Is SEO still critical to B2B website visibility?

SEO – search engine optimisation – has been a constantly evolving search return performance methodology which is generally implemented as part of website content strategy and development to optimise website visibility.

Put simply, key words, then key phrases, then content structure, and now incoming links and social media association have all played their role over time in gaining and maintaining buoyant website search rankings and site visibility.

Is B2B SEO still relevant?

The simple answer is yes, and to ensure effective website visibility in the crowded markets of today, your search terms need to be absolutely current, relevant and mainstream, even with specialist B2B audiences, who may be searching highly specific products or services.

And, given the potentially highly focused nature of B2B SEO on-page language, it is wise to get help from your digital agency if they have SEO expertise, as at the very basic level search terms will need careful research and review ahead of any on-page content development.

But is SEO really the end of the website visibility story? In my opinion, no it isn’t.

Remember, this is still all about SEO and we’re still coming at this from an inbound marketing perspective, but what we are now doing is turbo-charging SEO through a greater Internet advertising presence.

Can you drive traffic in inbound marketing?

While the smart digital marketing money is on inbound marketing, with searchers discovering you, your brand values and sincere approach to customer support, you still need visibility to make all this happen.

Otherwise, for all intents and purposes, you won’t exist unless your SEO on your website is absolutely stellar.

What this means is that – counterintuitive as it may seem – certain forms of Internet advertising are critical in optimising SEO effectiveness as it also drives inbound traffic, allowing your site to offer links to other useful information, both internally and externally, and attract more inbound linking from visitors.

You need to get out more

This internal and external linking is very effective in SEO and the more traffic that can be driven through this route, the greater improvement and effectiveness there will be in your website SEO and search visibility. Traffic is very important in the SEO equation.

But for visibility it’s win-win, because as well as increasing search rankings, you’re also visible through the advertising itself, and this visibility can be further optimised on multiple levels by selecting other relevant marketing channels.

Optimised inbound marketing

Remember, this is still all about SEO and we’re still coming at this from an inbound marketing perspective, but what we are now doing is turbo-charging SEO through a greater Internet advertising presence.

And to further turbo-charge SEO, other relevant channels can be employed, such as – but not necessarily exclusively – pay per click (PPC) and retargeting are just two examples.

Success means joined up thinking

Because, while there is no doubt that SEO can be driven very powerfully through the resultant effects of such channels as PPC and retargeting, you need a very robust, coherent and cohesive marketing communications strategy to deliver it.

So, this methodology needs to be planned and implemented carefully across selected channels with a high level of marketing agility and dexterity to join outbound, inbound and SEO dots.

If you take this route as part of a compelling, engaging and cohesive marketing campaign, you will have developed very powerful brand awareness with a top brand, product or service visibility.