SEO for Manufacturers: Ranking Well in Google

At CartaNova Web Design & Marketing we help 'green' companies to grow (including Solarnetix and Alpha Thermal Systems here at Renewable Energy World).  Finding new customers can be a tough challenge in the new, ever-more-globally-compeitive industrial economy.

What follows is a quick case study of how we helped an industrial client grow in an extremely competitive marketplace.  Like most industrial companies, they hadn't marketed very much on the web (or at all) previously.

We hope this article is useful to your company!  CartaNova exists to help clean, renewable energy grow.

Industrial Challenges

Industrial and manufacturing companies have significant marketing challenges.  Many industries have limited promotional experience and have only begun to address marketing as a consequence of the recession. 

Additionally, many Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Web Marketing mainstays such as Social Media Marketing may not apply (would you want to visit a Facebook Page on, say, self-sealing-stem-bolts in your free time?).  For Industrial Companies competing in a global market, a focus on relevant content, especially relevant technical content, is especially important.

Example: Alcast Technologies

Alcast Technologies is a family-owned, third-generation Aluminum Casting Foundry located in Hamilton, Ontario.  Like many industrial companies, they face stiff competiton from low-quality but cheap suppliers in China and abroad.

Global web site and search engine optimization firms parallel this trend - many international SEO companies use e-sweatshop labour and 'black hat' SEO tricks to improve their rankings.  Luckily, Google is fighting back by increasingly emphasizing relevance and trust in their search ranking algorithms.

Relevant Technical Content

Most industries will be competing for Google visitor traffic for only a few search terms as well.  Search rankings being quite competitive, having a well-written, well-programmed and well-organized web site is critical.

Our SEO update for AlcastTechnologies.ca focused on making every aspect of the web site Search-Engine-Friendly.  Every page title, internal link and content-heading is the result of an extensive analysis of search data and search trends for their market.

Know Your Terms

For the Aluminum Casting industry, the search terms 'Aluminum Casting' and 'CNC Machining' are especially important. 

These search terms (or 'keywords') are emphasized on the home page as headers and titles throughout the Alcast web site.

..But Don't 'Keyword Stuff'

Warning!  Simply adding industry keywords isn't a good idea as 'keyword stuffing' will only make your site look user-unfriendly and spam-like.  Adding high-value keywords in appropriate ways, using natural language, is a key to a good search engine optimization.

Keep Things Simple, Clear and Concise

Further, each page at Alcast Technologies contains high-quality written language and as specific technical information as possible - describing the product manufacturing process in detail.  Well-organized technical information contributes to a search engine ranking by promoting a web site as an 'authoritative source' on a subject.

In other words, by sharing and publishing welll-written, well-organized technical information, Google and other search engines will consider your web site to be *relevant* and *authoritative* for a technical search query.

Since an answer to a technical question, or a company promoting a specific technical,product is what many industrial customers want, Google will appropriately value and rank your web site accordingly.

Relevance, then is the key factor in search rankings - a search user, after all, is looking for relevant content.

Result: First Place in Google Search Canada

By emphasizing clear navigation and relevant keywords, we were able to see Alcast receive a #1 Ranking for 'Aluminum Casting' in Canada as of 2010.  In this case, the .ca domain name, and ocassional use of Canadian-Language identifiers assists the site in ranking well for Canadian search users.

Global rankings for 'Aluminum Casting' are exceptionally competitive and Alcast currently places just under the first page in global search results for most inquiries.  At the moment, we're helping Alcast to introduce new, relevant, content to the web site describing their recent aluminum casting work.

Another search ranking benefit is to keep a web site active - by adding new, relevant information.  As long as the company keeps blogging on a regular basis, we expect to see the global rankings increase as well.

Summary of SEO Techniques

The techniques mentioned above follow our mantra of 'good programming, good content and good links' as critical to an effective search engine optimization.  We hope this article has been useful to you and your company.

>> Our Guide to SEO Basics

>> Our Guide to Google Ad Words