14 Critical B2C SEO Elements + B2B vs B2C SEO

Marketing to consumers has never been easy.
And with the amount of competition on the internet, it’s only getting harder.

Fortunately, mastering B2C SEO can give you a leg up when it comes to reaching and engaging your target audience effectively.

But what exactly is B2C SEO, and how does it set itself apart from its B2B counterpart?
We’ll cover five key distinctions to prime you before diving into 14 essential B2C SEO elements you need to implement to get the most out of your search engine presence.

But why should you listen to us?

At Startup Voyager, we’ve helped numerous B2C companies supercharge their organic traffic.

We know that a one-size-fits-all SEO strategy won’t work for every company.
But we’re also aware of the essentials that every B2C SEO strategy MUST contain.

So let’s get started by going over them!

You’ll Learn About

What is B2C SEO and How Does it Differ From B2B SEO?
14 Impactful B2C SEO Elements to Master
Benefits of Hiring an SEO Agency for B2C Companies

Let’s B2-Begin!

What is B2C SEO and How Does it Differ From B2B SEO?

All businesses – B2B and B2C alike – start with an idea for an amazing product or service. After setting up a company, your biggest hurdle is getting the word out and attracting customers to try your offering.

Today, consumers are online more than ever, mobile is taking the world by storm, and digital marketing is indispensable in building an audience for your B2C brand.

To understand where SEO (search engine optimization) and content marketing fits into all this, take in these stats:

68% of online customer journeys start with a search engine query (Brightedge, 2019)
53% of all website traffic across industries comes from organic search (Brightedge, 2019)
71% of consumers say they sometimes or frequently do online research before making purchases (Klarna, 2021); Only 29% do not
Only 0.6% of searchers click on results from page 2 of Google (Backlinko, 2023)

So, what does this mean?
It means there’s enormous importance in showing up prominently when people search for queries on Google!

And that’s precisely the purpose of SEO.

This is a broad set of tactics for creating content and optimizing your website to rank on search engines like Google and grow your organic traffic.

But there’s a slight problem for B2C (business-to-consumer) companies:
Much of the SEO education available online is created with B2B (business-to-business) companies in mind.

The B2C approach to SEO differs in a few crucial ways, and understanding these distinctions can help you adapt SEO best practices.

Here’s a rundown on B2C SEO vs B2B SEO:

1. Shorter Sales Cycle ⚡

One of the major differences between B2B and B2C business is the time it takes for a potential customer to move from awareness to conversion.

B2B:
The B2B buying process is typically drawn out over weeks, months, or even years. This is because of several factors:

B2B products are typically more costly than their B2C counterparts in the same niche (Think of B2B vs B2C SaaS software pricing)
Purchases represent risks for companies, where the wrong decision can result in wasted time and money which will need to be accounted for
Therefore, B2B buyer journeys often involve several stages of research, comparison, and shortlisting before a decision is made

For this reason, a B2B SEO campaign is usually designed to nurture prospects slowly down a sales funnel, often combined with intervention from a sales team.

Here’s a real-world example illustrating why the B2B decision-making process is so rigorous:

In the early 2000s, several well-known automotive companies (including BMW, Ford, Honda, and Mazda) purchased vehicle airbags from the B2B company, Takata Corporation.

Unfortunately, the airbags were defective, prompting one of the largest recalls in automotive history, and it’s still ongoing. Affected automakers faced significant financial costs, lawsuits, damage to their reputation, and loss of sales.

B2C:
In the case of B2C marketing, however, customers may discover a brand and make a purchase in a matter of minutes. You’ve got very little time to seize the opportunity.

It gets a bit more complex, though.

The higher the price tag and more consequential the purchase, the longer the sales cycle will be.

For example, a customer might search for a keyword like “best hair curlers”, do some cursory research, take their pick, and purchase on the spot.

Notice how the GHD (hair styling tools) website is focused on driving immediate action through limited-time offers and first-purchase discounts

Even then, there will be cases where B2C customers consider their purchase for a while. Meanwhile, you’ll retarget them with advertising, likely via email or social media marketing — That’s why GHD asks for an email address.

On the other hand, if they’re in the market for a new car, they’ll likely do a lot more research about the vehicles’ features, pricing, and safety.

For example, the automotive company AutoNation’s website focuses on helping customers find and compare cars based on features and brands:

The bottom line is:
Many B2C SEO campaigns must focus on getting the user to take instant action rather than inching a potential customer down the sales funnel.

