Problem-first
“How do I choose a CNC machining supplier for low-volume aerospace brackets?”
The engineer is still working out what to look for. The supplier that explains the criteria honestly tends to be the one considered.
AEO, GEO and SEO for industrial manufacturers
Engineers ask AI who can make it.Make sure it names your plant.
You have the capability, the certifications and the customers who keep coming back. But AI assistants are increasingly used to draft the supplier shortlist before anyone sends an RFQ, and a catalogue of spec sheets does not give it much to quote. We fix that, with SEO as the foundation and the AI answer as the aim.
- For established manufacturers
- Engineer-reviewed, not generic copy
- Certifications stated only as they are
Free instant audit. See what AI says about you.
Rather have a person do it?Ask for a free manual audit
Built to get you named in
Google
ChatGPT
Gemini
Claude
Perplexity
Who can make custom stainless steel housings to AS9100 spec in the Midwest?
AI answer
- Large on-demand platform
- Sourcing directory listing
- A national manufacturer
- Your plant is not named
Illustrative example
How buyers ask now
The first supplier search is a technical question, not a company name
Design engineers, sourcing managers and plant leaders describe a part, a tolerance or a failure to an AI assistant, then read the suppliers it names. Each of these questions is a place your plant is either on the list or not.
Comparison
“Difference between die casting and injection moulding for a high-volume housing”
A process question. Whoever explains the trade-offs clearly, with real limits, becomes a quotable source.
Local
“Contract manufacturer for medical device components in the Midwest”
Region, sector and a quality system in one sentence. Every missing signal on your site is a reason to be skipped.
Category
“Who makes custom heat exchangers to ISO 9001 and ASME requirements?”
A capability and standards query. Only certifications you actually hold, scoped correctly, count as signals here.
Problem-first
“Our hydraulic pump keeps cavitating on this duty cycle. Who builds a better design?”
A plant leader describing a failure in operating terms. Application notes beat catalogue pages.
Comparison
“Best alternatives to an on-demand platform for production runs of a few thousand parts”
A buyer outgrowing the marketplace. A direct manufacturer can win this, but only if it writes the comparison down.
Examples of how buyers phrase these questions, not measured search volumes.
Why plants go unnamed
The capability is real. The answer-ready version is missing.
Manufacturers tend to assume the product speaks for itself, and that buyers search by part number. Our audit says the picture is more mixed than that.
Spec sheets say what it is, not who should choose it
Product pages list dimensions, materials and ratings. Buyers ask which process, which supplier and which trade-off. A diversified group such as Standex, which our tool read as an industrial manufacturing conglomerate, was not named in any of its five queries.
Sourcing directories and market lists fill the gaps
Thomasnet was cited 13 times across answers for five different companies, and market-research and ranking sites such as Verified Market Research, MarketsandMarkets, Verityrank and Metoree appeared again and again. A company’s own site was 4.0% of all citations.
Distributors can out-speak the maker
In ESAB’s answers, three welding retail and wholesale stores were each cited three times, and in Hubbell’s, one infrastructure-hardware distributor was cited 4 times. When resellers describe your product better than you do, AI quotes them.
Custom-part queries are a marketplace arena
In the on-demand manufacturing answers we ran, the same platforms named each other and were cited again and again. A direct manufacturer needs its own clear, comparable answers to be considered in that space.
Where AI looks
The places AI looks before it names a manufacturer
These sources appeared most often in our audit of 13 industrial manufacturers. If you are absent or inaccurate in them, you are harder to place.
Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org- UUSPTO patent publicationsimage-ppubs.uspto.gov
- TThomasnetthomasnet.com
- SSEC filingssec.gov
- VVerityrankverityrank.com
- MMetoreeus.metoree.com
- MMarketsandMarketsmarketsandmarkets.com
- IInveninven.ai
Counted across 520 citations in our October 2026 audit. Patent publications and filings are most visible for large public companies, and a source appearing here is not an endorsement. We do not guarantee placement in any directory or list.
Our audit
We audited 13 industrial manufacturers. Big brands did well. Not all of them.
