SEO For Manufacturers: A Guide To Increase Leads And Sales + 10 Proven Strategies

The manufacturing niche is competitive and it can be a struggle to give yourself an edge. This is why SEO for manufacturers is so important.

It’s an effective way to increase your brand’s visibility, generate qualified leads, and boost your sales.

However, creating a successful strategy requires plenty of time, resources, and expertise. So, it can be a challenging project for manufacturers to take on. 

To help you get ahead of your competitors, we’ve created the ultimate SEO guide for manufacturers. In it, we discuss:

• The definition of SEO for manufacturers
• Why manufacturers should invest in SEO
• Common mistakes to avoid with SEO for manufacturing
• 10 proven SEO strategies for a manufacturing company

Ok, let’s jump right in.

What is SEO for manufacturers?

SEO for manufacturing companies refers to the process of improving many different elements of a manufacturer’s website so that the webpages rank highly in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for keywords related to the niche.

This could include keywords like:

• “Manufacturing Services”
• “Parts Manufacturing”
• “Manufacturer near me”

The ultimate goal of optimising a website for search engines is to increase qualified traffic to your site, which can lead to a boost in sales. In fact, almost 90% of buyers in all industries use organic search to research suppliers. 

Some manufacturers may choose to build an in-house SEO team. However, this is expensive and time-consuming, and it can be hard to achieve the desired results.

Generally, it’s best to hire an experienced SEO consultant, like Growthack, to take care of it for you.

Why should manufacturers invest in SEO?

There are many reasons why your manufacturing company should invest in an SEO strategy. Let’s look at its three most significant benefits.

Enhanced brand authority

SEO helps to establish your brand as an authoritative voice within the manufacturing niche.

When your site has valuable content that addresses your audience’s pain points, users view you as a trusted voice of authority in your industry.

Additionally, Google and other search engines value authoritative content. In fact, it’s one of the key pillars of Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines.

So, by building brand authority, your site has a better chance of ranking highly on the first page of the search results. This is important as 75% of searchers on Google don’t go beyond the first page of results. 

Increased visibility

As mentioned, targeting the right keywords and creating valuable, authoritative content helps you rank—but it doesn’t stop there.

There are many other ways to increase your site’s visibility in the search results. Having a high level of visibility in organic search is vital, as 84% of buyers in the manufacturing industry search for components, companies, and services online. 

One of the ways to achieve this is to get your pages to appear in Google’s featured snippets section. This displays concise answers to user queries taken directly from a web page.

Why is this beneficial for manufacturing websites?

Well, this section is right at the top of the search results page, meaning it’s the first thing users see when they search for a query relevant to your niche. This means it has a higher click-through rate (CTR) than any other feature in the search results pages. 

For content to earn a place in the featured snippets section, it must have clear headings and subheadings. It also needs to include the target question in a heading and provide a succinct answer immediately after it. 

On top of this, you need to know about the different types of featured snippets and have experience optimising for each one. Complex, time-consuming tasks like these should be outsourced to an experienced SEO consultant so you can focus on other marketing tasks.

More qualified leads and increased sales

SEO involves keyword research to identify the terms and phrases potential customers are searching for. This allows manufacturers to target users who are actively searching for products and services.

This results in qualified leads who are far more likely to convert than leads who aren’t particularly interested in what you have to offer. This is one of the reasons SEO can be such an effective way for manufacturing companies to increase sales. 

In fact, a Content Marketing Institute study showed that 67% of manufacturers reported direct business success as a result of investing in SEO. 

Common mistakes to avoid with SEO For manufacturing businesses

As with SEO in any industry, manufacturing SEO is hard to get right. There are a number of mistakes that are commonly made when B2B or D2C manufacturers are looking to implement an SEO strategy.

With that in mind, we’ll analyse some of them and show you how they can be avoided.

Handling it all yourself

It may be tempting to handle all of your SEO yourself to save money – but keeping your SEO in-house isn’t generally the most cost-effective option.

You’ll need to hire a number of skilled employees to build an in-house team that’s capable of creating and executing an effective SEO strategy.

If you do this, you’ll need to budget for:

• Several employee salaries
• SEO tools and software
• Training and recruitment costs
• Content creation costs (written content, video production, graphics, etc.)

As you can see, the costs of building an in-house team quickly mount up. Plus, implementing your SEO strategy can be very time-consuming.

So, instead of handling it yourself, hire an expert SEO consultant to do all the hard work for you. This is guaranteed to save you time and money and give you the best results possible. 

At Growthack, we have 7+ years of experience in helping businesses in various B2B and D2C industries create effective SEO strategies. Contact us today to find out how we can help your manufacturing business reach its objectives. 

Expecting instant results

Another common mistake is expecting to see immediate results from your SEO efforts. The truth is, SEO can be a relatively slow process, and it typically takes a few months before you start seeing significant results. However, this shouldn’t be viewed as a negative.

The goal of SEO is to build success for your business that can be sustained over a long period of time.