But you also need to know when and how to take your time nurturing sales for bespoke products. And in some cases, you may need to strike a balance between these two approaches.

2. Single Decision-maker 👤

As we alluded to above, B2B marketing and sales involve a long research and negotiation process. And this also means multiple stakeholders are involved.

So, a B2B SEO strategy must target different searchers and personas from the same company to encourage alignment for purchasing.

Meanwhile, in B2C, one searcher generally makes personal purchasing decisions.
Naturally, the B2C marketer will focus their SEO efforts on appealing to the individual’s needs and preferences.

You should encourage repeat purchases and brand loyalty, but you don’t have much time to build relationships prior to conversion because of the short sales cycle.

Personalization can be a particularly useful strategy to encourage consumers to trust and choose your company.

Some ideas for personalization strategies could include:

Implementing dynamic content modules on your website that adapt based on the user’s location, device, past interactions, or even the time of day.
Analyzing user behavior on your website to personalize product suggestions and content recommendations.
Creating landing pages that cater to specific customer segments or personas.
Showcasing user-generated content like reviews and ratings personalized to the visitor’s interests or location.

For example, Spotify provides users with personalized recommendations and playlists based on their listening habits. This is to encourage user loyalty and nurture leads to convert down the line.

3. Less Variance in Search Terms 🔢

A B2B SEO strategy often involves extensive keyword research to identify the many ways searchers may be looking for a particular solution.

For example, a B2B time-tracking software provider may target keywords like “time tracking software”, “productivity software”, “employee monitoring software”, “timesheet software”, etc.

And when these keywords are highly-competitive, they can get creative targeting feature-specific keywords or niche long-tail keywords — E.g., “time tracking with screenshots”, “how to increase employee productivity”.

In the B2C marketing sector, however, there tend to only be so many ways people refer to your product or service.

If a customer is looking for wedding dresses, for instance, they’re likely searching for “wedding dresses” or maybe “bridal boutiques near me”.

And these obvious short-tail keywords will probably be highly competitive. It can be difficult to identify keywords that are both valuable and realistic to target.

But that doesn’t mean you have to give up on keyword research because you have…

4. Broader ICPs 👥

The audience for a B2B product or service tends to be pretty narrow and niche. It’ll be a small set of personas that narrow in on specific business types, roles, problems, and needs.

Alternatively, some B2B products may target businesses in general — E.g., Slack, which is just a messaging app for businesses.

On the other hand, B2C products can target a wide range of personas and use cases.

Say your company sells sporty sneakers. To name a few personas, you can make content for:

Professional athletes and fitness enthusiasts, advertising “high-performance shoes”
Working professionals (like nurses, teachers, retail workers), emphasizing comfort and arch support
Fashion-conscious consumers and collectors, emphasizing style and uniqueness
Environmentalists, covering your sustainability practices
Parents, emphasizing durability and supportiveness

For example, Nike has their website pages organized by gender, age, product type, activity, and price range so visitors from different customer segments can find what they need:

Beyond product pages, you can also take personas into account for blogging.

Each persona you identify presents opportunities for boundless keywords. For example, while targeting the athletes and fitness buffs, you can write posts about the best footwear for different sports, workout routines, comparisons of performance sneakers, and much more.

So, while you’ll spend less time identifying product-specific keywords, your SEO keyword research will focus more on persona-related search queries.

5. Engagement Over Education 🤹

When it comes to website copy, you can think of B2B vs B2C in a left-brain vs right-brain framework.

A B2B buyer needs to know about the ins and outs of the product, its features, and how it will make the business more efficient. For B2B marketing, website copy and SEO content should take a “left-brained” approach that hinges on facts, logic, quantitative research, and analysis.

But B2C digital marketing and content marketing requires you to be engaging and entertaining while sharing the most critical information about your offering.

Here, you’ll take a “right-brained” approach that appeals to visitors’ feelings, intuition, and creativity.

For example, for hotels, information like product details, pricing, discounts, and reviews are the most crucial. Additionally, you can appeal to emotional sentiments like customers wanting to feel safe, happy, comfortable, well-liked, etc.

Here’s an example from Savvy Interiors, an interior design company:

Notice the warm, feminine, and casual language mixed with professional jargon – a hint at their target audience. This company also appeals to emotional desires like avoiding stress (using skilled sub-contractors), achieving beauty (eradicating “ugliness”), and retaining control (by helping you get your “dream build”).

