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A new study of 350 U.S manufacturers found that most of these companies fail to embrace basic natural search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that can help trigger online sales leads.

"U.S. Manufacturers Resist Natural Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Sales Leads," prepared by Cleveland, Ohio-based Fathom SEO, covers such SEO topics as web site page titles and META descriptions, site architecture barriers and visible text.

The report, for example, notes that 75% of U.S. manufacturers don't appear to use effective keywords in the home page title tag, which heavily influences how well a web site will rank on search engines. More than 80% don't use a suitable title on primary interior pages, such as the about or product summary pages.

Get a free copy of the report here.

Manufacturers also can take a quick survey about whether they use SEO strategies. To do so, fill out the survey here.

"It doesn't make sense for manufacturers to ignore SEO," said Michael Murray, vice president of Fathom SEO. "Whether it's one local facility or a large company with many regional offices, these businesses often sell throughout the United States, and globally in some cases. An effective SEO strategy can take them to the top of search engines - a prime way to attract new customers."

Online searches aren't limited to celebrities, news and sports, Murray said. Plenty of business owners hunt for everything from bearings to plastics.

The study, which includes META tag case studies and insights about keyword selection, also found that most manufacturing web sites include a reasonable amount of visible text that could be optimized with search terms - if companies make the effort. Manufacturers also avoid splash pages (with the "skip intro" button) and frame architectures that may limit rankings.

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