When you partner with us, we’ll provide you with detailed timelines of when we expect to meet your objectives. Of course, the exact timelines will depend on your business’s needs and your specific goals.

Not matching search intent

Search intent means understanding why users are typing certain terms into search engines. For example, if a user searches for the term “what is CNC machining”, the intent is clearly informational.

For SEO to be effective, it’s vital that the content of your site closely matches the search intent of the user.

Inexperienced in-house SEO teams sometimes fail to match search intent as they may lack the experience and expertise to differentiate the different types of intent.

On the other hand, reputable SEO consultants who create content spend a lot of time researching search intent and ensuring their content matches it very closely. So, typically, the best way to avoid this mistake is to hire an experienced consultant like Growthack.

10 Proven SEO strategies for manufacturing companies

Now, we’re going to cover 10 strategies that we would put in place to achieve success for your manufacturing business.

1. Optimise technical product pages with rich specifications

As you know, the manufacturing industry is highly competitive. Fortunately, we use plenty of SEO tactics to give you an advantage over your competitors.

For example, rich specifications can be used to optimise your technical product pages. This involves using structured data and relevant keywords to ensure your products appear in the search results pages when users search for specific features or attributes.

This is an effective strategy as users searching for detailed specs are usually close to making a purchasing decision, meaning this tactic can attract qualified traffic.

This strategy also means that your products can appear as rich snippets in search engine results pages. Optimising for rich specifications takes quite a lot of experience and technical knowledge to get right, and it’s typically best to let a consultant handle this for you.

These rich snippets include valuable information like:

• Star ratings
• Price
• Availability

They make your organic listings stand out in the search results which is more attractive to users. As a result, users are often more likely to click on them, which increases your site’s click-through rates (CTR).

2. Develop comprehensive manufacturing process guides

One way we can establish your brand as a voice of authority within the manufacturing niche is by creating in-depth guides on manufacturing processes. Failing to create these guides means missing out on the chance to develop valuable resources that attract and engage potential customers, and help you to capture more qualified leads.

As part of your strategy, we identify keywords that can be used to develop manufacturing process guides to demonstrate your expertise in the industry and enhance your credibility among potential customers. Users are more likely to trust your brand if they perceive it as a reliable source of knowledge.

Publishing comprehensive guides is also a good way to increase user engagement and keep visitors on your site for longer.

This increases dwell time, which sends positive signals to search engines and can lead to better rankings.

3. Implement strategic internal linking for complex catalogues

Many manufacturing companies have extensive and complex catalogues on their websites. This means it can be difficult for users to navigate sites and locate specific products, leading to increased bounce rates, reduced dwell time, and a decrease in conversions. 

That’s why internal linking is one of the key focuses of the strategies we create.

It provides a clear navigational structure to your site which enables users to easily find what they’re looking for. Plus, it encourages users to explore more of your site and can reduce bounce rates.

But that’s not all.

Strategic internal linking helps search engine bots find, crawl, and index your pages, too. This is particularly important for large, complex product catalogues as it ensures that all product pages are indexed, improving the chances of them showing up for relevant search queries.

4. Improve the website user experience based on the user journey

We already mentioned how complex manufacturing sites can be. This is especially true when it comes to the product and service pages. 

And, if your site isn’t properly structured, it can be hard for users to navigate, resulting in poor user experience and increased bounce rates. Plus, search engine bots will struggle to crawl and index your web pages, which means they might not appear in the search engine results pages.

To improve the user experience on your site, a consultancy like ours will take several steps, like:

• Analysing user flow on your site to identify any navigation pain points and improvement opportunities.
• Creating a logical, hierarchical structure for your product/service pages. For example, “Machinery > CNC Machines > Vertical CNC Machines”.
• Ensuring each page of your site is optimised with valuable content, target keywords, and compelling CTAs that guide users through the site.
• Using logical URLs that reflect the hierarchy of your site, such as: “example.com/machinery/cnc-machines/vertical-cnc-machines”.
• Developing an internal linking structure that guides users along the buyer’s journey.

Improving the user experience of your site based on the user journey helps improve engagement metrics like bounce rate and dwell time. This sends positive signals to Google which can increase your rankings. Additionally, it enables search engine bots to crawl and index your pages effectively. 

5. Create an SEO-driven industry news and trends section

Publishing content about industry news and trends is an excellent way to establish your brand as a thought leader within your niche. This is why 63% of manufacturers use SEO content to educate users about their business. 

Without a news and trends section, you miss out on an opportunity to build user trust. We create highly valuable news and trends content for your site to demonstrate that you’re up-to-date with the recent developments in the manufacturing industry, which builds credibility among your target audience.

Google is increasingly prioritising expert content. So, by creating a news and trends section, you can signal your expertise to Google and increase the likelihood of high rankings.

6. Optimise for multi-location local SEO

Multi-location local SEO aims to increase visibility in the local search results for multiple locations.

