I have been observing this increasing tendency among B2B marketers to always choose one thing (a channel, a campaign type, a content type, etc.) over the other. We all are victims of this and often look at things in binary.

While sometimes, there can be a single better alternative, in most cases in marketing (in reality), it’s ‘Option 1 and Option 2’ than ‘Option 1 vs Option 2’. ABM (Account Based Marketing) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are great examples of this.

One of the main characteristics of marketing (especially B2B marketing) is that it is the combination of multiple things that creates magic. That’s why many marketing experts still talk about taking an omnichannel approach. And interestingly, many channels and tactics complement each other.

For instance, we all know that doing well in Google ads can help your SEO. Another example is an increase in direct website visits (or more impressions and clicks for brand-related keywords) after you have started 1 or 2 demand generation campaigns.

So in short, everything is CONNECTED.

Now, when it comes to ABM and SEO, even some advanced marketers tend to look at them in isolation. Hence, what I wanted to show you in this article are two things:

1. How ABM and SEO are interrelated and how they help each other.
2. What are the steps you can take (or rather the techniques you can use) to ensure you make the most out of the combo.

This article will also give you a fresh perspective on applying ABM and SEO. With that note, let’s roll.

3 ways in which ABM and SEO complement each other

Before we look at the relationship between the two marketing tactics, we first need to have clarity on what ABM is. My article ‘What is ABM and what is an ABM platform?’ should help you develop a basic understanding of what ABM is all about.

Now that we have the stage set, let us look at the 3 reasons why I think ABM and SEO make a good combo.

1. Discoverability of your website or content.
2. User experience of the website.
3. Content feedback loop.

Let us dive into the details of each of these.

1. Discoverability of your website or content

From targeted LinkedIn ads to emails and cold calls, the objective of all ABM efforts is the same – you want to convert a set of people or accounts into paying customers.

The conversion could happen in many ways. Maybe they respond directly to your email. Or your SDRs manage to generate some interest in the prospects using cold calls. While some conversions can happen fast and in a linear fashion, most customer buying journeys are non-linear and complex.

A Gartner research finds that when B2B buyers are considering a purchase‚ they spend only 17% of that time meeting with potential suppliers. The remaining 83% is spent on doing research and evaluating multiple options.

What would this mean to you as a marketer or entrepreneur?

It means that your business or company needs to be DISCOVERABLE online.

And one of the ways for you to do that is to optimize your website for discoverability in search engines. This is nothing but SEO.

In short, for your ABM efforts to be fully effective, your SEO activities have to support them.

Note: The impact ABM has on SEO in terms of increasing website traffic can be further supported by the fact that we see a surge in organic traffic while sending out email campaigns or running LinkedIn ads.

2. User experience of the website

Bringing your prospects to your website is only one of the many steps. Next, you need to make sure that:

• Your website loads fast enough.
• The website has smooth navigation that makes it easy for users to find a particular page or piece of content.

With these two steps, you can effectively guide website visitors to become leads. And if you had done your ABM right, you should be getting plenty of leads from your target accounts.

3. Content feedback loop

A content feedback loop is nothing but a system that collects feedback regularly and applies it to improve the quality of content.

While the first two points were about SEO helping ABM, this one is about ABM activities contributing to improving SEO. Let me explain how.

In some of your ABM campaigns, you would share links to your content items with prospects. In addition to trying to convert them to leads, also try to collect feedback on your content. Because the best people to give feedback on your content are customers and prospects (you can also leverage customer interviews to collect feedback).

Some of these content items would be indexed – such as blog posts and landing pages. Once you have collected the feedback, apply them to these content pieces. This may include making changes such as:

• Including new subtopics (which would mean targeting new keywords).
• Improving new elements in the content (such as embedding videos, which helps to boost SEO).
• Adding links to additional resources (these additional resources can be your own content, which will help improve the internal link structure).

This way, you are using key insights you have collected during your ABM campaigns to boost your SEO effectiveness. And this feedback you receive need not be in the hundreds. Even 2-3 enhancements can make a lot of difference.

Note: I specifically mentioned making changes to indexed content because that’s what impacts SEO. You should apply the content feedback loop mechanism to non-indexed content items as well to improve overall content quality.

Also read: Using Paid Ads For B2B Demand Generation – Doing It The Counterintuitive Way

3. Placing (paid or unpaid) backlinks in relevant third-party websites

In any niche, there are multiple PR, media, and review websites that have developed an audience over time by majorly leveraging content. Examples of such websites include Clutch, VentureBeat, and The Economist (make sure to pick the best media websites in your own niche if you are looking for some).

Some of the services offered by websites like these include:

• Guest posts
• Banner ads
• Press coverage/interviews
• Sponsored videos
• Events
• Email blasts

While most of these websites will charge a fee for these services, there might be a few in your domain that offer free services (say something like guest blogging). The idea is to use these to place dofollow backlinks on these websites to your site.

Depending on the rules the website follows, you might or might not be allowed to place backlinks. But if it’s a paid engagement, you should definitely try to get at least one. And beyond doubt, backlinks help improve your SEO by gradually increasing your website’s DA (Domain Authority).

If you are wondering how this is related to ABM, let me explain.

If you are targeting specific industries, using a media website in your niche is an effective method to promote your content to people belonging to that industry. Some media companies offer email promotions to highly segmented lists of people with detailed firmographic and demographic characteristics. Hence, you could use this technique to promote to even a specific segment of your ICP. This is nothing but ABM (ABM need not always involve a named set of accounts).

That wraps up what I wanted to cover in this article. Hope this was a useful read and offered a new perspective on how ABM and SEO could be used together to improve the effectiveness of your marketing activities.