The Difference Between B2B and B2C may change how you approach your SEO strategy.

Creating a successful SEO strategy takes a lot of work and planning. Various companies can benefit from uniquely curated SEO services: B2B SEO has different challenges than B2C.

Regardless of type, both SEO strategies require pivots whenever Google releases a new core update.  

This blog post will examine specific challenges that marketers are faced with when it comes to SEO and the difference between B2C SEO and B2B SEO. 

Creating an SEO strategy

Before discussing the difference between B2B SEO and B2C SEO, we need to discuss their similarities in creating an SEO strategy.

Know your Buyer Personas!

It’s impossible to market to everyone at a given time; concentrating on your core audience yields the most significant results. Genuinely knowing the audience involved in a B2B and B2C purchasing decision will set your SEO campaign up for success. When building a buyer persona, you need to be aware of any roles and responsibilities filled by the buyers you are trying to reach. 

When it comes to B2B, you will have to consider all of the targeted decision-makers. You may end up making multiple buyer personals depending on the size of the business and the product or service they offer. A B2C buyer persona is much different from a B2B buyer persona because you only need one outlined buyer persona per product or service.

The Algorithmic Global professionals like to research how the buyer spends their time searching the internet. We consider age ranges, common concerns, political stances, and location. Knowing your buyer persona will help you create compelling content to ensure they purchase the product or service. 

What is B2B? (The sales process) 

B2B (business-to-business): the practice of selling products or services to other businesses.

The B2B sales funnel is a longer process than B2C sales. B2B products and services cost more money, leading to a more extended period for someone to turn from a prospect to a lead, and finally to a buyer.

B2B business types

Common B2B companies include software, office furniture, coworking spaces, IT service, and digital marketing services. 

Algorithmic Global is a B2B company; we only work with other businesses to deliver quality leads and increase sales. In some cases, we have seen personal clients in our sales cycle take up to six months because of the monthly investment a business takes when purchasing digital marketing services. 

If you are in B2B sales, you need to be patient while other companies are finding your brand. Even with the best B2B website, it can take some time for the targeted business decision-makers to explore your products or services before purchasing. 

Once the B2B lead becomes a client or customer, it is essential to deliver excellent customer service and promote significant change in your customer’s business. 

What is B2B SEO?

We’ve discussed the importance of knowing your target customer, but what happens after that? 

The next step in the B2B SEO process will be creating a content strategy intended for the businesses you are looking to target. When designing a B2B SEO campaign for a client, remember that the focus is increased brand exposure and generating quality sales. 

The best way to increase brand exposure is through a content marketing strategy focusing on educating the audience. Most businesses are not aware of what they need until a problem arises– when it does, your content should educate them about your business’s unique approach to fixing their issue. Keep in mind that the potential lead will want to learn more about the company’s story and organization, making your “about page” a great sales tool. 

When a B2B business recognizes a service or product they need to enhance their process, they will start searching the internet for information. Knowing common short and long-tail keywords phrases and topics that B2B prospects are already searching for online will be beneficial.

SEO professionals should keep in mind that potential clients in the B2B space will not acquire most products and services online. The B2B SEO strategy should not be designed to make a sale quickly but instead to drive other types of conversions that will eventually lead to a sale. A B2B conversion can be a demo request, a free trial, or a download guide.

A B2B SEO Strategy should include:

• Blog posts, articles, and infographics published on the site
• Testimonials from happy customers
• Google/Facebook/Yelp Reviews 
• Press releases
• Backlinks 

What is B2C? (The sales process)

B2C (business-to-consumer) the practice of selling products or services to consumers directly.

The B2C sales funnel is a much shorter process than B2B sales due to fewer decision-makers and price points. Although some B2C goods like cars and real estate have a high price point, most B2C products/services are at lower price points with only one or two decision-makers.

B2C Business types 

B2C sales can refer to any sales process that sells directly to consumers. Typically people tend to refer to B2C as brick-and-mortar retail sales, but this could also be a service company like SERVPRO that offers restoration services to homeowners that have suffered from water, fire, or mold damage. B2C can also include e-commerce sites such as Cannapeake, which sells CBD Pre-Workout and other CBD fitness products directly to customers.

What is B2C SEO?

The goal of a strong B2C SEO campaign needs to get visitors to make immediate purchases on the website. We believe that speed, optimization, and security are the most important aspects to consider for B2C SEO. 

The SEO strategy should include social media marketing to drive traffic. Social media will allow a customer to see a sale post and click directly on the website and purchase the desired item. 

B2C SEO strategy should include: 

1. Include keywords in the copy 
2. Structured data for enhanced search results 
3. Mobile optimization
4. Increase site speed
5. Customer reviews 
6. Prioritize navigation
7. Internal linking

On a B2C website, there will be three main areas to include short and long-tail keywords. 

1. Product descriptions
2. Product pages
3. Blog posts

The purpose of product descriptions is to strengthen your brand reputation. The content writing in the product descriptions should engage your audience and educate your customers. A well-written product description will set your eCommerce site apart from the competition.

Product page copy is going to be extremely important to your SEO strategy. Google Appreciates pages that are full of content. Well written product page copy will be valuable if you are selling products that have high competition. When writing a unique and engaging product page copy, you need to optimize the copy with target keywords. Your target keywords will help increase your organic rankings. 

The last place that you can place keywords will be in your B2C blog posts. A B2C blog should include long-tail keyword variations of your target keywords for products and categories–including “How to” blog posts and product reviews will be very important. For example, if you sell vintage clothing from the 1970s, you should write articles about the history, brands, famous people wearing the clothing, and outfit variations. It may help to create a resource assisting people in knowing what clothing item goes well with another piece of clothing. 

Remember that the B2C SEO campaign’s goal is to get a transaction made within a single session.

The Difference in B2B SEO & B2C SEO

The goal of both B2B and B2C SEO campaigns is to generate sales and increase revenue. A critical difference between B2B SEO and B2C is the core goals and objectives of campaigns. B2B online transactions are a bit more complicated than B2C due to the number of decision-makers. To drive the sale, you need to know who the decision-makers are.

As mentioned earlier, most B2C purchases are decided by a single person, while multiple decision-makers influence the typical B2B purchase. SEO professionals need to consider that numerous searches will take place in the B2B research process. 

Lastly, when considering the copywriting on a B2B site, you need to be aware that B2B SEO content needs to sound like an industry expert wrote it. The on-page copy on a B2B website needs to focus on reaching their audiences with precise information. 

Concluding Thoughts

Natural language is becoming even more critical in all B2B and B2C websites’ written content. SEO professionals need to remember that websites’ content needs to be optimized for both search engines and buyers. 

When thinking about the conversion funnel concerning search, user intent should stay top of mind for SEO professionals. Content needs to meet searchers’ needs, no matter what phase of the buying process they occupy. 

If you have any questions about the differences and shared challenges between B2B SEO and B2C SEO, leave a comment or reach out!

The SEO professionals at Algorithmic Global continuously evaluate the B2B and B2C strategies as the search engine algorithms change. Contact us if you are interested in a free SEO consultation.