For companies operating in B2B, being well-ranked in search results is particularly important. Not only does it allow them to generate demand for their products or services, but it also helps strengthen brand awareness. Among the various digital channels available, organic search (SEO) stands out as the main driver for lead generation. It is therefore essential to understand how it works in depth and to approach it correctly. B2B SEO has significant specificities compared with other sectors, and it requires an adapted and tailored approach to fully benefit from it.
What is B2B SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of convincing search engines (typically Google) to rank your website as highly as possible on their results pages (SERPs) without paying, unlike paid search (SEA).
Differences Between B2B and B2C SEO
Number of pages
B2B websites generally have far fewer pages than B2C sites, which often contain tens or hundreds of thousands of pages, whereas B2B sites typically have a few dozen to a few hundred. Generally, a B2B site consists of a few main pages: homepage, product/service pages, company presentation, contact page, and possibly a blog that can contain around a hundred pages. The more pages the blog has, the better — as with B2C sites, volume of pages matters for B2B SEO. Ideally, a B2B site should have at least 200 pages for solid SEO. Below that threshold, its SEO robustness may be compromised.
Number of keywords
In B2B, companies often target more specific, business-oriented, or specialized-solution keywords. These keywords are usually fewer in number but more precise — we’re talking dozens of keywords, compared with thousands for B2C due to its broader audience.
Search volume
Another difference between B2B and B2C SEO is search volumes.
Example: there are 131K searches associated with the keyword “sofa” versus 3K for “invoicing software” (which is actually a very popular B2B keyword).
Search volume should not be taken at face value in B2B. You will find keywords with only 20 to 100 searches per month that are far more relevant to your sector than others with higher volume. This is especially true for niche solutions with specific keywords: low search volume but high business value.
Competition
Online competition is particularly fierce in B2C. Using our “sofa” example, a search returns tens of thousands of sellers and resellers. In B2B, competition is much lower — you may find a few dozen active players and over a hundred different SEO competitors (comparison sites, complementary solutions, or alternative approaches) addressing the same problem.
Content quality
Last but not least, a major difference between B2B and B2C SEO lies in content quality.
In B2B, you are addressing professionals who are often experts in the field. Your audience is not a novice and expects high-quality content — content that cannot be produced adequately by ChatGPT or other generic AI tools, unlike many B2C product pages.
SEO Ranking Criteria for B2B
In both B2B and B2C, we distinguish three families of ranking criteria, though their relative importance differs:
- Content — keywords, content quality, length, and structure (URL, title tag, H1, H2, etc.).
- Technical — site structure, internal linking, categories/subcategories, code, download speed, accessibility, server response time, technical errors (404s/broken links), loading performance, and mobile compatibility.
- Site authority — when other sites considered authoritative in your domain link to your pages, that’s a major positive signal. These inbound links (backlinks) increase your site’s popularity, and search engines reward that.
While technical factors may be the top priority for a large e‑commerce site, they have much less impact in B2B.
The most important criteria in B2B are content and site authority — together they account for more than 90% of the impact.
Our SEO Method to Propel Your B2B Website to Top Positions
- Analyze your keywords
We identify all the keywords that matter to your targets. We start from search intent, personas (defined beforehand in a workshop), and competitors. - Analyze the types of results Google serves for each keyword
Broadly speaking, there are four types of results: the homepage, product/service (offer) pages, pillar pages, and blog articles. For each keyword, Google tends to favor one of these types.
Not clear? Two examples:
- If you want to rank for the keyword “electronic invoicing,” the results are primarily informational: government or regulatory sites and blog articles that explain the legal framework and how electronic invoicing works. The same goes for “dematerialized invoice” or “invoice dematerialization.” Don’t try to position your homepage or a product page for this query — Google won’t promote it.
- If you want to rank for the keyword “invoicing software,” Google tends to serve product comparisons and offer pages. In that case, create a dedicated offer page that is sufficiently comprehensive and relevant to compete. You could also create a pillar page that covers the topic thoroughly. To go further, build a topic cluster (semantic cocoon) of 10 related pages around the keyword and its aspects. Another option is to publish a comparative article of different solutions.
- Check whether you already have a page for each query
For each keyword, verify whether a URL of yours appears within the first two pages of results (i.e., the top 20 results).
Two hypotheses:
- Hypothesis 1: If no URL appears in the top 20 results, you must create new content because the current content is not good enough for Google.
- Hypothesis 2: If your URL ranks between 20th and 5th place, try to optimize the content and ensure it is the correct content type:
If it’s not the right content type, rewrite the content.
- If it is the right type, then optimize the page by checking:
- On-page SEO criteria: URL, title tag, H1, keyword occurrences, meta description, related questions, semantic field, etc.
- Content quality
- Content length
- Internal linking
- Content depth within the site
- Create content for missing queries or for queries with poor rankings
When you identify a keyword you want to rank for but have no content, determine the appropriate content type (see point 2) and the content length relative to the competition. Then apply the SEO rules described above, and don’t forget internal linking, especially for competitive queries. - Boost your positions with backlinks
Optimizing your content is a great start, but it’s only half the journey. You’re likely not the only site with high‑quality, well‑optimized content.
How will Google decide which results appear first? This is where site authority and page authority come in, driven by other websites linking to your content. To achieve top positions, implement a backlink acquisition strategy.