SEO for Metal Fabricators: What to Know (And Do) for Search Visibility

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What is SEO for metal fabricators?

SEO is a strategy that involves creating and optimizing content on your website to rank high in relevant Google search results and get cited in Google AI Overviews and AI assistant answers. The goal is for potential customers to find your website when they search for terms related to metal fabrication, potentially leading them to buy from you down the road.

Why should metal fabricators use SEO?

SEO is a great digital marketing strategy for metal fabrication because it helps you reach the people who are the most likely to convert, allowing you to more effectively generate leads and drive sales.

Let’s imagine a scenario.

A company in your target audience is looking for custom parts, which they need to get through a metal fabricator. But they don’t know any metal fabrication companies, so to find one, they do a Google search or ask an AI assistant like ChatGPT.

To start with, they might even search for more informational terms like “what do metal fabricators do.”

Now imagine that when they do this, the first website they see in search results is yours. After clicking on the link and getting the information they want, they remember your company. When they’re finally ready to commit to a metal fabricator, you’ll be the first one they think of.

In short, SEO for metal fabricators draws more traffic to your website, spreads brand awareness, and leads to more sales and revenue.

To see whether it’s working, track qualified RFQs and quote requests from organic search, not just traffic.

5 tips for using SEO for metal fabrication companies

Now that we’ve explained what metal fabricator SEO is and why it matters, let’s talk about how you can get started using it for your website. The basics are simple: Create content on your website about metal fabrication and then optimize it to appear in search results.

How exactly do you do that, though? What optimizations should you use?

Here are the best ways to optimize your content for metal fabricator SEO:

1. Target long-tail keywords

One of the first and most essential steps to improving your metal fabrication SEO is to add keywords to your content. Keywords, or search terms, can benefit your website pages because they tell Google which searches those pages should rank in. Including the keyword “metal fabrication services” on a page, for example, might help the page rank for that keyword.

But don’t just target any keywords.

Look for terms you would expect your target audience to search for. Metal fabrication clients will often get straight to the point, searching for terms like “custom metal fabrication services near me.”

Sometimes, though, they’ll want to learn more about what metal fabrication even is, so it’s good to target more introductory keywords like “what is metal fabrication,” too.

As you can see from both of the above examples, you should also primarily target long-tail keywords and the full questions buyers ask AI assistants.

Long-tail keywords are those that are several words long.

Rather than targeting “metal fabricator,” consider targeting keywords like “what does a metal fabricator do” and “metal fabricator in [your city].”

The benefit of targeting long-tail keywords is that they’re more specific, meaning they reach searches with a more relevant and precise audience, and they have less competition.

Long, specific searches are also where AI answers appear most often. In WebFX’s analysis of 188,713 U.S. manufacturing search queries, queries of 7+ words triggered AI Overviews 61.2% of the time, vs. 21.1% for 1-2 word queries.

That means a page targeting “custom aluminum fabrication for food equipment” should answer that buyer’s question directly, not just repeat the phrase, to improve its chances of appearing in the AI Overview.

2. Earn reputable backlinks

Another reliable way to improve SEO for metal fabrication companies is to earn links from relevant, reputable websites. You can start this process by creating links between pages on your own site (a process called internal linking), but the best links are those that come from other websites. Those are called backlinks.

You don’t want just any backlinks, though.

Ideally, your site will earn backlinks from reputable websites that deal with metal fabrication (or a closely related industry). When these reputable sites link to your content, Google assumes that your site is reputable, too, so it ranks your pages higher.

For example, Sharretts Plating, an industrial metal finishing company, paired a link-building campaign with metal-finishing keyword targeting and new blog content. It saw a 270% increase in organic traffic.

And it’s not just Google you’re trying to persuade.

Metal fabrication customers often require extremely specialized parts. That means they’re putting a lot of trust in you to get the job done right, so they’re definitely going to take the time to find a metal fabricator who’s authoritative and trustworthy.

Reputable backlinks can really help with that.

To earn backlinks, consider visiting some reputable metal fabrication sites (not competitors) and looking for broken or missing links. When you find any, contact the site owners to recommend that they replace those links with fresh ones to relevant content on your site.

