Decide which searchers you want. For RFQ buyers, build pages per process with equipment, materials, tolerances you hold and certifications you really have, plus an RFQ form that accepts drawings. For retail repair work, say clearly whether you take it. Then make your homepage and profile say the same thing.
Two searchers, one search box
“Machine shop near me” is typed by two very different people. One is an engineer or buyer with a drawing who’ll send it to three or four shops. The other has a broken bracket, a trailer hitch or a hobby project. Both are local in a sense, but they need different pages, and most shops want only one of them.
Write down which you want before changing anything. If you take small retail jobs, great; say so and say how. If you don’t, say that too. It saves your phone line, and it makes your RFQ pages clearer to everyone, including search engines.
What RFQ buyers check before they send a drawing
Buyers shortlisting a shop usually look for:
- Processes. Milling, turning, 5-axis, Swiss, EDM, grinding, welding, sheet metal, finishing.
- Equipment. Machine makes and models, work envelope, bar capacity.
- Materials. The alloys and plastics you run regularly.
- Tolerances. What you hold routinely, not your best day.
- Quality system. Inspection equipment, and any certification you hold, with its scope and registrar.
- Volumes and lead times. Prototype, low-volume, production.
- How to quote. File types accepted, who answers, and how quickly.
Each of these belongs on the site as text. A capability brochure as a PDF is a poor substitute.
Pages to build
- One page per process. “CNC milling” with your mills, envelope, materials and typical parts. “CNC turning” the same way.
- Equipment list. A table, kept current.
- Materials. What you run and what you’d rather not.
- Quality. Only certifications you currently hold.
- Industries served. If you make parts for food equipment, agriculture or automation, say so, and describe the kind of work without naming customers who haven’t agreed to it.
- RFQ. A form that accepts STEP, IGES and PDF uploads, with quantity and due date.
Local still matters
Even B2B buyers like a shop they can visit. Your Google Business Profile needs the right category, a real address and accurate hours. Many shops have an old address on directories after a move; see our NAP cleanup guide.
Make the homepage title and H1 say what and where: “CNC machining in Cleveland, Ohio” tells both buyers and search engines more than “Precision. Quality. Service.”
Retail intent, if you want it
If you take repair and one-off work, give it its own page: what you’ll do, what you won’t, typical turnaround, and whether walk-ins are welcome. Keep it separate from the RFQ pages so neither confuses the other.
Structured data
Use LocalBusiness (schema.org has no machine-shop subtype) with your name, address, telephone, hours and sameAs links. Our schema guide has a template.
What not to do
- Don’t list certifications that have lapsed or belong to a sister plant.
- Don’t publish customer logos without written permission.
- Don’t copy manufacturer machine descriptions onto every page; say what you do with the machine.
- Don’t hide the phone number. Engineers call.