A Complete Guide to SEO for Manufacturers: Why It Matters & How to Do It

Manufacturing SEO refers to optimizing a manufacturing website to improve its visibility in organic search results. A website can rank higher for keywords relevant to the business by making specific adjustments.

For instance, keywords like “plastic manufacturers,” “manufacturing services,” or “clothing manufacturer” may be targeted.

When your website appears in organic (unpaid) search results, potential customers are more likely to click through, which can lead to increased traffic and potentially more leads and sales.

Manufacturing businesses can manage SEO internally or collaborate with an agency to create a tailored SEO strategy.

Why SEO Matters for Manufacturers?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a powerful tool to drive traffic to your website, which can ultimately lead to more leads and sales.

Here are some of the key benefits of SEO for manufacturing companies:

1. Increases Visibility

When your website ranks higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), more potential customers will find your business. This is especially true if you feature in enhanced search results like rich snippets or the “People Also Ask” section.

For instance, when searching for “how much it costs to manufacture clothing,” Seam Apparel appears in the search results and the “People Also Ask” box. By implementing a dedicated SEO strategy for manufacturers, you can increase your chances of showing up for more relevant industry keywords.

2. Boosts Brand Authority

By creating SEO-focused content that addresses common manufacturing-related questions, your brand can establish itself as an authority in the industry.

This credibility is important for both searchers and Google. Google rewards high-quality content from trusted experts, so its Search Quality Raters use factors like Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) to assess content.

3. Reduces Marketing Costs

Unlike paid ads, organic search traffic is free. This makes SEO one of the most cost-effective digital marketing strategies available.

While a manufacturing business might effectively use both paid and organic channels, focusing on organic search can significantly lower customer acquisition costs over time and provide a higher return on investment (ROI).

SEO for Manufacturers: 9 Key Best Practices

To optimize your manufacturing website for search engines, here are some essential SEO techniques to follow:

1. Conduct Keyword Research

Keyword research helps you identify the terms and phrases your target audience uses when searching for products or services similar to yours.

These keywords can range from specific terms like “furniture manufacturer” to search queries that indicate potential interest in your services, such as “cost of manufacturing [product].”

Each page on your website should be optimized for a unique keyword and relevant variations to maximize the search terms your site can rank for.

For example, O’Neal Manufacturing Services has dedicated pages for each manufacturing capability, like “steel fabrication” and “laser cutting.” Each page targets a different keyword, increasing the website’s overall visibility.

2. Understand Search Intent

Search intent refers to the reason behind a user’s query. By understanding search intent, you can tailor your content to meet users’ needs, improving your chances of ranking in search results.

Search intent can be divided into four main types:

• Informational: Users seeking information or answers to questions.
• Navigational: Users looking for a specific website or business.
• Commercial: Users researching products or services.
• Transactional: Users ready to make a purchase.

Understanding the intent behind a search helps you create content matching users’ needs.

3. Create Valuable Content

High-quality, informative content is crucial for ranking high for target keywords. This applies to landing pages, service/product pages, case studies, and blog posts.

For example, Celestica, an electronics manufacturing company, frequently publishes insightful articles on manufacturing supply chains.

When crafting content, keep in mind the following quality signals that Google values:

• Original research, reporting, or analysis
• Content that aligns with user search intent
• Relevance to the website’s primary topics
• Up-to-date and accurate information
• Unique ideas or perspectives, rather than repeating competitors’ content
• Links to authoritative, relevant sources
• Proper spelling and grammar

4. Implement On-Page SEO

On-page SEO involves optimizing the elements on your web pages to improve their ranking in search engine results. This includes keyword integration, internal linking, and clean URL structures.

Title Tags

Google often uses a page’s title tag as the clickable link in search results. Keeping title tags under 60 characters (or 600 pixels) is essential to avoid truncation. Additionally, make sure to include your targeted keyword within the title tag.

Meta Descriptions

A meta description summarizes a page’s content and may appear beneath the title in search results. Keep meta descriptions under 120 characters (or 680 pixels) to avoid truncation on mobile devices, and ensure they offer a clear idea of what the page is about.

Heading Tags

Heading tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.) structure the content of your pages, making it easier for users and search engines to navigate. Each page should only have one H1 tag, which is typically the page’s main title and often mirrors the title tag.

URL Slugs

The URL slug is the end part of your webpage’s URL. Including relevant keywords in your URL slugs helps both Google and users understand the page’s content. Keep the slugs short, simple, and logical for a better user experience and SEO.

Internal Links

Internal links are hyperlinks that point to other pages on your site. They help Google crawl and index your website, establish a relationship between pages, and enhance the user experience by providing easy navigation.

5. Ensure Your Site Is Crawlable

For Google to rank your pages, it first needs to crawl (find) them and store them in its database. Only then can it index your content for relevant manufacturing keywords.

Adding internal links is one way to help Google crawl your site, but several factors can affect your website’s crawlability.

6. Make Your Site Mobile-Friendly

Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it prioritizes the mobile version of your site for crawling, indexing, and ranking. Your industrial website must be mobile-friendly to improve your chances of ranking. We recommend using a responsive design, which ensures your website adapts seamlessly to different devices, whether desktop, mobile, or tablet.

7. Earn Backlinks from Reputable Sites

Backlinks are links from other websites that point to your site, and they play a key role in improving rankings. They signal to Google that others in your industry trust and value your site.

Increasing the number of high-quality backlinks can enhance your site’s authority and ranking potential.

A high-quality backlink meets these criteria:

• It comes from a trusted, reputable website relevant to your industry.
• The anchor text used is related to the content on the linked page.
• It is placed naturally within the content.
• Increase Local Visibility

Local SEO helps optimize your website to appear in search results for specific geographic areas, such as “metal fabricators in Denver” or “plastic manufacturers in New York City.”

It also increases your chances of appearing in the Google Map Pack, which showcases local businesses when users search for products or services nearby.

8. Increase Local Visibility

Local SEO helps optimize your website to appear in search results for specific geographic areas, such as “metal fabricators in Denver” or “plastic manufacturers in New York City.”

It also increases your chances of appearing in the Google Map Pack, which showcases local businesses when users search for products or services nearby.

9. Track Your Progress

Tracking your SEO progress is essential for understanding what works and adjusting to improve results.

Google Search Console is a free tool that provides critical SEO-related data for your website, including:

• Organic clicks: The number of users who click on your page from search results.
• Organic impressions: The number of times your page appears in search results.
• Click-through rate (CTR): The percentage of users who click on your result after seeing it in search results.
• Average ranking position: The average position of your page in search results.

Boost Your Manufacturing Website’s SEO with Engage Coders

SEO for manufacturers requires a blend of proven best practices, technical enhancements, and focused local SEO strategies.

Engage Coders offers tailored SEO services for manufacturers to optimize your manufacturing websites, from in-depth research to content creation and technical improvement, all in one place.

Ready to take your manufacturing website’s SEO to the next level? Reach out to Engage Coders for a free quote and see how we can help your business grow!