many movies.

How many titles do you remember? If you’re like me, the answer is, “Few.” You only remember those that are memorable.

It’s the same with case studies. Case study headlines need to be memorable and show an obvious benefit for prospects.

Traditionally, your headlines can include: 

• Your company name (not compulsory)
• An outstanding result
• Name of your customer
• Specific figures like number, percentages, or ROI

Take this case study headline in Brandfolder’s B2B case study example , for instance. It shows an outstanding result, the customer’s name, and a specific number of saved hours.

Here’s another example from ClickCease , a click fraud and ad fraud prevention platform.

2. Introduce your customer  

Use the first two or three sentences of your case study to summarize what your customer does. Discuss the mission of your customer, how your customer achieves its mission, and the effect of achieving the mission.

You can also briefly state some information about your customer. This may include the year of founding the company, industry, number of employees, results achieved, and favorite features, etc. 

See how the FreeAgent CRM team puts this in action:

3. Discuss your customer’s challenges

There are no hard and fast rules here. You can choose to tell a detailed story or highlight your customer’s challenges in a few sentences. 

For instance, this ClickUp case study highlights the customer’s challenge in two sentences.

Whereas, the case study by ClickCease , which I mentioned previously, tells a detailed story. 

What’s important isn’t the amount of white space you cover when discussing your customer’s challenges. It’s your ability to convey the challenges adequately and paint a picture of how they negatively affected your customer’s processes, growth, revenue, etc.

4. Solutions

Having read your case study to this point, your prospects can see their own challenges staring them in the face. 

Source: Giphy (https://tinyurl.com/ucc343ew)

Use your solution section to show how your product tackled the customer’s challenge head-on. Discuss why your customer ditched the competition and mention your product features, which the customer frequently uses. 

Customer quotes should also take center stage here.

And where relevant, include screenshots of your product in action. This will make your case study interesting and it’ll also improve readability.

Your case study results section should discuss percentages, year-on-year increases, number of new clients for your customer, number of increased leads, etc.

This is where you show off what you can do for prospective customers who are reading the case study.

6. Call to Action (CTA)

Prospects should have a reason to reach out to you. Avoid using boring CTAs like “contact us” or “schedule a meeting.”

Give them a “why.”

A simple way I do this is to use CTAs that relate to my headlines.

For instance, after writing a case study with this headline, “How [customer name] Improves Capacity Management with [my client], ” my CTA was this: 

“Want to Better Manage Your Firm’s Capacity and Hit Client Deadlines?”

Try [my client’s product]

The Cost of Outsourcing a B2B Case study

Marketers who have many tasks on their plate choose to outsource the entire case study creation process. This covers communication with your customer, interview, and writing the case study.

Typical rate for outsourcing all of these is $1,000 to $2,000. 

You can also expect to pay up to $4,000 if your project is complex or if you need a video case study. 

If you’re interested in a traditional case study, which I’ve discussed in this post, then check out my case study packages . You’ll love the result and will probably return for more case studies to power your revenue goals.

Got questions or contributions to this topic, drop a comment below or contact me on LinkedIn . I’d love to hear from you.

Precious Oboidhe is a B2B SaaS content strategist and writer for hire. If you need help with strategizing and creating assets for the different stages of your content marketing funnel, get in touch .

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As a content writer, I have been contemplating creating a case study, because those who filled the role before me didn’t see the need to. But now, I am sure it is needed. Thank you for this insight-packed blog post. You are a jewel, Precious.

You’re welcome.

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Shopify SEO – How To Optimize Your Shopify Site For Google

Learn how to optimize your Shopify store for Google and improve your SEO rankings. Boost your online visibility and increase sales with these effective strategies.

Shopify has become a leading platform in the ecommerce world, with over a million businesses using it to reach their customers.

Notable brands like Netflix Merch Shop, Gymshark, and Kylie Cosmetics have successfully utilized Shopify to streamline their operations and boost online sales.

This success has made Shopify an attractive option for new sellers looking to move their business online. As a result, Shopify has grown its market share among CMS platforms from 0.3% to 6.5% since 2014.

However, we should take into account that Shopify is an ecommerce-focused CMS. When it comes to online stores, it has a much higher market share and is the biggest in the United States, at  28% , compared to WordPress (with WooCommerce), at only 17%.

So, how do you set your Shopify site apart from the competition?

Understanding Shopify SEO

Shopify SEO principles are similar to any other ecommerce website’s SEO, with just one difference: You need to use the tools available within the Shopify platform and work within its limitations.

It involves optimizing not just content but also product listings and collections as you would do with any other ecommerce store.

