Search engine optimization for a hydraulic equipment website

A well-thought-out SEO strategy can significantly improve the visibility of a website in search engines, which leads to increased traffic to the resource by target users and attracting and receiving new clients after all.

Reasons why website search engine optimization is important:

• key queries – selection of keys that clearly characterize the company’s activities and help generate high-quality content. This complex allows users to receive relevant information based on their queries, and allows the site to occupy a high position in search results;
• website structure – a properly organized web project structure ensures effective indexing of the site by search engines, and also facilitates content scanning;
• URLs – correctly setting up human-readable URLs helps make scanning more convenient for search robots and speeds up page indexing;
• meta tags provide search engines with information about the page; their correct configuration contributes to proper indexing;
• The website loading speed affects the location of the web project in search engines and the user experience.

SEO can significantly reduce advertising costs by increasing the website’s position in search results and attracting target users. As a result of using search engine optimization tools, the website gains a competitive advantage over other resources in the niche.

About the Client

Our customer is Motorimpex, which designs, produces and sells hydraulic equipment in Ukraine.

The Client contacted us in November 2022. Our task was to improve the site’s position and attract target users. We offered SEO promotion of the site in search engines to meet the customer’s needs.

List of services provided by Motorimpex:

• creation of hydraulic systems tailored to the personal characteristics of clients;
• modernization of current hydraulic systems;
• selection of parts when designing new hydraulic systems;
• replacement of parts when they fail in existing equipment.

The Motorimpex team specializes in implementing unique solutions for non-standard customer requests and implementing projects that are stable in operation and easy to use. 

Motorimpex also implements experimental projects in hydraulics, introducing new technologies and processes that contribute to the development of the Ukrainian industry.

The first step to achieving our goals was to analyze the Client’s niche and main competitors.

Niche and competitor analysis

The Motorimpex company operates in a fairly narrow, specialized, and deeply technical niche. This clearly reflects the website, which presents not only parts and products but also engineering solutions for non-standard requests.

Niche analysis provided us with the opportunity to:

• familiarization with the TOP search results;
• familiarization with the main competitors, and their behavior over the last year (website age, number of pages in the index, average traffic, etc.);

Formation of a clear plan for promoting the project based on the collected information.

Next, we analyzed competing websites, which provided the following data:

• the age of competitors' domains varies from 4 to 6 years;
• there are no priority engines since competitors’ websites are located on different CMSs;
• in the Google index, competitors have from 230 to 50,000 pages;
• 1,400-13,500 users visit competing sites monthly;
• from 280 to 8,000 – the number of key phrases by which competitors’ websites are ranked;
• 66% of competitor websites have a blog (this is a place that allows you to lead users to the website even for information queries);
• The main social networks of competitors are Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Motorimpex, as a company developing the latest unique designs, strives to meet the high standards of its products. Therefore, in the process of work, we were informed about plans to redesign and update the website. Instead of recommendations on usability for the old website, our specialist began advising the customer on a new design, which was being prepared in accordance with all SEO standards. As of April 2023, work is still underway to develop a new design.

Competitor analysis made it possible to evaluate user behavioral factors and their interaction with the website. Based on the information received, we proposed the following:

1. Optimize the Contact page:

• add a feedback form to the page;
• place a pin on a Google map;
• make a single email taking into account the current domain and register it in Contacts and the footer of the site.

1.  an online consultant to the site.
2. Optimize main pages:

• add the ability to search for products to the product catalog and menu;
• add information about the availability of goods, sorting;
• the ability to add a product to “Favorites”;
• indicate the price in the format "Cost from ***** UAH".

1. Optimize the “Add to Bookmarks” functionality on the product map.
2. Add a separate page with detailed information about the terms of delivery and payment, returning goods, promotions and discounts, guarantees.
3. Develop and design an FAQ (frequently asked questions) page.