For instance, if a manufacturing business serves several different areas, this SEO tactic helps it to appear in local searches for terms like:

• “Manufacturing Services Manchester”
• “Manufacturing Services London”
• “Manufacturing Services Birmingham”

Failing to optimise for all of the locations you serve greatly reduces your visibility in local search results and means you miss out on potential customers. 

One way we achieve this is by identifying and targeting location-based keywords and creating optimised pages for each separate location. These pages typically include location-specific keywords and content tailored to each market.

Multi-location SEO also involves creating and optimising a Google Business Profile for each separate location, provided you have a physical address for each.

By implementing this strategy, we can:

• Improve your brand’s visibility in local search results
• Increase brand awareness
• Target specific local markets

7. Leverage case studies and testimonials for organic growth

Case studies and testimonials are highly valuable as social proof for your products and services. They provide potential customers with real-world examples of positive outcomes that showcase your expertise and enhance your brand’s trust and credibility. 

This is a great way of sending E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals to Google, which can give a boost to your rankings. 

While this is important in most industries, it’s even more so in industries like manufacturing, where customers need to feel very confident in the supplier’s capabilities. If there’s little or no social proof on your site, it leads to a distinct lack of trust in your brand. 

On the other hand, if users see tangible evidence of your company’s effectiveness, they’re more likely to take a desired action, like requesting a quote or making a purchase.

8. Build a technical resource library

Technical resource libraries consist of optimised content that can positively impact a site’s overall SEO. Without a technical resource library, users are less likely to view your brand as a voice of authority within the manufacturing niche. 

Our agency will build you a technical resource library and ensure each individual page is optimised and internally linked to other relevant pages. This has numerous SEO benefits, such as:

• It helps Google crawl and index the site.
• It improves site architecture.
• It improves user experience and engagement.
• The pages can attract backlinks from high-authority sites.

Plus, the technical resources can cater to different stages of the buyer’s journey, which means creating pages that address the common pain points users experience at each stage.

This helps guide potential customers along the journey and encourages them to convert, leading to increased sales.

9. Target long-tail keywords for niche manufacturing processes

Long-tail keywords are search terms containing three or more words. They’re usually more specific than short-tail keywords (one or two words), and users who search for them are often further along the buyer’s journey.

Ultimately, these leads are fairly likely to convert.

We perform in-depth keyword research to identify long-tail keywords. Then, we create content related to these terms that address the specific pain points of the target audience.

For example, we could target a term related to a niche manufacturing process, like “best practices for injection moulding”. Then, we can create relevant and valuable content that provides detailed information about these best practices.

As long-tail keywords are quite specific, they tend to have a lower search volume than broader terms. This means they can often be easier to rank for, which is why we always include them in every SEO strategy we create.

10. Implement video SEO for product demonstrations

Product demonstration videos are a clear and engaging way to show users how a product works and highlight its features and benefits.

They’re used to demonstrate the real-world applications of your products, and they’re an effective way of addressing common pain points. 

They help users feel more informed and confident in their purchasing decisions, which can lead to increased sales. This is demonstrated by the fact that 70% of B2B marketers believe video content helps leads convert.

As with written content, videos need to be optimised to enhance their visibility in search engine results pages. It also helps them to rank highly on video platforms like YouTube. If they’re not properly optimised, users are unlikely to come across them when they search for manufacturing-related queries on Google and YouTube. 

One of the ways we optimise our clients’ videos is by incorporating relevant keywords into:

• The video title
• The video description
• The video tags

Videos can also be embedded into product pages to create internal linking opportunities and drive organic traffic to those pages.

How much does it cost for a manufacturer to hire an SEO agency or consultant?

The cost of hiring an SEO agency or consultant varies greatly depending on factors like:

• The specific SEO requirements of your business.
• Your business’s goals and objectives.
• The length of the contract.
• The current state of your site’s SEO.

However, in most scenarios, hiring an agency or consultant tends to be more cost-effective than hiring an in-house team.

What tools are used in SEO for manufacturers?

The tools we use for manufacturing SEO are the same as the tools used for SEO in general. They include:

• Google Search Console
• Google Analytics
• Semrush
• Ahrefs
• Screaming Frog

Is mobile optimisation important for manufacturing websites?

Mobile optimisation is a vital part of SEO in all industries. Google prioritises mobile-friendly websites when it displays results. So, sites with fast load speeds, responsive design, and mobile-optimised content rank more highly than those without.

The majority of global web traffic comes from mobile devices. This means Google looks for mobile-friendliness as a sign of a positive user experience on your site.

Final thoughts

Manufacturing SEO can significantly boost your site’s rankings, authority, and conversions.

Strategies like optimising product pages and targeting long-tail keywords drive qualified traffic to your site. These users are already interested in your offerings, which makes it easier to encourage them to convert.

Remember, there are a number of mistakes you need to avoid when implementing an SEO strategy. The biggest error is attempting to create a strategy by yourself.Instead, you can contact Growthack Digital today. Our Industrial SEO Services are specifically tailored to the manufacturing and engineering industries. So, allow us to build a strategy that will boost lead generation and sales for your manufacturing company.