SEO for manufacturing companies, a practical guide

Most manufacturing SEO advice is written for a consumer audience with the word “manufacturing” bolted on. It doesn’t hold up for a buyer who already knows what they want.

Take a procurement lead sourcing a new aluminium extrusion supplier. They’re not reading a “what are aluminium extrusions?” explainer, they already know. What they need is specific, detailed reasons to choose one supplier over another: product quality, lead times, cost, the things that actually decide a contract.

Most manufacturing companies get this backwards. They choose blog topics by how popular they are rather than how relevant, chase high-volume keywords regardless of fit, and end up with content that ranks for terms that look good on paper and do nothing for sales.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• The problem with how most manufacturers do SEO

• Why you should prioritise keywords with high buying intent over high search volume

• How you can write SEO content that targets manufacturing keywords and resonates with readers

I’m a UK-based manufacturing SEO consultant with 6+ years of experience.

If you’re looking for someone to handle SEO for your manufacturing company, find out more about my services below:

The problem with how most people do manufacturing SEO #

From the last four years of working in SEO, I’ve seen many B2B manufacturers putting too much value on the amount of website traffic they receive over the quality.

They choose blog topics based on how popular the topics are rather than how relevant they are to their ideal customers.

Then they target high-volume keywords, no matter how irrelevant, all in a bid to chase that extra traffic.

So what happens is that you get many B2B companies writing basic, filler content that attracts the wrong audience.

They end up ranking for a bunch of keywords that look pretty on paper but make little impact to their sales.

Keywords like what are aluminium extrusions.

No one who wants to buy aluminium extrusions will be Googling what are aluminium extrusions.

Of course, if you simply chase as much website traffic as you can, you’re bound to get more sales down the line.

Throw thousands of darts at the board and you’re bound to hit bullseye at some point.

Sure, that’s one way of doing SEO.

But targeting the wrong audience will waste your time and resources more in the long run.

The better way of doing SEO is to choose keywords based on how high the buying intent is rather than the search volume.

With this approach, you’ll narrow your reach, but you’ll also pour more energy into attracting your ideal customers.

In the next section, I’ll explain how to target keywords with high buying intent.

And then we’ll cover how you can fit these keywords into the rest of your manufacturing SEO and content strategy.

How to do keyword research for manufacturing companies #

You’ll need to use a keyword research tool to find the keywords your customers are searching for.

I recommend using the free Ahrefs Keyword Generator.

Type in any keyword into the search bar and you get suggestions for similar keywords people are searching for.

The great part? Ahrefs Keyword Generator is free, so you won’t have to spend a penny for this info.

Answer Socrates is another free tool that works well for keyword research.

It won’t give you any data on search volume or keyword difficulty, mind you.

But it can help you find useful keyword ideas.

If you’re a little unsure about what keywords to target for your manufacturing company, I’ve listed common types below.

The products you manufacture can be broken down into more categories than you probably realise. One SEO client I used to worked with supplies CNC milling and turning machines. But they distribute such a wide variety of CNC machines that every variety is a new keyword opportunity. So on top of directly targeting the keyword cnc machines itself, we also targeted subcategory keywords like:

• 5-axis cnc machines
• vertical machining centre
• horizontal milling machine

Many manufacturing companies can deliver both standard and custom manufacturing options.

On one of my first SEO projects, I worked with an aluminium extrusion manufacturer.

They supplied a range of standard profile aluminium extrusions, sure, but they also manufactured custom aluminium extrusions.

Made for clients with specific requirements.

So, of course, we targeted those custom keywords.

If you provide a bespoke manufacturing service, target the people specifically looking for that with these custom keywords.

When it comes to targeting keywords, don’t get tunnel vision.

Sure, you need to go after keywords that match the products you manufacture. That’s a given.

But if you’ve got a whole lineup of products in a specific industry or niche, it’s time to broaden your horizons a little.

Here’s the thing though:

From experience, I can tell you that industry-related keywords often come with a side of lower buying intent.

When someone’s typing in a broad industry term, they’re less likely to buy.

On the flip side, when they’re searching for something super specific, like the exact name of your product, that’s when they’re ready to whip out the credit card.

Let’s say you were in the business of supplying aluminium extrusions to the aerospace industry.

You’d be better off targeting a keyword like aluminium extrusion manufacturer rather than something broad like aerospace parts manufacturer.

The first one hits the bullseye, zeroing in on folks who know exactly what they’re after.

The second keyword casts a wide net, sure, but you’re also fishing for everything under the sun.

The person searching for aerospace parts could be after fasteners or landing gear, nothing to do with your aluminium extrusions.

