Your Introductory Guide to SEO for Metal Fabricators

One of the most challenging parts of running a metal fabrication company is getting your brand out there on the Internet. You know who your target audience is, and you know a lot of businesses need your products. The question is, how can you reach them?

Arguably the most effective way to reach prospects online is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO for metal fabrication companies like yours is a tried-and-true strategy that can bring in a ton of new customers. 

But how does it do that? What can you do to drive results with metal fabrication SEO?

That’s what we’ll cover on this page. Below, we’ll walk through each of the following sections:

• What is SEO for metal fabricators?
• Why should your business use SEO?
• 5 tips for using SEO for metal fabrication companies

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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. 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 your business use SEO?

SEO is a great strategy for metal fabrication because it helps you reach the people who are the most likely to convert.

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 have to do a Google search. 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.

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 five of the best ways to optimize your content for metal fabricator SEO:

1. Target long-tail keywords
2. Earn reputable backlinks
3. Improve your page load speeds
4. Make your site mobile-friendly
5. Create a Google Business Profile

We’ll cover each of those tips in more detail below, so read on to learn more!

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.

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.

2. Earn reputable backlinks

Another surefire way to improve SEO for metal fabrication companies is to have plenty of links leading to your website pages. 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.

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. On top of losing traffic, you’ll also lose rankings — Google penalizes sites that load too slowly. 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 won’t rank sites that don’t have a mobile version, and even if it did, you’d still miss out on traffic from people using mobile devices. Plus, a mobile-friendly site makes it easier to view your portfolio and services on any device. For that reason, be sure to make your site mobile-friendly.

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.

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.

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, 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.

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

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