Optimizing your product pages means creating unique, detailed descriptions, optimizing title tags to target specific product searches, implementing product structured data , using high-quality images, and displaying customer reviews for trust-building.

Collection pages should target broader search queries, which involve the use of unique descriptions and title tags to avoid keyword cannibalization. Implementation of carousels structured data and ensuring easy navigation to boost user engagement can improve visibility in search result pages and rankings.

Now, let’s dive in and explore ways you can optimize your product and collection pages in Shopify.

9 Ways To Improve Shopify SEO & Boost Sales

Shopify sellers can take advantage of some built-in SEO-friendly features.

Title tags, URLs, and meta descriptions can all be edited to meet the specific needs of your audience.

But it will take more than that to climb the search engine ranks.

Here are nine ways to maximize your Shopify SEO and secure that #1 position.

1. Optimize Your Store’s Structure

Website architecture is incredibly important to your SEO success.

For ecommerce stores, it is advised to use a website hierarchical structure both for SEO and user experience perspective.

In Shopify, that would be Home Page > Collections > Sub Collections > Product Pages .

However, Shopify’s collection pages don’t support nesting collections, and you can’t create, for example, a ‘black T-Shirt collection with the URL /collections/t-shirt/black/.

Unlike WordPress, all collections in Shopify are at the same level.

Here is an example of how Netflix shop created a visual hierarchy in navigation without using nested URLs for collections.

In order to nest URLs in Shopify you have to use Power Tools Filter Menu app or do it with workarounds by custom coding a liquid templates which is quite challenging.

This is where WooCommerce has a big advantage over Shopify: You have 100% flexibility over your store URL structure.

2. Optimize Shopify Collections Pages

Once you have built your collections, it is time to organize them. Collections pages are crucial for enhancing both user experience and SEO. They help customers browse related products, making it easier for them to find what they’re looking for.

Below is a video on how to display sub-collections on the collection page in Shopify.

But I would like to note that this doesn’t create URLs in hierarchical order; it only builds collection pages hierarchically visually. When you open ‘/collections/t-shirts/’, it shows two sub-collections with URLs ‘/collections/black/’ and ‘/collections/white/’.

Now, let’s review a few examples of incredibly well-optimized Shopify collection pages.

2.1 Gymshark

In this example, Gymshark was able to implement a hierarchical URL structure for collection pages “https://row.gymshark.com/collections/t-shirts-tops/womens” and filters on the right to improve user navigation and user experience .

Also, notice how it has included short, unique descriptions at the top of the collection page, which may help them rank with long-tail search queries related to the product.

2.2 Mack Weldon

Accessible and easy-to-use filters on the left with a clear, minimalist design make the shopping experience incredibly user-friendly and efficient. When you search for “t-shirts,” they rank on the first page in organic search results in the USA.

However, when you perform product searches, Google shows a huge grid of popular products at the top of traditional search result pages. This pushes standard results further down and decreases the chances of someone clicking on your webpage.

Thus, it is highly important to integrate your Shopify shop with Google Merchant Center to appear in Google Shopping as well as in the popular products grid.

3. Integrate with Merchant Center

Integrating your Shopify store with Google’s Merchant Center is essential to benefit from Google Shopping.

Once you install the Google & YouTube app, you can push your products to the Merchant Center and make them eligible to display in the Google Shopping tab and Organic popular products box of Google Shopping.

You can see how prominent it is and how it pushes traditional search results further down.

Once you have pushed your products to the merchant center you can track your performance in the Merchant report of Google Search Console .

• Watch: How To Dominate Google Merchant Center

4. Optimize Your Store’s Product Pages

Once you’ve got a simplified (yet organized) site structure and selected some valuable keywords, it’s time to optimize your shop’s pages.

It’s best to start with the pages that yield the most conversions because these are the most profitable. Here are the critical elements to focus on:

4.1 Unique Product Descriptions

Conduct keyword research , write original product descriptions, and avoid duplicate content. Highlight the unique selling points, features, return policy, and benefits of each product in your descriptions.

Research what issues customers face with a similar product and try to address them via FAQs on the product pages. Reddit is a great place to start for that kind of research.

This will help customers better understand your product offerings and make informed purchasing decisions.

Here is an example of such a product page.

• Read: SEO For Ecommerce Product Pages: 20 Do’s & Don’ts

4.2 Customer Reviews

Displaying customer reviews on product pages can build trust. Positive reviews can significantly influence purchasing decisions and improve your product’s visibility in search results.

In case of negative reviews, make sure to reply to them to let your customers know that you care about their experience and are committed to resolving any issues.

Moreover, reviews with structured data markup will help you to get a reviews rich snippets in search result pages.

