B2B SEO: How to Generate Quality Leads via Search Engine Optimization

This is a guest post written by Raul Harman

B2B marketers often say that the SEO landscape is overly competitive and, as such, not profitable enough for them.

However, this only means that they’re not approaching their SEO strategy properly. Statistics say that 70% of B2B searchers start their buying process with a generic search.

As the number of B2B businesses investing in SEO is growing, some tactics that worked 10 years ago don’t make sense now. For example, if you’re still relying on building spammy links or keyword stuffing, it’s not surprising at all that you’re not satisfied with the results of your campaigns. For any successful B2B, their audiences are central figures. Therefore, you should find an effective way to learn more about your customers, attract them to their site, and turn them into profitable leads.

Here are a few simple steps to take.

Focus on User-Oriented Keyword Research

No matter if you’ve just launched a B2B website or you’re revamping an existing one, keyword research is the pillar of your SEO strategy. When targeting keywords, it’s important to know how the approach to keywords has changed. In the past, you would use Google’s Keyword Planner to find the phrases with the highest search volume and create multiple pieces of content that target similar keywords. Google now understands how keywords are connected. This means that it’s enough to create one thorough piece of content to target similar keywords, like:

• Email marketing tools
• Tools for email marketing
• Email marketing automation

Listen to your Customers

Before you invest in a keyword research tool, start with a brainstorming process. Take some time to sit down and write the phrases that describe your business, products, and services. You could even talk to your customers and collect their feedback. Social media listening, niche forums, and Q&A sites like Reddit and Quora are also invaluable sources of potential keywords.

Use the Basic Google Search

The Big G has numerous fascinating features that will give you insights into your customers’ browsing habits and provide multiple keyword ideas.

You could take advantage of the Autocomplete feature. Type your seed keyword into the search box and Google will offer relevant suggestions. For example, if you enter “email marketing tools,” you will get keywords like “best email marketing tools,” “free email marketing tools,” “email automation software,” etc.

The People Also ask snippet is a treasure trove of user-oriented keywords. It shows real-life questions your customers ask. This is a key to understanding search intent and tailoring your keyword research to your customers’ needs.

Finally, use Searches Related To that is placed at the bottom of the SERPs. For example, if you google “email marketing,” you will get recommendations like “how to do email marketing,” “email marketing software,” “email marketing strategy,” etc.

Analyze Search Intent on Answer The Public

Answer The Public tells you what questions your customers ask. Enter your keyword and click “Get Questions.” In addition to the visual representation of keywords, there is also the “Data” section, where your keywords are classified into three categories – question-based questions, related topics, and long-tail phrases.

Use Keyword Research Tools

Finally, there are many specialized keyword research tools you could use, including Moz, Ahrefs, Majestic, Serpstat, or SEMrush. They will provide you with a deeper insight into your keywords and let you make data-centered keyword decisions.

Focus on Search Intent

If you want to rank higher and generate more qualified leads, you also need to understand the intent behind their searches. For starters, google your seed keyword and try to understand what kind of content relates to it. If you see that there are lots of “how-to guides,” it’s logical that users google this keyword when wanting to learn something and not to make a purchase. On the other hand, if you notice that your keyword is used by a plentitude of product pages, this means that its intent is commercial.

You should use this kind of research to develop a map of your content and decide what kind of keywords may work for your posts. For example, you could use informational keywords when optimizing blog articles, case studies, infographics and commercial keywords with product pages. This is how you will guide the right leads to the right pages, increasing user engagement and conversion rates.

Produce Valuable and Engaging Content

In the B2B industry, high-quality content is immensely important. It gives you a unique opportunity to set yourself apart from your competitors and position yourself as a respected and authoritative online resource.

For starters, create relevant content on your blog. According to the recent guide to content marketing by Four Dots, there are three pillars of successful content – authority, trustworthiness, and expertise. Here is how to achieve them:

• Optimize for highly competitive keyword phrases. When combined with awesome content, on-page optimization, and internal links, popular keywords will send strong signals to search engines and help you rank higher.
• Use fresh and relevant data. Support your content with valuable research and statistics to increase its credibility.
• Interview industry leaders to boost your blog’s value. You could also reach out to them and ask them to promote the interview once it’s live. That’s a great way to boost your reach, gain users’ trust and, above all, generate a bunch of leads.

Finally, you should promote your content widely. There are numerous ways to do so. For starters, you could start by building a strong social media presence. Use social media management tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to curate and share your content automatically. You could also build your online community on social networks. Listen to your customers, track their questions, and share links to your website content as a valuable source of information (of course, if it really makes sense).

Links are also an effective way to give your content greater visibility. Identify credible blogs in your niche, reach out to them, and write quality and fresh content for their site. This is an amazing way to link back to your blog guide or article as an additional information source.

Create Targeted Lead Magnets

Once you start publishing quality content and analyzing it, you will notice that certain topics drive enormous traffic to your site, but don’t result in purchases. This is the type of content that lets you generate more leads. The goal of creating informative content is to encourage visitors to subscribe to your newsletter list, as well as to build relationships with them and turn them into loyal followers.

For starters, you need to experiment with the types of content. Articles are the traditional content form, but they’re usually not enough to keep users engaged in the long-term. For example, you could start by creating exclusive, downloadable content pieces, such as whitepapers, ebooks, templates, case studies, or checklists. The idea is to entice a reader to share their email addresses with you to download a content piece. Interactive content such as quizzes, calculators or assessments usually perform better in gaining and keeping readers’ attention. In just a few questions you can assess and provide the lead with only highly relevant content and you simultaneously qualify the lead. Free webinars are also a strong lead magnet. Apart from letting you generate more leads, this kind of content will also increase your link earning efforts. Namely, valuable content that stands out earns numerous natural shares, mentions, and backlinks from credible industry players.

ABM, or account-based marketing, is also gaining momentum in the B2B industry. This is a highly personalized form of marketing that flips the traditional customer funnel. Namely, when using ABM, you start with a lengthy list of potential B2B buyers, identify the most relevant prospects, and go after them. This way, you can start nurturing relevant leads by providing them with highly targeted content and gradually leading them towards converting.

Sure, keep in mind that email campaigns are not the only way to generate leads and engage audiences. Some companies have even decided to eliminate all lead forms and make all of their content available. Instead of lead forms, they focus on more user-friendly lead generation options, such as chatbots.

Over to You

Although SEO has become extremely challenging and competitive over the past few years, it is still a powerful way to increase user experiences, boost your B2B site’s exposure, attract traffic, and generate high-quality leads. And, this is where these tips may help.

First, you should learn about your audiences and align your keyword optimization tactics with their search intent.

Then, produce killer content that educates a reader, informs them, and helps them solve specific problems.

Finally, create lead magnets – high-quality, downloadable content that asks customers for email addresses.

The benefits of this approach to B2B SEO is simple – it is highly user-centric and focuses on making your customers happy. The goal is to get to know your audiences and then adapt your SEO efforts to their needs and expectations.

Author Bio:

My name is Raul and I am editor in chief at Technivorz blog. I have a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing. Please take a minute to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

How do you generate quality B2B leads?