Spoiler: "subcontract", the word on your menu, gets 20 searches a month across eight processes. "Near me" gets 13,830.
Choosing keywords for an engineering firm looks easy.
You write down what you do, right?
Not quite.
A manufacturer's keywords are the searches a buyer, a design office or a tradesperson types into Google when they need someone to carry out a process or make a part.
They almost never contain the supplier's name.
And they almost never contain the words suppliers use to describe themselves.
We see the same mistakes again and again:
- a home page title built on "solutions for industry" (which nobody searches for);
- a single "Subcontract services" page with the whole shop's capability list on it;
- a keyword list lifted from an American guide, "machine shop" included.
And the guides on page one of Google.co.uk?
They explain the types of keyword and recommend going after technical long-tail terms. Two of them date from 2016 and 2019.
The first result, a list of over 100 manufacturing keywords, doesn't show a single UK search volume.
That's why we wrote this article.
Some of the companies we work with make things. Macropix builds LED walls and LED screens in Italy: since 2018 Google Ads has brought it 2,906 B2B quote requests, and the cost per request fell to €39.44 in 2025, the best year in the series.
Bosatta makes spare parts and accessories for Vespa, Ape and other Piaggio group bikes: with separate campaigns for consumers and dealers across four markets it collected 127 requests from dealers and workshops and €240,000 in sales in one year.
And what does that have to do with keywords?
Of the nine keywords that bring Macropix the most enquiries, none contains the company name. We'll come back to that below, with the numbers.
On 10 October 2026 we pulled from the Google Ads Keyword Planner the monthly searches for eight processes common among UK engineering and plastics SMEs, with the modifiers that sector websites use most. Then we compared them with the same services in the United States.
Here you'll find:
- UK volumes for 8 processes, with the "near me", "subcontract" and "price" variants;
- why "subcontract" doesn't belong in the title tag (and where it can stay);
- how much proximity outweighs town and city names;
- the five keyword families and the right page for each;
- the summer dip, and what it changes in your publishing calendar;
- the order of sources for finding the keywords in your niche.
Let's start with the numbers.
How UK buyers search for manufacturing processes (data for eight processes, pulled by us)
First, some context.
The UK has about 130,000 VAT or PAYE registered manufacturing businesses, 4.8% of all registered businesses (source: ONS, UK business: activity, size and location 2025, March 2025 data). Across the whole sector, only 1,240 manufacturers have 250 or more employees (Business population estimates 2025, Department for Business and Trade).
Fewer than one in a hundred is a large company. So who looks after the website?
Often the owner, or a salesperson in their spare time.
The keywords get chosen once, when the site is rebuilt, and then nobody touches them for years.
The table shows, for each process, the base search and three common variants: location, the word "subcontract" and price.
| Process | Base search | + near me | + subcontract | + price / cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3D printing | 201,000 | 1,600 | n/r | 3,600 ("3d printing prices") |
| Metal fabrication | 4,400 | 4,400 | 10 | 10 |
| Laser cutting | 12,100 | 880 | n/r | 140 |
| Powder coating | 6,600 | 6,600 | n/r | 320 |
| Sheet metal bending | 590 | 30 | n/r | 10 |
| Injection moulding | 6,600 | 210 | n/r | 110 |
| CNC milling | 1,600 | 70 | n/r | 10 |
| CNC turning | 720 | 40 | 10 ("subcontract cnc turning") | n/r |
Now add up the columns.
All the "subcontract" variants across the eight processes: 20 searches a month. Add the umbrella term "subcontract machining" (50) and you get to 70.
The "near me" variants, across the same eight processes: 13,830.
Almost 700 times as many.
The most extreme case? "Subcontract metal fabrication" gets 10 searches against 4,400 for the base search: about two in a thousand.
A note on method, because these numbers need careful reading.
Google itself calls these volumes estimates, updated daily from the last 7-10 days of data and adjusted for seasonality. Below a certain threshold the tool returns nothing: that's why some cells say "n/r".
"n/r" does NOT mean nobody searches for that phrase. It means it's too rare to estimate.
We'll come back to this further down, because in manufacturing that grey zone is exactly where a lot of contracts sit.
"Subcontract" is your word (buyers type it two times in a thousand)
Look at UK engineering websites.
