If you’re wondering whether to hire a B2B SEO agency, this article is for you.
Whether you’re a small startup or an established enterprise, the use of search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure that your brand is put in front of your target audience is imperative.
But optimizing and maintaining your online content can be overwhelming — especially because search engines are constantly changing, evolving and updating their algorithms.
In this post, we will guide you through the process of selecting the best B2B SEO agency for your business, including:
- Factors to consider when researching digital marketing services
- Red flags to watch out for
- The benefits of hiring an agency vs using an in-house team
- A curated list of top agencies to choose from
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Top 6 B2B SEO Agencies
Jump down to the sections below to get a better understanding of what a B2B SEO company is and what to look for when you’re choosing one.
For now, let’s take a look at some of the top contenders.
1) Single Grain
- Specializes In: SEO, Paid Media Advertising, Content Marketing
- Top Clients: Amazon, Salesforce, Airbnb
- Pricing: Custom pricing based on your requirements
We might be a little biased 😁 , but Single Grain has earned its position as one of the world’s top B2B SEO agencies, with countless positive reviews from leading clients like Salesforce, Amazon and more.
We offer a wide range of tried and true paid and organic marketing B2B SEO services, including SEO Campaign Management, Link Prospecting Recommendations, Site Crawl Review and Web Analytics Setup.
At Single Grain, we set ourselves apart from the crowd by ensuring that every company that comes to us in search of SEO support gets a bespoke service. Our experienced team of qualified professionals works with brands to understand the strategic goals of their SEO campaigns, and implement strategies with regular research, testing, and result reviews.
These strategies will help to boost organic rankings, propelling your brand to the top of the search engine results pages (see this case study).
We’ll keep in touch with you to regularly provide insights into how your SEO campaigns are working, what you can do to improve your results, and where you should focus your content marketing strategies. We can even help you to see opportunities for boosting your traffic by combining SEO with paid media advertising.
Their expertise has helped Nextiva grow its brand and overall business
2) Samurai Marketers
- Specializes In: B2B, White Hat SEO, Link Building
- Top Clients: Coefficient, Keka HR, InvGate
- Pricing: $$$
Samurai Marketers specializes in landing backlinks from real, authoritative companies, including well-known tech sites like Slack, Monday and HubSpot.
Before starting campaigns, they use their proprietary software to build a “Links Landscape” report. The report shows how many links and with what anchor text one needs to build in order to outrank the competitors.
The founder, Shaurya, emphasizes the agency’s white hat SEO approach to avoid risky or questionable link-building tactics.
Their link-building service is ideal for B2B and SaaS companies who like to play it safe when it comes to SEO and want links to their existing pieces of content (to avoid the hassle of creating new content).
3) KlientBoost
- Specializes In: SEO, Paid Media Advertising, CRO
- Top Clients: Segment, SAP, Bloomberg
- Pricing: Custom
Another company offering a range of B2B SEO services in the digital landscape, KlientBoost is committed to helping companies understand their SEO strategy from start to finish. B2B SEO experts will work with you to create a state-of-the-art search engine campaign with valuable link-building initiatives and content marketing.
They work with B2B brands on everything from local SEO to social media and search engine-boosted campaigns. You can also expect regular reports on the performance of your SEO-focused content from their skilled marketing team, so you don’t have to guess which campaigns are driving the best results.
The agency promises an all-in-one approach to SEO, so you can leverage everything from keyword research to the creation of original topics and content assets in one convenient package. There’s also support for off-page and on-page optimization.
Dive Deeper: How to Rank Your Brand-New Website When You Don’t Know SEO
4) Apollo Digital
- Specializes In: SEO, Content Marketing
- Top Clients: IP Vanish, Blissfully, Deskera
- Pricing: Custom
A full-service content marketing and SEO company focused specifically on B2B brands, Apollo Digital promises brands a way to strengthen both their voice and presence online. For those who need extra evidence of the company’s success, there’s access to a range of SEO-focused case studies on the brand’s website.
The company has helped B2B SaaS companies to grow from 0 to 200,000 monthly organic visitors in a couple of years, and it can work with companies from a range of industries and backgrounds, creating unique and customized campaigns based on your specific goals.
One of the best things about Apollo Digital’s approach to B2B SEO support is the visual reports you get from the team on a regular basis. You can quickly and clearly see where certain SEO strategies have increased things like conversions and traffic across multiple pages on your website.
Dive Deeper: The Complete White Hat SEO Guide: Google-Validated SEO that Works like Magic!
