The Secret to Lead Generation for Manufacturers

Search engine optimization (SEO) has long been important for getting high rankings in search engines to drive traffic to your website. The truth, however, is that it's no longer as important as it used to be. Today, SEO is more about playing the digital marketing game and being recognized as a thought leader and expert in the market.

If your company currently ranks high in Google search and your main focus is on search engine optimization, you may soon find that your rankings will fall from page 1. Major competitors who manage this new game can gain advantages from two key areas that Google looks for when determining how to rank websites and organizations online.

The First Area is "Relevance"

Google's job is to find relevant content for search terms. Only those organizations that have very relevant content that match corresponding unique search terms will be considered for ranking.

As a manufacturer, you need to increase the chances that your content will be specific to somebody's unique search. If I did a search on Google for "the best tractors to farm corn in Ohio," that would be considered a fairly long keyword or key phrase. If you are John Deere and you have an article online about corn farming in Ohio and the best tractor for the job, then chances are that your ranking is going to be number one for that search. Remember that search rankings are now all about answering questions and educating individuals.

The Second Area is "Importance"

Google now looks at your website and your entire digital ecosystem, including your social media activity. Factors include how often you post new content, how often you make updates, how often you post to your blog and how engaged you are in all of the digital properties to determine the importance of your website. Due to Google's shift in ranking websites, a rigorous approach needs to be taken to consistently make sure that you are ranking higher than your competitors. 

Since content marketing is the fastest growing field of internet marketing, you need to create massive quality content. Content marketing is as simple as telling stories about your business or sharing customer experiences. Articles that convey your expertise about your industry, your products or your services, along with video marketing on YouTube, participating in forums and social media content marketing are all extremely powerful drivers of traffic and leads. This activity leads to increased lead generation because it helps to continuously update your website with the quality content buyers are searching for.

So if you're still addicted to search engine optimization, it may be a good thing, but it's time to change your tactics and viewpoint since it's not just about the website anymore.