6. Different Traffic Expectations 🚘

Here’s some good news:

Because B2C companies generally have more accessible pricing and broader personas, they can also expect to see higher traffic and more conversions.

Meanwhile, a B2B company can get by with lower traffic and fewer conversions because of the bulky price tags.

For the B2C marketer, this means that the sky’s the limit.
With an effective SEO strategy, your B2C business can become a household name!

So, with that said, let’s explore the essential SEO techniques your B2C company must get the hang of to captivate your audience.

14 Impactful B2C SEO Elements to Master

Many people (incorrectly) assume that SEO is purely about writing blog content and waiting for Google to notice and rank your website.

Really, it’s an intricate system of interconnected elements you have to implement and manage all at once!

Phew, that sounds hectic.

Take a breath — We’ll go through each of these strategies piece by piece to help you become a B2C SEO expert:

Buyer Personas
Keyword research
Search Intent
Quality Content
Mobile Optimization
Titles and Meta Descriptions
Images and Alt Text
Page Speed
URL and Site Structure
Internal Linking
Link Building
Competitor Research
Local SEO & Landing Pages
Monitoring and Improving

1. Buyer Personas

As mentioned, a single B2C product can have a wide range of possible audiences.

These may not be immediately obvious to you. It can take some brainstorming and market research to identify as many buyer personas as possible, and figure out how to target them effectively.

But let’s back up.

What is a buyer persona?
Buyer personas are detailed, semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers. They should provide a deep understanding of the preferences, behaviors, and pain points of a customer group.

Remember that buyer personas should consider both customer interest and fit. That means identifying customers who need or want your product and also can or would purchase it.

There are several places you can look to discover customer segments worth targeting, such as:

Analyzing your existing customer demographics: Collect and analyze data on your existing customers, focusing on key demographic factors such as age, gender, location, income, education, and marital status.

By aggregating this information, you can identify common patterns and characteristics among your customer base that can help you group them.

Interpreting customer satisfaction data: Use customer conversion rates and satisfaction levels to create segments.

Identify high-converting customers who frequently make purchases or engage with your brand positively. It can be very lucrative to create content for customers matching this persona type.

Also, identify low-converting customers or unsatisfied customers who have expressed discontent with your products or services. Doing so can shed light on areas of improvement for your B2C brand, as well as common objections customers may have that prevent them from purchasing.

Studying your competition: Examine the customer segments that your competitors are successfully targeting. This can help you validate, refine, or expand your segments.

You can find clues about competitors’ customer personas in their customer reviews, social media content, keywords targeted, language and tone used, and more.

With your buyer personas identified, it’s time to construct a fuller picture of their identities. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to do so:

What does this segment value, and what is important to them when making purchasing decisions?
How do they consume information? Think about the online channels they engage with, the devices they use, and the format of content they prefer.
What are their fears and reservations when making purchasing decisions?
What problem or need do they have that your product can solve?
How much do they earn, and what are their spending habits like?
What are their interests, hobbies, lifestyles, and goals?
Are they impulsive or research-oriented?
Are they more influenced by price or quality?

In the end, you can combine all this information into persona charts. Using our sport sneakers example from earlier, they may look something like this:

Now, how does this all tie into SEO?
By aligning your SEO strategy with your buyer personas, you can identify keywords, craft content, and design your web pages that specifically appeal to your target audiences.

You’ll be able to create highly relevant content, which can improve your rankings and convert more visitors into paying customers.

Without well-defined buyer personas, your SEO campaign may miss the mark, leading to wasted resources and missed opportunities.

2. Keyword research

Keyword research is the foundation of any successful B2C SEO campaign.

Why?
It takes the guesswork out of planning content.

It’s the process of identifying keywords and phrases that your target audience uses when searching for products or services related to your industry.

Effective keyword research can drive organic traffic, improve rankings, and ultimately lead to more conversions.

If you’re interested in learning more about the keyword research process, we have created an in-depth keyword research guide.

For now, we’ll cover the basics.

The general steps you should follow for effective keyword research are:

Brainstorming seed keywords: Begin with a list of seed keywords, which are broad terms related to your business.

For example, if you sell camping equipment, you can start with keywords like “camping gear” and “camping equipment”.