But don’t write off those broad industry keywords just yet.

They’ve still got a place in your strategy, especially if you’ve already milked the specific keywords dry.

Once you’ve covered your bases with the high-intent terms, go ahead and throw in those broader keywords.

They might not convert as well, but they’ll still drive some traffic your way.

Now that we’ve identified the right keywords, we can move on to the next step.

Select 5 – 10 keywords from your research, focusing on the ones with the lowest competition and strongest buying intent.

I created an Excel spreadsheet template to make the process a little easier.

You can grab the keyword shortlisting template here.

Here’s the deal:

If you want content that actually gets the job done, you need to hire a good content writer.

Plain and simple.

You need someone who knows how to make content sell, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Expertise isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s the difference between content that flops and content that flies.

Your SEO content writer needs to be sharp and plugged into your team’s collective knowledge.

Here’s why:

No matter how talented your SEO content writer is, they’re not a mind reader.

To write content that resonates, they need your insights: those little nuggets of wisdom only you and your team have.

The knowledge you can’t find on a Wikipedia article.

They need to get under the hood of your operations, understand your unique selling points, and see the challenges you’re helping clients crush.

And let’s get one thing straight: whether you’re teaming up with a freelance SEO, in-house SEO, or SEO agency, don’t let them go rogue.

If you want content that’s as good as it gets, your writer needs to be in the trenches with you, mining your expertise and translating it into words that doesn’t just rank but turns visitors into buyers.

But not everyone has the luxury of hiring a content writer.

So if you want to roll up your sleeves and write the manufacturing content yourself, read on.

How to write SEO content for manufacturing keywords #

We can’t talk about writing SEO content without first exploring the idea of search intent.

The type of content you produce for your target keyword will depend on the search intent of that keyword.

What is search intent?

In simple terms: search intent is the main goal someone has when they search for their query.

It’s the type of content the person is looking for when they type in your keyword.

The content you create to rank for your keywords will typically fall into one of two categories:

Landing pages and blog posts.

So what content format should you choose?

This is the classic advice most SEOs would give:

When folks are ready to buy, say, they’re searching for custom aluminium extrusions, you hit them with a landing page.

And when they’re in research mode, typing in something like what are aluminium extrusions, you throw them a blog post.

Landing pages are built to convert, they’ll tell you, so they’re the obvious choice for keywords with high buying intent.

But here’s where things get interesting:

This one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t always hold up in the real world.

Sure, the logic is sound. Landing pages are designed to funnel people toward a purchase, so they should, in theory, outperform blog posts when it comes to conversions.

But in practice, it’s not that cut and dry.

Take it from the folks over at Grow and Convert, a content marketing agency that dug deep into this very question:

Are landing pages really the best choice for every transactional keyword?

Their research led them to the same conclusion I’ve reached: sometimes, blog posts can actually do a better job at ranking for transactional keywords.

Why? Because blog posts often provide more value, more context, and more room to address the nuances of what a potential customer might be searching for.

They can build trust and authority in a way that a landing page, with its more straightforward pitch, might not.

So, while the conventional wisdom leans toward landing pages for transactional keywords and blog posts for informational ones, don’t be afraid to challenge that.

The right choice depends on the keyword, the context, and what your audience really needs at that moment.

Sometimes, a well-written blog post can guide a searcher from curiosity to conversion better than any landing page could.

If you want to rank higher, blog posts work like a charm for three reasons:

Rankings:

It’s often more difficult to get a landing page to rank highly in organic search results.

A blog post format gives you more room to include relevant SEO keywords and answer the intent of the searcher, so blog posts are often easier to rank highly.

And ranking your content is the most important thing.

If you don’t rank, it doesn’t matter how high your conversion rate is.

Search intent:

When someone’s searching directly for a product or service, they’re often looking to explore their options or get more information before they make a decision.

That’s where blog posts come in strong.

They do a better job of meeting the searcher where they are, giving them the details they need to make an informed choice.

Read my search intent guide to learn more about how to write content that Searchers want.

Link building:

But there’s more to the story: link-building.

Here’s something Grow and Convert didn’t touch on.

When you create detailed content, people are way more likely to link to it.

Whether you’re using broken link building, the skyscraper technique, or any other link building strategy, it’s easier to get backlinks to a useful, in-depth article than to a straightforward sales page.

And since backlinks are one of the biggest factors in ranking, this is a point you can’t afford to ignore.

Related reading: Manufacturing SEO consultant · Manufacturing SEO services · Manufacturing SEO case study · SEO for food manufacturers · SEO for packaging manufacturers · Best manufacturing SEO agencies, compared · The manufacturing SEO checklist