What You'll Learn
- Why organic traffic is declining across industries and what’s causing it
- How AI search platforms are changing how business buyers find vendors and suppliers
- Which brand-building strategies actually work for B2B companies vs consumer brands
- Why the tactics that work for consumer brands need to be adapted for B2B businesses
- Practical steps your company can take to build visibility beyond traditional SEO
A recent Semrush article makes a case that should worry every business relying on organic search traffic. According to their analysis, Google is sending less traffic to websites as more queries get answered directly in AI Overviews, and AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude largely cite big brands, making it harder for smaller sites to gain visibility. Their conclusion: the old SEO playbook no longer delivers the same predictable results it did for nearly two decades. For B2B companies across manufacturing, construction, professional services, and other industries, this shift demands a hard look at how you’re approaching digital marketing. If your strategy is still focused primarily on ranking for target keywords and hoping prospects click through to your website, you’re building on an increasingly unstable foundation.
What’s Actually Happening to Search Traffic
The data tells a clear story. When someone searches for “precision machining shops in Massachusetts” or “commercial HVAC contractors with healthcare experience,” they increasingly get their answer without ever clicking a website link. Google’s AI Overviews synthesize information from multiple sources and present it directly in search results. ChatGPT now handles search queries and provides detailed responses based on its training data and real-time search capabilities. Perplexity offers answers with citations, but users still get the information they need without visiting individual websites.
This fundamentally changes what SEO can accomplish. Your website can rank well, be cited in AI responses, and still send less traffic than it did two years ago because fewer people need to visit your site to get their initial questions answered. The Semrush article points out that AI platforms systematically favor established brands and well-known sources. When AI tools recommend manufacturers, contractors, or service providers, they tend to cite the names prospects already recognize from industry publications, trade associations, and professional networks. For smaller and mid-sized B2B companies, this creates a visibility problem that SEO alone cannot solve.
Why Most Brand-Building Advice Misses the Mark for B2B Companies
The Semrush article recommends seven brand-building tactics: creating sticky content, launching PR campaigns, investing in digital ads, posting on social media, creating merchandise, sponsoring events, and developing a brand story. These are all legitimate strategies. The problem is that most of them are written with consumer brands or product companies in mind. B2B companies operate in a completely different context.
Take merchandise as an example. The article suggests that branded hoodies and stickers work well for companies like GitHub because developers wear them with pride. That makes sense for a developer tools company with a younger, tech-savvy audience. But imagine a precision machining shop trying to distribute branded hoodies. Who’s wearing them? Are procurement managers at aerospace companies going to put on a hoodie with your logo? What about a commercial construction general contractor or an industrial coatings supplier? The dynamics are entirely different. The same applies to viral PR campaigns. The article cites Duolingo’s fake mascot death announcement that generated millions of social media views.
That playful approach works for a consumer language-learning app. It would be completely inappropriate for a manufacturer trying to win defense contracts or a construction firm bidding on hospital projects. B2B companies need to adapt these brand-building strategies to match how business buyers actually evaluate and choose vendors.
What Actually Works for B2B Companies
The core insight from the Semrush article is correct. Building a recognizable brand has become essential, not optional. But the execution needs to fit how your customers make decisions.
Content That Demonstrates Capabilities, Not Just Engagement
The article recommends creating sticky content that keeps visitors engaged and coming back. For B2B companies, this translates to producing genuinely useful resources that help prospects understand your capabilities and solve their specific problems. A precision machining shop should publish detailed guides to tolerance standards, material selection for aerospace applications, and process capabilities that engineers bookmark and reference when designing parts.
A commercial HVAC contractor should create comprehensive resources about system design for specific building types that facility managers use when planning projects. A law firm should produce guides to regulatory compliance that HR professionals actually reference. This is different from creating viral content. The goal is not engagement metrics or social shares. The goal is to be the resource that decision-makers turn to when they need authoritative information in your area of expertise. When you become that resource, AI platforms notice. They cite your content. Prospects remember your company’s name. And when they need to buy what you make or do, you’re already on their shortlist.
Strategic Earned Media That Reaches Decision-Makers
The Semrush article emphasizes PR campaigns. For B2B companies, earned media matters, but it needs to appear in publications your customers actually read. A feature in IndustryWeek reaches the manufacturing executives who source precision parts. Coverage in Engineering News-Record reaches the general contractors and project managers who award construction subcontracts. A profile in a regional business journal reaches the local companies that might need your services.
A quote in a trade publication about new regulations positions you as the expert journalists call for commentary. This is not about viral moments or getting your name in mainstream media just for exposure. It’s about appearing in the publications and platforms where your potential customers go for trusted information about their industries and the challenges they face.
LinkedIn as Your Primary Social Platform
The article recommends posting on social media across multiple platforms. For most B2B companies, that’s a waste of resources. LinkedIn is where your customers are. It’s where engineers, procurement managers, project managers, CFOs, and other B2B buyers spend their professional social media time. It’s where they research vendors, follow industry discussions, and evaluate whether a company is worth contacting. Focus your effort there. Share insights from your work. Post about projects you’ve completed or problems you’ve solved. Comment thoughtfully on industry developments. Engage in discussions where your expertise adds value. You don’t need a TikTok strategy. You don’t need Instagram reels. You need consistent professional visibility on the platform where B2B decision-makers actually spend time.