The Client's website receives traffic from medium and low frequency queries. That is, our customer’s clients are users who are very knowledgeable in the topic.

The customer company specializes in the development of individual engineering solutions and commercial requests for finished parts and goods should not be neglected. Based on competitor analysis, the ITForce team provided a recommendation to add a shopping cart to the site. This functionality allows competitors to simplify their user’s journey and improve the behavioral factor, which is also important for Motorimpex as a company that cares about the comfort of its interested audience.

Technical audit of an industrial equipment website

A technical audit of the Client’s website revealed the following problems:

• errors in the sitemap (pages 301, 404, pages with the noindex attribute);
• language versions of the site (the hreflang tag is configured incorrectly);
• pages with response codes 301, 403, and 404 were found;
• the low loading speed of individual pages;
• errors in Product micro markup;
• pages with errors in micro markup code;
• the meta name=”keywords” fields are filled in (Google does not use this tag);
• errors in URLs (link to Home in breadcrumbs, header and footer menu);
• absence of registered LMD (URL addresses contain spaces, underscores, uppercase letters, Cyrillic, etc.);
• errors in pages with pagination;
• pages with 410 response codes are not configured;
• There is no template for filling in metadata.

We recorded all the errors found on the website, provided each execution priority status, described them and handed them over to the Motorimpex programming group for implementation. Some of the tasks will be implemented with the uploading of a new design because the client also plans to update the website engine.

Motorimpex is a striking example of a company that represents a number of European manufacturers of the highest quality on the Ukrainian market. The assortment that the company has is very carefully selected and wide can meet the needs of any demanding consumer. We based the collection of the semantic core on this advantage. With a large number of product items, we can cover a large number of keywords.

The sequence of collecting the semantic core is subject to certain and agreed-upon principles:

• main product categories (frequency pages);
• product brands;
• category+brand type pages and development of filters in priority categories.

The client’s website has 40,000 pages, so work on the semantic core will continue in the future, based on the agreed principles of its formation. If necessary, in the process of work we expand the semantics - if we see that a new filter needs to be made, then we create or split the existing one as necessary.

In the future, we use the collected semantics to create content for the Client. And also for writing texts with an active link to the client’s website, posted on external sites in order to attract new visitors.

Stages of content creation:

• drawing up a ToR taking into account the collected semantics for a copywriter to write optimized texts;
• ToR development by a copywriter and content creation;
• coordination of written texts with the Client;
• placement of content on the Client’s website and external websites.

Metadata 

For products and pages created according to the Category + Brand principle, we have developed a template for filling out metadata. For categories, we added the meta tag manually. All prepared meta tags are agreed upon with the client and implemented by Motorimpex programmers. Next, we send the pages for re-indexing.

Services we use in our work:

• ScreamingFrogSEOSpider – to detect technical errors;
• Serpstat – for analyzing and collecting key queries;
• Ahrefs – for working with a link profile;
• SERanking – for monitoring positions.

Link-building strategy for an industrial equipment website

When working with link building, we take into account that the subject matter in which the client works is highly specialized. Not all resources are suitable for us to post backlinks.

That is, the selection of sites takes a little longer than on average with online stores of wide niches.

Our Client's main competitors have different types of links. We created our link-building strategy taking this factor into account. The SEO specialist analyzed sites linking to competitors and compiled a list of domains for outreach and crowd marketing.

To make the link profile natural, we use different types of links (dofollow/nofollow, anchor/non-anchor, etc.). The dynamics must be gradual, not abrupt. After all, a sharp surge in incoming links can lead to a link explosion and the imposition of sanctions on the site from search engines.

Link selection factors that we relied on when developing a link-building strategy:

• resources with a lot of traffic (more than 500 visitors per month);
• quality resources with high DR;
• nofollow links should make up 40% of the total number of links;
• regional compliance of the resource (we give preference to the domain zones .com, .ua, .com.ua);
• the appropriate theme of the domain or page.

Now let's take a look at the results of our work.