To enable reviews, you may want to install one of the available review apps .

4.3 High-Quality Images

Studies show 56% of users start by immediately viewing product images when they arrive on the product details page. Thus, high-quality images are crucial for showcasing your products and increasing conversion rates.

Use multiple images from different angles and, if possible, implement a 3D view of the product, which can give customers a comprehensive look at the item.

It is even better to include product videos that can demonstrate product features, usage, and increasing engagement on product pages.

5. Structured Data

Shopify has built-in structured data implementation, and you get the benefit of the default feature. However, you may want to enhance it even more with additional types of structured data, such as:

• Breadcrumbs.
• Local Business.
• Article Pages.
• MerchantReturnPolicy.

Use available schema apps or include custom coding in your theme’s Liquid templates with the help of a programmer experienced in Shopify development.

It is recommended to use one of the apps because, in the long term, it is beneficial. They stay up to date with new schema type introductions, and you don’t need to change codes every time there is a change regarding schema implementation or new features.

By implementing different types of schema, your webpage can achieve enhanced visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through rich snippets.

6. User Experience And Page Speed

When we talk about user experience, optimized mobile webpages are the first place to start, as 77% of online retail traffic comes from mobile devices.

Make sure your website navigation is clear to users by implementing breadcrumbs and make sure users can easily find call-to-action buttons such as Add to Cart or Checkout.

Another critical aspect of user experience is fast loading times . Shopify has a wide range of apps that can help you optimize your website speed.

A satisfied shopper is more likely to stick around longer, browse more pages, and engage more with your site.

By increasing your shop’s usability, you improve the likelihood of securing a higher search engine ranking.

7. Research Your Target Keywords

Keywords are truly the foundation of successful SEO.

After all, that’s how people generally begin searching for products and businesses.

The key is to determine the right keywords that will drive traffic to your ecommerce store.

Use that knowledge to gain a better understanding of what your users really want from your shop.

Keyword intent can be divided into the following categories:

• Navigational : People are searching for a specific website.
• Informational : People are seeking an answer to a question.
• Investigational : Visitors are looking for information that may result in a transaction.
• Transactional : Shoppers are ready to make a purchase.

By understanding what people are looking for at different phases of the customer journey, you can target your keywords to reach them with the right information at the right time.

Another source of keyword inspiration can be competitors’ pages to see what meta descriptions and titles they’re using to attract customers.

Turn to social media and online forums for discussions about your products and pick up on terms being used there.

However, you determine which keywords to include, and using the right ones is an important element of making the most of your Shopify SEO.

8. Block Filtered Pages Via Robots.txt Files

Robots.txt files live within the root directory of your Shopify store and tell search engines which pages of your site to crawl.

This is especially important for an ecommerce site with faceted navigation that could create infinite crawl space and waste crawl budget .

When you adjust the robots.txt files, you help direct crawl-bots away from areas of your site that don’t need to be crawled.

Those are usually pages with filter parameters like ‘color’ or ‘size’ which you can block using the following robots.txt rules.

You can use a code editor to add or remove directives from the robots.txt.liquid template. Here is a video guide on how to create or edit robots.txt files in Shopify.

By adding these rules, search engines will avoid crawling pages with search filter parameters, which helps prevent duplicate content issues and optimize crawl budget .

9. Incorporate Shopify Markets For International Selling

Until recently, selling outside of your own country required that you use a marketplace or the services of another retailer.

But with the launch of Shopify Markets, stores can sell directly to customers worldwide without having to provide their own solutions for currency conversion, localized language, duty and import taxes, etc.

Learn more about Shopify Markets here .

Stand Apart From The Competition With Shopify SEO

Shopify is a great platform for people looking to move their business online.

It’s intuitive, easy to build, and provides plenty of opportunities to drive traffic and generate revenue.

However, even the best Shopify store won’t succeed all on its own.

You’ll need to put in a little work to maximize your optimization opportunities and attract a loyal following that keeps your business running.

Luckily, Shopify’s built-in features combined with the SEO tools and trapshooting tips in this guide can help you develop an effective Shopify SEO strategy that sets you apart from the competition.

By implementing these techniques, you’ll increase your store’s visibility, convert prospects to customers, and boost sales for overall ecommerce success.

More resources:

• 5 Key Enterprise SEO And AI Trends For 2024
• SEO Best Practices For Migrating To Shopify
• Ecommerce Marketing: The Definitive Guide

Featured Image: devzspace Graphics /Shutterstock

Image 1: Shopify SEO In Depth Article / Guide_SHEET

Loren Baker is the Founder of SEJ, an Advisor at Alpha Brand Media and runs Foundation Digital, a digital marketing ...