How a Wichita Aviation Supplier Grew Qualified B2B Inquiries 198% in 5 Months
A Wichita aerospace supplier relied on referrals and trade shows for new business. We built it an inbound pipeline from the buyers searching for exactly what it makes.
The challenge
Wichita is the aviation manufacturing capital of the world, and the supplier sat squarely inside that ecosystem, machining and supplying components into the Spirit AeroSystems and Textron Aviation supply chains. Its work was excellent and its reputation among existing customers was strong. The problem was that almost all new business came from referrals and a handful of trade shows each year.
When a procurement manager or design engineer at an aerospace company needed a new supplier for a specific capability, they did what everyone does now: they searched Google. And for the technical terms that signaled real purchasing intent, capabilities, materials, certifications, the supplier was nowhere to be found. Competitors with weaker shops but better websites were getting the first call.
B2B SEO is different from consumer SEO. The search volumes are lower, the terms are technical, and the buying cycle is long. The supplier needed a partner who understood that a single qualified inquiry from an aviation buyer could be worth more than hundreds of low-intent clicks, and who could build content that spoke credibly to engineers.
Our approach
We built the strategy around buyer intent rather than raw search volume. Working with the team, we mapped the specific capabilities, materials, tolerances, and certifications that a buyer would search when sourcing a supplier, then targeted those high-intent, often long-tail terms. A handful of qualified aerospace inquiries a month would transform the business in a way that consumer-style traffic never could.
Credibility was everything. Engineers and procurement managers can spot thin marketing content instantly, so we created detailed capability pages and technical content that demonstrated genuine expertise, certifications like AS9100, the materials and processes the shop specialized in, and the industries it served. We refreshed the website so it loaded fast and looked like the serious manufacturing partner the company actually is.
Finally, we built authority in the right places: industry directories, manufacturing and aerospace publications, and supplier networks, the sources that both buyers and Google treat as signals of a legitimate, established supplier.
What we did
- 1
Buyer-intent research
Mapped the technical, capability, and certification searches that aerospace procurement and engineering teams use when sourcing suppliers.
- 2
Website refresh
Rebuilt the site to load fast and present capabilities, certifications, and industries served the way a serious B2B partner should.
- 3
Technical content
Created in-depth capability and process pages plus content addressing the questions buyers ask before they request a quote.
- 4
Industry authority
Earned listings and links across manufacturing and aerospace directories and publications that signal a credible, established supplier.
The results
In five months the supplier ranked for 24 target keywords spanning its core capabilities and certifications, and began appearing for the exact technical searches its buyers use. For the first time, qualified inquiries were arriving through the website rather than only through referrals and trade shows.
Qualified B2B inquiries from aviation and manufacturing companies grew 198 percent. Just as important, the quality of those inquiries was high: they came from buyers who had already read the capability pages and understood what the shop did, which shortened the sales conversation and improved close rates. The supplier had turned its website from a brochure into a genuine source of new business.
As a Wichita aviation supplier we serve a competitive B2B market. They built us a strategy specifically for aerospace industry buyers and supply chain partners. Lead inquiries from aviation companies are up 198% in five months.
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