How to use SEO for B2B online lead generation

Lead generation strategies for small businesses often include many elements, such as email marketing, paid advertising, SEO, trade shows, etc. There are many ways to attract prospects, but SEO is one of the most important parts of a small business B2B online lead generation plan.

Why is that? That's because today, people have to rely on Google whenever they have an issue or question. If prospects don't show you when they're searching on Google, there's a good chance they won't find you.

But how do SEO and lead generation work together to increase revenue? Before we get into the details, it's important to know what exactly SEO is. Here's the definition of SEO as stated by world-renowned marketing expert Neil Patel:

“SEO stands for search engine optimization. SEO is the process of taking steps to ensure that websites and content appear higher on Google.”

B2B business websites are the most important resource for lead generation. Whether the focus of the business is local, national, international, or a combination of the two, it is a point of contact for the company's online customers. If your website ranks higher than your competitors, you're more likely to be the first site prospects click on (and therefore, they're also more likely to buy from you).

For example, if you do a Google search about issues faced by potential customers, you can get advice from the top published content. This enables three things:

1. They will begin to trust you as an industry expert.
2. They'll be more inclined to explore other parts of your site.
3. This brings the company's name to mind in preparation for current and future needs.

Websites that are on the first page of a keyword search on Google also receive more traffic than the pages below them. Do you remember when was the last time you visited Google pages 3 or 4? You probably don't remember.

How does SEO impact lead generation?

According to HubSpot's 2021 marketing report, SEO is getting 1000% more traffic to websites than organic social media. That means 1000% more prospects visit websites and read content. Of course, don't underestimate the importance of social media. Social media is important for having a brand voice and for viewers to have a way to interact with you.

But not all prospects can buy right away, even if they read a social or blog post on a website they haven't heard of. By dividing the process performed by prospects into three stages: recognition, review, and decision making, you can simplify the buying process for prospects. In the awareness phase, leads are looking for general information about their challenges. In the review phase, we look at a few solutions we think we can trust, and in our decision, we narrow down the purchase to one provider.

If you only post case studies and price guides on your website, you're in the awareness stage and won't appeal to prospects looking for information. Also, when prospects are using competitors' information to raise awareness, they are more likely to gain trust and be “on the front line” when they're finally ready to make a decision. That's why it's important to create SEO-optimized content for each stage of your site's funnel.

It may take months for concrete implementation results to come out, but this B2B online lead generation marketing strategy requires creativity, talent, and focused effort rather than budget or basic testing methods.

Once you've attracted someone to your website, the main goal of an SEO lead generation strategy is to build trust with your readers.

Trust increases buying chances

B2B purchasing processes tend to be time-consuming and involve multiple decision makers. Earn trust from prospects by creating content that helps with research.

That way, they're more likely to choose to buy from you when they're ready to buy.

If potential customers find content that helps them solve work-related challenges, they might remember your company name for future challenges.

Once you've caught their attention and solved their basic questions, they might want to learn more about you. Across the entire site, if there is content that accurately appeals to the issues that person is facing, it is possible to gain more and more trust and lead to the funnel.

The more conversion opportunities you have on your website, the more likely you are to attract leads at each stage of the buyer's journey.

Find more prospects with 3 SEO strategies

What methods can small business owners use to get more leads on their websites? The first step is defining the best leads for your organization. An easy way to do that is to create B2B buyer personas. I've outlined this in another blog.

Once you know who your service or product targets, you can create content that addresses those issues and fixes them.

1. Create useful content

The strategy here is to ensure that your business shows up as many searches as possible and that you get the ideal leads. If you can display the right content on your website at the right time, prospects are more likely to explore your site, focus on your business for future reference, view more content, and contact your team.

One tool you can use to create content that can actually be read and enjoyed is Ubersuggest. Type in keywords your persona is searching for in relation to your business, such as “best B2B software,” select a country, and press “Search.” You can see how often that keyword was searched. Scroll down and you'll see a list of content ideas where it's Cog's turn to write a sentence.

Need help researching keywords or creating content? For more information, download our free e-book, The Small Business Leader's Guide to Developing an Effective Marketing Plan.

Many small businesses hire inbound marketing teams to develop content production strategies. Creating, editing, and publishing content that appeals to prospects at every stage of the buyer journey takes too much time for most leaders.

2. View competitors' articles

Another B2B SEO strategy is to check your competitors frequently. What are competitors posting on their sites, and what challenges can they solve for similar audiences?

There are free tools that allow you to compare website traffic data, such as Google Analytics. Make a short list of pages that rank high on your website. What kind of content is posted on that page? Do you have a blog or website page that showcases your ideological leadership?

A smart approach is to first find content that isn't being offered to users and then supplement with your own content on the site. The more content you need to appeal to prospects throughout the entire buyer journey on your site, the better implementation results you'll get.

As you publish higher quality and more reliable content, more people will link not only to your own sources, but also to your content. This is known as gaining “backlinks.” These backlinks help increase traffic.

3. Don't forget the backlinks

B2B online lead generation isn't just about writing useful content and gaining trust from users. It's also important to build a trusting relationship with Google.

SEO is divided into two main parts: on-page SEO and off-page SEO. On-page SEO refers to everything you can control on your website, such as keywords, content, internal links, and website speed optimization.

However, the majority of SEO is done off-page. There are many factors that Google takes into account when ranking websites. It determines site rankings based on traffic, content relevance, trustworthiness, authority, etc.

One way to increase offpage authority is to get backlinks from one or more other high-quality websites. Sites with high levels of authority like Forbes and Inc. Magazine_ are less likely to receive backlinks, but you should start small, such as niche websites that target your industry.

Having a backlink strategy can help guide prospects through the buying process while educating them using content. If prospects find well-known sites that link to your site, prospects are more likely to explore and convert your site.

The backlinks you earn show Google that a reliable source links to your site, and are essentially a guarantee of the authenticity of your content. This is just one, albeit important, factor that helps websites rank high in search adoption results.

SEO and Lead Generation: Profiting from Online Visualization

SEO and B2B online lead generation go hand in hand. Not every prospective customer sees your site and makes a purchase right away, so it's important to create trustworthy content throughout the entire funnel.

SEO is all about trust in both Google and users. Always know how much authority your competitors' content has and how you can learn from them. Off-page SEO may be more difficult to tackle than on-page SEO, but backlinks are a great way to increase traffic and rank higher in search adoption results.

Ready to start ranking on Google and get more leads on your website? Optimize your small business marketing plan with this e-book.