A B2B SEO Playbook For Dummies

That Actually Drives Leads and Revenue

Most of us in B2B Marketing want our website to drive a steady stream of leads.

If you don’t have to “pay” for leads and can harness organic search (SEO) it’s gonna be an evergreen win for your company to build brand, traffic and inbound opportunities for months and years to come.

In this mini-guide, as part of your Digital B2B Marketing strategy, I’ll share battle-tested advice on how to nail SEO for your B2B company.

By Categories: Digital Marketing6 min readLast Updated: October 17th, 2024
Post: B2B SEO Playbook For Dummies

3 Article Highlights

  • 6-Step B2B SEO Playbook
  • How to Scale SEO on a Brand New Domain
  • Bonus: Things People Care About Seeing on a B2B Website
  • No time? [TL;DR] Read Summary

Chapter 1

6-Step B2B SEO Playbook

Overview

Here’s how I’ll scale SEO on a brand new domain for my B2B service company.

And you can do the same.

In Feb 2024 I launched my website, Breaking B2B on a brand new domain with zero authority.

Here’s how I’ll get it ranking in the coming months.

Feel free to steal this process for your B2B company.

Here’s an overview:

Chapter 2

Step #1: Sales Funnel Keywords

Focusing on Bottom of the Sales Funnel Keywords First

We work smart.

Focusing on bottom of the sales funnel keywords first.

People needing your offer now.

Identify all the main services we want to drive traffic and leads for.

This are ‘money niches’ we can produce great results for, have the problems we fix and and that have the budget to invest in our solutions.

In my case:

  • B2B SEO
  • B2B SaaS SEO
  • B2B Web Design
  • Fintech Web Design
  • B2B SaaS Web Design
  • B2B Web Development
  • Fintech Web Development
  • B2B SaaS Web Development

Plus a bunch of others over time for all key markets, niches and personas we serve.

Your task: work out the industries you serve best, the ones that have expensive problems, that need your offer and can easily afford your solution.

Then run through relevant keywords e.g. on ahrefs or semrush or a similar keyword research tool.

Chapter 3

Step #2: Skyscraper Technique

An Old Classic in SEO

The skyscraper technique is all about one-upping the current top ranking pages on the search engine results page for your focus search terms.

Review current #1 organic ranking pages for your chosen keywords adding modifiers e.g. ‘b2b saas seo company’ and ‘b2b saas seo agency’

Analyse the type of pages that rank well for each of your target keywords e.g. solution pages, articles, listicles, comparison pages etc.

Chapter 4

Step #3: EEAT

Content to Support EEAT

Build content with surpasses the top ranking pages in all angles of EEAT

  • Experience
  • Expertise
  • Authority
  • Trust

Share the problems you fix on each page, how you fix them and proof of results.

Each page can have video guides and examples.

FAQs to address real sales calls Qs and objections head on – to match user intent.

Make sure URLs and technical SEO (heading tags etc) are relevant for each page for focus keywords.

For example [yourdomain.com]/b2b-saas-seo-agency would be the structure for ‘b2b saas seo agency’ as a focus keyword for the URL

Read more about B2B Content Marketing for a comprehensive view on the subject.

Chapter 5

Step #4: Build Authority

Get Google to Trust you

Build authority with backlinks and get trusted by Google. Building links is more important the more competitive your focus keywords are.

Leverage:

  • Friends

Build a relevant article for their site (providing it fits the niche and yours and link back to your site)

  • Partner orgs

Reach out to companies that serve the same audience but are not direct competitors (LinkedIn is great for this – send personalised requests to relevant prospects) and build some content together e.g. articles, video content, guides – then link back to each other from both your sites.

  • Podcasts I’ve been on

A site called Chartable is great to find top podcasts in your focus industries – then reach out to the hosts that accept guests. Record a great show sharing actionable tips. Then ask for a link back to your site when they release the episode article page.

  • Articles that rate my podcast

 

Ask for a link to your site or create a guest article (like we are doing now :)

There’s usually some free offer you can provide them in return for the guest article and link e.g. a free consult or similar.

Chapter 6

Step #5: Top of Funnel

Nail Steps 1-4 First

After nailing the above for all your high-intent bottom of funnel pages likely to drive leads.

In my case, I’ll start working on top of funnel more educational articles and content to drive newsletter sign-ups and podcast audience who may eventually become clients.

These could be: ‘how to reduce your b2b website bounce rates’ ‘b2b seo guide for SaaS’ and so on.

Research what type of content will be helpful and relevant to your ideal clients and focus niches – and make notes on common questions/objections from sales calls as these can be gold for SEO focus keywords and content ideas.

Chapter 7

Step #6: Volume and Improvements

Ramp it Up

Volume and incremental improvements.

Ramp up these processes over time to exhaust every avenue for bottom of funnel content, top of funnel content and building quality links.

Keep an eye on how your pages are ranking and if there’s any improvements you can make to 1-up pages from any competitors ranking above you – to make your page more helpful and valuable to visitors.

 

Bonus:

Realise your website is your best sales rep.

It’s live 24/7 working around the clock to either build trust and convert visitors into leads/demos/sales calls OR deter them.

After interviewing 350+ B2B execs on my top 10 b2b marketing podcast, Breaking B2B…

Here’s the main things people care about seeing on a B2B website:

  • What you do
  • Problems you fix
  • Proof of results (case studies, video reviews, testimonials, accreditations etc)
  • Your offer in action (demo/screen-shots, GIFS, video of work etc)
  • Pricing
  • Answers to FAQs
  • Easy way to speak to sales via booking calendar

Layer this with a quality design for mobile and PC

And content based on focus client research to resonate with their problems, goals and jobs to be done…

And you’re onto a winner.

Or you could work with a Professional B2B SEO Agency if this sounds like too much work ;)

Chapter 8

Summary [TL;DR]

B2B SEO Playbook

Work out what prospects that need your offer are searching for and create pages with the most helpful and trustworthy content on the topic that builds trust and convinces them to take action.

These are the 6-Steps of the B2B SEO Playbook:

Sam Dunning

Founder Breaking B2B and Host  of Top 10 B2B Marketing Podcast: Breaking B2B

I love growing start ups through to well known brands, online. Let’s have a chat through your goals and see if there is a fit for us to do some business.

P.S. We also provide whitelabel web design, development and SEO services for agencies to help you deliver projects on time and on budget for your clients.

Core Topics: B2B Marketing, B2B SEO, Web Design, Online Marketing, B2B Brand Marketing

By Categories: Digital Marketing6 min readLast Updated: October 17th, 2024

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