Then, you can narrow in on specific product types, like “tents”, “camping stoves”, “sleeping bags”.

You can also go after more educational keywords like “camping survival tips”, “camping checklist”, and “camping destinations”.

Keep throwing ideas at the wall and make a long list, which you can later sort into clusters…

Creating clusters for your buyer personas: Use your knowledge of your ideal customer segments to expand your keyword list based on what each group may be searching.

E.g., consider how search terms may differ for family campers, experienced campers, “glampers”, etc.

Then, create distinct keyword clusters tailored to these personas, incorporating keywords reflecting their specific interests and needs.

Performing competitor analysis: Analyze the keywords your competitors are targeting. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz can help you identify their top-ranking keywords. This can help you fill in gaps of your content strategy.

By targeting these keywords with high-quality SEO content, you can outrank your competitors on the SERPs. Keyword research can also help you prioritize keywords based on which are most critical for outperforming competitors.

Using keyword research tools: Take a closer look at your keywords using tools like Google Keyword Planner (free), SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz. These tools can help you expand your list of keywords and reveal which ones are valuable and attainable to target.

What do we mean by “valuable and attainable”?
Well, your chosen SEO tool can provide metrics about keywords that indicate the chances you’ll be able to rank and the amount of traffic they may bring.

Take a look at this Ahrefs analysis of the keyword “camping equipment”:

The most important metrics to note are:

Keyword Difficulty (KD): Assesses the competition level for each keyword. For this keyword, the KD is 54 (Hard), meaning it’s pretty challenging to rank for. You’ll need top-notch content, a strong backlink portfolio, and a history of domain authority to get on page one.

Search Volume (SV): The number of monthly searches for the keyword. This keyword has a relatively high search volume (43K global; 19K USA). It’s a popular keyword, which is beneficial if you can rank for it, but the competition will be fierce.

Cost Per Click (CPC): Tells you how much an advertiser would pay per click for a sponsored search result on the keyword. This keyword has a fairly low CPC of $0.40, which seems to be pretty typical in this niche.

CPC can also be an indicator of competitiveness. If it’s low, it likely means fewer companies are bidding for Google ads on the keyword. For a low CPC keyword, it can be worth bidding for an ad to supplement your organic SEO efforts.

The keyword “camping gear” is an example of a short-tail keyword, and metrics like you see above are typical for this keyword type. They tend to be broad, competitive, and harder to rank for.

If you’re just starting out with your SEO blog, you should start with long-tail keywords instead. These are more specific, with lower KD and SVs. That means you stand a way better chance of ranking high.

Remember, search engines don’t know or trust your website yet, so they’re likely to pick more established sites for competitive keywords.

If you search up the keyword “camping” on Ahrefs, you can scroll down to see a list of related short and long-tail keywords along with their metrics.

You could go after keywords from this list like “Yosemite camping” or “camping food ideas” that are more attainable.

As you build a knowledge base of content targeting long-tail keywords, you’ll also build topical authority.

Remember, authoritativeness is a key part of Google’s EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) content guidelines that determines what ranks and what doesn’t!

Building authority means searchers and search engines come to know and trust you as a source of information in your particular industry.

Follow this advice, and you can start ranking for those juicy short-tail keywords in no time.

But this is by no means a hard-and-fast rule.

If you want to optimize your website or blog content for some competitive short-tail keywords, it can be beneficial in the long term. Just don’t expect to see explosive results from day one — First, you need to light the fuse and keep it burning! 💣

3. Search Intent

Search intent (SI) is the primary goal or purpose behind a user’s online search.

It’s a crucial concept for B2C SEO campaigns because search engines carefully select content that is relevant to searchers and aligns with their objectives.

Aligning your content with search intent ensures that you provide valuable and relevant information to your audience.

There are four main search intent types:

Informational: Users with informational intent are seeking answers to questions or looking for general knowledge. They aren’t necessarily ready to make a purchase.

For example, if you run a clothing company, queries like “eco-friendly fabric” or “how to style knee-high boots” have informational intent because the searcher is trying to learn something.

Comparative: Users with comparative intent are in the research phase, comparing different products or brands. Examples could include queries like “cotton vs linen”, “best sustainable clothing brands”, or “H&M vs Zara”.

Transactional: Transactional intent signifies that users are ready to make a purchase. Users may search for keywords like “buy organic cotton t-shirts online” or “[your company] shoes”.

