How did content “work” for Agicap? A case study of SEO B2B

+1021% traffic from search engines, +200% recurring revenue (MRR): find out how the French fintech Agicap managed to conquer European markets thanks to its content strategy. 

This article discusses: 

• How B2B startup Agicap scored a global success using search engines 
• How to position an innovative product 
• How to prepare a global content marketing strategy 
• How to organize an international editorial team 
• How to search for keywords 
• How to organize translations 
• How to measure ROI 
• How to communicate results 

The French startup Agicap has succeeded where many companies still struggle. How? By using SEO and content marketing as a real international growth driver! 

During the SEO conference organized by Semji, Romain Lenglet, SEO manager at Agicap, shared how within just two years his company achieved +1021% traffic and +200% of total MRR revenue generated by optimized content. 

International expansion: how it all started  

Agicap is a French corporate finance management software established in 2016. Currently, it has over 6,000 customers from Europe and the USA. Agicap has received 3 rounds of funding so far, with the latest one worth EUR 200 million. 

In addition to the cashflow management tool, Agicap has also developed additional modules: payment reminder and Agicap payment for receivables management. 

Stosując przemyślaną strategię content marketingową, w której pozycjonowanie odegrało kluczową role, zespół Agicap zrealizował lub zoptymalizował w ciagu ostatniego roku 628 produktów contentowych na 4 rynki!  Firma obecnie pozyskuje ok. 75% ruchu z kanału Organic, a ruch pozoskany z SEO przynosi firmie ok. 30% jej przychodu.

How to position an innovative product

Like other manufacturers of new digital products, creators of Agicap had to take into account that people do not google for their solution because they have no idea that there is even a solution to their problem offered by Agicap. 

Therefore, very few people will google for “cash flow management” or “software for managing cash flow in a company”. Instead, their search intent will be based on similar phrases related to e.g. budget planning, corporate cash flow, etc. 

This means two things: first, you need to ensure that your content is relevant to many of the keywords that are actually being searched for, e.g. “accounting software”, “how to make a business workflow map”, etc. Secondly, you need to ensure the conversion from educational content to product content. 

How to prepare a content strategy for multiple markets?

Before you enter a new market, the most important thing is not to conduct keyword research, but to calculate the production cost. Agicap, as befits finance management software, started with a precise calculation. Considering the potential traffic and estimated revenue from a given market, they calculated the production cost and return on investment in content marketing in individual markets. 

Did you know that content production in the Netherlands costs almost twice as much as in Spain? 

How to organize an international editorial team?

Content production and optimization at Agicap is organized around business goals and the level of market maturity. The marketing and SEO team adopted the following production assumptions depending on the level of market maturity: 

• New markets: 100% new content (15-20 content products per month) 
• Moderately developed markets: 75% new content, 25% optimized (10 new and 5 optimizations per month) 
• Mature markets: between 33% and 75% optimized content (7 new pieces of content and 7 optimizations per month) 

The benefits of this production routine include: 

• Establishing a continuous blog post production process and subsequent iterations 
• Stable costs = ability to track the effectiveness and profitability of content 
• Diversification of editors’ work 

What did Agicap editors write about?  

Based on company and product development, topics discussed on the blog included: 

• New products, new functionalities 
• New markets 
• Changes in law, market trends, standards (e.g., the LME Act) 

However, based on data and ROI, the topics included: 

• Top searches (external sources) 
• Competitor data (external sources) 
• Own data 

Which workflow tools and solutions should you choose for B2B SEO

The Agicap team has developed a three-step keyword research process. On the one hand, they used the search tool Semji, which is simple and non-SEO specialist friendly. 

On the other hand, they searched for keywords in databases of tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs. 

The third source was the existing content, i.e. keywords for which existing content had already ranked in search engines (interestingly, the number of inquiries about cashflow software is increasing year by year).  

From these three sources, perfect thematic clusters were created, each with a specified category, key phrase, number of searches, planned production date, page format, marketing funnel placement, etc.   

Translating content for a foreign target audience 

What is particularly interesting is how Agicap approached translating its content: 

• Low-budget method: first, master content was edited by experts, then the content was translated with Deepl and validated by content managers, and finally implemented in 5 markets. (Agicap recommends translating content using Deepl, not ChatGPT!) 
• The standard method was to translate content using a specialized agency or, even better, by industry experts. Then it was implemented in 5 markets. 
• Programmatic method: expert-validated output content was prepared, and then automatically sent to CMS, which was integrated with Deepl or Google Sheets. Finally, the content was verified by content managers. 

