Where do you look when you want to know something? Whether you are looking for a recipe or a new supplier for your company - there is no way around using search engines. Sooner or later, your potential customers will also make use of Google and co. in their purchasing decision process.
However, the results that are displayed to you are by no means compiled purely at random. Rather, they are the result of a search algorithm that you as a B2B company can also use skillfully through search engine marketing (SEM).
However, the crucial question is how to use your B2B search engine marketing in such a way that prospective customers are directed to your website and not to your competitors. In this guide, we therefore explain the special features of business-to-business search engine marketing and give you valuable tips for implementation.
What is B2B SEM & how does it work?
B2B SEM stands for B2B search engine marketing or B2B search engine marketing. The term describes all activities that are carried out with the aim of increasing the visibility of your company website in the search results of a search engine.
SEM = SEA + SEO
SEM comprises various measures. These include, for example
- The placement of ads on search engines (Search Engine Advertising or SEA) that appear before organic search results & deliver short-term results at ongoing but transparent costs
- Optimizing your website for organic search engine results (Search Engine Optimization or SEO) as a long-term strategy with an initial investment and no ongoing costs
SEM therefore works on two levels and combines advertising on search engines with organic searches for products and services.
B2B SEA vs B2B SEO vs B2B SEM: Use synergies!
B2B search engine marketing offers you the opportunity to optimize your company's profile in the search results on two levels at the same time. So it's not a question of whether you should only focus on SEA or SEO, but rather on using both measures in combination to make the most of the potential of B2B search engine marketing.
Why is B2B search engine marketing worthwhile?
Many B2B companies still focus on the classic formula when it comes to customer acquisition: Field sales and trade fairs. After all, these are usually complex products that are best explained in person. However, the reality is that the customer journey in the B2B sector is also becoming increasingly differentiated and takes place online.
91 percent of B2B decision-makers look for information on the Internet before contacting a new business partner. This gives you the opportunity to use B2B search engine marketing to support prospective customers in their purchasing decision process - and to set the right course at crucial points.
You also benefit from many other advantages of B2B search engine marketing:
- Positioning as an expert & industry leader: With the help of B2B search engine marketing, you can create content that specifically matches the search queries of your potential customers. This way, you not only provide prospective customers with the information they are looking for, but are also perceived as an expert compared to your competitors.
- Narrowly defined target group & targeted approach: The B2B market is characterized by narrowly defined target groups that require a targeted approach. SEM offers you the opportunity to control your ads and content in such a way that they precisely meet the needs of your target group.
- Higher visibility & more qualified leads: Whether ads or better positioning in organic search - with B2B SEM you increase your visibility in search engines. As your content matches the search query precisely, interested parties click on your website, actively approach you and you benefit from more qualified leads.
- Transparent costs & flexible budget: The costs for targeted B2B search engine marketing are transparent and can be calculated flexibly. Depending on your industry and objectives, you can design your SEM measures in such a way that you can make a clear investment even as an SME or start-up and benefit from the results in the short and long term.
- Effective campaigns & constant optimization: Close monitoring using special tools allows you to constantly check how effective your B2B search engine marketing campaigns are. While SEO measures tend to have a long-term effect, you can react flexibly to new developments and optimize your campaign at any time, especially with SEA.
In addition, professional B2B search engine marketing can provide you with many other industry-specific benefits. As a B2B marketing agency, Leadeffect specializes in helping you scale your complex B2B solutions and products.
We would be happy to explain to you in a personal meeting how your company can benefit sustainably from SEM for B2B.
9 SEM B2B tricks: Better visibility & more qualified leads
Successful B2B search engine marketing requires a strategic approach and an understanding of how the B2B market works online. Three typical challenges that we encounter time and again with our clients are:
- "Classically" learned online strategies for the B2C market cannot be transferred to the B2B sector
- B2B search engine marketing requires special know-how that is lacking in the company or at the lead agency
- There is a lack of time or resources to deal with the necessary measures in depth
However, our experience shows that you can take your online success from zero to hero, even in special areas such as B2B SaaS marketing, if you follow our nine tips for successful B2B search engine marketing.
1. B2B SEM strategy: Know the initial situation & proceed strategically
Before you start with B2B search engine marketing, you should be clear about what you expect from the campaign and what goals you are pursuing. To do this, it usually makes sense to carry out a status quo analysis before starting.
If you know where you stand and where you want to go, you can identify and plan the most efficient measures to achieve your goals. A clear objective is also important for measuring the results of your B2B SEM.
However, a good SEM strategy in the B2B sector not only includes your company, but also a detailed target group analysis. Tools such as the creation of buyer personas can help you to identify the relevant decision-makers.
