Utility Equipment SEO Case Study: 44% Traffic Boost in 6 Months
9 times out of 10, whenever construction and excavation companies find a reliable utility equipment provider, they stick with them for decades.
This means utility equipment providers have a very limited window to attract new clients, so marketing is both a necessity and a challenge.
Of all the ways equipment providers advertise (email marketing, TV ads, newspapers, etc.) SEO stands out as a particularly effective method for generating business. This is because companies use search engines like Google and Bing to research equipment vendors.
Research shows that 66% of B2B buyers in the U.S. use search engines to discover new products and vendors.
By optimizing your website content to rank higher on search engines, you’ll be able to capitalize on all those searches. Whenever a decision-maker at a construction company searches for keywords related to your business (i.e., underground utility equipment), your brand will be the first to show up, hogging the lion’s share of the clicks as a result (position #1 receives 31.7% of all clicks).
Need proof that SEO works for utility equipment providers?
Then, you’ve come to the right place.
This is the story of how we used SEO to boost an underground utility equipment provider’s organic traffic by 85%, grow their website’s authority significantly, and consistently generate $495 worth of organic traffic – so stay tuned to learn how we did it (and how we can do the same for you)!
The Client: An Underground Equipment Company Specializing in Hydro Vacuum Excavation
Our client has been providing hydro excavation equipment for the past 40 years, so they’ve been around the block a few times, to say the least.
In the past, they heavily relied on things like print and TV ads to drum up business, and they generated lots of business through referrals. While they had a nice website, their visibility on search engines wasn’t where they needed it to be.
This became a serious issue once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which forced many companies to enter the digital space, especially for marketing and advertising.
Even for brick-and-mortar businesses that only provide general information on their website (like name, address, and phone number), a strong presence on search engines like Google is extremely important.
Quickly consider these statistics to prove our point:
- 76% of consumers who conduct a “near me” search (the calling card of local SEO) visit the business they choose within a day.
- 4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to find information about local businesses.
As you can see, search engines are the most common way that people research businesses, even ones that are just down the street.
Moreover, visibility on search engines is even more important for B2B businesses, which is what our client qualifies as (they sell and rent hydro excavation equipment to construction, mining, utility, and transportation companies).
72% of B2B buyers begin their research with a Google search, and B2B SEO (organic search) drives 20% of all B2B revenue.
These facts weren’t lost on our client, and they knew they were leaving lots of money on the table by not optimizing their website to rank on search engines.
They did some online research, found a few of our glowing testimonials, and got in touch with our team for a consultation.
After they explained their situation to us, we decided that a HOTH X campaign was the best solution. It’s our fully managed SEO service where we hook the client up with a dedicated campaign manager to simplify their SEO success.
The SEO Audit: Establishing a Foundation
We kicked off the campaign the same way we do every HOTH X client, by conducting a thorough SEO audit.
This is where we analyze the website’s A) current performance on search engines and B) architecture and user experience (UX).
We also keep an eye out for easy-win keywords, which are keywords a website is already ranking for, just not in one of the top spots (positions 4 – 30 are prime easy-win material).
On the UX side, we want to ensure that the site has a logical structure, is easy to navigate, and loads quickly.
In this particular case, the client’s UX and architecture were pretty much in good shape. They also had quite a few easy-win opportunities that we pursued to gain quick boosts in traffic.
The client’s primary issue?
Backlinks.
They were getting outranked in the search results by competitors because they didn’t have enough backlinks (links on other websites pointing back to theirs).
The Game Plan: A Long-Term Backlink Strategy for Collection Pages
The client needed more backlinks pointing at their collection pages (their product pages) to drive more revenue.
Backlinks are important for SEO for one simple reason: they vouch for the quality and accuracy of your website’s content.
However, for a backlink to positively impact your SEO, it must come from a relevant, reputable website in your industry.
If your primary competitors have more high-quality backlinks than you (which was the case for our client), outranking them on the SERPs (search engine results pages) will be very difficult.
That’s why we put the pedal to the metal and started targeting backlink opportunities through targeted outreach. We reached out to other equipment utility websites to request link insertions, brand mentions, and guest post opportunities while focusing on the value our client’s content added to each site.
The Results: A Quick 44% Boost in Traffic, Ranking for 500+ Industry Keywords (14 in Top 3)
Thanks to the easy-win keywords we targeted, we were able to achieve a speedy 44% boost to their organic traffic, which you can see here:
Besides that, our efforts yielded over 500 keyword rankings and a consistent organic traffic value of $495.
The best part?
This is just the beginning. The links that we built and optimizations that we made will continue to yield results for this client well into the future, leading to more brand visibility, lead generation, and revenue.
Do you want to improve the SEO for your underground utility company?
A HOTH X campaign will grant you the freedom and flexibility to enjoy SEO results without having to lift a finger, so don’t wait to get in touch!