You'll find titles like "Subcontract Machining Services UK" and addresses like /subcontract-machining/.
As a description of the business model, it's accurate.
As a keyword, much less so.
So who does search for "subcontract"?
Firms that offer subcontract work. Or people who want to know what the word means: "what is subcontracting" gets 1,000 searches a month and "subcontract meaning" 880, against 10 for "subcontract metal fabrication".
Someone who needs a part cut types the process and the material:
- "structural steel fabrication": 1,000 searches a month;
- "laser tube cutting": 590;
- "laser cutting sheet metal": 320.
When they add something, they add a place or the word "companies".
"Injection moulding companies" gets 720 searches, while "subcontract injection moulding" doesn't even register.
And the American lists? Same language, different words
The comparison with the US shows why American keyword guides don't carry over, even without any translation.
There the natural modifier is "services", and buyers really use it. In the UK it's weaker, and some of the core words change.
| Search | United States, monthly searches | United Kingdom, monthly searches | UK as a share of US |
|---|---|---|---|
| cnc machining services | 8,100 | 880 | 11% |
| laser cutting services | 4,400 | 1,300 | 30% |
| machine shop | 74,000 | 1,900 | 3% |
| precision engineering | 1,900 | 4,400 | 232% |
| metal fabrication near me | 18,100 | 4,400 | 24% |
| powder coating near me | 49,500 | 6,600 | 13% |
The American market is much bigger, so the absolute values don't compare.
The proportions do.
"Machine shop" is a buyer's search in the US: 74,000 a month. In the UK it gets 1,900, while "precision engineering" gets 4,400, more than in the whole of the United States.
Bottom line: an American keyword list used as it is takes you straight to the wrong terms, even though it's written in English.
So should "subcontract" come off the site?
No.
It can stay in the copy, in section headings and in the company description, because it tells readers what kind of firm you are.
The title tag and H1 of each page, though, should be built on process, material and application.
What words is your website built on?
The phrase most used in the sector's menus picks up 20 searches a month across eight processes, against 13,830 for "near me". Let's check together how many searches you're missing.
Book a strategy consultationProximity outweighs city names (4,400 searches against 1,100)
An industrial supplier is chosen partly on distance.
Transport, site visits, lead times.
Obvious, isn't it?
The searches confirm it, with clear numbers:
- "metal fabrication near me": 4,400 searches a month;
- the same search with London: 390;
- with Birmingham: 390;
- with Sheffield: 320.
Three cities together make 1,100. "Near me" on its own gets four times as many.
And this is where a lot of industrial websites aim at the wrong target.
To answer "near me", Google doesn't use the website. It uses the Business Profile.
The official Google Business Profile help page lists three factors for local ranking: relevance, distance and prominence.
Distance can't be optimised (short of moving the factory).
Relevance can: the right category, services listed one by one, a description that names processes and materials.
How much does it matter in practice?
We read page one for "metal fabrication" on 10 October 2026, on desktop, with DataForSEO and the location set to the United Kingdom. In order:
- an AI Overview and a row of five directories (Checkatrade, Yell, Cylex, construction.co.uk and a Facebook page);
- a local block with three listings (CPC Welding, Purely Metal Ltd, RDP Metalwork Ltd), with one or two reviews each;
- only then, the organic results, with an Indeed jobs page in third place.
An engineering firm without a well-kept Google profile hands the most visible part of the page to whoever has one. And with one or two reviews, here, the bar is low.
How to build the profile is covered in our Google Business Profile guide. The factors that decide who gets into the map are in the guide to local SEO.
One last detail, and it's about the United States again.
There "metal fabrication near me" is worth 55% of the base search (18,100 against 33,100).
In the UK it's worth 100% (4,400 against 4,400).
British buyers search by proximity even more than American ones. And it's the one area where distance works in the local firm's favour against a bigger competitor.
Broad searches aren't all from buyers (on "laser cutting" you get engravers from £140)
You look at the table and you're tempted to go after the biggest searches.
Trust us: read page one first.
On "laser cutting" (12,100 searches a month) the results page on 10 October 2026 showed, alongside the local block:
- a products box with seven laser engravers and cutters, from £140.38 to £2,152.32, next to a custom engraving service at £7.99;
- among the organic results, an Instructables page of DIY projects and four "what is laser cutting" explainers next to the cutting firms;
- among the related questions, "Is there money in laser cutting?". A question from someone thinking of starting out, not from someone who needs a part cut.