5) Session Media
- Specializes In: SEO, SaaS Marketing, Content
- Top Clients: Spectrum brands, Spotler, Contino
- Pricing: Custom
With specialist campaigns built around keywords, content management and link building, Session Media offers B2B companies an evidence-backed approach to improving their presence online. The agency starts by working with your company to get an understanding of your existing online presence, and the primary goals you might have for improving your online reputation.
After working with your team, the Session Media experts go away to research effective keywords and put together an SEO marketing plan for your business. You can also leverage the team to access SEO and PPC campaign advertising at the same time, if you want a two-pronged approach.
Session Media’s professionals also have experience working within the WordPress environment, so they can help optimize your website and make sure it’s more accessible to Google’s search engine crawlers. You can check out a range of case studies and testimonials on the website to learn more about Session Media’s B2B SEO services.
6) Polaris
- Specializes In: SEO, E-commerce SEO, Content Marketing, PR
- Top Clients: Thomson Routers, Make a Wish, Mars
- Pricing: Custom
Another top agency worth considering for any evolving business, Polaris uses expertise in search engine optimization to support customers across a range of B2B environments. The company has more than ten years of experience in SEO and consistently delivers a host of SEO campaigns to outperform ranking, sales, and traffic targets.
Their dedicated B2B SEO services are designed specially for companies trying to reach out to other growing businesses. They can work with you on optimizing your content marketing strategy, as well as strengthening your e-commerce website from the inside out.
Aside from working on content marketing and comprehensive B2B campaigns with you, the agency can also offer a range of strategy and consulting services to answer any questions you might have about how to enhance your online presence long-term.
Dive Deeper: 6 SEO Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2023
What Is a B2B SEO Agency?
First, consider this:
- B2B companies generate 2X more revenue from organic search than any other channel.
- Around 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, but…
- Only 0.63% of all Google searches click on a result from the second page.
This is why B2B search engine optimization is vital to business success.
A B2B SEO agency is an SEO or marketing company that specifically focuses on helping organizations leverage the search engines in the “business to business” environment.
SEO agencies are specialists in navigating, understanding, and even manipulating search engines to help your business thrive online. In a world where SEO can drive up to 1,000% more traffic than organic social media posts, a B2B SEO agency can help you master your online presence with a customized B2B SEO campaign.
This means such agencies have special insights into how you can leverage everything from local SEO to quality content marketing to creating landing pages that get you the best conversion rate.
Interested in learning about the latest SEO trends? Here are 8 SEO tips to help you scale your B2B business:
Because B2B and B2C brands sell different kinds of products/services to different types of consumers, a B2B SEO company may use specialized methodologies to help its clients thrive online, such as:
- Customer Journey Mapping: The decision process in a B2B sale is often much longer than it is in the B2C market, due to higher costs of products and length of commitment to a service, and a B2B SEO company can help you map the customer journey to create the right SEO campaign.
- Keyword Selection: Keywords are a common component in both B2B and B2C SEO strategies. However, because the buying cycle is more complex for B2B customers, you may need to consider a wider range of potential keywords for each kind of customer “intent,” including more specific long-tail keywords.
- Link Building: Link building helps enhance your website’s authority and earns new traffic sources. A B2B SEO company can audit your existing link environment and set the stage for new linking opportunities by reaching out to potential partners. (Including how to implement internal linking for SEO.)
- On-site Optimization: Agencies can help optimize all aspects of your website’s on-page SEO, from the title tags to the meta descriptions on your product page, for better recognition from the search engines.
- Content Production: Just like B2C companies, B2B brands can benefit from investing in high-quality content. In fact, content can be even more essential for B2B businesses, where it’s crucial to build an emotional relationship with your target audience.
The Benefits of Hiring a B2B SEO Agency
Hiring a B2B SEO company gives you an edge over other companies in the competition for search performance. Ultimately, figuring out how to master your technical SEO and implement strategies consistently isn’t easy. An agency gives you some much-needed additional support in these efforts.
Other benefits of hiring a B2B SEO company include the following:
- Saved Time: An agency can handle many time-consuming tasks for your B2B business, from keyword research to custom meta-data optimization. With a team of professionals working on your SEO, your company can focus on what they do best.
- Agility: Most companies don’t have the time to run an efficient business and keep track of the latest changes to SEO algorithms. That’s what SEO agencies do. Hiring an agency can give you the insights you need to adapt to the latest trends and avoid SEO penalties.
- Improved ROI: An agency is constantly working to ensure that you get measurable results from your SEO campaigns, and that often will start with a thorough SEO audit. The average business drives 53% of its traffic via organic search, making it one of the most valuable tools for ROI. An agency can help ensure that you’re leveraging the strategies that make the most sense for your business and deliver the best results.