2. website as a starting point: explaining complex solutions
Your website is the central starting point for all B2B search engine marketing measures. Whether it's Google Ads for B2B or organic search results - after clicking, visitors are taken to a subpage or landing page on your site.
For this reason, you should optimize the content on your website so that the search query of your potential customer is answered in the best possible way. If you can explain your complex B2B solution in a meaningful way, you will stand out from your competitors and convert interested parties into qualified leads.
Every measure in B2B search engine marketing revolves around the topics your potential customers are searching for. The keywords or search terms that users enter into the search engine to find products or services are crucial for this.
As part of a keyword analysis, you can find out which search terms are interesting for your offer. In addition to the pure selection, however, you should also understand the search intention behind the respective terms and whether this matches your objectives.
In IT marketing, for example, a search for "data analytics tools" can mean that the user is looking for free online tools instead of professional software. In general:
3. keyword analysis: understanding the search intention of the target group
- Keyword, search intention & your objective should match
- Focus on targeted, specific keywords instead of overly general terms
- Approach keywords individually & specifically instead of overloading ads or texts with different topics
4. search engine advertising: short-term implementation & results
Paid ads are an essential part of B2B search engine marketing, as they appear before the organic search results. If your company is not represented there, prospective customers looking for a solution will probably end up with your competitors.
The costs in SEA are incurred per click on your ad. It is therefore important to select the advertised keywords carefully in order to avoid "false clicks". However, it is just as important to optimize the content and design of the landing page to which the user is directed after clicking.
A clear call-to-action (CTA) that matches the search intention of the prospective customer is important for this. This can be, for example, a request for advice or further information - the decisive factor is that the CTA guides the user to the desired action at the crucial moment of their customer journey.
5. optimize your website: Implement technical SEO measures
In addition to SEA, SEO is also an important part of B2B search engine marketing. Your basic equipment includes the technical optimization of your website for search engine crawlers - an algorithm that searches the web for content and indexes it for search engines. You should pay particular attention to these aspects for technical SEO optimization:
- Structured content & fast loading times
- Optimal usability & responsive design
- Security standards & SSL encryption
6. optimize content: SEO content for users & search engines
Particularly in the B2B environment, the idea is often still widespread that the technical optimization of the company website is all there is to SEO. In reality, however, the actual search engine optimization only begins once the technical basics have been implemented.
The role of SEO in B2B search engine marketing, on the other hand, includes the following areas:
- Understand your prospects' search intentions precisely
- Design & optimize appropriate content
With SEO for B2B, you focus entirely on your potential customers and whether their expectations are met by your website or whether their questions are answered. Therefore, in addition to the technical requirements, you should create content that explains your B2B solution clearly, interests users and is rated positively by search engines:
- Direct & friendly approach
- Technically correct, but not too complicated
- Unique texts without phrases
- Structure content with enumerations & lists
- Use meaningful images & graphics
7. off-page SEO: promotion & link building as B2B SEM services
However, B2B search engine marketing does not only take place via advertisements or on your website itself. With off-page SEO, for example, you can cover another important area of search engine optimization without making changes to your own website or publishing content there.
Examples of off-page SEO measures include
- Link building: Backlinks from high-quality websites to your website
- Content marketing: guest or blog articles, podcasts, white papers, etc.
- Social media: presence in social networks, e.g. on LinkedIn
Although off-page SEO does not appear to be directly related to B2B search engine marketing at first glance, it nevertheless fulfills an important function: all measures contribute to underpinning the "authority" of your brand over your competitors in the search engines. These signals in turn ensure that the algorithm ranks your site higher.
8. monitoring & optimization: staying successful in the long term
In contrast to many traditional marketing measures, B2B search engine marketing gives you the great advantage of being able to closely monitor your campaign and optimize it at any time. In order to measure success, regular monitoring using meaningful key figures is important.
Which key figures are right for your project depends on your individual objectives. Common examples of key figures are
- Click-through rate (CTR): Number of clicks on a search engine ad or search result
- Conversion rate: Ratio between the number of all clicks to the number of clicks that led to a desired interaction
We recommend that you determine how many leads you want to generate with your campaign as early as the strategy phase. An agency can help you determine whether the desired figures are realistic for your industry and the scope of the campaign or whether they should be adjusted.
Another important tool, especially for B2B SEA, is to carry out split tests to find out which landing page supports your campaign most effectively. As soon as it becomes clear that certain content or keywords do not (or no longer) meet the requirements, you have the opportunity to adjust them promptly.
9. B2B SEM Agency: Working with an agency
To set up B2B search engine marketing successfully in the long term, an individual mix of complex measures is necessary. If your campaigns are not running as desired, if you lack the resources or the necessary know-how, we recommend that you work with a professional B2B marketing agency. You should pay particular attention to two criteria:
- B2B specialists: The agency should know the special challenges in B2B search engine marketing and be prepared to familiarize itself deeply with your complex topic.