Navigational: Users with navigational intent are looking for a specific website or page. They may directly search your company name or something like “[your website name] login”.

But search intent isn’t just about whether or not searchers want to buy something. In order to truly match the SI, you also have to consider:

The searcher’s demographics and how to appeal to them
What information the searcher wants to know, and why
How they want the information formatted

How do you determine this?
You need to study the SERPs. If a page is ranking on page one, it’s because the search engine identified it as a good match for the SI.

Look at the ranking articles’ titles and meta descriptions, see what information they cover most prominently, and note how the information is presented.

For example, for the keyword “how to style knee-high boots”, listicles dominate the SERP, and the articles contain a lot of images. Emulate this format to improve your chances of ranking.

While meeting the SI, you must also keep your ideal customers in mind. Your tone and content will differ if your audience is young and edgy versus mature and elegant, for example.

Notice how this InStyle article features high-fashion looks for a fashion-forward audience:

Meanwhile, Woman and Home focuses on more classic everyday outfits for their target audience.

4. Quality Content

Now that you have a good idea of who you’re writing for and what you’re writing about, you can get started with the main task — creating SEO content.

While B2B SEO content often contains jargon and formal language to appeal to experts, B2C takes a different approach. B2C content aims to be useful, interesting, and enjoyable for everyday folks.

Even though you can dial back on the professionalism in your tone, you still need to follow Google’s EEAT guidelines.

This means your content should be well-researched and contain unique insights to establish your brand as a credible and trustworthy source of information.

Search engines far prefer original content over regurgitated information. So, use your skills and knowledge of the industry to share fresh new perspectives, multimedia, and research.

For example, makeup company Artdeco created an article for the keyword “makeup for hooded eyes”.

This was a smart keyword choice because it’s got a low KD and a fairly bulky SV of 4.7K monthly US searches.

Artdeco went above and beyond with unique content, creating the following:

An interactive before and after image slider
A step-by-step tutorial with original images
An original video tutorial embedded from YouTube (Remember, YouTube is owned by Google 😉)
A curation of the products used in the process

And just like that, they EE-ATE 🍴.

Even as a relatively small makeup company, this meticulously crafted blog post ranks on page one for the keyword alongside L’Oreal Paris. In fact, these are the only two blog posts ranking amongst a list of YouTube video links (at the time of writing). Impressive!

The best part:
Following these best practices will also make your content more shareable, which is great for your brand awareness and backlink profile. Additionally, it encourages your audience to create user-generated content (UGC), which acts as word-of-mouth marketing.

5. Mobile Optimization

Mobile optimization is a key Google ranking factor. This means that, if your B2C website is not easy to use on mobile, you may get buried in the rankings even for desktop searchers.

Why?
Google wants to spotlight pages that anyone and everyone can access, regardless of the device type.

It’s not just about ranking, though. In the e-commerce space in 2023, 74% of traffic and 63% of purchases globally come from mobile devices. That means the mobile user experience can have an enormous effect on your conversion rate.

Optimizing for mobile users is arguably even more important in the B2C space.

Think about it:
Do you envision more B2B or B2C customers making quick mobile searches and purchases?
How about accessing your website via social media marketing on mobile?

The answer, of course, is B2C.

So, how do you do it?
Follow these technical SEO pointers to make your B2C website a mobile masterpiece:

Run a free mobile-friendly test on Google Search Console to see how well your website performs on different devices.
Ensure your website uses a responsive design that adapts seamlessly to various screen sizes and orientations.
Optimize images and minimize unnecessary elements to reduce page load times to two seconds or less. The longer the wait, the more visitors will bounce.
Use clear menus, prominent calls-to-action, and a logical layout to help users find what they need effortlessly.
Ensure text and images are legible without mobile users needing to zoom in.
Make sure buttons and links are large enough and well-spaced for easy tapping with thumbs.
Utilize location-based optimization for B2C businesses, such as showing nearby stores or services and integrating click-to-call buttons.
Implement mobile-specific SEO techniques, like optimizing for voice search and ensuring your site is indexed properly for mobile devices.
Regularly conduct usability tests on different mobile devices to identify and fix issues from a user’s perspective.
Craft concise, scannable content for on-the-go users and ensure that important information is readily available on mobile pages.
Ensure users can access customer support and feedback channels on mobile.
If you have physical locations, consider how you can incorporate mobile processes into the shopping experience. E.g., allow customers to scan prices via a mobile app or place orders for faster collection.