On "metal fabrication" the questions were "How much do steel fabricators earn?" and "What do you do as a metal fabricator?".
What does that tell you?
Part of those thousands of searches comes from hobbyists who want a machine, students and people looking for a job.
That's normal. But it changes how you read the volume: on the broad search you're up against definitions, machines for sale and job listings, and the visitor often has nothing to get made.
Search intent is read on the results page, not in the volume table.
The cost of a click shows where the buyers are
Advertisers already know this. And they pay accordingly:
| Search | Monthly searches | Average CPC |
|---|---|---|
| laser cutting | 12,100 | £2.31 |
| laser cutting sheet metal | 320 | £6.41 |
| laser tube cutting | 590 | £11.48 |
| cnc machining services | 880 | £23.33 |
| cnc turning | 720 | £29.74 |
The more specific the search, the more the click costs: from £2.31 to £11.48 without leaving laser cutting, five times as much.
Advertisers pay more where clicks turn into requests for quotation.
To understand how that price is set, see our guide to cost per click.
The five keyword families (and the right page for each)
The data splits into five groups of searches.
Each one needs a different type of page.
The most common mistake? Answering all five with the same "Capabilities" page.
- Process plus material. "Structural steel fabrication", "laser tube cutting", "laser cutting sheet metal". You need a page for each combination you really offer, with thicknesses, tolerances, machines, minimum batch sizes and photos of parts.
- Product or application. The customer searches for the finished item, not the process. "Custom cardboard boxes" gets 880 searches, "cardboard box manufacturers" 720; "fasteners" 4,400, "nuts and bolts" 9,900. Product pages, one per product family.
- Proximity. "Near me" and the names of towns and counties. You work on the Google profile, and on one page per area served only if you really have customers and deliveries there.
- Price and cost. Small volumes, very high intent: "laser cutting prices" gets 140 searches at £4.29 a click. A page explaining what the price depends on (material, thickness, quantity, finish) can rank even without publishing a price list.
- Online service. "Online 3D printing" gets 590 searches, "laser cutting online" 110. Here you're up against instant-quote platforms like Xometry, which shows up on page one for "laser cutting" with a "what is laser cutting" guide. Without a configurator, this is a family to leave alone.
The case we mention most often: Macropix and the product family
Macropix is a Milan-based maker of custom LED screens. We work with them on the Italian market.
How many of the nine keywords that bring it the most enquiries contain the company name?
None.
The biggest is "ledwall" (LED wall), 4,400 searches a month in Italy. "Ledwall prezzo" (LED wall price) gets 720.
"Monitor pubblicitario" (advertising display) went from position 88 to position 2 between 2020 and 2025 (Semrush data).
And on the LED wall cluster the site's share of voice (its share of visibility across that group of keywords) reached 25.55%, ahead of Amazon on 18.08%.
A firm with a factory unit ahead of Amazon, on the words customers use to look for the product.
The full method is in our piece on SEO for manufacturing.
In August, process searches fall to about a third of the peak (down to -76%)
Industrial seasonality shows up in the UK data more clearly than you might expect.
Searches for processes fall in July and August, with the summer holidays. Most of them dip again in December.
"Near me" searches, on the other hand, barely move.
| Search | Highest month | August 2026 | Drop |
|---|---|---|---|
| injection moulding | 9,900 (September 2025, March 2026) | 2,400 | -76% |
| laser cutting | 18,100 (January 2026) | 5,400 | -70% |
| cnc milling | 2,900 (September 2025) | 880 | -70% |
| steel fabrication | 8,100 (September 2025, March 2026) | 2,900 | -64% |
| metal fabrication near me | 6,600 (April 2026) | 4,400 | -33% |
| powder coating near me | 8,100 (September-October 2025, March-April 2026) | 6,600 | -19% |
Process searches lose between 64% and 76%. "Near me" searches between 19% and 33%.
So what?
Two practical consequences.
One: publish new pages by June or in September, so they're already indexed when demand picks up. A page that goes live at the start of August spends its first weeks in front of a much smaller audience.
Two: compare August with the previous August, never with June. Otherwise September's SEO report describes a disaster that never happened.
