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About Astrid Kramer
Astrid Kramer is a seasoned SEO expert with over a decade of experience in the field. Combining various disciplines, she emphasizes that SEO cannot be viewed in isolation but must be integrated with broader strategies. Kramer believes achieving high rankings and increased reach is pointless if user satisfaction is not prioritized. Her holistic approach ensures that SEO efforts drive traffic and enhance the user experience.
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Introduction to Interdisciplinary SEO Strategies
In today’s digital landscape, the role of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has evolved far beyond simply ranking well on search engine results pages (SERPs). Interdisciplinary SEO strategies have emerged as a powerful approach to drive revenue growth for B2B brands. By integrating multiple disciplines and departments, businesses can create a holistic and effective SEO strategy that improves search visibility and enhances overall digital presence and customer experience.
Astrid Kramer, a seasoned SEO expert with over 13 years of experience, emphasizes the importance of this interdisciplinary approach:
“SEO, you can’t see it like a discipline by itself and independent of everything else. It doesn’t make sense, for example, when I do SEO and I get good rankings and I increase the reach, it doesn’t make sense to get a lot of traffic if the user is not happy on my side.”
This comprehensive guide will explore how B2B brands can leverage interdisciplinary SEO strategies to drive revenue growth, backed by expert insights, data, and research.
The Evolution of SEO: From Siloed Approach to Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Traditionally, SEO was viewed as a standalone discipline, separate from other marketing and business functions. However, as search algorithms have become more sophisticated and user behavior more complex, the need for a more integrated approach has become evident.
According to a Forrester study, 81% of organizations cite customer experience as a competitive differentiator. This statistic underscores the importance of integrating SEO with other disciplines to create a seamless and satisfying user experience.
Astrid Kramer notes,
“Google is taking into account how your site is working and how your customer or your visitor is happy with the site and interacting with the site. And this is super important.”
This shift in Google’s approach highlights the need for interdisciplinary SEO strategies that consider rankings, user satisfaction, and engagement.
Key Components of Interdisciplinary SEO Strategies
1. SEO and User Experience (UX) Integration
The intersection of SEO and UX is crucial for creating a website that ranks well and provides value to users. A study by Backlinko found that websites with a low bounce rate and high average time on the page tend to rank higher in search results.
Kramer emphasizes this point:
“If you write a description and a title, the snippet, you optimize the snippet on Google search, it has to be appealing. If it’s not appealing, nobody clicks and nobody clicks, then Google sees, oh, they rank on position 4, but they have a very bad click-through rate. Maybe position 4 is too good for them and so on.”
To integrate SEO and UX effectively:
- Conduct user testing to understand how visitors interact with your site
- Optimize page load speeds to reduce bounce rates
- Create clear and intuitive navigation structures
- Develop content that addresses user intent and provides value
2. Content Marketing and SEO Alignment
Content marketing and SEO are intrinsically linked. High-quality, relevant content is essential for ranking well in search results and engaging users. A study by Semrush found that long-form content (3000+ words) tends to get 3.5 times more backlinks than shorter articles.
To align content marketing with SEO:
- Conduct comprehensive keyword research to identify topics that resonate with your audience
- Create in-depth, authoritative content that addresses user queries
- Optimize content structure with clear headings, subheadings, and bullet points
- Incorporate relevant internal and external links to enhance content value and authority
3. Technical SEO and Web Development Collaboration
Technical SEO is the backbone of any successful SEO strategy. Collaboration between SEO specialists and web developers is crucial for creating a search engine-friendly and user-friendly website.
Kramer highlights the importance of this collaboration:
“If you have a web developer who names everything what it is clearly, communicates clearly, this image is not xp7325.jpeg, it’s a tree dot jpeg. So then it’s easy. It’s just communication.”
Key areas of focus for technical SEO and web development collaboration include:
- Implementing a responsive design for mobile optimization
- Improving site speed and performance
- Ensuring proper indexation and crawlability
- Implementing structured data markup
4. Social Media Impact on SEO
While social media signals are not direct ranking factors, they can indirectly influence SEO performance. A study by Hootsuite found that 52% of online brand discovery happens on social media platforms.
To leverage social media for SEO:
- Share and promote content across relevant social platforms
- Engage with your audience to build brand awareness and loyalty
- Monitor social mentions and respond to user feedback
- Use social media insights to inform content strategy and keyword targeting
5. SEO and Brand Reputation Management
Brand reputation plays a significant role in SEO performance. Positive brand sentiment can lead to higher click-through rates and improved search visibility. Kramer emphasizes the importance of reputation management in SEO:
“If you have negative search phrases around your brand, it’s crucial that you answer those negative comments, not your competitor, not Tripadvisor or whoever gets the negative comments. You have to be the one person who says, ‘Oh, you heard that we are bad in this. Sorry for that, but it’s because of… And we got better in the last year, or it was never like that.”
Strategies for integrating SEO and reputation management:
- Monitor brand mentions and search results for your brand name
- Proactively address negative reviews or comments
- Create and optimize positive content about your brand
- Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews on relevant platforms
6. Customer Experience and Search Optimization
Customer experience (CX) is increasingly intertwined with SEO. A Forbes article emphasizes that Google will encourage and reward better customer experiences, indicating that CX is becoming increasingly important for SEO.