Here’s a look at Apple’s website on mobile, along with its mobile friendliness test:

6. Titles and Meta Descriptions

When a search engine user views a SERP, they only have the titles and meta descriptions at their disposal to decide between results.

Needless to say, these components can have a huge effect on your click-through rate (CTR), organic traffic, and conversions.

So, how can you optimize them?
It’s pretty simple.

Titles should do two things — speak to the search intent and engage searchers.

Meta descriptions need to accurately and succinctly describe the contents of the page.

Say you run a website that sells video games and gaming devices, and you want to write an article comparing the Xbox to the Playstation.

Let’s take a look at the top search result for the keyword “Xbox vs Playstation”:

This title works because it speaks to the reason behind the search intent. Searchers don’t just want basic information on the consoles; They want to know which one to buy. The rest of the SERP confirms this.

So, an article and corresponding title comparing the history or a specific feature of the two consoles wouldn’t stand a chance at ranking because they don’t meet the SI.

In the Business Insider article, it’s noteworthy that Google has scraped the page’s image alt text and caption to generate a new meta description. Additionally, it scraped the headings to create clickable navigation from the SERP.

This goes to show the importance of covering your bases when crafting metas, alt text, and headings. You want to give Google as much information as possible to achieve a highly-clickable SERP result.

Tip: Featured snippets are another thing to keep in mind. You can engineer aspects of your articles to get snippets and appear more prominently on the SERP. For example, you can use a full sentence like “A gaming console is a…” when defining a term to get a featured snippet like the one on the right here:

7. Images and Alt Text

High-quality images capture users’ attention, making your website more engaging and encouraging longer stays.

Each image should have descriptive alt text. Alt text not only helps visually impaired users understand the content but also provides search engines with valuable context about the image.

For example, this Ace Hardware article about installing a toilet includes an image for each step. The image for step two has the alt text “wet vacuuming toilet bowl”. This could help the article pop up for anyone searching for that phrase in addition to the main keyword.

Here are some other image-related SEO best practices:

Give your images descriptive file names, such as “red-velvet-cupcake.jpg” rather than “image01.jpg”.
Use accurate titles or captions that provide additional information about the image. These can also include keywords to improve search visibility.
Optimize image file sizes to ensure faster page loading times, which is crucial for retaining users and SEO rankings. Large images can significantly slow down your website. Compression tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or Compressor.io can help strike the right balance between quality and loading speed.
Include images in your website’s XML sitemap to help search engines discover and index them for image searches.
Implement responsive design to ensure that images adapt to different screen sizes and devices.
Whenever possible, use original images that reflect your brand and products.

8. Page Speed

We’ve already mentioned the importance of page speed in the context of mobile optimization and image size.

But loading speed matters across the board because it directly impacts user experience and search engine rankings.

There are several ways to manage it:

Use Page Speed Testing Tools: Utilize tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, or Pingdom to analyze your website’s loading times and receive actionable recommendations.
Minimize Code: Reduce unnecessary code, such as JavaScript and CSS, and enable browser caching to speed up subsequent visits.
Content Delivery Network (CDN): Utilize a CDN to distribute your website’s content across multiple servers worldwide, reducing latency and load times.
Server Performance: Choose a reliable hosting provider with fast server response times.

9. URL and Site Structure

A primary goal for any website is to make it easy for visitors and search engines to navigate. This is vital for user experience and impacts search engines’ ability to crawl and index your pages.

You must establish a logical hierarchy for your website content with categories and subfolders, as well as user-friendly navigation. Important information should be easily accessible without users having to click through a maze of links to find what they need.

Keep this in mind for your header, footer, sidebar navigation, and site search.

Take a look at the home page navigation of this travel agency site:

This is an effective SEO strategy because it incorporates specific customer segments and personas – E.g., students and newlyweds. It also provides site search functionality for destinations.

URLs also help users and search engines understand the navigational structure and hierarchy of your site.

For example, a URL like “travelagency.com/blog/vacations/affordable-holidays” indicates that:

This is an article about affordable holidays
It’s filed under a category about vacations
It’s on the blog of a travel agency site

The Liberty Travel URL structure could be slightly improved, though. The blog category page URLs mention the category name, but the article URLs don’t. So, it’s unclear from the URL which category articles belong to.

