Essential B2B SEO Statistics in 2024

Written by: Muninder Adavelli

Updated: July, 18, 2024

Posted in:

Given that 68% of a website’s traffic begins with a simple search query, a successful business-to-business (B2B) SEO effort aims to position a B2B website at the top of the search engine results page (SERPs). Then, appearing on the SERP’s first page will increase organic search engine traffic and keyword ranking. 

SEO has an impactful role in B2B marketing. Almost half of B2B companies today utilize SEO to achieve different goals, such as lead generation, brand awareness, customer engagement, and so on.

One of the most utilized tactics in SEO is content marketing, which reports found to reduce customer acquisition cost (CAC) by over 87%. Appearing on search engine results pages allows customers to see the B2B company’s website immediately. 

Due to the effectiveness of B2B SEO, 31% of marketers spend the most on this venture and usually allocate 9.7% of their budget to marketing. Furthermore, 40% of B2B marketers plan to increase their SEO budgets to extend their marketing efforts.

This article will explore deeply of B2B SEO statistics and determine the sector’s power in B2B organizations. Read on to learn about B2B SEO reports from relevant strategies, and expenditures, to conversion and sales.

 

B2B SEO Key Findings

  1. 49% of B2B companies use SEO for various marketing goals like quality leads, organic traffic, customer reach, and more.
  2. An effective SEO and content marketing effort can reduce the cost of customer acquisition by 87.41%.
  3. 31% of B2B marketers spend the most on their SEO efforts.
  4. B2B businesses spend an average of 9.7% of their total budget on marketing, which includes SEO.
  5. More strategies and tools on SEO are emerging, which pushes 40% of B2B marketers to increase their SEO budgets.

B2B SEO and Marketing Statistics You Should Know in 2024

SEO is one of the top marketing trends worldwide. 49% of B2B companies currently use SEO for various marketing intents. The primary reason for utilizing SEO is to improve ranking on search results using keywords and other crucial aspects of SEO.

As a result of ranking in search engine results, a B2B website will reach its target audience and generate sales and revenue. However, ranking in the top 10 positions of search results is only likely for 5.7% of pages, making the B2B SEO venture extremely demanding and competitive.

The following sections will break down relevant B2B SEO strategies and analyze their impacts based on the latest reports and statistics by B2B marketers.

B2B SEO and Marketing Strategy Statistics: What is the Best B2B SEO Strategy?

 

B2B SEO and Marketing Strategy Key Findings

  • 71% of B2B clients prefer extracting online information via search engines.
  • Enhancing SEO performance through content marketing is the biggest marketing challenge for 11% of B2B marketers.
  • Moreover, 51% of marketers agree that it’s getting harder to capture the audience’s attention through content marketing.
  • 90% of B2B marketers have distributed content in social media to improve their digital marketing performance in the past year.

Using search engines to find out online information about a business is preferred by 71% of B2B clients. At the same time, 70% of organic traffic in B2B websites are from searches, appearing prominently through SEO.

These statistics further highlight the importance of utilizing B2B SEO. Thus, numerous SEO tactics emerged for marketers to use. 

B2B SEO and Content Marketing Statistics

Content marketing and SEO can go hand-in-hand. For 11% of B2B marketers, improving SEO performance through content marketing poses the biggest marketing challenge.

At the same time, 51% of marketers believe that capturing the attention of audiences through content marketing is becoming harder.

Regardless of content marketing and SEO’s challenging nature, 43% of marketers report that content marketing is the second-most implemented marketing venture with SEO.

Marketers utilize content marketing for its numerous benefits. As reported by 84% of B2B marketers, content marketing helped create brand awareness.

Due to content marketing for SEO’s effectiveness, 91% of B2B marketers use content to expand their company’s reach.

Infographic on 91% of B2B marketers using content to expand company reach.

An effective SEO and content marketing effort also reduces customer acquisition cost (CAC) by 87.41%.

Overall, marketers publish several new content a week as content marketing costs 67% less than other traditional marketing strategies.

B2B Social Media SEO Statistics

Social media is a huge market that further extends the reach of B2B companies. SEO exists in social media platforms to widen the reach of businesses.

In the past year, 90% of B2B marketers reported to have distributed content in social media to boost their digital market performance.

When asked to determine the best social platform for various marketing goals, 84% of marketers picked LinkedIn and only 29% chose Facebook.

The best social media platforms for marketing.

Marketers agree that social media effectively sustains both upper-funnel and lower-funnel marketing goals. Around half of B2B marketers confirm that social media contributes the most to reaching upper-funnel goals than other channels like email or in-person events.

How much marketing platforms contribute to reaching upper-funnel goals.