To integrate CX and SEO:
- Analyze customer journey touchpoints and optimize them for search
- Use customer feedback to inform content creation and keyword targeting
- Implement personalization strategies to improve user engagement
- Optimize for local search to enhance the experience for local customers
7. SEO and Public Relations Synergy
Public relations (PR) efforts can significantly impact SEO performance by generating high-quality backlinks and increasing brand mentions. A study by Moz found that online PR is the most effective way to earn links at scale.
Strategies for integrating SEO and PR:
- Collaborate on press releases to include relevant keywords and links
- Leverage PR relationships to secure guest posting opportunities
- Use PR insights to identify trending topics for content creation
- Monitor PR mentions and convert them into link-building opportunities
Implementing Interdisciplinary SEO Strategies in B2B Organizations
Implementing interdisciplinary SEO strategies requires a shift in organizational culture and processes. Here are some key steps to foster collaboration and integration:
- Educate and train teams across departments on SEO principles
- Establish cross-functional teams or task forces for SEO initiatives
- Develop shared KPIs that align SEO goals with broader business objectives
- Implement tools and platforms that facilitate collaboration and data sharing
- Encourage regular communication and knowledge sharing between departments
Kramer emphasizes the importance of this collaborative approach:
“Bring them together. Bring them all together. This is crucial. It’s also cool for the team, and it works in an only remote company too, but bring them together that the processes are optimized by the people who work together.”
Measuring the Impact of Interdisciplinary SEO Strategies
To demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary SEO strategies, tracking and measuring their impact on revenue growth is crucial. Key metrics to consider include:
- Organic traffic growth
- Conversion rates from organic search
- Revenue attributed to organic search
- Brand awareness and sentiment metrics
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) from organic search acquisitions
Kramer suggests an interesting approach to demonstrating SEO value to executives:
“The tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, whatever SEO tool you use, they invented a very interesting KPI, and that is how much would I have to pay for the organic traffic I get if I would try to get this traffic via ads. So this is one number you can deliver to the c-level.”
The Future of Interdisciplinary SEO Strategies
As search algorithms evolve and user behavior becomes more complex, the importance of interdisciplinary SEO strategies will only grow. Emerging trends to watch include:
- AI and Machine Learning Integration in SEO
- Voice search optimization
- Visual search optimization
- Increased focus on E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
- Greater emphasis on user intent and contextual search
Kramer notes the potential impact of AI on SEO strategies:
“Now you can search with Bing and you can say to ChatGPT, for example, write me an actual article about this topic that was interesting yesterday and do a research about it, and it does a research. So this is one thing. But the other part is how do I rank in ChatGPT? Because this is something that can happen.”
Conclusion
Interdisciplinary SEO strategies offer B2B brands a powerful approach to driving revenue growth in an increasingly competitive digital landscape. By breaking down silos and fostering collaboration between SEO, UX, content marketing, technical development, social media, PR, and other disciplines, businesses can create a holistic and effective online presence that not only ranks well in search results but also provides genuine value to users.
As Astrid Kramer aptly puts it,
“Don’t do siloing. Don’t say, I have one person for this, one person for this, 2 people for this, and they don’t talk to each other. And then we do our tasks, and everyone does his job. And at the end of the year, we look who made money. Oh, SEO didn’t make a lot of money, so we have a problem with SEO. No. Bring them together. Bring them all together. This is crucial.”
By embracing interdisciplinary SEO strategies, B2B brands can position themselves for long-term success in the ever-evolving digital landscape, driving sustainable revenue growth and building lasting customer relationships.
Some areas we explore in this episode include:
- Professional SEO Tools: The importance of using tools like Semrush for keyword research and competitor analysis.
- SEO Misconceptions: Debunking common myths and emphasizing the need to work with search engines and integrate SEO into website planning.
- Internal Team Education: Training internal teams (web developers, editorial staff, public relations) to include SEO practices in their tasks to reduce reliance on external SEO experts.
- Improving Website Performance: Specific advice on making website images smaller and faster for better SEO performance.
- Effective SEO Consultancy: Finding a trustworthy SEO consultancy that prioritizes client-specific needs and resources.
- Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The need for collaboration between SEO and other disciplines like SCA, social media, public relations, customer service, and sales to develop effective SEO strategies.
- Leveraging Social Media for SEO: The growing significance of social media platforms like TikTok as search engines and incorporating customer questions and stories into content.
- SEO for Large Corporations and Publishers: Challenges faced in implementing SEO in big enterprises, focusing on educating the IT department about SEO.
- Technical SEO Priorities: Prioritizing technical SEO issues such as status codes, redirecting error pages, and optimizing images for large websites.
- Customer Experience (CX) and SEO: The importance of customer experience in SEO is increasing, with Google rewarding websites that provide better CX.
- And much, much more…
Listen to the episode.
Related links and resources
- Check out Get ‘Em All
- Check out Astrid’s personal site
- Learn more from Christina del Villar – 4 Key Elements For a B2B Go To Market Strategy That Drives Growth
- Learn from Cody Wittick – How to Use Influencer Seeding Strategies to Easily Drive Growth by 457%
- Learn from Matthew Hunt – 5 Demand Generation Marketing Strategies to Drive Pipeline Growth
- Learn from Oren Schauble – How to Use Customer Acquisition Strategies to Drive Growth
- Learn from Niklas Hartmann – From Guesswork to Precision: How to Identify B2B Influencers to Drive Growth
- Check out the article – Content Amplification: Strategies, Tools & Tips for Driving Traffic
- Check out the article – B2B Video Marketing: Ultimate Strategies for Success And to Drive Growth
Connect with Astrid Kramer
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