We explore keyword research through an industrial perspective, explaining what it is and why it’s crucial for industrial companies. Additionally, we highlight the transformation in industrial procurement processes that have made SEO (search engine optimization) and consistent content marketing—such as expert writing and blogging—almost indispensable today.
Our goal is not to overwhelm clients with marketing jargon, so we present the keyword research process from their perspective, as the first essential step toward a mindful digital strategy.
In our article, you’ll find answers to questions such as:
- What role does keyword research play in SEO?
- Why is it valuable for industrial companies?
- What trends have increased the importance of content marketing?
- What methodology do we use to identify your relevant keywords?
What is keyword research?
Keyword research is the foundation of SEO efforts and content marketing. Through research, we identify relevant keywords to optimize our clients’ digital content (in other words, we decide which terms to use during content creation). This ensures that web pages and blogs rank for relevant keywords in Google.
A keyword or search term can be a single word or a more specific, multi-word phrase. The latter is usually much easier to rank for on Google than a single-word keyword.
What results can be achieved with search engine optimization? Check out our case study HERE, where we showcase how a well-planned, intensive content marketing strategy can drive significant growth in organic traffic through the example of one of our clients!
Why is keyword research valuable for every industrial manufacturer and engineering service provider?
In the industrial sector, Google searches often reflect strong interest, research intentions, or even specific purchasing intent. Capturing the potential customer’s attention at this early stage allows us to introduce our products, services, and brand. This increases the likelihood that they will consider us among their options when making a purchasing decision.
We know that Google search users are actively interested in a specific topic. In the industrial sector, this often means a smaller search volume but a well-defined audience. Moreover, this is a much “warmer” audience compared to, for instance, a newspaper or banner ad, where most of the target audience may have no interest in the topic at all.
It’s worth leveraging this with proactive, targeted marketing activities.
Arról, hogy a tudatosan felépített marketing és a hirdetések között mi a különbség, ITT olvashatsz.
Digitalization is placing increasing pressure on procurement professionals.
The industrial products and services market has traditionally been a trust-based industry. In the past, trust was often built through personal relationships—a handshake at an expo. However, the digital revolution is fundamentally changing this dynamic.
Digitally savvy millennial managers are increasingly gaining purchasing decision authority. As a result, researching new suppliers, especially for imported products, has become almost impossible without online searches and information gathering. Exporters now establish trust and build brand awareness among potential clients through a professional, expertise-driven digital presence. Without this, reaching new clients in today’s world is a significant challenge.
We believe we are still in the early stages of this shift, but the process is accelerating rapidly.
Procurement professionals are under increasing pressure to find suppliers offering the best terms. In most cases, the most competitive supplier needs to be sought beyond existing networks, across a broader market. As a result, the role of B2B websites is becoming more and more valuable.
How does a professional website build trust?
- As a player in a given industry, the company becomes known through relevant search terms.
- A professional website that conveys expertise boosts trust among potential clients.
- Educational content and blog posts addressing relevant questions further reinforce a credible image.
Google’s role in procurement has become increasingly important.
As the digital maturity of the average person grows, it has become standard behavior to seek information, validation, and assurance through search engines—a trend increasingly true for B2B procurement as well.
If we want to communicate proactively with procurement professionals, it’s essential to build awareness and trust from the early stages.
Step 0: Identifying Search Intent
For the term “industrial floor polishing,” the top search results include advertisements.
Let’s consider a scenario where a company needs a supplier for a specialized task unrelated to its main activities, such as polishing its facility floors. Since this task falls outside daily operations, it’s unlikely that their current supplier network can handle it. What do they do? They search for a new service provider on Google.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that every quote request involves a detailed Google search. However, if we can identify the volume and direction of search intent, we can confidently base our content marketing on SEO copywriting, knowing there’s real interest behind it. This is the foundation of keyword research.
Why do we start EVERY SEO PROJECT with keyword research?
To achieve real results with SEO, website or ad content must always align with search intent, regardless of whether we expect results organically or through paid methods.
In short, we compare our keyword research findings with actual Google searches, the company’s existing organic presence, and its business goals.
