B2B keyword research: How to find and prioritise keywords that drive pipeline

If you’re a B2B business working on improving your organic visibility, it is crucial that you take the right approach to keyword research. A lot of businesses dig themselves into a hole by chasing high volume terms better suited for B2C, and wind up with traffic that doesn’t actually convert into leads. 

When optimising for B2B, a more nuanced approach is needed, focusing on keywords with high-intent that speak to users navigating a long, multi-stakeholder buying process. Once you crack the code to reach these users, you can allow your content to speak for itself. 

In this blog, we’ll cover how B2B keyword research differs from B2C, how to understand search intent, and what tools and strategies you can add to your arsenal to attract meaningful leads from the SERPS. 

Why B2B keyword research differs from B2C

There are many differences between B2B and B2C marketing that make generic keyword research advice fall short when promoting a B2B business. You’ll find that the total addressable search volume available to you is much smaller due to buyers being a small fraction of the population searching for everyday consumer terms. Since there are also multiple stakeholders involved, from end users to budget holders, you need to make sure that you create content to target each of these individuals.

What makes B2B SEO even more complicated is that interested parties will search very different terms at different stages of the buying process, it’s not as simple as a consumer navigating from “best running shoes” to “asics running shoes”. B2B buyers are much more rigorous in their research, take more time to evaluate their options, and have significantly more criteria that need to be met before making the decision to buy. This means that even very low-volume terms can be extremely valuable, as they can address a minute concern that actually will convince the buyer of the quality of your service or product. 

In general, trying to rank for high-volume terms in B2B is really more of a vanity metric. The end goal is to get qualified leads, not just attract a ton of traffic, so you need to research carefully, and don’t be discouraged if your keyword research window spans for a longer time period than expected. 

Understanding B2B search intent (navigational, informational, commercial, transactional)

B2B search intent is the underlying goal that a buyer has when typing a specific term into a search engine. Understanding this intent allows you to identify the type of content that will best satisfy a user’s goal, whether that be a product page, informational blog, or comparison guide. 

There are four main types of search intent used in B2B SEO: navigational, informational, commercial, and transactional. Use the table below to find out the purpose of each one and what content is best suited to target this purpose. 

Intent type	What the searcher wants	Example B2B query	Content that should rank
Navigational	To reach a specific brand, product or login they already know	“[brand] pricing”, “[software] login”	Homepage, product page, login page
Informational	To understand an idea or problem before evaluating solutions	“what is B2B keyword research”, “how does ABM work”	Educational blog content, guides
Commercial investigation	To compare options and narrow a shortlist	“best B2B keyword research tools”, “[category] software comparison”	Comparison pages, “best of” listicles, case studies
Transactional	To take action, i.e. buy, book, or get in contact	“book a demo”, “B2B SEO agency pricing”	Service/product pages, demo and contact pages

One thing to keep in mind when looking at these intent types, specifically for B2B SEO, is that commercial and informational queries can often overlap. For instance, users searching a “best tools” query may initially be at the research stage, but later return to the same query when evaluating their options pre-purchase. To make sure that your content satisfies both stages, include as much relevant information as possible while expertly positioning your own product or service. 

Tools for B2B keyword research

The best tools for B2B keyword research actually go beyond traditional SEO platforms. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush are a great place to start and discover search demand, but you are likely to come across a lot of B2C language and high-volume consumer queries that may derail your search. To get the most of these tools, filter out the noise by focusing on business relevance, buyer intent, and terms that include industry terminology specific to your service.  

The most valuable sources are actually often closer to the customer. Take some time to evaluate sales calls, CRM notes, win/loss interviews, and support tickets. These will give you valuable insight on the language that users actually use when describing their pain points, examining their options, and making buying decisions. Community platforms are another great way to carry out this type of research. Sites like Reddit, G2, Capterra, and even LinkedIn groups will show you the terms that real people use when discussing products and problems. 

Don’t forget to address your analytics data too. Google Search Console is a fantastic place to identify the queries that are already generating impressions on your site, and to think about what you can improve to turn those impressions into clicks. It will also show you the types of terms that are already bringing meaningful traffic to your site, giving you a strong foundation to work from. 

AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT can also be a good addition to your research. Once you have a list of seed terms that you’re happy with, these can be expanded and grouped by AI models to give you a better idea of the topic clusters available to you. However, be careful not to rely on AI tools to give you keyword suggestions, as they do not always reflect the way users actually search, and you may wind up targeting a bunch of terms that have no demand. Make sure to compare any recommended queries against Ahrefs or GSC data to find out if people are actually searching them. 

