35+ B2B SEO Statistics:
Actionable Statistics to Learn From
Search engine optimization (SEO) remains a key marketing tool this year as well. With ever-changing criteria and algorithms, learning and mastering SEO is a challenge to be managed in order to get your content out there and performing at maximum efficiency.
Fortunately, SEO has been around for a long time now and is a well-known tool in a marketing professional’s toolkit. This means that we have plenty of data—quantitative and qualitative—from previous years that provide us with invaluable insights into the progression and fundamentals of SEO software and principles.
These are the top 35 B2B SEO statistics from past years to help you to change your SEO game.
Top B2B SEO statistics
SEO is a broad field with lots of different components, which means that there is a lot of data out there about current SEO trends for on-site content, social media, and more.
B2B social media channels are an important aspect of SEO strategy and can be used to share content, reach new audiences, and drive traffic to your site.
We’ve broken down the most important SEO statistics from past years that will help you to think about trends in the long term and plan for the future.
B2B SEO Statistics
General SEO statistics for B2B operations can offer useful insight into SEO practices across various industries and professions.
Organic searches generate 2x the revenue of any other channel—meaning your content needs to be optimized! (source)
Around 8.4 billion searches are made on Google every day—that’s a vast and growing potential audience. (source)
Google has around 84% of the search engine market share, so it’s worth investing in learning its algorithms and usage. (source)
95% of search traffic goes to the first page of results, which means it’s likely to give you a high return on investment to rank highly in SERPs. (source)
53% of small businesses use SEO—at least one competitor brand is likely to be using it to improve their ranking, which means you should be too. (source)
SEO provides 60% of marketers with the highest quality leads (source)
Make sure that you optimize your page for search engine results page (SERPs) rankings—75% of all search engine users don’t go past the first page of results. (source)
Around 46% of marketing professionals say that SEO campaigns take 3-6 months to show meaningful results, so make sure to think of your plan in the long term. (source)
Most keywords—over 90%—receive 10 or fewer searches per month, which means that they have low levels of competition and are likely to be effective in niche sectors. (source)
Over 60% of all search engine traffic goes to the top five positive search results, so it’s important to rank as highly as possible for specific, on-brand keywords for your niche. (source)
B2B Social Media Statistics
Although often discounted as completely separate, social media has an effect on your SEO strategy and search engine ranking. How this happens exactly will depend on which platforms you use and the content that you make.
Instagram accounts for 7.5% of all web traffic referrals from social media, making it a valuable tool for SEO professionals—but be careful when buying Instagram likes since an inactive following means that your account is less likely to rank and promote engagement. (source)
72% of SEO professionals regularly use paid social media to share content—popular platforms are the place to be for B2B marketing professionals. (source)
75% of B2B product/service buyers use outside sources such as social media when making a purchase, so optimizing your social media potentially opens up a vast and untapped market of relevant decision-makers. (source)
On average, SEO drives 1000% more leads to your site than organic social media—it’s important to optimize your social media for your web presence and use it as a supporting tool to your SEO strategy. (source)
SEO can reduce the cost of customer acquisition and retention—with 89% of customer acquisitions coming from on-page web interactions. (source)
SEO Backlinks Statistics
Backlinks are a key component of SEO that tend to be overlooked in comparison to keywords and content optimization. These surprising statistics demonstrate the power of backlinks and how you can level up your SEO strategy by using them.
Backlinks are one of Google’s top 3 factors affecting SEO ranking—they are a way to demonstrate brand authority and trust in your site. (source)
Reciprocal links—two or more sites linking to one another—are crucial to high SERPs rankings, with 44% of the top-ranking sites including at least one backlink. (source)
The impact of link-building between sites is growing, with 72% of marketing professionals focusing on backlinks and reciprocal linking from a related site to positively influence their organic search rankings. (source)
There are a number of ways in which marketers measure link quality. A high link quality can mean that your content receives more links and builds your brand authority. 67% use domain rating to establish link quality. (source)
On average, long-form content receives 77% more backlinks than short content. This is a clear indicator that it’s worth investing in high-quality, long-form content that adds value to your consumers. (source)
B2B SEO Keyword Statistics
Keywords are the often-mysterious core of SEO. By choosing relevant keywords for your industry with low-medium competition, you can achieve great success with an SEO campaign. For example, using tools like Serpstat for B2B companies can help you to find targeted and profitable keywords for your business.
