What Makes Industrial SEO Different?
Industrial businesses cater to a very specific client base with particular needs and search behavior. Industrial SEO is less about the volume of clicks and more about the quality, and having an SEO plan built specifically for your business helps to drive business in a way that makes sense for your company.
Start With Industrial Keyword Research and Search Intent
Target Product, Service, Capability, and Application Keywords
When industrial customers are looking to buy, they often know exactly what they want. By focusing on your specific services, capabilities, and products, you can ensure you are targeting keywords your customers are actually searching with.
Match Keywords to the Right Page Type
Product pages should have transactional keywords, while blog posts and articles should have informational keywords. This helps search engines match the right content to the right search terms that will lead customers to the answers they’re looking for.
Prioritize Relevance Over Search Volume
A good SEO strategy isn’t always about more clicks, but the right ones. Ensure you are targeting keywords that actually relate to the specifications of your company rather than trying to increase your site traffic. This will translate to more high-quality leads and a measurable uptick in business rather than just higher numbers for your site.
Create Helpful Content for Industrial Buyers
Answer Technical Buyer Questions
Because Industrial business is so specific, keep in mind what questions your customers may have about your services. Use blog pages to answer these questions to drive quality traffic to your site and help direct them to your company with products and services that can answer those questions.
Make Content Clear, Specific, and Easy to Scan
Content on your site should be straightforward and highly specific to your business. Utilizing headings and subheadings keeps your content organized and easy to scan for information.
Support Long Sales Cycles With Educational Content
Build content that is there to support the full sales cycle. Having product and services pages is a must, but building educational material supports customers from browsing to purchasing.
Improve Technical SEO for Industrial Websites
Run an SEO Audit to Find Site Issues
Running an SEO audit can help you find places where your website may not be living up to its potential. This will make sure your site is crawlable for search engines, that all internal links work as intended, and give you an overall assessment of your webpage’s health.
Improve Site Speed and Mobile Usability
A slow website can impact both customer experience and a search engine’s ability to read the page quickly. Time is valuable, so ensuring your site is mobile-friendly can also help to optimize when and where customers can find your company.
Make Product, Service, and Capability Pages Easy to Crawl
When a search engine is crawling your pages, you want to make it as easy as possible for it to glean the correct information. Strong site organization, working internal links, and low duplicate content makes it fast and easy for a search engine to scan your site and present it to customers.
Keep Site Architecture Clear and Scalable
You always want to have room for your website to grow. Having a clear plan for content makes it easy to build while still ensuring everything is well connected and organized when you publish new pages.
Optimize Product, Service, and Capability Pages
Add Detailed Specifications and Technical Proof
The more specific you can be about your products and services, the better. Industrial customers are often searching for very particular products when they’re ready to buy, so make sure to highlight those specifications on your website.
Make RFQ, Contact, and Sales Paths Easy to Find
It should be as easy as possible for your customers to make a sale or submit an inquiry. There should be links all across your website to help them find those pages so they don’t have to do any searching when they decide to buy.
Use Schema Markup Where Relevant
Schema markup makes it easier for search engines to crawl your site and provide a detailed description for customers when it returns results. This additional data can make your site look more polished and trustworthy before they even see your site.
Optimize Images, Videos, and Technical Documents
Use Descriptive File Names and Alt Text
Adding the keywords you are targeting into your file names and alt text signals to search engines exactly what your primary keywords are. Being descriptive here can give more context as they scan your site to be able to present a more accurate description to customers.
Optimize Product Images and Process Videos
Optimizing images and videos improves site speed and crawlability. The more of this work you can do behind the scenes, the better your site will run for both customers and search engines.
Make PDF Spec Sheets and Catalogs Easy to Find
You don’t want your customers to have to dig to find the information they’re looking for on your site. These links should be easy to see and accessible from multiple pages to improve the user experience.
Use Local SEO When Location Matters
Optimize Google Business Profile and Local Listings
When customers are shopping locally, your Google Business Profile is often the first thing they see. You want to make sure your profile is organized and up to date, and that any NAP information is the same across all listings.
Target Regional or Service Area Keywords
If your business operates in a certain area, make sure you are using those keywords across your site. This will help you reach customers who search “near me” or “in my city” using the search engine’s location services.
Keep Business Information Consistent Across Directories
Ensuring consistent NAP information is vital to building trust and generating quality leads. Any time you make a change to any of your NAP information, make sure to update it in every directory your business is listed in.
Measure SEO Performance and Lead Quality
You’ll know your SEO is working when you are generating more quality leads. Track how customers are finding your website and monitor organic traffic as well. Seeing your rankings start to rise on different pages is another sign your SEO strategy is working.