- Industry Expertise: SEO agencies have a selection of diverse professionals, including technical SEO experts, web developers, copy and content writers, and keyword researchers. You get all the expertise and power of a complete team of experts working on your SEO strategy, but without the expense. In addition, they will have an arsenal of tools at their disposal that they know inside and out, from Google Analytics and Google Search Console to Ahrefs and Semrush.
- Custom Services: Many SEO agencies will work hand-in-hand with your organization to create a bespoke strategy for SEO, based on what they already know about the industry and brands like yours. If your B2B SEO company has a lot of experience in your sector, they can even use previous case studies and instances to demonstrate proven strategies.
- Improved Efficiency: Agencies give you access to a highly skilled team of professionals whose only focus is to improve your SEO results. They always take advantage of the latest trends and make sure changes to your SEO campaigns are implemented as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Dive Deeper:
* SEO Keyword Research Made Easy in 2023
* B2B SEO: How to Rank Your Business Website Higher in Search
* Top B2B Marketing Mistakes You’re Making (And How to Fix Them!)
How Do I Choose a B2B SEO Agency for My Business?
There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for choosing the perfect B2B SEO agency for your company’s needs. However, there are certain factors to keep in mind, such as:
Experience with Similar B2B Brands
An SEO agency for B2B brands should have specialist knowledge about leveraging the latest SEO techniques for companies in the B2B landscape. They should be able to show you case studies of previous companies they’ve worked with to achieve the goals you’re working towards.
Ideally, the best agency will often be one with specific experience in your sector. Companies with a good knowledge of your industry will be able to suggest strategies and content marketing techniques that are appealing to your target audience.
Excellent Reporting
If you’re investing in SEO as part of a B2B e-commerce marketing strategy or brand growth campaign, you’ll need to see evidence that your investment is paying off. A good B2B SEO company should be able to provide measurable insights into their results.
Leading SEO providers use a wide range of tools to track important B2B search marketing metrics like brand awareness, traffic, and clicks from the search engines to demonstrate how different technical SEO strategies are working. Not only will these reports help to demonstrate the value of your investment, but they can also help you to make better decisions on which SEO strategies to pursue in the future.
Look for a results-oriented company capable of demonstrating a genuine improvement in your organic traffic, leads and customers with each SEO strategy.
Dive Deeper:
* SEO Score: How to Grade Your Website (in 5 Minutes)
* 4 Types of SEO Analysis & How to Do Them (Step-by-Step)
Customer Service
A commitment to excellent customer service is crucial for any company in search of the best B2B SEO company. Your agency needs to be committed to constantly communicating with you and sharing updates on your campaign.
A strong focus on customer service will also involve helping you understand how to use the best SEO strategies to leverage stronger results. Look for a company capable of guiding you through the search engine optimization process.
A good way to check for evidence of good customer service, is to read up on reviews, testimonials, and even star ratings from other clients:.
White Hat SEO Practices vs Black Hat SEO Practices
When speaking with potential agencies, consider the SEO methods they use to boost search performance. While many companies have seen success from black hat SEO methods, manipulating and “fooling” search engines for instant results, this isn’t sustainable.
Search engines like Google are continually updating their algorithms to identify these loopholes and enforce their search engine guidelines.
Some common black hat SEO techniques you may encounter include:
- Keyword Stuffing: Including as many keywords as possible into your content without concern about whether they fit organically, creating a poor user experience.
- Invisible Text: “Hiding” keywords on the page using white text on a white background, making it visible to search bots but not to the average website visitor.
- Spamdexing: Incorporating many unrelated search phrases or terms into your content to trick search engines into viewing your content as more valuable or containing more information than it already does, boosting its standings regarding relevancy in the search results.
- Doorway Pages: The use of website pages that are not visible to the average visitor, only to search bots, to create the illusion that a website offers more content than is actually available, encouraging them to index the site higher.
The bottom line is: If you are investing in SEO with the goal of long-term improvements in organic rankings and ensuring that your website maintains good standing with search engines, you must find an agency that focuses its efforts on SEO best practices (aka white hat SEO practices).
🚩 Red Flags to Watch Out For
While you search for a company with an excellent track record in B2B SEO and a strong focus on customer service, make sure you watch out for common red flags, such as:
- Inability to share case studies: It isn’t a good sign if all the reviews you see come with made-up names and no profile photo. You should easily be able to find testimonials from authentic people.
- Poor website performance: If the website of the SEO company looks outdated or doesn’t have a good position in the search engines, this indicates the brand isn’t invested in its own business or doesn’t know what it’s doing.
