Regardless of where your prospects are in their customer journey, there’s little doubt they’ll be using a search engine at some stage. They may be using search to identify and research solutions, compare their options and even make a final decision.
So, as a B2B marketer, if you want to be found during any of those scenarios, SEO (search engine optimization) must be something you do on a regular basis. And it’s not ‘once and done’ – maintaining a continuous SEO program is necessary because:
- Search engines are regularly updating their algorithms
- If you’re following good content marketing best practices, you’re updating your website regularly
- Your competitors are working hard to outrank you.
Let’s briefly review each of these factors.
Algorithm updates
Google constantly updates its algorithm, and it doesn’t always publish what changes it’s making. But when Google does make it known that certain user experience factors are important, it’s wise to make sure your website takes that into consideration. A couple of examples that you should be addressing right now include:
- Mobile-friendly. There’s no way around this. Even B2B companies need to have a site that is mobile-friendly. The stats have proven this is where online traffic has moved, and Google has begun to put more emphasis on the mobile version of a website over the desktop.
- Speed. How fast your website loads is another important ranking factor. You should be regularly testing your pages to make sure they’re loading in three seconds or less, and probably two seconds or less for mobile.
- Security. Using the HTTPS encryption (the protocol over which data is sent between a browser and a website) is a positive factor in the rankings. Google has shared that websites that haven’t switched to HTTPS are now considered unsafe in the Chrome browser.
Website updates
Savvy B2B marketers are adding and removing pages of website content as needed. When adding pages, the same SEO best practices that were important in the development of the site also come into play. This includes making sure the content is unique and relevant, the meta information (title tags and meta descriptions) completed properly and the page has a solid linking strategy.
Before removing a page, be sure to analyze it for the overall SEO value. If an analysis shows the page is getting traffic from organic search or has links to it (and you still need to remove it), consider doing a 301 redirect to another page with similar and relevant content. Creating a redirect will help the search engines understand that the page has permanently moved to another location. Removing a page without redirecting will cause broken links throughout the rest of your website, which is another reason that you need a proactive strategy in order to avoid SEO errors.
Reviewing the competition
Your online competition may be totally different than your offline competitors. You may think you have a good handle on what your competitors are up to, but taking a look at your digital marketing strategy through an SEO lens could provide a new perspective. Which of your competitors are outperforming you on your top keyword terms? What are the top performers doing that you aren’t? How do you compare when it comes to the user experience issues noted above? Taking a deep dive into those types of questions can help you devise a strategy to improve and take advantage of untapped opportunities.