Long-tail keywords have a 3-5% higher clickthrough rate than generic key terms—for example, ‘hosted PBX phone system’ may receive a higher click rate than ‘office phone.’ (source)
Organic traffic and keyword rankings are the top measures of success for an SEO campaign for over 50% of B2B markets. (source)
Over 50% of search engine searches consist of four or more words, so your keywords should be targeting the searches that your customers are making in real-time. (source)
71% of B2B search engine inquiries begin with a generic search before transitioning to a branded term, meaning it’s important that your page ranks highly for your specific keywords. (source)
Only around 8% of search terms are phrased as a question. Inquiries are typically phrased as an item or piece of information with few connecting words like ‘and’ or ‘with’. Make sure to choose your keywords based on the activity of real users. (source)
What B2B Professionals Say
Ever wondered what other B2B SEO professionals say? Let’s find out.
Marketing professionals are making lead generation their SEO priority—61% say that their primary goal is lead generation and growth. (source)
62% of B2B marketing professionals see changes to SEO and search engine algorithms as the most important area in content marketing. (source)
69% of the top content marketing and B2B marketing organizations say that they use a documented content marketing strategy to drive successful campaigns. You can employ document control techniques to keep your strategies and documents organized. (source)
Over half (54%) of marketing professionals consider content to be the most powerful component of SEO—your content strategy should include regular, high-quality content that offers value to your customers. (source)
For 59% of B2B marketing professionals, blogs are the most valuable channel for content marketing and content distribution. (source)
Technical SEO Statistics
SEO practices even extend to the technical elements and functionality of your site. There’s solid logic behind this, as high-ranking pages need to service customer needs. This includes being able to use the site to its full potential. Understanding these current trends will help you to make important decisions like choosing the right SEO software.
59% of traffic comes from mobile devices, and users prefer mobile-friendly content, likely because it’s convenient to read on the go, and many now use mobile devices in a professional capacity. (source)
Smartphone searches account for half of B2B queries through Google, which means that Google’s algorithms and SERPs now favor mobile-optimized sites to better suit user needs. (source)
63% of B2B smartphone users are more likely to buy from a company that offers them relevant products to their research—personalization is becoming a key component of SEO. (source)
Around 70% of consumers say that website loading speed has an impact on whether they make a purchase or inquiry, which tells us that it’s vital that your site is speed-optimized and removing non-essential plugins. (source)
Search engine results on mobile devices receive 85.8% more impressions than results on desktop—another clue that SEO should incorporate optimizing your site for mobile. (source)
Key Takeaways for B2B SEO Statistics
The main key takeaways are that businesses should prioritize optimizing their content for search engine ranking to generate more revenue as organic searches generate 2x the revenue of any other channel.
With Google having around 84% of the search engine market share, businesses should invest in learning its algorithms and usage to improve their ranking. Since 95% of search traffic goes to the first page of results, it is essential to rank highly in SERPs for high return on investment.
Optimizing social media channels can also boost SEO strategy by driving traffic to the site and reaching new audiences. Backlinks are another important factor affecting SEO ranking, and reciprocal links can positively influence organic search rankings.
Choosing relevant and targeted long-tail keywords can improve clickthrough rates and organic traffic, which are the top measures of success for an SEO campaign for over 50% of B2B markets.
SEO principles can be applied to all aspects of your online presence, including using the right tools, strategies, and visual media. Knowing how past figures apply to your field helps you in using them to shape your future strategy, combined with current trends.