Practical B2B keyword research toolkit:

• Ahrefs, SEMRush, and Google Keyword Planner for search demand and keyword discovery.
• CRM call notes and sales transcripts for identifying the language prospects actually use.
• Win/loss interviews for the questions and objections that affect buying decisions
• Sales team language for terms, pain points, and solutions that frequently reoccur. 
• Support tickers for customer problems that could work as high-intent searches.
• Reddit, G2, Capterra, and LinkedIn groups for real-world buyer discussions. 
• Google Search Console for queries that are already generating clicks or impressions. 
• Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini for expanding and sorting your keyword list into topic clusters. 

How to prioritise keywords for long sales cycles

While doing keyword research for B2B, remember to treat search volume as just a data point, not a deciding factor. When working with long sales cycles, you need to prioritise keywords based on how closely they match with your ideal customer, buying intent, commercial value, and realistic ability to rank. Low volume keywords targeting a valuable prospect are often much more valuable than a generic term with high demand. 

7-step process for prioritising B2B keywords

1. Collect seed terms from sales and CRM data: Start with sales call transcripts, CRM notes, customer questions, objections, win/loss interviews, and language your sales team uses. 
2. Expand your list with keyword tools: Use Ahrefs, SEMRush, Google Search Console, and AI tools to find related terms, variations, questions, and topic clusters. 
3. Map keywords to search intent and funnel stage: Label terms by their intent type and connect them to the buying journey. 
4. Score ICP fit and commercial value: Give each keyword a rating (high to low or 1-5), giving higher scores to terms that target accounts or valuable buyers are more likely to search. 
5. Evaluate competition and cost: Consider the ranking difficulty of each keyword (SEO tools can provide this) and the resources needed to create competitive content. Prioritise opportunities where the value justifies the cost. 
6. Carry out a sense-check in the SERPs: Review the current search results to confirm that the intent and content format of listed pages match what you can realistically compete with. 
7. Assign keywords to your content plan: Move your research into a wider document where you can assign each keyword to a relevant page to create or optimise and set its priority. 

Building a B2B keyword map by funnel stage

After you’ve prioritised your keywords, it’s helpful to also organise them by funnel stage, including the role of the user most likely to search them. This will help you to visualise how different stakeholders will move through your funnel and identify whether your content satisfies each stage of the B2B buying journey. 

Use the table below as an example of the keywords, roles, and content formats that are likely to match up with each stage of the funnel. 

Funnel stage	Example intent	Example keyword pattern	Buying role	Content format
TOFU	Informational	“what is [problem/category]”	Practitioner / end user	Educational blog post, guide
MOFU	Commercial investigation	“[category] tools compared”, “[competitor] alternatives”	Technical evaluator / champion	Comparison page, buyer’s guide
BOFU	Transactional / navigational	“[brand] pricing”, “book a demo”	Economic buyer / champion	Service page, case study, demo request

When implementing this analysis into your content, remember that unlike B2C, where a single consumer will likely drive most of the buyer journey, B2B purchases involve many different professionals, who may search for the same solution at different points in time. Therefore, your content should aim to be a bridge between different funnel stages – e.g. a comparison page can target commercial queries while including transactional CTAs. B2B research is rarely linear and users are more likely to move between different types of content before making a decision, so aim to include strong internal linking in your content strategy that will help them through this journey. 

How to find keywords your competitors are missing

Once you have a strong keyword strategy that aligns with your business, you should take a look at how your content is performing compared to competitors. In order to stay ahead, it is important to keep an eye on any opportunities for your brand to compete, and uncover topics where your competitors fall short. This will allow you to appear for searches that other brands may have overlooked and become the go-to source for a service or idea. 

5 step process for competing with other B2B businesses in the SERPs

1. Run a keyword gap analysis: Export the keywords that your competitors are ranking for and compare them with your own rankings to identify relevant terms you’re not appearing for. Start to target any opportunities where you can realistically compete. 
2. Mine PAA and community posts: Look for poorly answered buyer questions in Google’s People Also Ask Results, Reddit, and other relevant forums. These will show you any queries or concerns that may be left out of standard keyword databases. 
3. Turn sales queries into content topics: Keep a record of common objections and delayed deals experienced by your sales team and use them to address concerns that competitors may be ignoring. 
4. Audit comparison pages: Search terms like “[competitor] alternatives” and “X vs Y” and assess whether competitors have useful pages covering these searches. Comparison content is an extremely valuable strategy that many B2B websites underutilise. 
5. Validate gaps: Check the SERPs and evaluate the commercial value of a topic before adding it to your content plan. 

If you’re ready to stop wasting time on generic traffic and start capturing qualified, high-value leads, then get in touch with the Hallam team today. Let us help you unlock untapped organic potential and build an organic strategy designed for real commercial growth.