SEO Case Study: B2B industrial supplier – 3X inbound RFQs in 6 months
On January 6, 2025, a Houston based B2B industrial supplier partnered with Goforaeo to fix declining visibility and inconsistent lead flow from organic search. They had strong offline relationships, but their website was not turning high intent searches into quote requests.
Context, Market, and What Was Holding Growth Back
This supplier serves industrial buyers across Greater Houston and the Gulf Coast, primarily maintenance teams, procurement managers, and plant engineers. Their catalog included valves, fittings, hoses, gaskets, pumps, and safety related components, plus same day pickup for many SKUs.
The site looked fine at a glance, but the SEO foundation was fragile.
Common symptoms we found in January 2025 were:
- Product and category pages competing with each other for the same terms
- Thin category copy that did not answer buyer questions like specs, standards, lead times, or compatible use cases
- Many PDFs ranking instead of the HTML pages that contained the RFQ paths
- Slow category pages due to oversized images and legacy scripts
- Weak internal linking, so important money pages were not receiving authority
- “Houston” intent not expressed clearly enough on key pages, limiting local commercial discovery
The sales team also mentioned that many quote requests were unqualified. So we focused on increasing volume while improving the quality signals.
Starting Point and Baseline Metrics Before the Work
We used a baseline from September 1, 2024 to November 30, 2024 to avoid seasonality distortions and to create a clean comparison window.
Here is what the site looked like before January 2025:
- Average monthly inbound RFQs from organic: 18
- Average monthly organic sessions: 2,100
- Organic landing page conversion rate to RFQ: 0.85%
- Number of non branded keywords in top 10 positions: 12
- Share of organic traffic landing on PDFs: about 28%
- Pages with duplicate or near duplicate titles and meta descriptions: high across category templates
The biggest issue was not just traffic. It was intent matching. The site attracted a mix of informational and low intent queries, while high intent industrial searches either did not rank or landed on pages that did not make requesting a quote feel easy.
What We Measured and How We Tracked RFQs
We defined a “qualified inbound RFQ” as a submission or call that included at least:
- Product family or part standard requested
- Quantity or application detail
- Company name and contact method
- Delivery timeline or urgency indicator
Tracking was tightened in week one so we could trust the numbers.
Primary measurement setup:
- GA4 conversion events for RFQ form submissions, click to call, email clicks
- Google Search Console for query level performance and indexing changes
- Call tracking with dynamic number insertion to attribute calls to organic landing pages
- CRM tagging to separate qualified RFQs from general inquiries
- Looker Studio dashboard so sales and marketing saw the same source of truth
Strategy Overview: A Logical Plan Built Around Buyer Intent
We did not start by “writing blogs.” We started by mapping how industrial buyers search when equipment is down or a part is needed quickly.
Our approach had four pillars, sequenced to produce compounding gains.
Pillar 1: Technical SEO to Remove Drag
We prioritized technical fixes that impact crawling, indexing, and speed, because content improvements do not stick if Google cannot efficiently process the site.
Key actions completed from January 6 to February 7, 2025:
- Reduced index bloat by addressing parameter based duplicates and old filtered URLs
- Reworked canonicals on category templates so Google stopped choosing the wrong version
- Added structured breadcrumbs and tightened internal navigation depth for top categories
- Compressed and standardized image sizes across product and category pages
- Improved Core Web Vitals on high traffic category pages by removing unnecessary scripts
- Set up a controlled redirect map for discontinued categories that still had backlinks
Outcome of pillar 1 was simple. More important pages became indexable, faster, and easier for Google to interpret.
Pillar 2: Information Architecture Built for Industrial Searches
Industrial search behavior is specific. People search by:
- Product type plus spec, material, pressure rating, standard
- Brand plus model
- Application plus environment, like chemical resistant hose for solvent transfer
- Emergency intent, like same day gasket supplier Houston
So we reorganized priority category pages into “intent clusters” rather than generic catalog buckets.
Examples of intent cluster changes:
- Split broad “Valves” into segments like ball valves, gate valves, check valves, plus material and pressure based subcategories
- Built landing pages for high demand standards and industries commonly served in Houston, such as petrochemical maintenance and industrial construction
- Created “service intent” pages that clearly communicated pickup, delivery radius, and lead time expectations
Internal linking became a ranking lever once the structure matched how buyers think.
Pillar 3: Content That Converts, Not Content That Fills Space
We rewrote category pages to behave like sales enablement pages. Each one answered:
- What the product is used for
- Key specs and selection criteria
- Common mistakes buyers make
- What is stocked locally vs special order
- How to request a quote quickly, with the minimum friction path
We also built a small set of supporting resources, but only where it connected to purchase intent.
Content formats we used:
- Category copy upgrades with spec blocks and scannable decision guidance
- “Selection guide” pages that linked directly into relevant categories
- Short application pages tied to common Houston industrial needs
- FAQ sections based on real sales questions and Search Console query patterns
Pillar 4: Authority and Local Commercial Signals
For a Houston industrial supplier, local trust matters. Not for vanity local rankings, but because proximity and fulfillment capability influence conversion rate.
We strengthened local commercial signals through:
- Consistent NAP and category alignment across major business directories
- A location page that focused on service area, pickup details, and procurement friendly language
- Outreach for industry relevant backlinks, focusing on quality sources like associations, partner vendors, and local trade resources
- Reclaiming unlinked brand mentions from vendors and community pages
This was deliberately conservative link building. The goal was credibility, not volume.
Tools Used
We used a standard, transparent tool stack so every action could be audited.
