Business-to-business (B2B) marketers utilize keyword exploration to discover valuable search expressions they can leverage to connect with their target audiences, boost website traffic, and stimulate sales. Similar to B2C marketers.
However, in the B2B domain, a more profound comprehension of the consumer’s purchasing journey is necessary. And a grasp of the industry vernacular that B2B purchasers use when sourcing materials to influence their buying decisions.
Let’s delve into the reasons why a strategic method for B2B keyword exploration is essential.
Why Is Keyword Exploration Crucial in B2B Marketing?
Keyword exploration is a pivotal initial stage in fabricating content that features prominently in search outcomes. And these placements are beneficial for engaging B2B clients.
As per Statista’s research, 66% of B2B buyers in the U.S. uncovered novel products from search engine findings in 2023.
Data Source: Statista
Moreover, keyword exploration often presents myriad concepts, ensuring you aren’t perplexed about which themes to address.
Furthermore, engaging in keyword exploration unveils insights about your target audience, which can enhance all your marketing initiatives.
How Is Keyword Exploration Distinct in B2B Marketing?
Several distinct hurdles should be considered while conducting keyword exploration for a B2B enterprise.
These include:
- Terminology disparities: B2B enterprises frequently utilize specialized language when discussing their products or services. Consumers might not always be acquainted with those industry terms and could bypass using them in their searches.
- Diminished search volume: Because of their focused nature, B2B keywords usually have lower search volumes compared to B2C keywords. Therefore, ranking for such keywords may not necessarily generate substantial traffic surges.
- Reduced conversion rates: B2B purchasers are less inclined to promptly convert. Several companies invest months (or even longer) deliberating and investigating B2B solutions.
- Elevated cost per click: B2B keywords that convert (or represent qualified audiences) in paid searches frequently demonstrate a high cost per click. This is due to other advertisers being willing to pay a premium to rank at the top of results and engage those audiences.
Despite these distinctions, marketers can still harness B2B keyword exploration to realize SEO outcomes.
Seven Pointers for Conducting B2B Keyword Exploration
Enacting the ensuing tips will aid you in unearthing valuable keywords that you can aim for to captivate qualified traffic.
Tip
Enroll for a complimentary Semrush account and deploy our keyword exploration tools to follow the ensuing tactics.
1. Explore Concepts in Industry Communities and Resources
Forums serve as an excellent avenue to acquaint yourself with prevalent pain points within your niche. As individuals frequent forums to pose queries or solicit guidance from other industry specialists.
As a result, we at Semrush might want to peruse the Reddit community r/DigitalMarketing (which boasts over 175,000 members) to unearth keyword ideas. Various posts articulate the challenges our target audience grapples with.
For instance, a user below is soliciting advice on executing keyword exploration for a local service enterprise.
By examining this same subject in Keyword Overview, it’s apparent many others are seeking remedies for this issue, indicating it can help in reaching our target audience.
Commence by joining pertinent groups on platforms like Reddit and Quora. Additionally, involve yourself in any industry-specific forums frequented by your target audience.
Industry resources apart from forums can also furnish you with B2B keyword ideas. They can acquaint you with subjects, terminology, and concepts of significance in your B2B field.
These resources might encompass:
- Event schedules
- Product specifications
- Rival whitepapers
- Industry analyses
Suppose you aim to generate leads for a customer experience (CX) analytics platform. This CX report from Adobe showcases multiple subtopics associated with CX that can inspire keyword ideas.
In this scenario, “predictive analytics,” “cx personalization,” and “audience segmentation” are pertinent terms warranting exploration.
While perusing industry resources, compile a list of frequently recurring terms and topics.
Subsequently, add those terms to a list for later exploration utilizing Semrush tools.
2. Assemble a Keyword Log
The compilation of keyword ideas you’ve accumulated thus far represents a roster of foundation keywords—concise terms closely associated with your B2B enterprise.
Foundation keywords function as the groundwork of your keyword strategy. They should echo your website’s primary thematic zones and can facilitate sourcing the keywords you intend to target.
