Generating links and interest for Business to Business (B2B) websites can sometimes be a difficult task. B2B technology websites simply don’t have the same appeal as Business to Consumer (B2C) websites. They are not as widely known as big brands such as Apple and Sony.
Whereas big brands can rely on the general public to build lots of links back to their websites, this is not the case for B2B brands. In the B2B world, users are less likely to build a link to a website which they have visited or found useful.
B2B companies have to be more creative in the way that they build links and improve their coverage on search engines. Here is a quick four point plan to ensure that your website is found by searchers.
A four point plan for B2B Technology SEO:
- Keyword Research
- Onsite Optimisation
- Content
- Linkbuilding
Keyword Research
Keyword research in the tech B2B sector is crucial; this is where many companies fall down. Marketing departments fall into the trap of using internal terminology when optimising their website and writing copy. You need to describe your business, products and services as your customers do, not how you think they should be described.
Furthermore, in some cases users will search for particular problems that they have, rather than solutions. So it is vital that you cover off all bases when carrying out keyword research.
Content
When I talk about content, I am referring to onsite and offsite content, as both are vital to your search marketing efforts.
Content is often a tricky area for B2B companies, they are unsure of what to write about.
I would start by using existing content for example white papers, case studies and press releases. All of these will be already written and can be repurposed for the web. For example websites such as CNET and its sister site ZDNet all accept white papers on technologies. These websites have the added benefit reaching out to target audiences that are looking for technologies to adopt.
Onsite Optimisation
The keywords you choose will drive how you optimise your site. These keywords need to be integrated into various part of the page including:
- Title tag
- Meta description
- Onsite copy
- H1 tag
- Anchor links
- URL
Targeting your chosen keywords at each of these stages will ensure that your page is optimised for search engines and you can start to work on the offsite factors that will help your content start to rank.
Linkbuilding
A great way of getting links is to provide a testimonial for a product or service that you have used, these are links that you competitors are unlikely to have. Similarly ask your suppliers to link back to your website, you can do this by proving a testimonial about their service.
Another great way of getting relevant authority backlinks is to list your company in targeted directories. For example, Crunchbase, which is a database of technology companies; allows anyone to add their company details with a link back to their company website. Crunchbase is an authority site and again is likely to be visited by decision makers that are looking for technology solutions.
There are many more elements to a B2B technology SEO strategy, but once you have these basics all working in tandem, they will start to produce results by generating leads and sales which every company needs to survive.
Make sure to look out for our next blog post in our series on B2B SEO
