32 Crucial B2B SEO Statistics You Can’t Avoid

Search engine optimization statistics provide a benchmark against which to compare your SEO efforts and achievements. They also help CFOs and VPs see the possible impacts that their SEO team could have–and help them give them the budgets necessary as well as set realistic milestones for them. Additionally, understanding SEO statistics and their benchmarks can aid SEO teams when coming up with a strategy so they know where to spend more of their time and resources given where they are against those benchmarks. 

They can also help guide you towards SEO trends and easier competitor analysis. Staying on top of industry trends and statistics is a key part of developing your B2B SEO strategy. 

In this article, we’ve got 32 up-to-date statistics to help guide your SEO efforts. They’re from a wide variety of sources and studies within the SEO industry and provide a glimpse into the future of SEO.

Shall we?

32 Crucial B2B SEO Statistics You Should Know

Keeping up with SEO is a must for B2B SaaS brands to increase MRR and reach growth goals. Here’s our up-to-date list of SEO statistics and trends to watch out for in 2023.

SEO still matters in 2023

SEO is here to stay. It’s a key tool in a marketing team’s arsenal, of both product-led and sales led models utilized by SaaS organizations.

The fast-paced nature of SEO—the way in which the industry pivots following an algorithm update—makes it essential to remain up-to-date. 

1. 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine. (Source)

This comes as no surprise—the tech revolution has changed the way we live and work. It’s essential for B2B brands to prioritize SEO in order to reach the largest audience possible.

2. 95% of search engine traffic goes to the first page of Google. (Source)

Only 5% of searchers end up clicking through to the second search engine results page—appearing on the first page is a high priority for B2B brands.

3. It is estimated that a #1 organic position in Google can result in a click through rate (CTR) of 34.2%. (Source)

It’s no surprise that many searchers end up clicking the first organic result. More and more people are automatically scrolling past the ads to find the number one organic result. There’s even a name for this behavior: banner blindness refers to the avoiding of promotional content. Banner blindness is the reason organic listings receive on average 20 times more clicks than paid ads. 

That being said, CTR does also depend on the search engine results page feature in question. Take a look:

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4. In 2021, 70% of all global desktop search traffic came from Google, followed by Baidu (13%), Bing (12%), and Yahoo (2%). (Source)

Google currently holds 92.5% of the global search engine market share, so it’s no surprise they’re the go-to search engine for 70% of desktop users.

Appearing at the top of Google search results is a top priority in many SEO strategies.

5. 60% of B2B organizations make use of SEO and SEO marketing. (Source)

Your competitors are doing it, so why aren’t you? The online experience is going nowhere—businesses that fail to adapt to new SEOstrategies are destined to fail.

6. Organic Search remains the dominant source of trackable web traffic and in the dominant position as a channel, with 53% of traffic. (Source)

Most people arriving on your website do so through a search engine. Ensuring you’re ranking for the relevant keywords can have a huge impact on organic site visitors and MRR.

7. A potential buyer of B2B products/services makes around 12 Google searches before they decide to buy one. (Source)

A robust SEO strategy is key for ensuring you’re building brand awareness and trust throughout the purchasing process. Businesses research the options available to them, meaning your SEO efforts need to be expansive and stable in order to continually capture the attention of buyers.

8. B2B companies generate 2x more revenue from organic search than other channels. (Source)

That’s in comparison with 44.6% on average for the industry vertical, and second only to the technology industry.

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9. 70% of online marketers say that SEO is better than PPC for generating sales. (Source)

Earning customers is more effective than buying them—who would’ve thought? SEO involves optimizing your website to improve user experience and help with search engine rankings. 

While PPC gets your brand in front of prospects, organic searches are 8.5 times more likely to get clicked than paid searches–however, PPC traffic converts 50% higher than organic traffic. So, although PPC is a great tactic to use, you don’t want to disregard the power of SEO and organic traffic.

Additionally, since SEO efforts translate to an improved experience for users, it’s still a requirement for every website to have a great SEO strategy.

