B2B Industrial SEO Case Study – ImexCanada.com

How Optimum7 Reclaimed High-Intent Procurement Keywords and Rebuilt Organic Lead Flow Across Canada and the US

The Business

Imex Canada operates in a sector where search behavior looks very different from retail. The company supplies high-value mining and industrial equipment, drilling systems, pneumatic tools, haul trucks, core drills, and specialized components supporting projects across Canada and international markets.

In this environment, search is rarely exploratory. It is specific and specification-driven. A procurement manager searching “drill pipe” or “jumbo mining” is not casually browsing; they are verifying suppliers, checking compatibility, and narrowing their shortlist. Search volume may be modest, but the intent behind each query represents real purchasing timelines and real commercial impact.

By early 2025, Imex’s search presence had eroded. Key industrial terms slipped from prominent positions, non-branded discovery slowed, and inbound organic inquiries became inconsistent. In a category where first-page visibility often determines whether a supplier is even considered, that decline placed immediate pressure on the sales pipeline.

Imex did not need more impressions. It needed visibility restored in the exact places where procurement decisions begin.

The Objective

This engagement centered on one outcome: make organic search commercially dependable again.

The mandate required more than incremental improvements. Imex needed to:

Regain first-page visibility for high-value industrial procurement terms
Re-enter the Top 3 and Top 10 positions where rankings influence supplier shortlists
Increase qualified, non-branded organic sessions
Restore consistent inbound form submissions from search
Establish structural SEO durability against algorithm shifts and competitive pressure

Success would not be measured in traffic alone. It would be measured in regained competitiveness and a steady return of qualified lead flow.

Key Business Challenges

1. Erosion of Procurement-Term Visibility

Throughout 2024 and into early 2025, Imex lost ground in the Top 10 and Top 3 rankings for commercially critical equipment queries. In industrial procurement, slipping off page one often means being removed from consideration before a conversation ever begins.

2. Organic Channel Near Inactivity

Organic sessions dropped to negligible levels, and form submissions from organic were nearly absent. Pages designed to capture buyer-intent demand were no longer visible when prospects were actively evaluating suppliers.

3. Dependence on Brand and Direct Traffic

While brand-driven traffic remained steady, non-branded visibility weakened significantly. This constrained new-customer acquisition and limited growth beyond existing awareness.

4. Fragmented Technical Signals

Over time, technical inconsistencies accumulated. Duplicate page versions, indexing conflicts, and weak internal linking diluted authority signals. Specification PDFs ranked independently in some cases but remained disconnected from structured category pathways, separating visibility from inquiry opportunities.

5. Global Competitive Pressure

Imex competes against multinational manufacturers and large industrial distributors with substantial domain authority. Reclaiming position required disciplined structural alignment rather than superficial content edits.

The Strategic Challenge

Industrial SEO recovery requires precision. In technical procurement environments, search engines reward clarity, structure, and topical cohesion. Buyers expect specification depth and validation cues. Weak internal relationships or diluted authority signals reduce trust both algorithmically and commercially.

Imex needed:

Crawl integrity and consolidated authority
Landing pages engineered around specification-based intent
Clear pathways from technical information to inquiry
A structure capable of compounding rather than resetting with each update

This was not a cosmetic optimization project. It was a deliberate effort to rebuild trust at both the search engine and buyer levels.

The Strategy

Optimum7 worked on the rebuild step by step, concentrating on strong foundations, matching landing pages to user intent, covering topics in depth, and improving visibility in

1. Technical Stabilization and Authority Consolidation

Before visibility could return, search engines needed a coherent and consistent signal structure.

Key actions included:

Canonical consolidation and removal of duplicate page versions
Correction of indexing inconsistencies across product and category templates
Reinforcement of internal linking across critical equipment ecosystems (drill pipe, rock drills, conveyor systems, excavation equipment)
Image and alt-text optimization for improved topical clarity
Strategic reintegration of high-performing specification PDFs into structured content pathways

This work ensured that authority was accumulated in the right places, rather than fragmenting across disconnected assets.

