SEO & Content – The Heart of a High-Performing B2B Website
Time to get back to that website spring cleaning! Last time we covered how important an annual website performance audit can be for your company—now let’s talk about the bread and butter of your site: SEO and content. Because if your content is outdated and your SEO strategy isn’t up-to-date, you risk losing visibility and engagement.
This article is the second in our three-part series on website spring cleaning. Here, we focus on the critical role of an SEO and content maintenance audit in ensuring your B2B website remains a high-performing asset.
Why SEO and Content Updates Matter for B2B Websites
We all know that SEO is not a one-and-done. Search engines frequently update their algorithms to keep up with evolving trends and terminology and to best mirror how people search for things. Content also plays a pivotal role in this—relevant content is vital to achieving and maintaining high search rankings. The two are inextricably linked.
Beyond rankings, SEO and content updates can also directly influence lead generation, brand authority, and customer trust. A well-optimized website signals to potential clients that your business is a trusted source of knowledge and attentive to their evolving needs by keeping up with industry trends.
Without fresh content and ongoing SEO improvements, your website risks stagnating—leading to lower engagement, higher bounce rates, and ultimately, lost revenue opportunities.
The Impact of Fresh Content
- Improved Search Rankings: Content-heavy pages like blog articles are responsible for 434% more indexed pages and 97% more inbound links, which are key to higher rankings.
- Increased Organic Traffic: Regularly publishing content shows search engines that your website is actively maintained, which is a top draw for organic search results.
- Better Lead Generation: According to DemandMetric, companies that publish content regularly produce an average of 67% more leads per month.
Your Site’s Older Content: A Secret Weapon?
In addition to keeping your site relevant with new content, you should consider the value of your older posts. Beyond keeping information current, updating older content is a solid content strategy move that can significantly enhance your site’s performance, user engagement, and search engine rankings.
When HubSpot began a project to optimize older blog posts they more than doubled the monthly leads generated and increased the number of organic search views by 106% on those pages. Learn how they did it in this article.
Over time, even the most valuable content can become outdated, leading to decreased relevance and engagement. Regularly revisiting and refreshing older posts ensures that your website continues to provide accurate, timely, and valuable information to your audience. This proactive approach not only improves user experience but shows search engines that your site is active and authoritative.
What Is an SEO and Content Audit and How Do I Do One?
Just like technical maintenance, SEO and content should be reviewed as an annual check on your website’s health. SEO and content audits ensure that your website remains competitive, relevant, and optimized for search engines and your customers.
An audit involves evaluating your current content, improving technical SEO elements, and ensuring your website’s structure is compatible with modern search algorithms. This audit should be seen as an opportunity to identify areas of weakness, uncover opportunities for growth, and create a roadmap for ongoing digital success over the course of the year.
1. Content Audit & Refresh
Your website content should be accurate, engaging, and aligned with your business objectives. A content audit allows you to pinpoint outdated, irrelevant, or underperforming pages and optimize them for better engagement.
Refreshing content doesn’t just mean updating industry metrics or rewriting old blog posts—it’s about ensuring that each page serves a clear purpose. Whether it’s driving leads, educating prospects, or improving brand authority, your content should be tailored to meet the expectations of your audience while also satisfying search engine requirements.
You should review and update:
- Outdated Information: Remove or revise old statistics, product details, and company updates. No one likes finding that old pricing or incorrect contact information is posted!
- Keyword Optimization: Make sure that content is in tune with your current keyword strategy as well as search trends and customer needs.
- Internal Linking Strategy: Strengthening internal linking will improve your site’s navigation, user experience, and SEO.
- Content Gaps: As you go through the audit, you will naturally identify missing topics and trends that your target audience is searching for. You will also see if your site includes enough content to serve customers at all steps in their buying journey.
2. On-Page SEO Optimization
On-page SEO involves optimizing elements within your website’s pages to improve search engine visibility. This is often the most immediate and impactful way to boost your rankings. A well-structured, search-friendly page ensures that search engines understand your content and rank it accordingly.
Effective on-page SEO isn’t about stuffing keywords (and it shouldn’t be); it’s about creating a seamless user experience that naturally integrates search optimization best practices. Search engines favor well-organized content that is easy to navigate, informative, and engaging. Ensuring your headings, metadata, and content formatting align with best practices can result in significant improvements in search rankings and organic traffic.
In addition, optimizing the following on-page elements can help dramatically improve search visibility:
- Meta Titles & Descriptions: Ensure they are keyword-rich and compelling.
- Header Tags (H1, H2, H3): Structure content properly for readability and SEO.
- Alt Text for Images: Helps with accessibility and search engine rankings.
- URL Structure: Keep URLs short, relevant, and keyword-friendly.
3. Technical SEO Health Check
Technical SEO ensures that your website is easy for search engines to crawl and index. A site with slow loading speeds, broken links, or outdated coding will struggle to perform well in search results, even if your content is excellent.
While it is natural for B2B marketers to lean into content strategy, neglecting technical SEO can lead to frustrated users, higher bounce rates, and lower conversions. A well-optimized site loads quickly, functions seamlessly across devices, and ensures that every page is easily discoverable by search engines.
Proactive SEO and Content Strategy
A well-maintained website is not only about fixing what’s broken—it’s about staying ahead of the curve. Proactive content and SEO updates throughout the rest of the year will ensure your website remains a powerful business asset. Identify themes based on issues important in your industry and add this to your content strategy for the year. Refresh high-performing content with new data and insights when you can. Keep new content fresh and on-trend. And make sure to stay on top of your site’s performance by monitoring your SEO KPIs and adjusting your strategy when it’s merited.
Conclusion
SEO and content maintenance are essential for keeping your B2B website visible, engaging, and conversion-driven. By regularly updating your website’s content and SEO strategy, you ensure that it continues to attract and convert visitors effectively.
Is your SEO strategy up to date? Get a free SEO and content audit to uncover opportunities for growth and visibility!
