It’s always been an article of faith here at Godfrey that B-to-B search is fundamentally different than the “normal” or B-to-C variety. Almost every day I find yet another illustration of just how different things are.

I recently read an article published by search consultant Enquiro, entitled “B2B Keyword Research When You’re in a Niche Market/Industry.” It was filled with the research-laden information Enquiro dependably provides in its many publications about search.

One comment stuck out at me, however: under issue No. 2, describing things to avoid, the company wrote, “Using industry jargon that people may not be aware of. Marketers are the worst for this are they not? We continue to see this all of the time. We get a client who comes to us after working with another SEO vendor or marketing agency and the messaging on their site is full of industry terms… terms that may or may not be being used by people looking for their service or for information about their service.”

There are parts of that statement that are accurate and parts that aren’t. While “jargon” is often used negatively, having a B-to-B site where “the messaging...is full of industry terms” is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s desirable.

That’s one of the fundamental differences of B-to-B search. Unlike consumer-oriented Googling, which reaches the masses, B-to-B search requires an exhaustive effort to get inside prospects’ heads to define the terms they might use to describe the product or service they’re seeking. Admittedly, that effort would preclude internal jargon, or words only used inside the company, like product names and numbers and obscure branded terms. But a solid B-to-B search would definitely include “industry terms,” since the typical B-to-B prospect is at least familiar with the industry and may even be even a part of it. 

Enquiro hedges its statement slightly, by defining industry terms as, “terms that may or may not be being used by people looking for their service or for information about their service.”

But B-to-B search requires mastery of keywords for markets that are increasingly smaller, niched, even 1-to-1. And that is what makes B-to-B search different.