If less than 10% of the text was market-specific, the text was sent for automated translation. After translation, the text was reviewed by a person operating in this market. 

If the text was more specific, the content was written from scratch for a given market. Here, additional sourcing on the local market was often needed, especially for complex topics. 

How to track ROI of your texts 

An important element of Agicap’s work was text optimization, which is considered an excellent SEO leverage. First of all, this prevented the content from expiring (in finance, content expires after about 2 years). 

Secondly, it is easier to obtain ROI from content optimization than from content production. SERPs evolve, and as a result, rankings in SEO tools such as SEOSurfer or Semji change. In addition, there are changes in user intentions and Google updates. Not to mention that while optimizing, you can improve website conversion! 

How to select content for optimization? 

Agicap used the Semji tool, focusing on 3 types of conversions: 

• CTA clicks 
• Sign-ups for the trial period 
• Sign-ups for the free demo 

For optimization parameters, the Agicap team assumed the following: 

• SEO score above 85 points 
• SEO tags optimized 
• Unique media materials (photos, videos) 
• Tables and bulleted lists 
• Use fragments in bold 
• Determining the number of outgoing and incoming links depending on the type of cluster 

A very useful tip from Semji that Agicap has used was to create a template page (one for each format) that can be sent to content authors, especially freelancers. 

• ROI z SEO jest długoterminowe i kumulatywne, w przeciwieństwie do ROI z SEA (reklamy w wyszukiwarkach) 
• ROI z SEO nie liczymy na stronę, ale na klaster tematyczny! 
• ROI z linkbuildingu łatwiej uzasadnić, jeśli działania rozpoczną się w innym czasie niż intensywna publikacja treści  

How to communicate SEO results? 

Communicating results in SEO depends very much on the group you are addressing. At the operational level, communication is very different from business analysis and from “speaking” to corporate decision-makers. 

The Agicap team adopted two main lines of communication: 

·       communication for operational teams 

·       business communication 

When talking to operational teams, you should stick to a specific project, show the impact that SEO operations will have on results pages or traffic, etc. Content managers or freelancers will feel encouraged and motivated when they see their content in the top position in a given topic, even if they are not responsible for B2B SEO on a daily basis. 

In turn, businesses will be encouraged to pursue SEO when you show them how it impacts their goals. The management will likely be more interested in revenue metrics like MRR, so they will want to see how the SEO leverage works in general: search volume, conversions, etc., and not necessarily hear about keyword research complexities or some such details. They will definitely want to know how much you have spent and how much you have brought in, so we will have to communicate with them in a different way from with the operational team. 

Agicap visualized SEO results against a complete marketing and sales funnel, from general to specific. Approx. 50,000-user monthly search volume from three main keywords, with approx. 100,000 sessions per month, brought them an average of 100 leads, including 80 demo logins and trial period requests.   

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SEO ROI assessment: how to do it and what to watch out for 

When assessing SEO ROI, the following are problematic: the attribution model and an extended conversion period. First of all, remember that: 

• ROI from SEO is long-term and cumulative, unlike ROI from search engine advertising (SEA) 
• B2B SEO ROI is not calculated per website, but per thematic cluster! 
• ROI from link building is easier to track if the activities start at a different time from intensive content publication  

Strong ranking in Google: Tips from Agicap 

How to make search engines love your product if your target audience hardly knows your product and the search volume is meager? The Agicap case study shows that, above all, you need to act wisely. Using a well-thought-out digital marketing strategy, with SEO as the engine, the Agicap team implemented or optimized 628 content products for 4 markets within a single year!  The company currently generates approx. 75% of its traffic from keyword research, which fuels approx. 25-30% of its revenue. 

How to organize a strong SEO team in your company? Here are some tips from Agicap:  

• Train and reward people 
• Push for SEO to be included in all strategic decisions  
• Overcommunicate! (market your marketing!)  
• Organize SEO activities into a process and create an entire optimization ecosystem 

If you need support in business-to-business SEO, we are happy to help, regardless of the industry in which you operate. We can help you set optimization goals and ensure growing visibility not only for your blog, but also service pages and landing pages.