Demonstrating Capabilities Over Brand Storytelling
The Semrush article recommends developing and sharing your brand story. This matters less for B2B companies than demonstrating what you actually do and how well you do it. Prospects sourcing a manufacturer or hiring a contractor care more about your capabilities, process, and track record than they care about your founder’s journey or your company’s origin story. Invest in demonstrating your expertise instead.
For manufacturers, publish detailed case studies showing how you solved complex engineering challenges. For contractors, document projects that showcase your capabilities and problem-solving. For any B2B company, create resources that prove you understand the specific challenges your customers face. Your brand story can support this, but it should never replace substantive proof of capabilities as your primary brand-building strategy.
Strategic Event Participation
The article mentions sponsoring events or organizing your own. This works, but again, the context matters. Sponsoring the industry trade show where your customers gather makes sense. Speaking at a technical conference where engineers who specify your products attend provides real value. Hosting a facility tour or technical demonstration for prospects positions you as transparent and capable. What doesn’t work is sponsoring events just for logo placement. B2B companies win customers through demonstrated capabilities and trusted relationships, not brand impressions at consumer-facing events.
Paid Advertising to Amplify Your Strongest Content
The Semrush article recommends investing in digital ads. This works for B2B companies, but the approach differs from product marketing. Use LinkedIn ads to promote your most valuable content to specific decision-makers. Run Google Ads to capture high-intent searches where prospects are actively looking for companies like yours. Sponsor newsletters or podcasts that your target customers actually read and listen to. The goal is not brand awareness in the abstract. It’s getting your capabilities in front of people who are either actively looking for what you do or who will need it in the near future.
Why This Matters More for B2B Than Consumer Businesses
Consumer brands can recover from declining search traffic through viral moments, influencer partnerships, and creative campaigns that generate buzz. B2B companies operate in a different environment. Your customers make buying decisions based on proven capabilities, technical expertise, and trusted recommendations. They research extensively before contacting vendors. They want to know you understand their specific requirements and have a track record of delivering on similar projects. This means the stakes are higher when search traffic declines. You can’t replace that visibility with a clever social media campaign or a viral stunt. You need sustained, credible presence across the channels where your customers look for information and evaluate potential vendors. The good news is that B2B marketing has always been about building reputation and demonstrating capabilities. The tactics may need to adapt to an AI-driven search landscape, but the fundamentals remain the same.
The Real Challenge: Coordination Across Channels
The Semrush article is right that brand building has become essential. Where it falls short is in acknowledging how difficult this is to execute well, especially for B2B companies that typically have small marketing teams or rely on external agencies. Building meaningful visibility requires coordination across owned content, earned media, social engagement, and strategic advertising. It requires consistent effort over months and years, not quick wins or shortcuts.
Most manufacturers, contractors, and B2B service companies struggle with this not because they don’t understand its importance, but because they lack the capacity to execute across all these channels simultaneously while running their core business. That’s the real challenge. It’s not figuring out what to do. It’s having the resources and expertise to actually do it well while continuing to serve customers and operate your company.
What B2B Companies Should Do Now
Start by accepting that the old approach of optimizing your website and waiting for traffic is no longer sufficient. You need visibility across multiple channels, and that visibility needs to reinforce the same core message about your capabilities and approach. Audit where you currently appear. Do trade publications in your industry know your company exists? Are your key people active on LinkedIn? Do you have substantive content that demonstrates your capabilities beyond basic service or product descriptions? Identify the biggest gaps. For most B2B companies, it’s earned media coverage and capability-demonstrating content. These are the areas where focused investment creates disproportionate returns in terms of building the kind of credibility that AI platforms recognize.
Make sure your website content is structured for AI platforms to parse and cite. Use clear headers, answer questions directly, and update content regularly so AI systems see recent, relevant information when they evaluate your company. Build relationships with journalists and editors who cover your industry. Position yourself as an expert source for commentary when relevant stories develop. Most trade publication journalists are actively looking for credible sources they can quote. Get key people in your organization active on LinkedIn. This doesn’t require daily posting, but it does require consistent engagement in industry discussions and sharing insights based on your actual work. Most importantly, recognize that this is not a project with an end date.
Building visibility in an AI-driven search landscape is ongoing work that needs to become part of how your company operates, not a marketing campaign you run for a quarter and then move on from.
What Does This All Mean For Your Business?
The Semrush article is right about the fundamental shift happening in search. Traditional SEO no longer delivers the predictable results it once did. Building a recognizable brand has become essential for maintaining visibility as AI platforms increasingly mediate how people discover and evaluate businesses. But the tactics that work for consumer brands and product companies need significant adaptation for B2B companies. Your customers make decisions differently. They evaluate vendors differently. They look for different signals of credibility and capability. The companies that thrive in this new landscape will be the ones that understand how to build genuine authority across the channels where their customers actually look for information, while maintaining the professional credibility that B2B decision-makers expect. It’s more work than just optimizing for keywords. But it’s also more sustainable, because it’s based on actually building the kind of reputation that makes your company the obvious choice when prospects need what you make or do.
Need Help Adapting Your Marketing to the New Search Reality?
Scribendi works with B2B companies across manufacturing, construction, professional services, and other industries to build comprehensive visibility across owned content, earned media, social platforms, and strategic advertising. We understand how B2B decision-makers evaluate vendors and suppliers, and we know how to create the kind of content and media presence that builds authority in AI-driven search. We also partner with a digital PR firm that specializes in securing meaningful coverage in the trade publications and business journals your customers actually read. If you’re ready to move beyond traditional SEO and build the kind of multi-channel presence that drives customer acquisition, we can help.
