Prioritizing B2B Content with KOB Analysis

Most B2B content strategies fail because they’re built on hope, not data. Recent industry research reveals that nearly 60% of B2B marketers consider their content strategy only “moderately effective” at best. When surveyed about the primary challenges, almost half pointed to a lack of clear goals and measurable objectives.

The brutal truth? You’re either:

• Targeting high-volume keywords you’ll never rank for
• Creating easy content with minimal business impact
• Failing to align content with your buyer’s journey

This isn’t speculation. It’s what happens when you lack a systematic framework for content prioritization.

KOB (Keyword Opposition to Benefit) analysis solves this by dividing traffic value by keyword difficulty, identifying high-ROI content opportunities that deliver maximum impact with minimal resistance. It’s not revolutionary. It’s just math that most marketers are too lazy to do.

The Content Prioritization Paradox (And Why You’re Stuck)

Here’s the paradox that’s killing your content strategy:

High-value keywords are dominated by competitors with massive domain authority. You won’t rank for them without years of investment.

Low-difficulty keywords are easier to rank for but often lack commercial intent, resulting in traffic that never converts.

This creates three common mistakes:

1. The authority gap: Targeting keywords dominated by sites with significantly higher domain authority (like competing with Moz’s DR 91 when your site is DR 60)
2. The funnel disconnect: Creating content that doesn’t guide users toward conversion
3. The volume trap: Prioritizing high search volume over commercial intent and ranking feasibility

The solution isn’t creating more content. It’s implementing a systematic approach to identify topics with the optimal balance of traffic potential, ranking feasibility, and business impact.

KOB Analysis: The Framework Smart B2B Marketers Use

KOB (Keyword Opposition to Benefit) analysis is simple math that produces powerful results:

This creates a single metric that balances opportunity with achievability. Higher scores indicate better ROI potential.

The Four Components You Need to Get Right

1. Domain Authority Benchmarking

Before targeting any keyword, understand your website’s authority relative to competitors.

When analyzing competitors, you might find yourself competing with sites like Moz that have significantly higher domain authority scores. This difference in authority directly impacts what content you can realistically rank for.

Action step: Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to benchmark your domain rating against top competitors. If your DR is 60 and your competitor’s is 91, you need to be selective about which battles to fight.

2. Traffic Value Assessment

Traffic value (sometimes called “traffic cost” in SEMrush) estimates what advertisers would pay for the same traffic through PPC, providing a proxy for commercial intent.

Data point: According to First Page Sage’s industry analysis, medical device companies achieve 3.1% landing page conversion rates by targeting topics with balanced KOB scores, while manufacturing companies see 1.1% conversion rates with the same approach.

3. Keyword Difficulty Analysis

Keyword difficulty scores estimate how challenging it will be to rank based on the authority of current ranking pages.

Understanding keyword difficulty effectively tells you about the authority of other websites on the search result page, which directly affects your ability to rank for those terms.

4. Funnel Alignment

Not all keywords with high KOB scores will align with your buyer’s journey.

Having touchpoints at every stage of the funnel is crucial for guiding users through their journey. Understanding where keywords fit in your funnel ensures they’re appropriate for your business goals.

Research validation: According to industry research, 45% of B2B marketers cite alignment with buyer journeys as a top challenge. KOB analysis helps address this by ensuring content meets users at each stage.

Real-World Examples: KOB Analysis in Action

Case Study 1: Content Layering for B2B Insurance Provider

Consider a B2B insurance provider with a DNO insurance page. For this company, creating middle-funnel content around “what is DNO insurance?” creates a natural progression that helps users move toward conversion.

This layering approach creates a content ecosystem where:

1. Top funnel: “What is DNO insurance?” (educational)
2. Middle funnel: “Best DNO insurance providers” (consideration)
3. Bottom funnel: “DNO insurance quote tool” (conversion)

By creating content at each funnel stage and interlinking them strategically, the insurance provider established topical authority in Google’s eyes, created multiple entry points for potential customers, and guided users through a logical progression toward conversion.

Case Study 2: VoIP Software Company’s Strategic Content Approach

A Voice over IP software company faced unique content challenges. This B2B company provided business phone systems that operate over the internet, helping companies save money.

The company discovered that most prospects were searching directly for “VoIP phones” or “best VoIP software” rather than engaging with extensive top-funnel content. Instead of creating irrelevant top-funnel content, they focused on:

1. Creating high-quality middle-funnel comparison content
2. Building authority through strategic link building
3. Developing technical resources that demonstrated expertise

Key insight: By building content at each point in the funnel, you’re essentially creating a commercial for the next search result, allowing you to get in front of potential customers and rank effectively.

Implementing KOB Analysis: What to Do Next

1. Conduct a Comprehensive KOB Audit

Start by analyzing at least 50-100 potential topics in your industry.

Step-by-step process:

1. Use Ahrefs or SEMrush to identify keywords in your space
2. Export difficulty scores and traffic values
3. Calculate KOB scores (traffic value ÷ difficulty)
4. Sort by KOB score to identify high-value opportunities

2. Benchmark Domain Authority Against Competitors

Before finalizing your content priorities, assess whether you can realistically compete.

If you’re a new startup, you likely won’t be able to outrank established players like Expedia or Kayak immediately.

Tool recommendation: Use Ahrefs’ domain comparison tool to benchmark your domain rating against top competitors. If your DR is significantly lower, focus on longer-tail opportunities with higher KOB scores.

3. Map Content to the Buyer’s Journey

Ensure your KOB-prioritized topics align with different stages of the funnel.

A practical way to determine where content belongs in your funnel is to examine search results. For instance, if you see many ads when searching for a term, it’s likely a bottom or middle-funnel topic.

Practical tip: For each high-value bottom-funnel page, identify corresponding middle and top-funnel topics with strong KOB scores. Create content for these topics and interlink them strategically.

4. Implement Content Layering for Maximum Impact

Use the KOB framework to create interconnected content that builds authority across the funnel:

Content layering strategy:

1. Top funnel: Educational content that builds awareness (e.g., “What is DNO insurance?”)
2. Middle funnel: Consideration content that helps evaluation (e.g., “Best DNO insurance providers”)
3. Bottom funnel: Conversion content that facilitates purchase (e.g., “DNO insurance quote tool”)

5. Balance the Skyscraper Technique with Realistic Resources

Building a brand requires consistency rather than one-off efforts, though investing heavily in certain high-ROI pieces can be worthwhile.

Strategic approach: Use KOB scores to identify which topics warrant full “10x content” investment versus which can succeed with “2x better” execution based on your domain authority and the competitive landscape.

Stop Creating Random Content. Start Building a Strategic Asset.

KOB analysis transforms B2B content marketing from guesswork into science. By systematically balancing traffic potential against ranking feasibility, you identify the highest-ROI opportunities for your specific domain authority and business goals.

The most successful B2B content marketers in 2025 won’t be those who create the most content. They’ll be those who create the right content for their specific competitive position.

Challenge: Take your top 10 target keywords and run them through the KOB framework. Are you currently prioritizing the topics with the highest potential ROI, or are you chasing impossible rankings while ignoring golden opportunities? The answer might transform your content strategy and your results.

If you want to dive deeper into these concepts, CXL offers a comprehensive course on Scaling Content Marketing that covers these frameworks in detail with additional case studies and implementation strategies.