- Google Analytics 4
- Google Search Console
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider
- Ahrefs and Semrush for competitive gap analysis and link research
- PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse for performance validation
- Looker Studio for reporting
- Hotjar for on page behavior and form friction insights
- Call tracking and CRM attribution for lead quality validation
Timeline and Monthly Results Across the 6 Month Window
Timeframe covered in this SEO Case Study is January 6, 2025 through June 30, 2025.
To keep it clear, monthly data is shared in narrative form and bullets, not in a table.
January 2025: Fix Tracking, Fix Crawl, Fix Speed
Most of January was about stopping leaks.
What changed in January:
- Conversion tracking corrected and unified
- Index bloat reduced and canonicals cleaned up
- First wave of Core Web Vitals improvements shipped
- Priority category pages identified for rewrite based on revenue relevance
January performance snapshot:
- Organic sessions: 2,250
- Inbound RFQs from organic: 19
- Notes: volume barely changed, but attribution became reliable and early ranking volatility stabilized
February 2025: Category Page Upgrades Begin
February was the first month the strategy started showing in rankings.
What shipped in February:
- Rewritten copy on top category pages, focused on specs and buyer intent
- New internal linking rules from selection guides to product families
- PDF to HTML bridge strategy, so PDFs still existed but were no longer the main landing page
February performance snapshot:
- Organic sessions: 2,850
- Inbound RFQs from organic: 24
- Conversion rate to RFQ: 0.95%
- Notes: early lift came from better landing page match and fewer dead end visits
March 2025: Intent Clusters Expand and Houston Signals Strengthen
March was about scaling what worked.
What shipped in March:
- Additional subcategory pages for high margin segments
- “Houston area supply and pickup” content integrated into key pages without keyword stuffing
- Location page improvements aimed at procurement and maintenance teams
- Ongoing technical cleanup for thin and duplicate templates
March performance snapshot:
- Organic sessions: 3,900
- Inbound RFQs from organic: 33
- Notes: more queries entered the top 10, especially product plus spec searches
April 2025: Authority Work and Conversion Friction Removal
April included both off page authority work and on page conversion optimization.
What shipped in April:
- Outreach and link reclamation from relevant industry sites
- Quote form shortened for mobile users while keeping qualification fields
- Added “request a fast quote” modules on high intent pages
- Improved internal linking from informational guides into commercial pages
April performance snapshot:
- Organic sessions: 4,850
- Inbound RFQs from organic: 41
- Notes: RFQs increased faster than traffic, signaling better intent targeting
May 2025: Rankings Break Through on High Intent Keywords
May was when several priority terms moved into the top 3 to top 5 range.
What shipped in May:
- More cluster pages targeting materials and standards
- Expanded FAQ sections driven by Search Console queries
- Additional partner citations and local trade links
- Content refresh on pages that were ranking on page two
May performance snapshot:
- Organic sessions: 5,750
- Inbound RFQs from organic: 49
- Notes: sales team reported higher quality details in requests, including specs and quantities
June 2025: Compounding Gains and Stable Lead Flow
June focused on hardening the gains and improving consistency.
What shipped in June:
- Refresh of top landing pages based on behavioral recordings
- Improved cross linking between related categories, like valves to fittings to gaskets
- Ongoing technical monitoring and pruning of low value indexable pages
- Continued link velocity with careful quality controls
June performance snapshot:
- Organic sessions: 6,600
- Inbound RFQs from organic: 54
- Conversion rate to RFQ: 1.25%
- Notes: lead flow became predictable, not spiky
Before vs After Proof Using Clear Comparisons
We compared the baseline period September 1, 2024 to November 30, 2024 against the end state in June 2025, plus the total 6 month performance trend.
Before vs after highlights:
- Monthly inbound RFQs from organic: 18 average before to 54 in June 2025
- Organic sessions: 2,100 average before to 6,600 in June 2025
- Organic conversion rate to RFQ: 0.85% before to 1.25% in June 2025
- Share of organic landings on PDFs: reduced from about 28% to under 10% by routing intent to HTML pages
- Non branded keywords in top 10: increased from 12 to 48 by late June 2025
Total RFQs across the 6 month window also told the same story.
- Baseline monthly RFQs were roughly 18, which would project to about 108 RFQs over six months if nothing changed
- Actual RFQs tracked from January 6 to June 30, 2025 totaled 220+, with quality improving month over month
- That is effectively about 2X vs a flat projection, and June itself landed at 3X the baseline month
We chose to present both, because a single month can be noisy, while the cumulative line shows durability.
Keyword and Page Level Wins That Drove RFQs
The growth did not come from random traffic. It came from pages that matched “I need this now” queries.
Patterns that performed best:
- Product plus spec queries, such as material type, pressure class, or standard
- “Supplier near Houston” and “industrial supply Houston” modifiers where pickup and lead time mattered
- Brand plus model searches, captured through better product page schema and internal linking
- Application driven queries, especially where the content connected directly to an RFQ CTA
Pages with the strongest RFQ contribution shared three traits:
- Clear spec guidance above the fold
- Proof of availability, pickup, or delivery capability
- A fast RFQ path that did not feel like a generic contact form
What Made This Work in Only Six Months
Three reasons explain the speed.
First, technical fixes removed hidden constraints. Once crawling and indexing behaved, content started ranking faster.
Second, we focused on categories that influence revenue and urgency. Industrial buyers search in a narrow band of high intent terms, so precision beats volume.
Third, we treated content as a sales asset. The pages were built to answer, qualify, and convert, not just to rank.
What You Can Apply If You Are a B2B Industrial Supplier
If you want similar results, these are the principles that matter most.
- Clean up index bloat before publishing lots of new pages
- Build category structures around specs and use cases, not internal department labels
- Make HTML pages the primary landing pages, even if PDFs remain necessary
- Put RFQ CTAs where urgency exists, especially on high intent categories
- Track calls and form submissions with quality indicators, not just volume