We asked AI assistants five buyer questions per company, with the company’s name left out. Large, well-known names did well, and the exceptions are the instructive part.
66.2%
Average AI visibility across 13 manufacturers and 65 buyer queries
3 of 13
Named in one of five queries or fewer, including one named in none
10 of 23
Domains we tried blocked our crawler, so were not scanned
4.0%
Of cited sources were the company’s own website
Research
We audited 13 industrial manufacturers for AI visibility
Every company, every score, the full method and its limits. Free to read.
Read the full auditMostly large public industrial brands plus three on-demand manufacturing platforms, chosen by us rather than at random, so this likely flatters mid-size and family-owned manufacturers. Ten of the 23 domains we tried blocked our crawler, which proves nothing about AI crawlers. One run on one day, and AI answers change.
From spec to RFQ
How an engineer gets from a drawing to a supplier shortlist
A manufacturing purchase is a long chain of small decisions, and AI now sits in several of them. We work the journey rather than a single keyword, because each step rewards a different kind of page.
- The spec1
A part, a tolerance, a problem
The engineer starts with a requirement or a failure, not a supplier. Application notes, design guidance and process explainers written by your own engineers are what AI quotes at this stage.
- The process2
Which way should it be made?
Machining or casting, moulding or fabrication, standard or custom. Honest comparisons that say when each option fits, and when it does not, are rare and highly quotable.
- The capability check3
Can you really make it?
Materials, tolerances, volumes, equipment and the industries you serve, stated precisely and consistently. Vague claims such as precision manufacturing solutions give an AI nothing to match.
- The qualification4
Certifications and quality evidence
ISO, AS9100, IATF or industry approvals matter only if they are current, scoped to the work and verifiable. We state exactly what you hold, in the registry-friendly wording buyers will check.
- The RFQ5
Making it easy to ask
A request form that asks for the right drawing, material and quantity, a clear response expectation and a human behind it. A slow or confusing RFQ page loses the buyer that visibility won.
- The long middle6
Staying on the shortlist for months
Qualification, samples and approvals can take a long time. Identification and scoring shows which accounts keep reading, and a named-account list keeps the target OEMs warm while the process runs.
The programme
AEO and GEO first. SEO as the foundation underneath.
AI assistants and Google read the web the same way. They look for a clear entity, direct answers and agreement from sources they trust. We build all three, in the order that gets your plant named.
01
Make the plant legible to AI
What you make, to what tolerances and standards, for which industries, and from where, stated the same way across your site, your profiles and every sourcing directory.
- Company, capability and location entity profiles with structured data
- Positioning by process and industry, in the words buyers use
- Fixes so AI crawlers can read every page, including through bot protection
02
Turn the catalogue into answers
Application notes, process comparisons and selection guides, written with your own engineers so they are accurate. These are the pages an assistant can quote when a buyer is still deciding what to ask for.
- Process and material explainers for the work you genuinely do
- Honest comparison guides, such as your process against the alternatives
- Answer blocks built to be quoted, with real limits stated
03
Earn the mentions AI trusts
Sourcing directories, trade publications, standards bodies and distributor pages shape what AI names. We help your company earn an accurate presence there, openly, and brief your channel partners so they describe you correctly.
- Directory and sourcing-platform profile audit and clean-up
- Trade-press and industry-body placements
- A review of how distributors and resellers describe your products
04
Convert and measure
An RFQ journey built for engineers and buyers, then tracking of how assistants describe you across the questions that matter, reported next to search performance and RFQs received.
- RFQ page and form review, from drawing upload to first response
- A baseline audit of AI answers for your processes and industries
- Ongoing citation and mention tracking beside RFQs and meetings booked
SEO is the foundation of all of this, and we run it properly: technical health, structure, content and links. The aim is the AI answer, because that is where the shortlist is forming. The work that gets a plant cited tends to strengthen classic search as well, but we do not promise rankings, citations or a number of RFQs.
Pick your lane
Hybrid is worth considering when you have named target accounts.
Answer four questions and see which lane fits a manufacturer like yours. It is a starting point for the discovery call, not a quote.
