SEO for Big Purchase Orders

Most SEO advice revolves around chasing traffic. Marketers look for high-volume keywords and build content designed to capture as many clicks as possible. But procurement teams — the people inside organizations who actually sign purchase orders — don't search that way. Their queries are narrow, specific, and often overlooked by competitors.

Consider phrases like "expense tracking software for universities" or "standing desks for offices." These aren't searched thousands of times a month. In fact, Ahrefs data shows many procurement-style keywords get fewer than 100 searches monthly.¹ That low search volume causes most agencies and in-house teams to ignore them. Yet the people typing those words are typically budget holders with authority to spend.

The conversion math tells the story. A DemandGen study found that B2B buyers arriving through bottom-of-funnel, intent-heavy searches converted at rates of 12–15%, compared with 1–2% for generic top-of-funnel traffic.² HubSpot's 2024 marketing report noted that companies focusing on high-intent, low-volume terms saw up to 4x higher ROI than those chasing broader keywords.³

Competition is still surprisingly light. SEMrush reports that fewer than 10% of B2B firms actively optimize content for procurement queries.⁴ That gap creates an opportunity: the company that builds landing pages, product sheets, or case studies tailored to "for X industry" searches can dominate results with relatively little effort. Even a handful of qualified clicks each month can lead to six- or seven-figure deals.

For small and mid-sized businesses, the approach doesn't require huge budgets. It starts with mapping industries where you want to sell, identifying the "for X" modifiers those buyers use, and building content that speaks directly to them. The leads will be fewer, but their value can outweigh thousands of casual clicks.

The takeaway: SEO isn't just about scale. It's about precision. For companies chasing enterprise contracts, procurement keywords are one of the lowest-competition, highest-value entry points available.