How Can Link Building Help Grow Your Manufacturing Business’ Online Presence?

Companies within the manufacturing industry might find it difficult to establish and build their online presence. Unlike some extremely familiar business-to-consumer (B2C) products, the manufacturing sector still tends to be driven by traditional marketing including networking through trade events and industry-specific publications.

Digital media including web pages, blogs, videos, thought leadership and B2B social media opportunities like LinkedIn has transformed the way manufacturing marketing functions. In terms of directing audiences to your web page, they must be in the market or in the network for these marketing methods to make an impact.

How does a manufacturing business increase your overall online presence if your are appearing in search results?

Assuming your website is completely updated including a design that is less than 5 years old and your performance is optimized to compete with the top performers in your industry, your marketing plan should start with search engine optimization (SEO).

On-page SEO includes a full review of your site content. Creating stronger content and improving the internal infrastructure of your site helps increase your performance in search engine results. On-page SEO can increase search traffic but for manufacturing businesses, high-quality links are one of the most effective methods of lifting your online presence.

By putting some digital marketing practices in place, like link building, you can greatly improve your manufacturing company’s digital presence.

Even if you’ve never heard the word “backlink” before, you likely know what it is. When a site provides a link from their site to another, a backlink forms. But why are backlinks so important in B2B SEO?

Many B2B and manufacturing businesses have operated successfully for years without a significant online presence. As a result, there might be limited awareness among decision-makers about the benefits of digital marketing, including link building. Convincing stakeholders of the value and necessity of online visibility can be an uphill battle.

Building links especially from authoritative sites acts as an endorsement. While your digital presence may be limited in the eyes of Google, the authority and credibility of more established and larger websites can be significant.

When links point from other websites to your web pages, Google and other search engines transfer the reputation of the linking page to your site. The more high-quality links you earn through link building, the more likely your domain is to appear in organic search results for the products and materials you manufacture.

Before planning link-building strategies you need to execute a situational analysis. There are a number of ways to do this using specialized tools like AHrefs, Moz, SemRush, Sitebulb, Screaming Frog, and more. These tools can provide a snapshot of your backlink profile and how search engines very the overall health of your domain.

In the case of Moz, the term domain authority is a metric that helps measure the effectiveness of link building. Moz predicts how well a website will rank on search engine result pages (SERPs). Domain authority ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating a stronger and more authoritative website.

Another metric developed by SemRush is the authority score which is an aggregate of all organic traffic, backlinks, and the overall authenticity of your domain.

When it comes to link building, the various link-building tools are valuable, but you are generally looking for a long-term strategy that includes the following:

Think of link-building strategies as shaking hands and greeting a new person. In business relationships, you are hoping the people you meet can help your manufacturing and in turn you can benefit their business.

Building links are mutually beneficial. In fact, one of the first things you should do when performing link building is examine your own external link portfolio. Do you have any broken links on your site? Are the external links pointing from your site relevant? Are there opportunities for natural links to businesses within your network?

These are the same questions you will begin to consider when executing your link-building strategies. At Valve+Meter, our link-building services start simple and become more complex.

Blog Post

Dynamic and compelling content can be hard to find especially for niche topics. When you have talented thought leaders within your business, other websites will take notice.

A well-written blog post can lead to profound benefits. Blog writing requires some keyword research and as we will consider in a few moments, if you want to build links with a specific target, then make sure your blog post is relevant to your audience.

When you add content to your own site, you may not need to do a lot of outreach. Consistently sharing informative and educational articles about the manufacturing industry is one of the most common link-building strategies.

Promote Your Content

To generate links, you may only need to share your content within your existing network. A blog post can be a rich resource page for multiple social media posts. You should also link to your blogs and other thought leadership in newsletters and email campaigns. Your existing contacts are already in your target audience so there’s a good chance they will share your insights with others.

Guest Posting

Reach out to other businesses within your network directly with informative content. In manufacturing, creating case studies, trend reports, and other educational information appeals to your partners. A guest post on a website is another simple link-building strategy.

Request Backlinks Within Your Network

Guest blogging is not relevant to every manufacturing business but networking events are consistent. When you have shared mutual interests, you share contact information. When you attend a trade show or conference, interact with other local business leaders, or even when meeting brand enthusiasts, good link-building benefits both parties.

Link building is the deliberate process of acquiring backlinks for your website. While some links may naturally occur when other sites find your content valuable, actively engaging in link-building tasks is essential to gain a substantial number of backlinks.

Outreach Link Building Strategies

Assuming you have exhausted your network and guest blogging has run its course, the real work of site building begins.

Professional link-building strategies primarily focus on outreach to build links to your blogs, case studies, and other content. To ensure a robust online presence, Valve+Meter experts focus on building links from reputable and authoritative websites that are relevant to your industry. Quality backlinks not only enhance your website’s credibility but also boost its search engine ranking, driving more organic traffic and potential customers to your business.

Here’s a quick breakdown of outreach:

Public Relations

The most authoritative sites are traditional media sources, including local news, well-established industry publications, professional blogs, podcasts, and in some manufacturing markets social media influencers. Distributing high-quality content to these outlets creates opportunities. Media is always looking for new content and a steady PR campaign can generate links and raise your profile throughout the industry.

Broken Link-Building

When you find a broken link on a website, site owners are eager to fix that issue. Organic search engine results are hurt by missing and broken links. Professional link-building campaigns use keyword research, and competitor analysis, and scanning target websites for a broken link that is relevant to your content.

Outreach is as simple as sending a contact form that cites the URL with the broken link and shares your relevant URL. While this process can be time-consuming without the right tools, other websites are very likely to build links when you contact them tactfully.

Utilize High-Quality Directories

Search engines consider high-quality links from certain directories. Start by checking your existing listings. Ensure your business information is consistent across all directories. Specifically focus on your name, address, domain, and phone numbers are consistent. Even high-quality directories can have information missing, outdated information, and typos.

Submit comprehensive details about your products, services, and contact information. Link building for SEO is just as much about reputation management as building new connections. Don’t assume directories are telling search engines about your business. Inaccurate information is as detrimental as a broken link.

If you’re the owner of a manufacturing business, we understand that you have enough to worry about as it is. From keeping track of inventory to managing employees, your plate is full enough.

Let Valve+Meter help develop marketing strategies that work for your company. We’ll increase your brand awareness to your target audience and search engines, increase search ranking in relevant search results, and drive more organic traffic to your site.

Our experienced professionals have helped manufacturing companies like yours find tremendous organizational growth and capture new leads like never before.