B2B Social Media SEO Statistics

 

B2B SEO Expenditure Key Findings

  • The average budget allocation of B2B companies for marketing is 9.7%, which already includes SEO.
  • Over 30% of B2B marketers spend the most on SEO.

Companies allot more and more budget on digital marketing over the years, which includes expenditure for SEO. On average, 9.7% of a B2B organization’s budget is allocated to marketing, including SEO. Still, the actual range of B2B SEO expenditure depends. It can cost from $100 monthly to over $15,000 per month.

Overall, 31% of B2B marketers report spending the most on their SEO efforts. However, their ventures prove to be worth it as SEO ROI can reach as high as 12.2 times their marketing spend.

B2B SEO Conversion and Sales Statistics: How Much Time It Takes to Deliver SEO Results?

 

B2B SEO Conversion and Sales Key Findings

  • According to several marketers, it takes 3 to 6 months to see results from SEO efforts.
  • Over 46% of marketers use 3 to 5 metrics to measure SEO success, while more than 40% utilize 6 to 10 metrics.
  • The main metric for SEO is the ranking in which a page appears on the search engine results page, which is why 50% of marketers check their rankings at least once a day.
  • In 34% of B2B marketers, SEO was behind most of their leads and sales.

Based on the experience of various marketers, it takes 3 to 6 months to deliver results from SEO. The speed of the results depends on various factors, such as:

  • Content length
  • Backlink profile
  • E.E.A.T Signals
  • Technical errors
  • Website structure
  • Keyword optimization
  • Frequency of publishing
  • Quality of internal linking
  • Domain authority and age

Then, 46.2% of marketers utilize 3 to 5 metrics to determine SEO success. Meanwhile, 40.4% of marketers depend on 6 to 10 various metrics. Some examples of these metrics are:

  • Backlinks
  • Conversions
  • Bounce rate
  • Impressions
  • Organic traffic
  • Technical Health
  • Website authority
  • Keyword rankings
  • Click-through rate
  • Search engine results page (SERP) visibility

Ranking on the search engine results page is one of the main metrics in SEO. Without ranking, generating organic traffic and other metrics would be an impossible feat. That’s why 50% of B2B companies check their SERP rank at least once a day. 

Lead generation is another indicator of a successful B2B SEO effort, which is analyzed by 73% of marketers. And according to 34% of B2B marketers, SEO was responsible for most of their leads and sales. At least 70% of marketers are convinced that organic SEO is more effective than PPC ads when generating sales.

How many marketers report SEO was responsible for leads and sales.

These statistics reflect the effectiveness of SEO in B2B companies in putting the company’s website on the map and converting this new-found awareness into revenue.

The Future of B2B SEO Through Statistics

 

Future of B2B SEO Key Findings

  • As reported by 77% of marketers, they already use AI for digital marketing efforts.
  • Around 40% of B2B marketers are looking to expand their SEO budgets to keep up with emerging trends like generative AI in search.

B2B SEO marketers are constantly finding ways to improve the industry and update SEO strategies. The most prominent trend that is emerging is the use of AI along with the following innovations:

  • AI-powered SEO
  • AI-assisted content creation
  • Improved website user experience
  • Enhanced conversion rate optimization (CRO) efforts 

According to Salesforce’s State of Marketing report, 77% of digital marketers already use AI. On the other hand, 40% of B2B marketers plan to increase their SEO budgets due to the emerging generative AI strategy in search.

How many digital marketers already use AI for marketing.

At the same time, B2B marketers are set to continue effective practices in SEO, such as: 

  • Using long-tail keywords
  • Building high-quality backlinks
  • Creating marketable content (i.e., long-form, short-form, informative)
  • Promoting content and brand on SEO

These strategies are equipped to assist B2B marketers as SEO increases its demand and some marketers report SEO is beginning to get harder.

In Summary: B2B SEO is Here To Stay and Grow Further

The B2B industry is an incredibly competitive sector, making an effective SEO strategy indispensable. The statistics above highlight the current state of B2B SEO and the various tactics that enhance it. 

By understanding the data and insights discussed in this article, marketers can identify challenges and advantages to focus on. Moreover, the statistics can help create a targeted approach based on each strategy or channel’s performance.

Emerging B2B SEO trends and Ultimately, prioritizing SEO in a B2B company can lead to long-term and sustainable benefits that will propagate the business ahead of its competitors.

Tutorial By: Muninder Adavelli

Harsha Kiran is a seasoned Link Building Strategist with over 10 years of experience in SEO. Passionate about organic growth, Harsha has helped numerous clients achieve long-term SEO success. When not strategizing, Harsha enjoys hiking and photography.