You can check the dip on Google Trends too, by comparing several years.
How to find the keywords for your sector (starting from quote requests, not tools)
The processes in the table are common.
Your niche probably isn't.
And for niches Google's tool often returns "n/r".
Is that just a UK problem?
No. According to Ahrefs, in its US database almost 93% of keywords get fewer than 10 searches a month. For the United Kingdom Ahrefs reports 1.4 billion keywords in its index (official data page).
The phrases are there. The volumes, often, aren't.
That's why in manufacturing the order of sources differs from the one in generic guides:
- The quote requests you've received. Read the last fifty and note the words customers use to describe the part. These are queries written by people who buy.
- Google Search Console. The queries report shows phrases with 10 or 20 impressions a month that no tool estimates. If they show up there, someone is searching for them.
- The Google Ads Keyword Planner, to put an order of magnitude on the bigger groups and see seasonality.
- The results page, read by hand, to see whether a search comes from buyers, hobbyists or students.
- A third-party tool, to see what your direct competitors rank for. We compared them in our roundup of keyword research tools.
Notice the order?
The tool comes last. You already have the first two sources in-house, and no competitor can read them.
The full process, from the first list to the page, is in the guide to keyword research. For low-volume phrases it's also worth reading the one on long tail keywords.
The mistakes we find most often in audits (and what they cost)
- The single "Subcontract services" page with a bullet list of everything the shop can do. It doesn't rank for any of the processes it lists.
- Technical data sheets only as PDFs. The company's most specific content stays locked in a file that ranks badly: we cover this in the guide to PDFs and SEO.
- A title tag built on the company name or on "solutions for industry", which nobody searches for.
- Chasing the biggest search in the table without reading the results page, and ending up competing with £140 engravers and encyclopaedia definitions.
- No Google profile, or one with a generic category, while the local block takes up the top of the page.
Do you run Google Ads as well?
Then you have an advantage.
The keywords that bring in quote requests in Google Ads tell you which pages to write first, because that's where SEO will pay off most. We explain this in the piece on SEO and Google Ads together.
The principle holds for all B2B. Manufacturing is just a more extreme case.
Do you recognise at least one of these mistakes?
These are the five things we check first when we take over a manufacturer's website, and the starting point of our SEO service. If you'd rather we ran the analysis for your sector, we'll start with a call.
Book a strategy consultationFrequently asked questions about keywords for manufacturers
The ones that combine a process with a material or a specific application, such as "laser tube cutting" (590 searches a month in the UK) or "laser cutting sheet metal" (320). They bring fewer visits than the broad search but more quote requests, and the cost per click confirms it: £11.48 for "laser tube cutting" and £6.41 for "laser cutting sheet metal", against £2.31 for "laser cutting".
It depends where: in the copy yes, in the title tag and H1 no. In our data the "subcontract" variants get 20 searches a month across eight processes, the "near me" variants 13,830. "Subcontract metal fabrication" gets 10 searches against 4,400 for the base search.
Yes, in manufacturing it often is. A single enquiry from an industrial buyer can be worth a year-long contract, and many niche phrases don't even show up in keyword tools. If a phrase gets impressions in Search Console, someone is searching for it.
Yes, if it works with customers in its area. "Metal fabrication near me" gets 4,400 searches a month in the UK, as many as "metal fabrication", and Google answers with a local block that sits above the organic results. To appear in it you need a profile with the right category and services.
It depends on seasonality, but for UK manufacturing the answer is almost always by June or in September. In August searches for processes such as laser cutting and injection moulding are 64-76% below their highest months, and a new page needs a few weeks to be indexed and to rank.
The figure no tool will ever give you
Process and material, not "subcontract".
"Near me" and the Google profile, not the city name.
The results page that speaks to buyers, not the biggest volume.
June and September, not August.
And then there's one last thing, which no tool does for you.
Add a hidden field with the landing page to your contact form.
At the end of the year, match the quote requests against the pages that brought them in and the revenue that came out of them.
After twelve months you'll know what each keyword family is worth in pounds of orders, not in monthly searches.
It's the only figure that really counts.
And it's the only one a competitor can't read in any tool.
If you'd like to set it up on your site and work out which keyword family to start from, book a strategy consultation.
See you next time!