10. SEO ROI can be as high as 12.2x marketing spend–and sometimes even higher. (Source)

Including SEO in your marketing budget is a cost-effective decision when ROI is high—likely due to the long-lasting effects of investing in SEO.

SEO as a way to generate demand

It’s no longer just up to your sales team to sing your product’s praises. There’s a whole new way to attract customers to your brand.

Targeting the right keywords and optimizing your website for search engines is a key way of getting people interested in your offerings. A combination of SEO efforts—such as improved crawlability and proper indexing, as well as high-quality content—leads to increased organic traffic and more eyes on your product.

Let’s take a look at the stats.

11. Almost 60% of B2B businesses said that SEO has the most impact on their lead generation efforts. (Source)

SEO is so effective for generating leads that they’ll need their own name soon.

12. 71% of marketers say using strategic keywords was their number one strategy for SEO. (Source)

Keywords are still an important part of SEO—they indicate to search engines what your website is all about. You’ve got primary keywords, as well as secondary and tertiary keywords, and you’ve also got long tail keywords, which are usually 3-5 words and allow you to target specific demographics. For example, your primary keyword might be ‘wellness’ and your long tail keyword might be ‘financial wellness for pre-retirement employees’. 

Long-tail keywords are usually phrases t related to the primary keyword, but which get less traffic and are therefore less competitive. Long-tail keywords can be a great way to reach your target audience—given you know which long-tail keywords to target.

13. Websites and blogs are the #2 channel used in marketing, behind social media marketing. (Source)

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Both social media and websites/blogs are self-serve options for brand discovery. Users don’t need to jump on a call or join a demo—they can consider your offerings in their own time usingtheir own research.

14. 67% of organizations are currently engaging in content marketing for lead generation. (Source)

Content marketing is a key part of any SEO strategy—it enables you to position your organization as a thought leader. Keyword research is a prerequisite for developing a high-quality content marketing strategy. 

We’ll talk more about content marketing in SEO shortly.

15. B2B buyers typically consume between three and seven pieces of content before speaking with a salesperson. (Source)

Creating quality content doesn’t render your sales team obsolete—it just means prospects are arriving with more info than before. Gone are the days when the sales team was the first point of contact—interested parties now have access to way more information.

Your sales team is now tasked with taking SQLs and securing the sale and business.

16. SEO can reduce the cost of customer acquisition by 87.41%. (Source)

Investing in SEO reduces the long-term cost of customer acquisition. SEO is a long-term investment that continues to benefit your organization long after you cease investing in it.

That being said, SEO is a fast-changing field, and keeping up with new trends and developments is key for ensuring you continue ranking highly for your desired keywords.

17. 68% of B2B businesses have strategic landing pages specifically for lead generation. (Source)

Strategic, in this context, means SEO-optimized. Organizations can create optimized landing pages with conversion-orientated keywords. During keyword research, adequate keywords are allocated to each stage of the sales funnel, landing pages are optimized and, consequently, rank for the BoFu (bottom of the funnel) keywords

18. Speed helps conversions. Mobile pages that load a second faster than otherwise-identical pages have 20% more conversions. (Source)

More and more searches are now done on mobile devices, particularly since Google’s introduction of mobile-first indexing, and designing a mobile-friendly website has become a priority. Website speed is a key factor in optimizing your website for SEO and user experience, and one that’ll continue to matter in the future from now on.

SEO-powered content marketing is the best content marketing

Content is a key part of SEO—so much so, that it now has its own name. Content marketing refers to how B2B brands use content to attract and retain customers. 

Content is hugely important and has a number of benefits for your SEO efforts, such as:

• Content positions you as a thought leader in your field, which can help win backlinks from other sites
• Quality content is the only way to make sure that you can strategically use your keywords. This will help you compete with other brands from your industry.
• Content enables you to build internal links more easily within your own website
• SEO content can lead to long-term exponential growth by steadily building brand credibility— so that it becomes an integral part of your digital marketing strategy. 