Your recommendation
Answer the four questions to see which lane fits.
It takes about twenty seconds. The answer is a starting point for the discovery call, not a quote.
They find you
Inbound
$2,500 a month
Or $6,000 a quarter, or $18,000 a year, paid up front.
AEO, GEO and SEO programme with visitor identification and scoring, so the attention you earn is worked, not just counted.
How AEO and GEO workYou reach them
Outbound
$2,500 a month
Or $6,000 a quarter, or $18,000 a year, paid up front.
Managed outreach across calls, email and LinkedIn to the accounts you choose, timed by buying signals, with human approval before anything sends.
How signal-based outbound worksOur usual recommendation for Industrial manufacturers
Both, as one system
Full Hybrid
$5,000 a month
Or $12,000 a quarter, or $36,000 a year, paid up front.
Inbound and Outbound together, synced to one file per prospect, so nothing falls between the two.
Compare the three lanesBilled monthly with no lock-in. We recommend around six months because search and AI citations compound, but it is a recommendation, not a minimum. Prices exclude taxes. Full pricing and Terms.
Is it worth it?
What is one new customer worth to your plant?
No benchmarks and no promises. Enter your own figures and see what a few more qualified RFQs from search and AI would be worth against the programme fee.
Your numbers, not ours
The figures pre-filled are placeholders, not benchmarks. Replace them with yours. If you do not have them yet, the manual audit estimates demand for you.
2.4
RFQs a month
0.5
New customers a month
$57,600
New order value a month
0.3
Months to cover six months of fees
Six months of the programme at monthly billing is $15,000. At $120,000 a customer, one new customer covers it.
Arithmetic on the figures you entered. It is not a forecast and not a promise of results, and it ignores churn, repeat work and cost of service.
Capability claims
Technical claims have to be true, current and safe to publish
Manufacturers sell on certifications, origin and capability, and buyers check. We write claims you can prove, and flag technical content that needs your export-control review before it goes live.
Certifications must be current and verifiable
ISO does not issue certificates itself. Accredited certification bodies do, and certificates expire and are subject to surveillance. For aerospace, buyers can check AS9100 status in the IAQG OASIS database. We state only what you hold, with the right scope, and nothing that has lapsed.
Origin claims need a reasonable basis
The FTC applies an all or virtually all standard to unqualified Made in USA claims, including in advertising and online marketing. We use qualified wording unless you can substantiate the unqualified claim.
Technical data and export controls
Technical data controlled under ITAR or the EAR is not automatically fine to publish because it is online, and under ITAR public-domain status depends on how the information was released. We do not publish controlled technical data, and we ask you to confirm anything sensitive first.
Defence and export capability is never assumed
We do not claim ITAR registration, defence approvals, export licences or customer names unless you confirm them in writing. Nothing publishes without your approval.
General information, not legal advice. Export-control, origin-claim and certification rules depend on your products, customers and jurisdictions, and your own compliance counsel should make the final call on wording and on what technical data to publish.
Free, two ways
Start with an audit. Pick who runs it.
Both are free. One is instant and automated. The other is a person doing the full job.
Option one: instant
Audit my site, now
Enter your domain and our AI visibility checker shows how assistants talk about your manufacturer today and which pages they read to build the answer.
- How AI assistants currently describe you
- Which sources they cite instead of you
- Where your site falls short for AI readers
Option two: a real person
Ask for a manual audit
A member of our team reviews your business by hand. You get the findings and the data, free, whether or not you work with us.
- Full business and website audit
- Competitor research: who gets named and why
- Demand research: what your market actually asks
- The data presented to you, not locked behind a pitch
Free for established businesses auditing their own site. Please use your business email so we can match it to your domain, or email [email protected] confirming the site is yours. We do not run free audits for agencies working on behalf of clients. See white label AEO.
