As search competition intensifies, differentiation strategies become increasingly important for B2B companies. From keyword strategies that uncover niches missed by competitors (clustering), to brand Deep Content strategies that shine in the increasingly sophisticated AI era, Technical SEO optimization viewed from a UX perspective, and ABM that strengthens relationships with target customers—I will introduce you to how you can secure a competitive edge in the search market through these four core strategies!
#1. Filling B2B Content Gaps with Keyword Clustering Strategy
(Hidden Potential with Keyword Clustering: Game-Changing Strategies You've Never Considered)
Keyword research is one of the most time-consuming tasks when planning on-site content, such as websites or other materials. Keyword clustering is an SEO strategy that can systematize the process of finding and classifying keywords. If you want to create more efficient SEO content, be sure to review the concept of keyword clustering!
What is Keyword Clustering?
Keyword clustering is a strategy that groups a large list of keywords into similar categories to enable efficient utilization. When conducting keyword research, you encounter thousands or tens of thousands of keywords. Without systematically organizing them, you may face confusion regarding where to begin writing content or whether a keyword has already been used. By using clustering to neatly organize your keyword list, you can select keywords suitable for specific content and receive significant assistance in establishing a systematic content strategy.
3 Major Advantages of Keyword Clustering
- You can solve the keyword cannibalization problem.
Keyword cannibalization is a problem that occurs when multiple pages on a single website target the same or similar keywords. This phenomenon, where pages on the same website compete with each other, leads to a decline in SEO performance. Keyword clustering prevents duplicate content on similar topics by grouping similar keywords together. - You can create targeted content by utilizing long-tail keywords.
While big keywords representing a specific industry or situation may encompass various intents, it can be difficult to satisfy more specific search intentions. By using keyword clustering, you can discover long-tail keywords associated with big keywords and write content that targets small segments using those keywords. Such segmented content provides information that aligns with the searcher's intent, thereby enhancing SEO competitiveness. - You can identify and supplement gaps in your content.
When creating various B2B content, you often need to check if a topic has been covered before or if there is similar content. By utilizing keyword clustering, you can discover keywords that your company is not currently covering and generate new content ideas. This involves mapping existing content with keyword topics, selecting additional keywords to cover, and using them to create new content.
💡 You can check out more examples of problem-solving using keyword clustering here!
#2. Creating Brand Original Content One Step Ahead of AI
(AI Content Is Short-Term Arbitrage, Not Long-Term Strategy)
If you are feeling fatigued by AI-generated content, please pay attention to this! Ryan Law, Content Director at Ahrefs, states that AI content is merely a short-term strategy and that now is the time for content that embodies brand originality.
Is AI content a problem?
Ryan Law, Content Director at Ahrefs, states that while the strategy of creating content with AI looks very smart on the surface, it is bound to fail in the long run. This is because AI learns from and mimics human creative output, resulting in outputs that generally amount to nothing more than replicas of the content we have already seen.
Of course, AI can be useful when providing fact-based content. For example, informational content like "how to install macOS" can be easily handled by AI. However, for topics that become more complex or require in-depth knowledge, human experience and knowledge are essential. This is because our brand (company) can offer more differentiated value when dealing with in-depth subjects.
“Deep Content” that creates brand differentiation
The way to ensure SEO and content marketing remain effective in the distant future is to create "Deep Content." In-depth content provides greater value to customers, acquires more backlinks, and is highly likely to lead to increased sales. This , in an era where AI summarizes content or provides simple answers, people will seek out more in-depth content. In other words, content handled with authenticity and expertise is highly likely to yield greater results.
To achieve this, creative experimentation and effort are required to go beyond simple information delivery. Our brands (companies) must experiment based on our data or create content based on actual experiences. The goal should be to provide unique value that differentiates us from content automatically generated by AI!
#3. Technical SEO That Doesn't Need to Be Perfect
(What I learned from auditing over 1,000,000 websites)
Patrick Stox, a Technical SEO expert at Ahrefs, stated that there is no need to respond to every technical issue. Since technical elements that can be improved are constantly emerging , he suggests weighing the business impact relative to the effort invested and focusing only on high-priority issues.
