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B2B SaaS SEO Statistics for 2024

by 

Lauren O'Bryan

Last updated: August 23rd, 2024

In the ever-evolving landscape of B2B SaaS, staying ahead in the SEO game is not just a strategy, it’s a necessity.

As we move into 2024, the significance of SEO for B2B SaaS becomes even more evident. Businesses are finding that visibility, relevance, and online presence are paramount to business growth, which is why a comprehensive digital marketing strategy, including SEO, is crucial for staying competitive.

In this article, we’ll look at valuable B2B SEO statistics that will set the scene for B2B SaaS in 2024. These insights are instrumental for SEO managers seeking to secure the budget and resources needed to elevate their company’s SEO strategy, so let’s get started.

B2B Organic Search SEO Statistics

68% of website traffic starts from a search query.

Organic and paid search combined is the largest and most dominant marketing channel. This makes SEO just as important as ever.

Three-quarters of customers will do an internet search for content before making a purchase.

Building up trust and a connection is essential for converting customers online. Businesses don’t want to throw their money away and will thoroughly research their options before making a purchase. SEO enables you to get your content found by the right businesses.

Effective SEO is crucial for lead generation, as it helps businesses attract and convert potential customers by improving their online visibility.

According to a Databox survey, 81% of respondents believe that SEO provides better quality leads than PPC, and 70% say it’s more effective at driving sales.

While PPC does provide faster results, the quality of those results may not match the long-term benefits of SEO. In addition, SEO is often a far cheaper option for driving leads over time.

54% of companies use a combination of in-house staff and outsourcing to execute their SEO strategies.

Many companies say that having limited in-house SEO skills presents a significant challenge. For faster implementation and results, as well as expert knowledge, outsourcing to an agency is always a good idea, especially when it comes to detailed keyword research.

The average CTR of the #1 result in Google’s organic search is 27.6%.

This is another motivating reason to invest in SEO and track your CTR, as high rankings in organic search results can significantly boost your website traffic.

Only 0.63% of users clicked on a result from the second page of a search query.

Getting your page found is easily the most important consideration driving SEO. The data shows that the top three results on the first page get 54.4% of all clicks. Very few users go past the first page of search results, so your content must rank highly to get any traffic.

Half of companies check their SERP rankings at least once a day.

The competition for high ranking in SERPs is so fierce that you can quickly get left behind if you don’t stay on top of any changes. Companies often set up automated alerts to notify them of a ranking position change so they can react immediately.

On average, it takes 3-4 months for an SEO strategy to mature and show results.

While there may be an initial spike in traffic, it takes time to see results from SEO efforts. The timeframe can vary based on factors like competition, budget, existing domain authority, etc.

70% of SEO professionals report to clients monthly, focusing on organic traffic, keyword rankings, and conversions.

Regular reporting is important for tracking progress and identifying opportunities for growth.

Around 75% of SEO professionals read 1-5 SEO-related blogs per week to stay updated on industry trends.

Blogs are a helpful resource for tips, tricks, and industry news that can help SEO experts stay on top of their game.

Around 70% of marketers believe that organic SEO is more effective for generating sales than PPC ads.

You could effectively “cheat” and rank on the first page with a paid position. However, the stats and marketers indicate that PPC ads are not as effective. People often ignore sponsored pages or use ad blockers, which makes investing in organic SEO a smarter idea.

Content marketing costs 67% less than traditional marketing methods.

When done well, content marketing can be very profitable. SEO does take time to convert but, eventually, the payoff will be worth it, especially considering that compared to traditional marketing, content marketing generates three times as many leads per dollar spent.

61% of marketers say that covering a topic in-depth is key to SEO success.

Covering a topic in detail ensures you’re providing value to readers and answering their questions thoroughly. Google is known to reward pages that cover topics in-depth, so this definitely has a positive impact on SEO.

Companies generate two times more revenue from organic search traffic than other sources, like social media.

SEO drives more website traffic and this organic traffic can be superior in terms of traffic quality. More often than not, organic traffic will be a better match for your product and these clicks turn into leads that have a higher chance of converting.

Ranking in the top 10 of search results is likely for only 5.7% of pages.

While the goal is to rank highly in SERPs, getting your page there is no easy feat. The average age of a page in the top 10 listings is at least two years, which shows the time it can take to get there. But, the statistics prove it’s worth it.

Over 47% of marketers say that sales are the primary metric they use to measure ROI.

Tracking ROI is essential to accurately understand the value derived from SEO efforts. While leads, SERP ranking, or organic traffic are important, revenue from sales is the ultimate metric.

The ROI from SEO can be as high as 12.2 times the marketing spend.

SEO and content marketing are often, hands down, the most cost-effective marketing tools for B2B businesses. But, to get the value out of it, you do have to be strategic, seeing as 73% of B2B companies have a content marketing strategy in place.

According to First Page Sage, B2B SaaS brings in a 702% ROI from SEO, with thought leadership SEO content being the most valuable.