Additionally, they contain superfluous words. E.g., “the-classic-mexican-margarita” could just be “classic-mexican-margarita”:

A well-structured URL should be concise, descriptive, and user-friendly. Avoid lengthy strings of numbers or symbols. Where relevant, you can include keywords in the url as well. Lastly, maintain consistency in your URL structure so it’s clear from page to page.

10. Internal Linking

Links are like passageways connecting the pages on your website.

Maintaining good internal linking practices is helpful for both search engines and visitors.

For searchers, it enhances user experience by guiding them to relevant content, thus increasing engagement.

Search engines use internal links to discover and index pages on your website. By strategically linking to important pages, you ensure they are crawled and indexed promptly.

Furthermore, internal linking communicates the hierarchy of your content and helps search engines identify topic clusters.

Good news:
Internal linking doesn’t need to be complicated.

Just follow these steps:

Decide on topics for your pillar or category pages. E.g., if you have a law blog for your B2C law firm, you might make a category page for each legal service you provide — criminal law, family law, property law, insurance law, etc.

As you create blog posts covering subtopics, link to them from the category pages. Then, place a link back to the category page from the blog post page.

This ensures a dynamic flow of link juice and provides search engines context about your site hierarchy and clusters.

Finally, place links to other relevant posts within each blog post.

Take inspiration from The Law Society’s blog. Here, visitors can select a topic they’re interested in and see all the subtopics filed within.

A link at the top of each post takes you back to the category.

At the bottom of each blog post is a selection of related posts for further reading.

Simple as that!

11. Link Building

Link building is the process of acquiring inbound links from other websites that point to your own.

Why would you want to do this?

Each inbound link (backlink) is like a vote of confidence for your website. It tells search engines that other web entities found your content valuable enough to link to. For that reason, backlinks are a vital ranking factor.

Now, while backlinks can be useful, the way search engines view them has changed over time.

In the past, websites would use tactics such as buying links to boost their backlink profile. So, Google altered its algorithm to value the quality of backlinks far more than the quantity.

Even one backlink from a website with a high domain rating (DR) can have more weight than 100 backlinks from low-DR sites.

So, here’s the thing:

You don’t actually need to chase down backlinks. You can attain them organically just by posting link-worthy content.

You can check up on your backlink portfolio using tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and Google Search Console. Ubersuggest’s backlink checker is another free option.

Here’s a peek at Paypal’s backlink profile on Ubersuggest:

If your backlink profile needs work, there are many tactics you can employ to acquire more backlinks, such as:

Guest Blogging: Contribute guest posts to authoritative websites within your industry, including a backlink to your site in your author bio or within the content.

Collaborations and Partnerships: Forge relationships with complementary businesses or influencers who can link to your site.

For example, PayPal could request backlinks from e-commerce vendors offering PayPal as a payment option on their sites.

Local Citations: Ensure your business is listed on local directories and review sites with backlinks to your website.

Press Releases: Distribute press releases about noteworthy company developments, product launches, or events. These can lead to media coverage and valuable backlinks from news websites.

Infographics and Visual Content: Create visually appealing infographics, videos, or interactive content. Visual assets tend to attract more shares and inbound links.

Sponsorship and Events: Sponsor local events or community initiatives and ensure your sponsorship is acknowledged with a backlink on event websites.

12. Competitor Research

By analyzing the online presence and strategies of your competitors, you can gain valuable insights to improve your own SEO efforts. Specific methods include:

Keyword Analysis: Identify high-performing keywords your competitors are ranking for and integrate them into your content strategy.

Tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Search Console

Backlink Analysis: Discover where your competitors are earning backlinks and work to secure similar links.

Tools: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz Link Explorer

Content Gap Analysis: Identify topics and content types that your competitors have covered but you haven’t, filling those gaps in your content strategy.

Tools: SEMrush, Ahrefs

Technical SEO Insights: Analyze competitors’ site structure, load times, and mobile optimization to enhance your own website’s technical performance.

Tools: Google PageSpeed Insights, Screaming Frog SEO Spider, SEMrush Site Audit

Social Media and Content Strategies: Study their social media engagement and content distribution tactics to refine your own approach.

Tools: Social Mention, BuzzSumo

13. Local SEO & Landing Pages

Local SEO is vital for B2C companies looking to attract nearby customers. It’s particularly important if you have physical premises, but can be useful even for an online B2C business.

