If you’re a marketer for a B2B company, it’s important to keep in mind the differences in behavior between business-to-business traffic and business-to-consumer traffic. There are actually many differences between the two, but for now we’ll focus on vertical search engines.
So what is a vertical search engine? Basically, a vertical search engine is a web site that acts like a directory for a specific industry. Often B2B companies will rely on vertical search engines to find a list of companies that can fulfill their needs. For example, instead of relying on search results of Google, Yahoo or MSN; a B2B company looking for a service might go to Business.com and look for businesses in whatever category they might be searching for. Now why would they go and do a thing like that? It’s pretty simple. Vertical search engines are straight to the point and give these users exactly what they’re looking for without a bunch of advertising and irrelevant information.
With that said, it’s important that you, as a B2B marketer makes sure that your company is visible in any relevant verticals. Which ones is dependent on what industry you’re in, but with a little digging, you can find them. Some are free and some require a fee, so it’s up to you and your budget to make the right call. Looking to see what verticals your competitors are in is a great way to start.
