Case Study: How an Industrial Parts Manufacturer Grew Qualified RFQs 2.7x in 7 Months — OnyxRank

**Industry:** Industrial Manufacturing (precision fluid-handling components)

**Company Size:** ~120 employees, 2 facilities

**Plan:** [OnyxRank](https://onyxrank.com) Pro

**Timeline:** 7 months

**Result:** Organic RFQs up **2.7x**, non-branded organic traffic up 164%, cited in AI Overviews for 23 product-category queries

*Note: This is an illustrative case study based on common results in this scenario. Company details are anonymized and representative.*

The Challenge

A mid-size manufacturer of precision valves, fittings, and seals — we'll call them Northfield Components — had relied on trade shows, distributor relationships, and a long-tenured sales team for two decades. Their sales leadership noticed a shift: engineers and procurement teams were researching suppliers online long before ever contacting a rep, and Northfield wasn't part of that research.

The website was a classic manufacturer's site: technically accurate, thoroughly unfindable.

An [OnyxRank](https://onyxrank.com) audit surfaced these problems:

• **Product data locked in PDFs.** Over 1,800 spec sheets and datasheets lived as downloadable PDFs with no HTML equivalent, so almost none of it was indexed in a useful way.
• **Thin category pages.** Product categories had a name, a photo grid, and a "Contact us" button. No material specs, standards, tolerances, or use cases.
• **Duplicate and parameter-heavy URLs.** Faceted filters created thousands of near-duplicate URLs, wasting crawl budget on pages that should never have been indexed.
• **No visible expertise.** Engineering knowledge lived in employees' heads. There were no author pages, no application notes, and no certifications surfaced in a crawlable form.
• **Zero AI visibility.** Test queries like "what material is best for high-pressure seals in chemical processing" returned competitors and distributors, never Northfield.

Baseline: about 2,900 non-branded organic visits per month and roughly 14 qualified RFQs per month attributed to organic search.

The Approach

[OnyxRank](https://onyxrank.com) worked through four workstreams, sequenced so technical fixes landed first.

1. Technical cleanup and crawl control

We consolidated faceted navigation with canonical tags and noindex rules, removed roughly 6,400 low-value parameter URLs from the index, fixed internal linking so category pages received authority from the homepage, and added Product and Organization schema. Server-side rendering was enabled for the spec tables that had been loading via JavaScript.

2. Turning PDFs into indexable product content

Rather than deleting the PDFs, we built HTML product pages from the underlying data: materials, pressure and temperature ratings, applicable standards, dimensions, and compatible components. Each PDF remained available as a download, but the page became the ranking asset. Roughly 420 of the highest-demand SKUs and series were converted in the first four months.

3. E-E-A-T through real engineering expertise

We interviewed Northfield's application engineers and turned their answers into 28 application guides such as material selection, failure-mode troubleshooting, and standards compliance. Every guide carried a named engineer as author, with a bio page, credentials, and links to ISO and industry certifications. Nothing was written generically; each piece was reviewed by the engineer credited.

4. GEO optimization for AI answers

Procurement and engineering queries increasingly get answered in AI Overviews and chat assistants. We structured guides with direct-answer openings, comparison tables, and explicit specification claims that are easy to extract and cite. We also confirmed AI crawlers could access the site and tracked a fixed panel of 60 category-level prompts monthly to measure citations.

The Results

Measured at month 7 against the pre-engagement baseline:

• **Qualified RFQs from organic search:** 14/month → **38/month** (2.7x)
• **Non-branded organic visits:** 2,900/month → **7,650/month** (+164%)
• **Indexed low-value URLs:** ~9,100 → ~2,700, with crawl activity shifting toward product and guide pages
• **First-page rankings for target product-category terms:** 31 → **112**
• **AI Overview citations:** 0 of 60 tracked prompts → **23 of 60**
• **Average RFQ quality:** sales-accepted rate rose from 41% to 63%, largely because product pages now pre-qualified visitors with specs and standards

The pipeline effect showed up clearly. Sales reported that inbound inquiries increasingly arrived with a part series and material already specified, shortening the quoting cycle. Organic search moved from a marginal channel to the second-largest source of qualified opportunities.

Results appeared gradually: technical gains showed by month 2, product-page rankings built through months 3-5, and AI citations became meaningful after month 4 as the application guides matured.

Key Takeaways

• **If your product data lives in PDFs, you're hiding your best content.** Turning specs into crawlable HTML pages is often the highest-leverage move for a manufacturer.
• **Cut index bloat before adding content.** Thousands of filter URLs dilute crawl budget and authority. Cleaning them up makes every new page work harder.
• **Engineers are your E-E-A-T advantage.** Named, credentialed authors with real application knowledge are exactly what technical buyers and AI systems look for.
• **Write for extraction.** Direct answers, spec tables, and clear claims make your pages easier for AI Overviews and assistants to cite.

Want Results Like These?

If your catalog is strong but your website isn't generating quote requests, [get your free audit](/free-audit) to see what's holding your products back, or [see our plans](/pricing) to find the right fit for your business.