6 SEO Tips for Industrial Companies

If you’re an industrial company looking to increase their online presence, one of the first questions you need to ask yourself is “how are people going to learn about my business?” The fact is that most businesses like to do their own research before hiring a company for their services or partnering with a new manufacturer. More often than not, the first place they look is online on search engines like Google.

92% of online experiences start with a search engine. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, utilizes a number of strategies to improve your website’s ranking in search engines for search terms that are relevant and profitable to your business.

1. Make Sure Your Site is Responsive

Responsive web design means that your site is as easy to manage on a mobile device as it is on the desktop. Considering that over 50% of all online activity is done through mobile devices, your website needs to be mobile-friendly even if you don’t expect to make a sale on a mobile device. Google has noticed this increasing trend of mobile users and has added responsive web design as one if its primary ranking factors moving forward.

2. Optimize Your Metadata

Metadata are snippets of code hidden within the header of a webpage that help search engines understand what your page is about. Google is constantly seeking to guide its users to the most relevant page possible; metadata helps let search engines know that your page has what users are looking for. Having your metadata optimized is one of the most basic and important steps to having your site fully optimized.

There are a few types of metadata, but today, we’re going to focus on the two most relevant to SEO…

Meta Title: Having the right title tag is one of the main ranking factors Google takes into account when determining search engine rankings. Your meta title appears at the top of your search engine listing, as shown below.

When it comes to writing your meta title, including the keyword you want to focus near the beginning helps with SEO efforts. Also, keep in mind that Google will only display around 160-characters of your title.

Meta Description: Meta descriptions provide concise summaries of webpages. Meta descriptions appear as one sentence or short paragraph below the clickable link in Google search results.

While meta descriptions are no longer considered factors when determining search results, they are important for gaining user click-through from search engine results pages. Meta descriptions act as ad copy to entice users to click on your site link and convince them that your page is relevant to their search query.

3. Clean Up 404 Pages

A 404 error occurs when somebody tries to navigate to a page on your site that does not exist.  If you have deleted any pages or products off your site, there is a good possibility you have users experiencing 404 errors on your site. 404s don’t just negatively affect your website’s user experience. If Google has indexed many of your 404 pages, in can indicate that your site isn’t functioning well and hurt your search engine rankings.

If you do find yourself with a large amount of 404 pages, your best solution is to create a 301 redirect. A 301 redirect literally redirects users and search engines to another webpage. It also redirects the authority of the 404 page to the new page, passing on any “juice” you’ve gained from that particular page.

4. Create a Great User Experience (UX)

You have seen this term “UX” and glossed over it, but it’s an important part of SEO. How do you judge good user experience?

• Is your eCommerce platform up to date? Is it new or older than 4 or 5 years? Many industrial companies let this one slide. If it ain’t broke don’t try to fix it, right?To answer that: interfaces go through cycles and people navigate differently. Icons replace words. Hamburger menus replace left-hand menus. Regardless, you should match the way that people know how to navigate so when they click on something they get the response that they were expecting. If your site looks outdated it also mars your image a bit which could mar the trust factor in your company.
• Check your statistics and see where potential clients drop off in the funnel. Where they abandon your site can signal any number of factors:
  • a programming glitch
  • they couldn’t get an answer to a question
  • the photos weren’t attractive, the zoom doesn’t work, etc.
  • the shipping was too expensive for them
  • you do not have thorough, convincing product description
  • they were put off by all of the personal information you were requesting
  • the obligatory fields were not in a format that your client could enter (this is a common problem with phone numbers and zip codes on credit card information for international clients)

The effort here is to describe just some of the UX factors. There are many more, as any front-end designer can attest.

5. Start Blogging With SEO In Mind

If you don’t already have a blog on your industrial company’s website, set one up. You might think this is optional and time-intensive, but if you want long-term success, this is actually a must. Offer quality, valuable content to the reader and update it regularly.

Why make that commitment? Because even if you set up a flawless website and offer a great user experience and checkout system, if the site remains static without new content on it for months and you do not have a section where you can give your potential clients an answer to a question, then a search engine has no reason to favor your industrial company’s website over another company who is giving readers up-to-date answers to their questions. Remember: you are in competition. It’s not enough just to be great. Your site has to be better.

A blog is also a great place to highlight your products when “answering their questions” without being salesy. For instance, if a business searches “proper OSHA fall protection” as a safety products manufacturer or distributor, you can answer that question in your blog in a general manner, adding text from the current OSHA regulations …. and take that opportunity to showcase anchors and harnesses!

If you already have a blog make sure to clean it up. Check to see which posts are ranking within the top five or six pages and boost them with SEO-friendly tactics, such as

• Using semantic keywords
• Pulling out data from paragraphs into bullet points
• Adding an infographic that summarizes points
• Producing a short video
• Adding captions to the video

If there is an article that isn’t ranking and it’s not quality, fresh or relevant, simply rewrite and replace it! Be careful with deleting pages altogether because search engines can penalize you by reducing your site authority.

6. Site Structure

Ensure that your website is properly structured and uses keywords that people are searching for. People need to be able to navigate your website easily.

For example, one thing that Optimum7 has noticed is that Google is favoring blog sections that have categories within them. Up until this point a typical blog on any webpage was just a mishmash of whatever content was related to your industry.

However, organizing the blog into categories is a plus that can enhance your site in Google’s eyes.