2. Procurement-Aligned Landing Architecture

Industrial buyers search to compare, validate, and shortlist suppliers. Optimum7 rebuilt keyword architecture across Canada and the US around that behavior, then engineered pages to match it:

Dedicated landing pages mapped to high-value terms such as “drill pipe,” “jumbo drill,” “core drill,” and “haul truck”
Search-aligned page structure with headings and FAQ blocks informed by live SERP patterns

Stronger spec context, media support, and downloadable assets positioned as inquiry triggers
Cleaner query-to-page mapping to reduce cannibalization and improve ranking stability

3. Technical Topical Depth Expansion

Industrial authority requires more than product listings. It requires clarity across equipment ecosystems. Optimum7 expanded topical coverage around evaluation-stage themes, including:

Pneumatic drill selection considerations
Dragline mining fundamentals
Sand control terminology
Equipment compatibility and operational context

Existing PDFs already referenced by search engines were cross-linked into these clusters, allowing authority to circulate through structured relationships rather than remain isolated.

4. Modern SERP Feature Expansion

Visibility today extends beyond traditional listings. Optimum7 positioned Imex for enhanced placements through:

Structured data to improve product and category result eligibility
Targeted “People Also Ask” coverage
Video carousel inclusion, where equipment demonstrations supported buyer confidence
AI Overview alignment through clearer entity signals and topical completeness

This expanded exposure across emerging discovery surfaces while maintaining ranking stability.

5. Consolidated Geo-Relevance

Instead of spreading authority thinly across many regional pages, Optimum7 improved relevance for Canada and the US by using structured schema updates and better signals for provinces and metro areas that match how industrial buyers look for suppliers and logistics.

This improved regional visibility while preserving consolidated domain strength.

Results

The recovery progressed steadily from mid-2025 through early 2026, with improvements concentrated around procurement-critical queries.

Organic Visibility Rebound

Priority terms such as “drill pipe” regained national visibility in Canada, returning Imex to supplier shortlists where decisions are formed.

July 2025: 159 tracked keywords, 0 Top 3 placements, minimal page-one presence

January 2026: 168 tracked keywords, 1 Top 3 placement, expanded Top 10 visibility

Market Impact

Canada: Imex re-entered high-intent procurement searches with Top 1-10 visibility for commercially valuable terms such as “drill pipe,” “jumbo mining,” “sucker rod for sale,” and “heavy haul truck,” restoring presence where supplier shortlists are formed.

United States: Visibility strengthened across competitive product queries, with improved presence in modern SERP surfaces such as video carousels, “People Also Ask,” and AI-related results.

Traffic and Lead Recovery

July – December 2025:

Organic sessions increased from 16 to 277 per month (+1631%)
Organic form submissions returned, reaching 6 monthly inquiries in November and December
Organic conversion rate rose from 0% to 0.65%

Inbound inquiries began appearing again across priority equipment categories, confirming that performance gains reflected buyer intent rather than incidental traffic.

Engagement Quality

GA4 data in December showed that organic sessions demonstrated strong engagement depth relative to other channels. Visitors were reviewing specification content and progressing toward inquiry actions, signaling improved alignment between search intent and landing-page experience.

Strategic Outcome

Imex Canada’s organic channel moved from diminished visibility to competitive re-entry across procurement-critical terms in both Canada and the US.

Technical consolidation restored crawl trust. Landing pages are aligned with how industrial buyers search and evaluate suppliers. Topical depth reinforced authority. SERP feature optimization broadened exposure beyond traditional listings.

The result is not a temporary ranking lift. It is a structurally reinforced organic foundation designed for:

Sustained non-branded visibility
Qualified industrial lead generation
Reduced vulnerability to algorithm volatility
Stronger positioning within supplier shortlists

Imex did not merely regain traffic. It repositioned search as a credible, measurable contributor to its industrial sales pipeline and long-term growth.

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