Insights
SEO Still Leads in B2B Marketing Effectiveness
Here's some data that will make you smile:
A recent survey from SurferSEO shows that 30% of marketers rank SEO as their #1 most effective B2B channel.
This is double the effectiveness of any other strategy.
Positions 2 and 3 tell us something, too.
Organic social media (14%) and content marketing (13%) are practically tied, and sit well above everything else.
I see this as validation of the 'SEO-content flywheel.'
Great content isn’t enough if no one can find it
You need that flywheel working for you:
1. SEO drives discovery.
2. Content marketing provides the substance that converts visitors into leads.
3. Organic social amplifies that content to grow awareness.
They're not separate channels competing for budget, but actually three legs of the same stool.
Each leg helps build long-term brand authority.
B2B buying behavior
The data also reinforces what we know about B2B buying behavior.
Paid ads only hit 9%, while organic approaches dominate the top spots.
And influencer marketing? Just 3% said it was their most effective channel.
Those numbers tell us B2B buyers are still more persuaded by expertise and search visibility than by hype.
B2B buyers aren't impulse purchasers.
They research, evaluate, and build trust over time.
That's exactly what great SEO and content strategy delivers.
When 57% of the top-performing channels (SEO + content + organic social) are in our wheelhouse, it's time to think bigger about how these strategies work together.
Organic, value-first approaches still work in B2B.
We just need to make sure we maximize that advantage.
Which option would you have selected for this question?
| What is the most effective channel for B2B marketing? |
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Thanks for voting.
You'll see the results in my next newsletter.
Quoteworthy
OpenAI is reportedly close to launching its web browser.
Then I thought about what Sam Altman said on the first episode of OpenAI’s new podcast:
People have a very high degree of trust in ChatGPT, which is interesting, because AI hallucinates. It should be the tech that you don't trust that much.
—Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI
Could Altman convince you that OpenAI's browser is better than the alternatives?
(Note: The web browser is not to be confused with the autonomous ChatGPT Agent which launched last week).
Winners and Losers: June Core Update
Google’s June 2025 core update ended last Thursday and took 16 days and 18 hours to complete.
Everyone I’ve talked to saw a large amount of volatility—with the swings continuing after the update supposedly finished.
Post any core update, there’s always plenty of entertaining discussion and opinions about the effects.
Check these 2 examples:
‘Whitey’ on Webmaster World:
- Winners: sites with updated, experience-rich, author-backed content and strong UX.
- Losers: thin affiliate sites, mass AI content, expired-domain spam.
‘Martin Ice Web’ disagreed, saying, “… you see things very different to me.”
- Winners: sites with very thin content : one low res picture + h1
- Losers: well established sites, experience-rich, author-backed content and strong UX.
He added, “…compelling sites have been replaced by low content sites. google is not able to distinguish between AI and human written content. Therefore all content based sites have been devalued.”
I disagree with 90% of Martin Ice Web's thoughts, but let's move on...
Partial recoveries
Early on in the update, there were signs that some sites affected by previous core updates and helpful content updates were experiencing partial recoveries.
Glenn Gabe provided screenshots of those sites’ surges here and here.
But, these examples are rare.
Actions to take after a core update
My advice remains the same:
- Keep calm: Resist the urge to overhaul your site straight away. Shifts are normal post updates, so wait a week or two and let the dust settle.
- Review the data: Look at changes in clicks, impressions, and average position after July 17. Combine that with traffic data to spot trends, not just isolated dips.
- Audit content: After a month, update outdated material, remove fluff, and improve pages that lack depth or originality.
- Address the tech: Review mobile performance optimization, resolve any broken links or redirect issues, and add structured data markup.
What stories can you share from this latest update?
Hit reply with your examples, and I’ll feature some in my next letter.
Related: Barry Schwartz aggregated data from Sistrix, Similarweb, Semrush and others in his post-update overview.
Traditional and AI Search Results Overlap
When it comes to visibility in AIO responses (top 3 links), traditional search presence appears to play a significant part.
Key data from Ahrefs’ study:
- 76.10% of AI Overview-cited pages rank in the top 10
- 9.50% of AI Overview-cited pages rank between position 11-100
- 14.40% of pages cited in AI Overviews do not rank in the SERPs (i.e. rank below position 100)
Extra: Ahrefs’ notes on the fan-out query theory might interest you.
Related: Josh Blyskal from Profound analyzed 19 million citations from Google AI Mode.
He summarized his findings in a LinkedIn post saying, “every page with your name on it is now in the running to influence the answer. AI Mode is looking everywhere.”
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