3. Improve your page load speeds

When a prospect is searching for a metal fabricator to work with, they’re willing to put some research into it, but they won’t sit around idly waiting on slow websites to load. If your website’s page load speeds are slow, you’ll end up losing a lot of traffic to your competitors.

That’s why it’s crucial to optimize your page speeds.

Slow pages can also cost you visibility, because Google uses page speed as one of its ranking signals. For that reason, be sure to help your pages load faster by doing things like:

• Caching web pages
• Compressing images
• Minifying code
• Limiting redirects

When your pages load quickly and smoothly, both Google and your prospective customers will be happier.

4. Make your site mobile-friendly

Another technical aspect of your website to consider is mobile-friendliness.

Google primarily indexes the mobile version of your pages, so a site that doesn’t work well on phones will struggle to rank. A mobile-friendly site also makes your portfolio and services easy to view on any device.

The simplest way to do that is to use responsive design.

That’s a type of web design that restructures the pages on your website to fit the screen they appear on. So, a page would look slightly different on mobile than it would on a desktop computer.

Here’s an example of a page on desktop:

And on mobile:

Be sure to use responsive design to increase your chances of ranking high in search results and attracting traffic from multiple devices.

5. Create a Google Business Profile

Not all metal fabricator SEO happens directly on your website.

You can also show up in search results by creating a Google Business Profile. Any business can set up a profile. After you claim your profile, be sure to fill it out with as much info about your metal fabrication company as you can, including contact info and images.

Google says businesses with complete and accurate info are more likely to show up in local search results.

But why do this at all?

The answer is that when prospects are looking for a metal fabricator, the first thing they’ll probably do is Google some fabricators in their area. Maybe they want to reduce shipping times, or maybe they want to be able to chat with someone close by about the process without worrying about time zones or availability.

Either way, Google is where they’ll go. When this happens, Google will typically display a local 3-pack at the top of search results, which looks like this:

As you can see, the local 3-pack features three relevant Google Business Profiles. Ideally, your profile will be one of those three whenever prospects in your local area search for metal fabricators.

How do metal fabricators show up in AI search?

Metal fabricators show up in AI search by publishing specific capability content that Google AI Overviews and assistants like ChatGPT can quote, and by earning mentions on the industry sites those answers draw from. Buyers increasingly do that supplier research on their own.

Why practice AI search optimization with SEO optimization?

Gartner research found that buyers spend only 17% of their total purchase journey talking to suppliers. That means a buyer may have a shortlist of fabricators before ever contacting your shop. You need to practice AI search optimization and SEO optimization together — not separately.

How to optimize for AI search as a metal fabricator

Optimize for AI search as a metal fabricator with these techniques:

1. Answer buyer questions on each service page: Open your laser cutting, forming, and welding pages with a short answer that names the materials, thicknesses, tolerances, and certifications you work with, so an AI answer can describe your shop accurately.
2. Earn mentions on industry sites: AI answers draw on trade publications, industry directories, and association pages, so the backlink outreach above also builds the third-party credibility assistants look for.
3. Check which questions name your shop: OmniSEO®, WebFX’s AI search visibility platform, tracks citations and mentions for your company and its competitors in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews so you don’t have to manually. Use the questions where competitors appear and you don’t to decide which pages to build or update next.
4. Judge AI traffic by quote requests: Use the AI Assistant channel in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to monitor AI-referral traffic. Then, track RFQ form submissions and calls as key events. AI referrals are a small share of traffic for most shops, so judge them by the RFQs they bring in.

Rocket your SEO to new heights with WebFX

Now that you know the basics of metal fabrication SEO, you can start putting it into action at your business. But while you might know the basics, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to master SEO like an expert.

If you’re still feeling unsure how to best handle your campaigns or incorporate SEO into your broader online marketing for metal fabrication companies, it may be helpful to turn to a professional agency like WebFX.

With WebFX’s SEO services, you can get access to marketing experts who know exactly how to improve your campaigns. You’ll be able to find better keywords to target, earn more backlinks, and create better site content to drive more traffic and earn more revenue. You can also get help with other marketing services, including:

• Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising
• Social media marketing
• Web design
• And more!

Interested in partnering with us? Give us a call at 888-601-5359 or contact us online today!