It’s not as simple as it seems—your content needs to be high-quality, keyword research-informed, and quick to load. Poor content does little to support your SEO efforts.

Additionally, according to Google’s Quality Rater Guidelines, there are four things great content must have in order to successfully rank. Those are E.E.A.T.:

• Experience: first-hand experience of the topic
• Expertise: necessary knowledge and skills on the topic
• Authoritativeness: seen as a go-to source for the topic
• Trustworthiness: the level of trust readers can have in what they are reading

All this means is that Google–and readers–want content from an authority that has first-hand experience and the right knowledge about the subject at hand. Experience, Expertise, and Authoritativeness foster Trustworthiness in the site and brand. And at the end of the day trust is what really matters to both Google and readers.

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19. 73% of B2B organizations surveyed have a content marketing strategy. (Source)

Content marketing is a key tool in SEO—it’s no surprise that almost three quarters of B2B organizations are utilizing the benefits of a content marketing strategy. However, content marketing goes way beyond consistently posting blog posts. It’s about the quality of all the content (blog posts included) you’re creating for your brand as well as properly matching the user intent. 

20. For 33% of the surveyed B2B companies, content marketing is the top spent-on sector. (Source)

As SEO grows and more and more people are finding what they need via search engines, businesses are increasingly investing in content marketing. We only expect this trend to continue growing.

It’s possible that the remaining 67% of B2B companies are using their marketing spent on strategies like PPC, which, although can bring in results, increases Customer Acquisition Cost, whereas SEO decreases CAC over time and has incredible results–when done right. 

21. Short articles, less than 3,000 words, ranked third in the B2B content assets that generated the best results in the last 12 months. (Source)

Content comes in all shapes and sizes, and there’s unfortunately no single way to ensure your content does amazingly. Your best bet is to create high-quality content that stands out from the rest—whether that’s with stunning visuals, great infographics, or unique sections.

22. 51% of content marketers surveyed agreed that over the last year it had become increasingly difficult to capture audiences’ attention. (Source)

Standing out is becoming increasingly harder, and catching the attention of your audience requires more effort than before. Video content marketing has proved itself as more than a trend—consider how it fits into your overall marketing and SEO strategy.

23. Organization size had little impact on content marketing success—27% of those from small companies reported high levels of success, as did 30% of those from large companies. (Source)

Don’t leave it to the big dogs—there’s plenty of space to establish a strong content marketing strategy in your organization. 

24. Top-ranking pages tend to get new ‘do follow’ backlinks at a pace of +5%-14.5% per month. (Source)

‘Do follow’ backlinks pass value between web pages. Backlinks are links from another site to your site, and they serve as a ‘vote of confidence’ from one webpage to another. The more relevant and quality ‘votes of confidence’ a page has, the higher domain authority they’re likely to be given.

25. Brands that consistently blog on their website get 97% more backlinks than those that don’t. (Source)

This one’s a no-brainer—but 97% is still a shocking number. Creating quality content is great for winning backlinks as you’re providing something valuable for others to build on.

For example, say you secure an exclusive interview with a top B2B CEO and publish the conversation on your blog. This content is new in the industry, and it contains ample never-before-seen quotes and insights. 

Other brands are sure to use the content from your interview, and best practice dictates that they include a backlink to your website. This can get you ‘do follow’ links that boost your domain authority and rankings.

26. 86% of marketers expect content marketing campaigns to create brand awareness, whereas 70% of them use the same to build leads and demand. (Source)

Content marketing can be focused on a number of different end goals, and is commonly created through the lens of the marketing funnel. TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU content all have different intentions and results—so it’s important to create tailored content for each stage of the funnel.

SEO B2B metrics and statistics

B2B SaaS brands know the importance of tracking and measuring progress—SEO is no different.