Setting priorities by comparing Effort and Impact
Patrick says that during the website optimization process, rather than trying to solve every single problem, he prioritizes issues based on their actual impact on the business, such as traffic or the number of links. For instance, if there is an error that does not affect the user experience and another that is immediately visible to the user, he focuses on fixing the latter. This approach goes beyond simple error correction and is a method to simultaneously improve search results and the user experience.
So, for those of you wondering what to fix and how, we have summarized the most common technical errors and their solutions below, according to a Technical SEO expert at Ahrefs!
The Most Common Technical SEO Errors and Solutions
- Duplicate Content:
Google resolves most duplicate content issues through its built-in canonicalization feature. Therefore, there is no need to worry excessively about duplicate content. In fact, managing duplicate content well on a single page can actually help with Google's efficient site evaluation. - For redirect optimization
, rather than investing excessive time in managing website redirect chains, we recommend an approach that efficiently addresses only the parts truly critical to SEO performance. Since complex redirect chains can negatively impact user experience and search engine crawling, it is best to simplify them as much as possible. - Page Indexing:
The foundation of search engine optimization is ensuring that the pages displayed in search results are properly indexed. Since important pages cannot be exposed to search engines if they are not indexed, you must prioritize identifying and resolving indexing issues for key pages. Regularly check your indexing status through Google Search Console. - for metadata optimization
can be an effective solution, especially for large-scale websites. Optimizing title tags and descriptions can increase click-through rates (CTR). Try creating metadata that essentially reflects the purpose and content of each page.
#4. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Strategy for Building Relationships with High-Quality Leads
(Unleashing Account Based Marketing: Mastering the Art of Winning, Retaining and Growing Valuable Clients for B2B)
Many B2B marketers share a common concern: lead quality. Inquiries pour in every day, but how many of them are truly valid for our company? An effective B2B strategy to solve this problem is ABM.
Problems with existing inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing allows us to contact potential customers only when they leave an introductory inquiry form on the website. This means that only about 3% of website visitors convert into genuine leads. Consequently, it is difficult to identify the customer's initial touchpoints. Even if they read three or more pieces of blog content, if they do not submit a form, we cannot reach the potential customer.
Targeted Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Strategy
The core of ABM is a proactive approach that "finds out valuable customers first ," moving away from a passive strategy of "waiting for customers to come to you." It refers to a method of targeting valuable potential customers and then developing customized strategies to convert them . A key feature of ABM is building deeper relationships by focusing on specific targets from the very beginning. Because operations are driven by targeted objectives, marketing and sales can collaborate within a single context, allowing for efficient use of resources relative to time.
Three approaches to ABM
Since ABM is a marketing strategy that precisely targets objectives, a one-on-one approach naturally comes to mind. However, there are two additional approaches that startups and SMBs, who find it difficult to form a task force to invest in only a single customer, can also fully apply.
- 1 : 1 ABM
- Almost all marketing and sales resources are invested with the goal of converting desired customers.
- It is a High Risk, High Return method that requires the highest investment but yields equally significant results.
- 1 : A few ABM
for SMB- The goal is to group a 'small number of customers' with similar characteristics and convert that group.
- Because it divides corporate attributes into finer segments, it is a method that can utilize resources more efficiently than 1:1 ABM.
- 1:Many ABM
for SMB- We target a wider range of potential customers than a small number of ABMs.
- Customers with similar characteristics are grouped together, but the characteristic conditions are often at a slightly higher level of concept.
Startups like Elifunt or SMBs can actually apply points 2 and 3 to their marketing strategies. In particular, the 1:Many ABMapproach may already be a method being applied without even realizing it by teams that have contemplated refining their B2B marketing and sales strategies. For instance, an HR solutions team might produce industry-specific HR trend reports or write content featuring success stories to target mid-sized companies with over 300 employees. 🤓
ABM is a strategy that provides a customized customer experience
The purpose of ABM is not lead generation, but providing personalized experiences for valuable customers. Marcus Ho, the speaker for this session, states that ABM is a highly useful strategy for building strong relationships with your desired target audience. If you want to reach a select few customers who are valuable to your company, rather than unfiltered inbound leads, try an ABM strategy in 2025!
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