A clear example of why alignment is so crucial in keyword research.
For work machine attachments, should we optimize for “quick coupler” or “quick connector”?
Search volumes clearly suggest that we should optimize for “quick connector” in the context of work machine attachments. However, a practical test search reveals that the intent behind “quick connector” is mostly related to pipe connectors. Optimizing SEO content for this term would have been a major mistake, as the market associates “quick connector” with a completely different product.
Image results on Google for the keyword “quick connector.”
How did we discover this?
A quick Google search and Google Search Console data made it immediately clear. The latter shows that our client’s product is indeed being found under the intended search term “quick coupler.”
Google Search Console revealed that the majority of clicks and impressions are coming from the keyword “quick coupler.”
Even the world’s best product won’t generate high sales if potential customers can’t find it. It’s essential to build websites, URL structures, sitemaps, navigation, content, and blogs around language and terms that have significant search volume. Investing in a non-existent market wastes valuable resources. Developing a website is a substantial investment, and if we realize only afterward that we designed the menu structure around the wrong terms, it results in a considerable loss.
A solid keyword strategy, based on meaningful search volumes, provides everyone with confidence. Our client can be assured that there is a market for their product or service. And as an agency, we know that we can achieve sustainable results—organically over the long term and through paid, data-driven ads in the short term.
This may sound simple, but it requires thorough analysis, intentional planning, and consistent implementation. In the following sections, we’ll outline this process.
How is keyword research conducted?
Various keyword research tools provide estimates of how often a specific keyword is searched on Google. Google Search Console, on the other hand, shows how frequently our website appears in Google’s results for particular keywords.
Based on these insights, we develop our clients’ keyword strategies, aligning them with their products and services to identify the best keywords for optimizing website content.
Let’s examine the 5-step process using industrial shades as an example!
Step 1: Identifying Relevant Topics
The first step in keyword research is gathering the main topics that cover a client’s activities, services, and products.
For a company specializing in shading technology, these might include:
- Outdoor shading: shutters, louvers, louvered shades
- Indoor shading: roller shades, blinds, vertical blinds
Step 2: Aligning with Search Intent
In the second step, we analyze which search terms the market uses for each topic. It’s crucial to optimize the website for the exact terms that the market uses to search for the product. This varies every time, so we need to carefully consider which keywords are most relevant. Often, it helps to think from the perspective of the customer, who is frequently looking for a solution to a problem rather than a specific product.
When searching for outdoor shading
In our example, examining searches for the keyword “outdoor shading” reveals that the market is more likely to search for “outdoor shades.”
Step 3: Identifying Trends
Monthly search volumes can reveal trends that are important to consider. We time resource allocation to periods when we see heightened activity in the market.
In practice, for shading products, this means producing content more intensively for relevant keywords during the summer months.
Step 4: Competitor and Market Analysis
In competitor analysis, we assess the level of competition for our target keywords. Since competition affects both advertising costs and the difficulty of keyword optimization, high competition—especially in international markets—requires us to adapt our strategy accordingly.
The keyword analysis software, Keyword Tool, indicates medium competition for the term “outdoor shades.”
Generally, higher search volumes come with greater competition. This also means that the market is typically more mature, with experienced players competing with larger budgets. So, achieving results in a more competitive market often requires a bigger investment.
On the other hand, if we find a keyword with low search volume and low competition, it may still be worth pursuing in the industrial sector. Think about it: if 10-20 keywords with just a few dozen monthly searches each add up to generate 1-2 quote requests, this can still have a significant impact on revenue.
According to Google Search Console, most visitors to our previous example client’s website arrive via searches for keywords like manure fork, pallet fork, and bucket tooth.
Step 5: Defining Target Keywords
In the final step, we compile the information gathered during the analysis and identify the primary keywords to optimize our client’s website with targeted marketing copy.
To develop the final keyword strategy, we consider:
- the company’s activities and products,
- search intent,
- search volumes,
- search trends and seasonality,
- and competition.
In an upcoming article, you can read more about how we create SEO-optimized content marketing based on these defined keywords.