Ever wonder what search terms are driving the most organic traffic to B2B tech websites? We were curious too, so we decided to dive in and find out. We analyzed a year’s worth of organic search data that led to organic website traffic in US from eight global IT companies. These multi-billion dollar revenue companies, ranging from well-established players to fast-growing leaders, gave us some fascinating insights.
The Big Question: Which Keywords Drive the Most Traffic?
These companies are constantly pumping out content—everything from cutting-edge AI events and new technology launches to research, tutorials, and analysis. So, which keywords are bringing the most visitors to their websites? Is it trending topics like AI? Software names like SAP or Salesforce? Maybe it’s new product launches or major research studies?
The answer? Yes, those are important—but there’s one set of keywords that outshines them all:
“Company / Brand Name”
A whopping 71% of the search volume that led to organic website traffic for these eight companies included the brand or company’s name!
Searches versions of the ‘company name’ were as below:
- ‘Company name’ all on its own (which was the highest in most cases) or
- ‘Company name’ followed by terms like ‘stocks’, systems’, ‘headquarters’, ‘revenue’, ‘share price’, etc.
Some companies saw as much as 90% of their organic traffic come from brand name searches, with the lowest still being a substantial 40%.
Essential Takeways :
(1) Brand Building is Vital
When someone searches for your company by name, it’s clear they already know who you are. This familiarity doesn’t happen by accident—it’s the result of consistent exposure over time through events, discussions, sales interactions, news, or digital ads. It’s a strong reminder that building your brand is key to success in the B2B tech world.
Another very interesting metric for B2B websites is Google Analytics’ report of ‘direct traffic’ metric- audiences who have directly entered the company URL in the browser. In our experience we have noticed that this number is high, especially in the case of B2B websites. Together- ‘Direct traffic’ and ‘Organic Search’ traffic represent the audiences who have heard/ know the company.
(2) High Intent = High Conversion Potential
Visitors who search for your brand name are likely further along in their decision-making process. They have already done their homework and are now looking specifically for you. This is a golden opportunity to retarget and guide them down a customized path that could lead to a sale. For instance, if someone downloads a whitepaper, they might be in the early or middle stages of deciding—so serve them content that boosts your company’s credibility and nudges them closer to choosing you.
(3) The importance of the balance 29%
The balance 29% of keywords are vital. These keywords are often the first touchpoints in a potential customer’s journey, helping to build your site’s authority and improve rankings for more commercial, product and informative search terms, finally leading to the 71%. E.g the table below shows a sample of ‘non company name’ keyword searches.
| Technical keywords | Agility, refactoring, chaos engineering, GitHub runners, terraform, java8 lambda, inquisitive agile project management |
| Broad Concepts, queries | Emerging technology trends, Intelligent automation, Future technology, Cold chain management, Healthcare provider solutions, Automotive expert software |
| Events | Google next, Adobe summit, London marathon, Rugby world Cup |
| Other company names | Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce, Zendesk, Guidewire, |
| Others | Jobs (e.g.IT analyst), Leadership team names |
Curious why the above terms don’t drive the most organic traffic to these company websites? It’s because there are countless URLs out there offering answers, many of which can serve the customer’s query better and, they might not even be from your competitors or within your industry.
Website expert Andy Crestodina’s study shares a brilliant insight into this behaviour in his blog https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/content-strategy-framework. His article says that Blog visitors have information intent and are not likely convert immediately upon reading the blog. But what these blogs and information pieces do is build your link and domain authority there which in turn will help your service pages to rank better for commercial intent phrases which are far more likely to convert into leads.
The Bottom Line
Reputation, Trust, and Credibility which are built over time remain fundamental for business. Hence, for B2B businesses a conscious brand building strategy with relationship nurturing as a key pillar is important in communication efforts.
(Note: The data above is based on Ahrefs analysis from January to December 2023.)
