Why B2B SEO Keywords Differ & How To Pick Them

Understanding what keywords to pick and where to use them when creating the copy for your site can be difficult at the best of times. It can sometimes feel you have to be an SEO agency to have a fighting chance of appearing on Google and getting recognition.

There is a fine line you have to walk between finding relevant keywords with enough volume and those you know will reach your intended target market. 

However, on the flip side, you don’t want to be using over-saturated and generic keywords as these will not guarantee visibility; because you will be competing too heavily with other businesses. This can be difficult if you’re a small business with a new start-up or website with lower domain authority.

So for your search engine optimisation B2B keywords, this is specifically important because, much like with B2C interaction, your overall goal is to build sales and create relationships. The B2B sale funnel can be much more complex.

The Difference Between B2B and B2C 

To understand why and how B2B keywords differ, we first need to know the differences between B2B and B2C sales. 

So for B2C sales, it is usually a straightforward procedure of trying to get the product in front of the consumer and ensuring that it sounds fun, exciting, and enticing to help close the sale. 

Whereas a B2B sale is far more complex, the buying process can be a much longer experience due to the number of people involved and the volume at which they could be buying. 

The B2B product or service itself is likely more complex; more often than not B2B sales are a long term purchase or an investment into a service-based relationship, so it goes to stand that they will take longer to make the decision.

Not only does a B2B sale take longer, but it is a much narrower market. Usually, these services or products are not transferable across a large proportion of industries. Therefore, the targeting in your search engine optimisation needs to be refined to reflect that.

Factual vs Descriptive Keywords 

When deciding on the keywords for your search engine optimisation in a B2B market, factual is always better. When appealing to a B2C market, the aim is to try and make the product sound exciting or must-have, a descriptive word that makes it enticing, such as “fun language lessons”.

However, a B2B keyword works better when offering facts and tells consumers more about the product. Think about the saying “are you here for business or pleasure?” the same goes for when someone visits your website, are they there to enjoy themselves and receive an experience from the product or do they want an efficient, reliable service. 

Use this thought process when picking between keywords to help distinguish which will be more beneficial for a B2B transaction.

Long-Tail Keywords

Sometimes, B2B SEO keywords will be longer-tail key phrases that allow you to reach a niche market and cut through the noise of competition by avoiding the generic, top of the funnel keywords that many large-scale companies will target. 

This means that depending on the industry, the B2B keywords that you choose to target within your on-page optimisation might have lower search volumes than those within on-page copy within a B2C landing page or organic content.

However, while a wide range of traffic is usually sought after within advertising – getting in front of the most relevant users is key for B2B search engine optimisation. 

Because your users know what they want and understand how their pain points can be fulfilled – the responsibility of B2B content is to convince your prospect exactly how your business can fulfil those specific needs better than another provider. 

How To Refine Your Keywords 

So to refine your keywords for your search engine optimisation, the best thing to do is understand the market and do your research on other competitors and the industry as a whole (if it is industry-specific). 

Understanding the stakeholders’ specific needs will only aid you in distinguishing between valuable keywords. 

When trying to narrow down the search, the other thing to consider is ensuring the keyword provides information and is factual to the product. It offers information to the client about the benefit of the service or product.