Honest fit
Who this is for, and who it is not for
A good fit
- Established manufacturers and contract manufacturers with a real customer base and defined capabilities
- Customers worth enough that one new one pays for the service
- An engineer or sales lead who can review technical content for accuracy
- A plant ready to say precisely what it is best at, and to what standard
Not a fit
- Start-ups with no production history or customers yet
- Anyone asking us to claim a certification, approval or origin they do not hold
- Price-only commodity suppliers competing on lowest unit cost
- Companies that want guaranteed rankings or a guaranteed number of RFQs
Works on whatever your website runs on
WordPress
Webflow
Shopify
Squarespace
Wix
Framer
Next.js
Questions
Industrial manufacturers: AEO, GEO and SEO, answered
The questions we get asked first.
Why do AI assistants name other suppliers and not mine?
Because AI names what is clearly described and widely corroborated. If your site lists specifications but never says which problems you solve, for whom and to what standard, and you are thin in the sourcing directories and trade lists AI trusts, you are hard to place however good the work is.
How is this different from industrial SEO?
SEO earns a place in a list of links, often for part or product terms. AEO and GEO aim to get your company named inside the answer an assistant gives to a question like who makes custom components to a given standard. They share foundations, so we do both, but the AI answer is the aim.
Our buyers search by part number or spec. Does this still matter?
For repeat buys of a known part, perhaps not. For new projects, supplier changes and anything custom, engineers often start with a question. Those are the first-time buyers a long sales cycle is built to win.
Do certifications like ISO 9001 or AS9100 help us get named?
They can, as entity signals, but only if they are real, current and stated precisely, ideally matching the public registry. We never add a certification you do not hold, and an expired one is worse than none.
Is it safe to publish technical content online?
Application and process content is usually fine, but technical data controlled under ITAR or the EAR needs your export-control review first. We ask you to confirm anything sensitive, and we do not publish controlled data. Your own compliance counsel should make the call.
We sell through distributors. What happens to them?
They matter. In our audit, resellers and catalogue sites were cited for some manufacturers more than the manufacturer’s own site. We review how your channel partners describe you and help brief them, so AI is quoting accurate information.
Do you guarantee our plant will be named, or that RFQs will rise?
No. We do not guarantee rankings, AI citations or a number of RFQs, and nobody honest can. We tell you plainly what we expect for your processes and industries, and we say so if this is not the right fit.
How long before we see results?
The first months go on foundations, and search and AI citations compound over time. Manufacturing cycles are long, so we report early signals from the start and recommend around six months, but you pay monthly and can cancel any time.
What does it cost?
Inbound is $2,500 a month on monthly billing with no long-term commitment, or $6,000 a quarter or $18,000 a year paid up front. Outbound is the same price and Full Hybrid is $5,000 a month. See the pricing page for full detail.
Is the free audit really free?
Yes. The instant audit runs on our AI visibility checker. A manual audit is done by a person for manufacturers reviewing their own site, using a business email matched to your domain. We do not run free audits for agencies working for clients.
Be the manufacturer AI names when your buyers ask.
Thirty minutes. We look at where you stand in AI answers and search, who is being named instead, and whether this programme makes sense for your business. If it does not, we will say so.
- A clear scope and price before any commitment
- A game plan you validate before work begins
- A free audit either way, instant or by a person
Pick a time that suits you
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Receipts
Where the numbers on this page come from
- 01
Deligatr AI visibility audit of 13 industrial manufacturers
65 live grounded buyer queries and 520 citations, run in October 2026. Average visibility 66.2%. Ten of the 23 domains we tried could not be scanned.
- 02
Federal Trade Commission, Complying with the Made in USA Standard
The all or virtually all standard for unqualified Made in USA claims, which the FTC says applies to advertising and online marketing as well as labels.
- 03
eCFR, 22 CFR 120.34, Public domain (ITAR)
Defines when technical data is in the public domain under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
- 04
IAQG, Certification and the OASIS database
The aerospace quality group’s database of AS9100-series certification status, which buyers can check.
- 05
ISO, Certification
ISO does not itself perform certification. It is carried out by external certification bodies.
Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and the other names and logos shown on this page are trademarks of their respective owners. They are shown to identify the search and AI platforms, website platforms and publications we refer to, and do not imply endorsement or affiliation. The AI answer mock-up and buyer questions are illustrative.