- Comprehensive range of services: Only an agency that masters all disciplines of B2B search engine marketing can provide you with comprehensive advice and offer you the services you require in a full-service model.
The agency should also provide you with strategic advice for your B2B search engine marketing campaign and calculate the costs transparently and flexibly. For example, Leadeffect relies on a remuneration model that is economically viable for us if your project is successful. We will be happy to explain further details in a non-binding consultation.
Better than the competition: avoiding mistakes in search engine marketing for B2B
B2B search engine marketing is a promising acquisition channel, but it also presents you with a number of challenges. From analyzing numerous customer projects, we have identified three mistakes that can be typical pitfalls for your SEM success.
Resources not planned: Invest sufficient time & budget in your SEM
B2B search engine marketing is a complex process that requires a lot of time and a sufficient budget to be successful. Depending on the measure in question, different resources are required:
- SEA brings you timely results, but you have to plan for ongoing costs for the placement of the ads, which can vary depending on the industry
- SEO, on the other hand, is a long-term project in which resources are primarily invested in the creation of content before you can expect results in the organic search results
If you're not willing to invest enough in B2B SEM, you won't see results.
If you do not have sufficient in-house capacity, you can rely on the support of a professional agency such as Leadeffect. We not only advise you strategically, but also help you to calculate the budget transparently, tailored to your needs and possibilities.
Search intention not understood: Targeted approach instead of "watering can principle"
In addition to a detailed keyword analysis and the identification of your target group, it is also important to understand the search intention behind the search terms. While the "watering can principle" is often applied in the B2C environment, i.e. optimizing for all possible keywords in the search environment, a differentiated approach is necessary in the B2B market in order to avoid wastage.
We often see that, for example, abbreviations for solutions in special areas such as industrial marketing can have different meanings that do not always correspond to the actual product. In such cases, it is important to precisely define the search intention.
If you do not ensure this, you may generate a lot of clicks and traffic for your website, but the visitors will bounce immediately without converting into qualified leads. The increased bounce rate can also have a negative impact on your search engine ranking because it sends the signal that the content is not relevant for users.
It doesn't go any further after the click: offering attractive & solution-oriented content
Every marketer knows that attractive design is one of the most important features of attention-grabbing ads. In B2B search engine marketing, however, you need to think one step further. Because the real work of persuasion is not done on the search results page, but after the user has clicked on the result or ad.
If your prospective customers do not find the information they are looking for or the solution to their problem on the page they click on, they will leave the page and turn to the competition - while your bounce rate increases as a negative signal to the search engines. For this reason, the design of the blog articles or landing pages is just as important as the design of the ads.
The "secret" of successful inbound marketing online is: Whether text or graphics - every piece of content should offer your potential customer real added value and convert them into a qualified lead with cleverly placed call-to-actions.
Successful B2B search engine marketing with Leadeffect
B2B search engine marketing is an effective way to build a successful online acquisition channel for your company and scale your B2B solution. As a B2B agency from Hamburg, we support you in taking your SEM to a new level by selecting the right communication channels and providing them with relevant content.
We have already accompanied many B2B companies on their journey from zero to hero, as we take a different approach to "traditional" agencies. We understand the complexity and need for explanation of B2B solutions and know how to present your products and services clearly and comprehensibly online.
We then focus on individual B2B search engine marketing measures so that you can fully exploit the potential of your online new customer acquisition.
One example: Abel Systems relied primarily on cold calling to generate leads. After working with Leadeffect, the Swiss company recorded 52 percent more leads and a doubling of new customers.
IT & SOFTWARE
Abel Systems: Quality & Event Management Software
"Amazingly good quality of leads. (...) and significantly more enquiries. I would definitely recommend working with them."
Use the potential of B2B search engine marketing & scale your B2B solution
An eye-catching positioning on the results page of a search engine can make the difference between success and failure for B2B companies. Although the competitive situation varies depending on the industry and product, all B2B purchasing decision processes have one thing in common:
The relevant decision-makers are increasingly gathering information online before making a purchase!
Your response to this trend should be strategically efficient and well-executed B2B search engine marketing. Although there is no magic formula for successful SEM in B2B, you can start from scratch with your company and build a successful online acquisition if you follow a few basic rules.
Our experience shows that effective B2B search engine marketing is based on two pillars: the optimal presentation of your products or services on your website and the development of online visibility through tailor-made SEA and SEO measures.
What challenges are preventing you from efficiently acquiring new customers online and scaling your B2B solution? Contact us and we will discuss together which B2B search engine marketing measures make sense for your company.
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