When it comes to measuring the success of your SEO, there are some key metrics to consider:

• Click-through rate (CTR)
• MQLs
• SQLs
• Opps and pipeline
• Closed won deals
• Payback period
• Keyword rankings
• Organic traffic
• Backlinks

These metrics can more or less be directly attributed to SEO, but there are other crucial marketing metrics that aren’t as easy to attribute to a single area. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t track them—quite the opposite.

These metrics include:

• Customer acquisition cost
• Activations
• Signup to paid conversion
• Churn rate 
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) 
• Customer retention rate

Let’s take a look at some of the statistics surrounding SEO for B2B brands.

Source

27. Over 50% of marketers say keyword rankings and organic traffic are the top ways they measure the success of their SEO strategies. (Source)

Keyword rankings and organic traffic are the top two ways marketers measure the success of their SEO strategies, followed by time spent on page, CTR, bounce rate, returning visitors, and domain authority.

These can be attributed to SEO efforts in a way that other metrics cannot.

However, these are not the metrics marketers should be focusing on when measuring their SEO performance. Since these metrics fail to relate SEO to the revenue which is what their leadership team cares about. As a result marketing teams focused on SEO get less budget than their PPC peers who are able to show ROI more effectively.

28. Over 60% of marketers measure the success of their content marketing strategy through sales. (Source)

One way to attribute sales to SEO efforts is by keeping everything else the same. If you solely focus on SEO as a lead generation tool, you can more confidently attribute sales to your SEO efforts.

29. Around 46% of the surveyed companies track 3-5 primary metrics in their SEO dashboards, while around 40% of respondents track 6-10. (Source)

The metrics you track are up to you, but three to five metrics are a good place to start. It’s better to track fewer metrics very well than measure many poorly.

30. 86% of organizations use analytics tools for content marketing. (Source)​​

Using SEO tools to keep up with your efforts is a great way to measure their effectiveness. Popular SEO tools—such as Ahrefs, Moz, and more—enable you to track domain authority, CTR, bounce rate, and more.

31. Half of companies surveyed check their SERP rankings at least once a day. (Source)

Monitoring ranking drops and ranking increases helps identify tactics that are working—and those that aren’t.

Source

32. Nearly 70% of SEO experts send SEO reports to their clients on a monthly basis. (Source)

SEO experts send frequent reports to clients, with around a quarter of experts surveyed sending weekly reports. This enables organizations to stay up-to-date with keywords and rankings, and gives an idea of how closely you should monitor your SEO efforts.

How to use B2B SEO statistics to get results

Having these statistics is only half the battle—you need to know how to use them, too.

Statistics and trends give you a guide to what’s happening in the industry right now, which enables you to adapt your strategy to match. For example, the above statistics highlight the benefits of content marketing for SEO—so, why not focus on creating quality content?

Statistics can also help you identify up-and-coming areas in SEO that could give you a headstart against competitors. SEO is a fast-evolving industry that often pivots due to search engine algorithm changes. 

Finally, SEO statistics also give you an idea of what not to do. If others aren’t bothering, there’s likely a reason why. That being said, there’s no surefire way of ranking number one—just a set of best practices to help point you in the right direction.

Your brand is unique—as is your audience—and what works for you depends on your offerings and brand. While some content works for others, it may not work for you. Consider how best you can approach each area of SEO—whether that’s site load time, high-quality content, or an improved user experience.

Maximize marketing ROI with B2B SEO

A strong SEO strategy can help retain existing customers, attract new ones, and position you as an industry leader. Plus, you continue to reap the benefits of SEO long after you stop investing in it.

SEO is the key to long-term SaaS success—it gets you in front of your target audience.

Investing in SEO is one of the best decisions you can make for your business in 2022, and it’s not a process you have to undergo alone. Enlisting the help of a B2B SEO agency helps ensure you’re making data-driven decisions that help you reach your retention, acquisition, and conversion goals.

Get in touch with Skale today to find out how SEO can help your B2B business grow. Your competitors are already investing in SEO—what are you waiting for?

B2B SEO statistics: FAQs