B2B SEO Consultant: Google and AI Search for Long Sales Cycles

A B2B SEO consultant gets your business found at every stage of a long buying process: when a buyer first searches the problem, when they ask ChatGPT for a shortlist and when they check you out before booking a call. I'm Lilach Bullock, a British marketer with 21 years in search, and I work directly with B2B teams on Google and AI search as one plan.

Want a quick read on where you stand first? Run the free AI Visibility Checker. Already know you want help? Tell me about your business.

How B2B buyers search now

B2B buyers rarely buy from the first search. They move through stages, and each stage needs a different kind of page. Here's the map I start every project with.

Stage	What they type into Google	What they ask AI	The page you need
Problem aware	Why is our pipeline slowing down	What causes long sales cycles in my industry?	A practical guide that names the problem in their words
Exploring solutions	How to automate lead qualification	What are the ways to fix this?	A comparison of approaches, honest about trade-offs
Shortlisting	Best tools or providers for the job	Which companies should I look at?	Clear service or product pages, and mentions on the lists AI pulls from
Checking you out	Your brand name plus reviews	Is this company any good?	Proof pages, case studies, consistent company facts
Deciding	Your brand plus onboarding or contract	What should I ask before signing?	FAQ and process pages that remove the last objections

Most B2B sites only have pages for the last two stages. That's why they rank for their own name and nothing else.

Why a consultant rather than a B2B SEO agency

Both can work. Here's the honest trade-off.

With a consultant you work with the senior person who does the thinking, there's no handover to a junior account manager, and the plan is built around your sales process. The limit is capacity: one person can't produce a hundred articles a month.
With an agency you get more hands for production, but the strategy often comes from a template and the person you met in the pitch isn't the one doing the work.

A setup that works well: me for the strategy, the fixes and the priority pages, and your own writers or an agency for volume.

What I work on

A baseline. Rankings, traffic and enquiries from search, plus who AI engines name for your buyers' shortlist questions.
Technical fixes. Indexing, site structure, speed and structured data, written up as a prioritised list.
Service and product pages. Rebuilt to answer the questions buyers ask before they enquire.
Stage content. Guides and comparisons for the early stages, each linked to the page that converts.
AI shortlist work. Getting your company onto the lists, reviews and publications AI assistants read.
Reporting on what sales cares about. Enquiries and demo requests from search and AI referrals, not just rankings.

Signs you need help

You rank for your company name and very little else.
Your best leads say they found you through a referral, never through search.
When you ask ChatGPT for providers in your space, your competitors are named and you aren't.
Your blog gets traffic that never turns into enquiries.
A site migration or redesign is coming and nobody owns the SEO side of it.

If you sell software, my SaaS SEO consultant page goes deeper on product-led search. If you're in finance, see financial services SEO.

Frequently asked questions

What does a B2B SEO consultant do?

A B2B SEO consultant works out what your buyers search for and ask AI at each stage of a long buying process, fixes what stops your site being found, and builds the pages that move people from a first question to a demo or a call. Today that includes making sure ChatGPT and Google's AI name you when buyers ask for a shortlist.

What is B2B in SEO?

B2B SEO is search work for companies that sell to other businesses. The difference from consumer SEO is the buying process: fewer searches, higher value, several people involved and months between the first search and the sale. So it's judged on qualified enquiries and pipeline, not on raw traffic.

How much does an SEO consultant cost?

It depends on the size of your site, how much is broken and how much your team does in house. I scope it after a short conversation and give you a clear quote before anything starts, with no long lock-in to get going.

How long until B2B SEO produces leads?

Technical fixes and better service pages can lift enquiries within a couple of months if the demand is already there. Content that wins earlier-stage searches usually takes three to six months to rank and longer to show up in pipeline, because B2B buyers take time to decide.

Is SEO still worth it for B2B in 2026?

Yes. B2B buyers research on their own long before they speak to sales, and more of that research now happens in AI assistants. Being named in those answers and ranking for the questions behind them is how you get onto the shortlist before a competitor does.

Talk to me about your pipeline

If search and AI should be bringing you better enquiries than they are, tell me about your business. I'll tell you where the gaps are and whether I'm the right fit.