Deliverables 

Work on search engine optimization continues, and we continue to work on semantics. Next, we will monitor the redesign and work with the updated website.

The Client enters recommendations for website optimization provided by ITForce specialists. If the client has questions, we usually hold a general circle, discuss the agenda and come to a common opinion regarding the project. So, let's take a look at the results of search engine optimization of the Motorimpex website.

Visibility and number of key queries in the TOP 10

Visibility is a metric that visualizes the percentage of impression or click search visibility a site receives for certain keywords.

Fig. 1 – Visibility and positions of websites

• 20 – the average position of the website for all search queries (i.e., on average, the Client’s website is shown on the second page of Google);
• 2,101 service forecasts traffic growth;
• 45.7 website visibility (the fate of the site being shown in search results for all keywords available on the site);
• 7 – the Client’s website is displayed in 7 of all possible search elements (Google Image, top and bottom advertising, links from the site, Google Maps results, blocks with answers, Google My Business);
• 60% of the keys from the TOP contain the Client’s website (almost ⅔ of all possible queries).

Now let's look at the positions of queries in the TOP.

Key Query Positions

Fig. 2 – Queries positions

• 159 queries take 1st place in the search (for 159 queries the Client’s website is displayed first on the first page of Google results);
• 186 queries share 2-3 places on the first page (users most often follow these links);
• 243 queries belong to the TOP 4-10 results (this is the first page of Google);
• 173 keywords are ranked in the TOP 11-100.

In total, the Client's website is ranked by Google for 982 queries on 10 search pages. 16.2% of all queries appear first on the first search page.

Link building for a hydraulic equipment website

Due to some technical issues on the Client’s part, the situation with building backlinks was difficult and we are gradually establishing and implementing a link-building strategy.

Fig. 3 – Number of backlinks to the Client’s website

The results of our work on building backlinks to the Client’s website over the last 30 days:

• 284 – number of domains linking to the website;
• 3,978 pages with backlinks;
• 33 client domain rating.

We adjust the strategy we have built to suit today’s realities and the technical capabilities of the Client’s website.

Search traffic

Traffic in general for the entire period of cooperation (November 2022 – March 2023):

Fig. 4 – Traffic for November 2022 – March 2023

Over the entire period of cooperation (5 months), the website received:

• 10,056 users;
• 3748 goals achieved;
• 22.53% goal conversion rate;
• The average user views 3.22 pages per session;
• 3:16 minutes average session length.

Now let’s compare traffic to the site for March 2023 and November 2022 (this is the first month of cooperation).

Fig. 5 – Traffic before and after SEO promotion of an industrial equipment website

• 1 923 users per month at the start of work (November 2022) and 3015 users as of March 2023;
• 56.79% increase in users;
• 63.96% increase in new users to the website;
• 91.1% of goals achieved;
• 2.98 pages are viewed by a user per session.

That is, over 5 months of cooperation, we have managed to attract almost 64% of new users to the site and increase the average length of a visitor’s stay on the website. And also achieve 91% more goals than at the beginning of promotion.

We have developed and are systematically implementing a strategy to expand the link mass, including submissions, crowds, and eternal links in the course of cooperation.

The goal that the Client set for us - attracting new users and customers to the website - is being achieved successfully. Now there is an ascending number of website visitors (63.96%). The Client’s website is ranked for 588 queries in the TOP-10, and for 159 keys the Client’s website occupies the first position in the search results.

We adjust the chosen strategy, adjusting it to the customer’s needs, and expand the semantic core following the priority categories of goods provided by the Client.

Our main focus for the next periods is the coverage of new keywords in the niche and information requests. There are also plans to develop the English version of the website.

We continue to work on the developed SEO promotion strategy before the redesign takes place, because the Client also intends to update the CMS version of the website. We will continue to see if we can make the changes that we need in the new version, as well as control the redesign itself so as not to lose traffic.