To achieve such results, companies first need a strategic SEO plan, detailed keyword analysis, and target audience research, and then to consistently produce 6-8 high-quality pieces of content per month aligned with customer pain points and user search intent.

More than 80% of companies use paid SEO tools, while 17% rely only on free tools.

There’s a wide variety of both free and paid SEO tools to choose from, but the latter generally provide greater functionality.

Effective use of SEO and content marketing can reduce the cost of customer acquisition by over 87%.

Content marketing is a very cost-effective method for gaining awareness. A company with a consistent blog will attract 97% more backlinks than those without a blog, and backlinks are a winner when it comes to improving SERP ranking.

Fewer than 5% of pages stay on the first page of search engine results for a year.

Getting a high-ranking SERP position is only one part of the puzzle. Staying there is the next challenge. The competition is hot and you’ll have to monitor your ranking frequently and make adjustments quickly to avoid losing your top position.

An overwhelming 97% of marketers agree that adding structured data to a page has SEO benefits.

While structured data isn’t considered a ranking factor, it positively impacts CTR and can help search engine crawlers index pages more effectively.

51% of marketers believe it’s becoming harder to capture audience attention with content.

Due to the competition and saturation online, it’s getting harder to gain audience attention and hold it, which is why SEO professionals have their work cut out for them. Some companies have turned to generative AI to produce content faster, however, this content doesn’t have the same impact on a human audience and simply doesn’t convert as well

65% of SEO professionals noted a positive impact on website traffic and SERP ranking since Google’s 2023 algorithm update.

In 2023, Google added an ‘experience’ factor to their search engine algorithm. This experience consideration takes into account first-hand experience and real human experience. This is the kind of quality that generative AI can’t add to your content.

55% of businesses predict that users will begin to prefer AI-powered chatbots for information gathering over search engines in the future.

With AI technology rapidly advancing and transforming the SEO landscape, at least 58% of marketers plan to increase investment in AI-powered chatbots and automation.

B2B SEO Statistics: The Finer Details of Content Marketing

When it comes down to the specifics of on-page optimization and what works best, we curated some stats to help you improve your SEO.

• URLs that contain the target keyword or similar have a 45% higher CTR than those without.
• Title tags with 40-60 characters have the best CTR.
• Titles with a positive emotional sentiment result in a 4.1% higher CTR.
• Long-tail keyword use generates a 3-6% better CTR.
• 50-65% of pages in the number one ranking position are featured snippets.
• Pages that rank in first position have 3.8 times more backlinks than the following ranks.
• The average page loading time for those on the first page of search results is 1.65 seconds.
• 72.3% of sites studied by Ahrefs have a slow loading speed.
• 88% of users are unlikely to return to a website after a bad user experience, such as slow page loading time.
• Long-form content attracts 77.2% more backlinks than short content pieces.
• Optimizing your website for mobile devices is crucial, as a significant portion of B2B buyers use mobile devices for research and transactions. Ensuring a seamless mobile experience can improve your SEO performance and user engagement.

SEO Strategy & Trends for 2024

With regular Google algorithm updates and AI technology booming, the B2B SaaS industry is moving from leaps to bounds.

As the landscape of SEO evolves, optimizing for Google searches remains crucial, especially given the significant portion of searches that include local information and ‘near me’ queries.

According to a selection of SEO experts, AI will continue to impact SEO both in Google’s SGE update and in terms of content generation. We don’t know exactly how the Google SGE will behave yet but it’s possible it won’t have a drastic negative impact on search, and in turn, may improve search accuracy.

There will still be a need to branch out to other platforms, particularly those that host short, easily digestible content, like Instagram Reels. As audiences become flooded with content, they’ll start leaning toward the more engaging media.

That’s not to say that written content will be a thing of the past, but there will be an increased need to focus on producing insightful content. Thought leadership and content written from a human experience will provide something that AI-powered content cannot.

All in all, SEO specialists in the B2B SaaS industry will need to be dynamic and creative in 2024 to keep up and beat the competition.

Before We Go: Lead Generation Insights

SEO tends to be a battleground that management is hesitant to invest in due to uncertainty around its value. We’re confident that after reading through these B2B SEO statistics, you have what you need to make a convincing case.

There is no silver bullet solution to SEO, but there are some things you can do as a B2B SaaS company that will give you quick wins, like creating competitor comparison pages and more detailed features and product pages.

Over the long term, there are other steps you can take to keep your SEO standard high, like improving internal linking between pages and increasing the diversity of blog content topics. In general, as the SaaS industry grows, so does the pressure on marketing teams to perform. This is why reassessing and redeveloping your marketing strategy to hit your 2024 goals is always a good idea.

Need a helping hand on the SEO front? We are here to assist you in achieving success with SEO. At Powered by Search, our team has a deep understanding of customer pain points and will work with you to develop an SEO strategy that works. Our methodology has been tried and tested many times over, so do get in touch.