- Lack of credentials: If an agency has nothing to back up their claims of exceptional SEO skills, like Google accreditation or certifications, this could be a sign they’re not the right choice for you. Don’t be bamboozled with claims that a company has 50 years of combined experience, or something similar.
Final Thoughts: Hiring the Right B2B SEO Agency
SEO is one of the most important investments for any business in today’s competitive digital landscape. The world of SEO is constantly changing and evolving, making it more important than ever to work with a specialist to meet your company’s SEO needs.
Hiring the right agency is an excellent way to get one step ahead of the competition. Remember, when choosing your agency:
- Always look for a company with B2B skills: Your SEO agency should know the difference between optimization for B2C and B2B brands.
- Check the company’s reputation: Check out reviews, testimonials, and case studies to get a better insight into the company’s service levels.
- Communicate with the brand: Connect with the company and discuss your needs to get an idea of their approach to customer service. Ask questions to ensure that both parties understand expectations and your desired goals.
- Demand measurable results: Make sure your B2B SEO company can deliver measurable insights into your SEO campaigns, with reports and analytics.
The first step to selecting the best B2B SEO agency or SEO consultant for your business is to conduct thorough research and careful evaluation of the options available.
Each agency offers a unique experience, expertise, and approach to SEO marketing. You can find the company that best fits your unique needs, long-term marketing goals, and business operations by doing your due diligence.
If you’re ready to grow your business by partnering with an excellent SEO agency, Single Grain can take your brand to the next level. 👇
B2B SEO Agency FAQs
Is SEO good for B2B?
Yes! Not only is SEO good for B2B companies, but it is a necessary element in any digital marketing plan. A strong SEO marketing plan will improve brand awareness, boost organic visibility, and increase the number of sales-qualified leads your website delivers.
Should I hire an agency for SEO?
To determine whether your business would benefit from hiring an agency, you must start by assessing your current search performance, SEO efforts, and business objectives.
If your in-house team is achieving your desired results and it isn’t taking away from other aspects of your business operations, your current SEO solutions may be suitable at this time.
However, if you are struggling with your SEO content strategy, feeling overwhelmed by the necessary work, or falling short on your desired lead generation, it may be time to take the next step.
Some signs that your company should consider hiring a marketing agency dedicated to SEO include the following:
- You are looking to increase organic traffic but struggle to achieve the higher rankings needed to accomplish this with your current marketing strategy
- You would like to improve your cost of acquisition, allowing you to attract more qualified leads while maintaining your current budget
- You are achieving more traffic, but this traffic is failing to convert to paid customers
- You don’t currently employ anyone with the knowledge and experience necessary to provide for your company’s SEO needs
What is the best B2B SEO strategy in 2023?
The best B2B SEO strategy focuses on providing high-value content that addresses the needs of your target audience. In turn, your content will generate more qualified leads and convert those leads into sales.
This means establishing a content strategy that includes new content creation to target valuable keywords, address search intent, and identify ways to optimize existing content.
What is the difference between B2B SEO and B2C SEO?
The most important difference between B2B SEO and B2C SEO is the target audience. When positioning a B2B SEO Strategy, you aim to reach professionals and business-minded clients. The steps to do this will differ from B2C companies seeking to connect with individual potential customers.
As your target audience drives many decisions made throughout the SEO process, from keyword selection to the type of content that will best resonate, the SEO approach for each type of business varies considerably.
Even after reaching your target audience, the differences continue. The sales funnel for a B2B purchase is considerably longer than that for a B2C consumer. This is primarily because of the higher price point and the number of people involved in making purchase decisions.
How do you create a B2B SEO strategy?
To create an effective B2B SEO strategy, you must start by building a buyer persona and mapping out a buyer journey. This will allow you to better understand whom you are trying to reach, their goals and pain points, and how your business can provide a valuable solution.
With this information in mind, conduct keyword research to identify valuable keywords (including long-tail keywords and zero-volume keywords) to guide your content strategy and the development of SEO-focused content. Implement these keywords using best SEO practices in on-page optimization, off-page optimization and technical SEO improvements.
Track all changes and analyze the impact it has on your SEO performance. Regularly check in to make additional updates or refocus your SEO efforts.
Is SEO still in demand?
Despite the growing focus on AI-powered information, search engine optimization continues to be a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes.
Data shows that 75% of B2B buyers will not search beyond the first page of the search results for a product or service. This means that your chance of success in acquiring that lead depends on your ability to rank in the first ten search results for your targeted keywords.
