Checklist of Services Your B2B SEO Agency Should Offer

So, you run an SEO agency or are thinking of getting started and want to target B2B organizations, but how do you do it? Well, B2B SEO strategy has many similarities to B2C, but with a few slight alterations that make all the difference to success. In this article, we'll discuss the services we think the best B2B SEO agency offers and how you can implement them.

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Why Are B2C & B2B SEO Different?

The main differentiating factor between the two is the target audience, their reason for purchase, and the length of the sales cycle. A B2C customer is often purchasing on emotion, something for themselves, or a gift for someone else, meaning you don’t need to persuade multiple people of the value your product or service can bring. However, with B2B, it’s doubtful the person who first views your website will be the person deciding to purchase. Rather than an emotional decision, B2B purchases tend to be rational and based on budget, necessity, and impact. Therefore, the sales cycle for B2B is much longer.

The reasons above mean an SEO strategy targeting these two areas will be slightly different in its delivery. So, while B2B SEO services may seem the same as B2C, the tactics will differ significantly.

     1. SEO Audits

Firstly, any good B2B SEO agency should be able to conduct thorough SEO audits and present its analysis in an easily understandable manner. When pitching to a client, if you can prove you’ve done your background knowledge on the company, assessed their existing SEO strategy, highlighted areas of weakness, and pinpointed growth opportunities – you’re much more likely to win their business.

You may deem this as free work, and unfortunately, some companies will take your audit to their existing agency and ask them to implement the work. However, this is a risk for all agencies, but you can mitigate this by stipulating that the audit is a payable service if the client doesn’t go ahead with your proposal.

     2. Competitor Analysis

While SEO is the practice of improving your website and search engine rankings, it’s also a battle with your competitors for the top spots. When conducting SEO-based research, competitor analysis can uncover unseen opportunities that entirely transform a B2B SEO strategy. For example, if one particular company dominates all short-tail and high-volume keywords, you need to find out what they're doing differently. Then, by reviewing their content, technical optimization, keyword strategy, and linking, an agency can formulate a plan to take ranking positions from them.

     3. Technical SEO Analysis & Execution

Nowadays, SEO is focused on user experience, much of which comes from technical aspects such as mobile responsiveness and page loading speeds. As a result, most experts can pinpoint where your website can improve and the required changes. However, many B2B SEO agencies aren’t capable of implementing their advice, as they aren’t equipped with the technical skills to do so. As a result, clients need to source personnel with the know-how, meaning additional costs.

For a B2B SEO agency to stand out, they should provide end-to-end technical SEO services for their clients rather than merely giving them pointers on improvement.

     4. Keyword Research & Optimization

Keyword-optimized content has always been a significant ranking factor. That doesn't change for B2B businesses. Thorough keyword research equips a B2B SEO agency with the search terms they need to target to draw relevant traffic to a client's website. Creating a detailed list of applicable keywords can take time, but improving rankings and developing a refined content strategy is imperative.

     5. Content Strategy

You need to target a wide selection of keywords to rank for as many applicable searches as possible, but knowing how to implement them takes it to another level. As the saying goes, content is king, and the content produced by a B2B company is crucial to conversions. It’s well-known that the more content you have on your website, the easier it becomes to rank highly. However, that doesn’t mean making pages ridiculously long and adding unnecessary pages.

A refined content strategy allows you to establish your brand personality through articles and landing pages. For example, if you establish yourself as a thought-leader and create content pieces that offer your target audience helpful information, your brand will be the first to come to mind when they need your product or services.

     6. Landing Page Creation

For many targeted SEO campaigns to be successful, a tailored landing page is crucial for ranking and conversion purposes. However, suppose your B2B SEO agency doesn't design landing pages and adds them to websites. In that case, you run the risk of having to manage multiple third-party agencies for a relatively simple project. Furthermore, as you introduce more people to the project, you increase the likelihood of communication breakdown.

A high-quality, well-optimized landing page is often the difference between winning and losing campaigns – don't overlook this.

     7. In-Depth & Understandable Reporting

Insightful data gives your clients a clear picture of the impact of your work. Unfortunately, many agencies mask important data with numbers that don’t mean anything. For example, what’s the point in a considerable increase in traffic if that traffic is irrelevant and doesn’t convert? It’s an agency's responsibility to ensure the data analysis and reporting they provide to a client is easy to understand, is transparent, and factors in all meaningful metrics.

If you’ve been honest with your client from the start, they’ll know you can’t promise them influxes of traffic, numerous first-position rankings, and a massive number of conversions. Therefore, demonstrate the improvements you've made non-confusing while highlighting areas you will focus on in the future.

In Summary

SEO for B2B organizations needn’t be overly complicated. Yes, it differs from B2C SEO, but the principles are the same. As an agency, if you provide expert advice and technical skills, communicate honestly, and never overpromise, you’ll provide clients impeccable service.

Get in touch with the team for further guidance, tips, or discussion of B2B SEO trends.