By prioritizing local SEO, B2C companies can capture local customer traffic and gain a competitive edge in their immediate communities.

A big part of local SEO is ensuring accurate information on your website and on platforms like Google My Business, Yelp, and Bing Places. This includes providing up-to-date details on your address, phone number, operating hours, website URL, etc.

You can claim a Google My Business listing by following the prompts at google.com/business.

Your Google Business profile will be displayed on the right of the SERP for local queries, like this:

Hold on. What’s that first result?
It’s a landing page! That’s an SEO and conversion optimized page searchers can discover from SERPs — They’re usually separate from the website’s blog and other pages.

Landing pages can help you expand your reach when it comes to local traffic, especially if you operate in multiple regions.

You can create a conversion optimized landing page template for your products or services and tailor it for different locations.

This Tiffany one provides branch-specific address, phone number, and operating hours information. It also allows visitors to browse products and book an appointment.

But landing pages aren’t only good for local SEO.

You can also use landing pages to reach specific segments of your audience.

For instance, Tiffany created landing pages for a variety of gifting occasions. Here’s one you might find if you were a parent looking for a graduation gift for their child:

14. Monitoring and Improving

Effective monitoring of your B2C company’s SEO results is not just a best practice — it’s a critical component of achieving and sustaining online success.

It is through monitoring that you gain the insights needed to adapt and fine-tune your strategies. This helps ensure that your online presence continues to attract and engage your target audience.

Here are some crucial metrics to track and the tools that’ll help you do so:

Organic Traffic: Monitor the number of visitors from search engines. Google Analytics is a popular SEO tool for tracking this.

Keyword Rankings: Track your keyword rankings over time to assess visibility. Tools like SEMrush, Moz, or Ahrefs can help you do so.

Conversion Rate: Measure how well your organic traffic converts into customers or leads. Google Analytics provides conversion tracking capabilities.

Click-Through Rate (CTR): Evaluate the CTR of your organic search listings. Google Search Console offers CTR insights.

Bounce Rate: Monitor the percentage of visitors who leave your site without engaging further. Google Analytics provides this data.

Backlink Profile: Keep an eye on the quantity and quality of backlinks. Tools like Ahrefs or Moz can help analyze your backlink profile.

For a more comprehensive list, check out our guide on 18 Key SaaS SEO Metrics & KPIs You Must Track.

Benefits of Hiring an SEO Agency for B2C Companies

Whether your B2C company is a small business with a handful of employees or a large enterprise spanning numerous branches, hiring a B2C SEO agency can be seriously advantageous.

Here’s why you should consider an agency for B2C SEO services:

Save time and resources: Hiring an external B2C SEO agency eliminates the need to train in-house staff and manage SEO activities day-to-day.
Increase brand awareness and organic traffic: Expert agencies can implement visibility-enhancing strategies that drive organic traffic growth.
Get consistent long-term results: SEO agencies provide ongoing optimization, ensuring steady, long-term results without the need for constant internal supervision.
Cover all your bases: Agencies can manage all aspects of SEO, from technical SEO optimization to content creation, ensuring a holistic approach to improving search rankings.
Focus on your core operations: With SEO off your plate, your employees can concentrate on their core roles, increasing productivity and efficiency across your organization.

Elevate Your B2C SEO Game with Startup Voyager

When it comes to SEO services, you need a comprehensive approach that aligns with the mindset of your ideal customer base.

And if you’re looking for the perfect teammate to help you do just that, Startup Voyager may be the company for you.

Our B2C SEO services encompass:

In-depth keyword research, strategic planning, and the creation of high-quality, SEO-optimized content.
Ongoing data tracking to ensure we adapt your content strategy for optimal results.
A thorough website analysis to pinpoint areas for improvement in terms of user interface, user experience, and conversion elements.
The development of conversion-focused landing pages, expertly optimized for organic search rankings.

And we tailor every strategy to your company, your niche, and your customers.

That’s why we don’t consider ourselves “just another SEO agency” offering basic blog-only SEO services — We’re a growth agency!

We’ve consistently empowered clients across diverse industries – from B2B fintech to B2C e-commerce – to achieve remarkable growth.

In 3 months, you could be outranking established websites in your industry. In 10 months, you could go from 0 to 100,000 monthly visitors. We know because we’ve done it before!

Intrigued?

Don’t hesitate to take the next step and reach out to us today to supercharge your B2C SEO strategy.