To commence constructing a list of more precise terms to concentrate on, utilize the Keyword Magic Tool.
Upon the keyword table populating, scrutinize the terms to spot those that appear especially relevant to your enterprise.
It is advisable to preserve terms that seem appropriate in a list for reference and future refinement.
Repeat this procedure and craft additionalcatalogs as required.
3. Discover Keywords Competitors Rank for
You can also extract keyword suggestions by examining your rival’s keyword usage. When a competitor ranks for a specific term, it could present a valuable opportunity for your enterprise.
You might possess a firm understanding of your challengers. If not, input your domain in Organic Research, navigate to the “Rivals” section, and peruse through the list provided.
You will now have visibility into a compilation of your chief competitors in the organic search arena.
Upon compiling a list of competitors, leverage Keyword Gap to explore their keyword pool.
4. Categorize Keywords Into Topic Clusters
Note
5. Prioritize Your Keywords According to Relevance
- Volume: The average volume of searches the keyword garners monthly (over the last 12 months). Aim for a reasonable monthly search volume.
- Personal Keyword Difficulty: The ease of ranking within the top 10 results for the keyword on your specific website. Concentrate on lower scores (below 50%) to enhance your chances of securing a favorable ranking.
- Topical Authority: The relevancy of your website concerning the keyword. Ideally, this field should indicate “High” or “Relevant.”
- Cost per click (CPC): The expenditure incurred by advertisers for each click to secure a top position in search outcomes. While this metric pertains to advertising, a high CPC can signify the value of a term likely to translate into conversions.
6. Associate Keywords with the Purchaser’s Process
- Awareness: The consumer acknowledges their issue and identifies your business as a probable solution provider.
- Contemplation:The purchaser is contemplating which solutions or methods can resolve their issue
- Determination: The purchaser finalizes a purchase decision
You can link your keywords to the buyer journey using search intent—what the user aims to achieve when searching. And there are four categories:
- Informative: Users seek information or responses to their inquiries
- Directional: Users seek a specific website or webpage
- Commercial: Users explore different options
- Transactional: Users intend to make a purchase
You can observe keyword search intent in Keyword Overview.
Identify the segment noted as “Intent” in the report. The search intent will be detailed there.
Informative keywords typically signify users in the awareness phase. Because they are seeking information or responses to their queries.
Whereas, commercial keywords often indicate users in the contemplation stage. These individuals have already defined their issue and are exploring various B2B solutions.
For instance, a potential customer for a JazzHR software might search the informative term “small business recruiting” during the awareness phase. When they are seeking general advice on how to attract talent.
However, they could search the commercial keyword “recruiting software for small business” during the contemplation stage. Because they understand they need a software solution but require to compare options.
Moreover, if a user searches for “jazzhr pricing,” that’s a transactional term indicating they are in the decision stage. And are approaching a purchase decision.
Hence, it is essential to incorporate various intent types in your keyword list. This allows you to tailor your content accordingly and target users at each phase of the buyer’s journey.
Subsequently, consider the type of content needed for each piece.
For example, if users seek more information about a topic, an in-depth blog post would be more suitable than a promotional product page. Whereas, a pricing page is ideal for transactional keywords.
7. Conduct Audience Research to Create Superior Content
Once you have selected your keywords, audience analysis can aid in executing content creation that resonates with your target audience. This can facilitate driving them towards conversion.
To gather more insights about your B2B clients, utilize One2Target.
Commence by entering some rival websites into the text box. The more sites you input, the more insights you can gather.
Then, tap on “Analyze.”
Receive a comprehensive report with details about your target audience, such as demographics, location, socioeconomics, and online behaviors.
Leverage this information throughout your content creation to cater to your audience’s preferences.
Initiate Your B2B Keyword Approach
B2B keyword exploration might seem intricate, but the aforementioned suggestions can simplify the process. Furthermore, they can aid in identifying practical and potentially lucrative ranking opportunities.
You can avail all the keyword exploration tools discussed in this article with a Semrush account. So, register and commence exploring B2B keywords within your sector.
EN 
ZH 
ZH_CN 
JA 
KO