Your facility holds AS9100 certification, maintains NADCAP accreditations, and appears on multiple OEM-approved vendor lists, yet none of these achievements are helping your search rankings. While your competitors chase generic aviation backlinks through content marketing, you’re overlooking the high-authority links you’ve already earned through years of meeting aerospace standards. Here’s how to turn your existing certifications, partnerships, and contracts into the SEO foundation that actually matters for aviation suppliers.

Every certification your facility holds represents a potential high-authority backlink. AS9100, NADCAP, ISO certifications, FAA repair station approvals, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) certifications, and aircraft maintenance approvals are also key link sources in the aviation industry. All of these maintain online directories where your company should be listed with a link back to your website.

Start with these certification databases:

• IAQG OASIS Database (AS9100/9120)
• Performance Review Institute (NADCAP accreditations)
• FAA Repair Station Directory
• EASA Part 145 Organization Approvals
• Bureau Veritas/SGS/DNV certification listings
• Typical MRO services directory

Many suppliers stop at simply being listed. The real opportunity? Optimize these listings with complete company descriptions, capability keywords, and ensure your website URL is clickable. For aviation sector businesses, implement structured data and local SEO best practices to further improve visibility in search results. Specifically, optimize your listings for ‘airport services’ to capture local searches like ‘airport services near me’ and enhance your appearance in search results for airport-related offerings. Contact the database administrator if your link isn’t active—they’ll often update it within days.

Action Step: Audit your certifications against their online directories. Create a spreadsheet tracking which certifications have active backlinks and which need updates.

Your existing business relationships are backlink opportunities waiting to be activated. Every OEM you supply, distributor you work with, and prime contractor you support likely has a supplier page, partner directory, or resource section where you belong. Procurement teams often review these supplier directories, so optimizing your listing helps you reach your target audience effectively.

Target these partnership link sources:

• OEM-approved vendor lists (Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin supplier portals)
• Distributor “Our Partners” or “Manufacturers We Represent” pages
• Prime contractor small business/supplier diversity pages
• Industry association member directories (AIA, GAMA, HAI)

The key? Position your link request as updating their supplier information, not asking for an SEO favor. Send them your latest capability statement, certification updates, or new product lines as the reason for reaching out.

Action Step: Email your top 10 business partners with this template: “We’re updating our supplier profiles across partner websites. Could you confirm our listing on your approved vendor page includes our current website and capabilities?” Updating your partner profiles ensures your target audience, including procurement teams, can easily find and verify your company.

Trade publications, engineering forums, and technical resource sites actively seek aviation supplier expertise. But instead of pitching generic “thought leadership,” offer what they actually need: technical specifications, compliance insights, and real-world application data. Contributing to aviation websites and publications focused on aviation technology, aviation training schools, and flight schools can help establish authority and demonstrate specialized knowledge within the aviation industry.

Focus on these technical content opportunities:

• Aerospace Manufacturing Magazine technical features
• SAE International technical paper submissions
• Aviation Week MRO Links supplier spotlights
• Aerospace Testing International method articles
• CompositesWorld application stories
• Aviation technology case studies for aviation training schools or flight schools

Transform one technical document you already have, a material specification, testing procedure, or compliance guide, into a contributed article. Include your author bio with a link back to the specific product or service page discussed.

Use keyword research to identify industry-specific keywords relevant to your audience, and apply technical SEO best practices to maximize the impact and visibility of your contributed content. Optimizing your technical content in this way helps search engines better understand your expertise and can attract organic traffic to your site.

Action Step: Choose one technical document from your files. Rewrite the introduction to address a common customer question, then submit it to three aerospace trade publications as a technical feature.

Every contract award, industry recognition, and trade show participation creates multiple link opportunities. Government contracts generate automatic PR distribution through SAM.gov and agency newsrooms. Industry awards come with winner announcement pages. Trade show speakers earn profile pages with bio links.

Maximize links from these announcement sources:

• SAM.gov contract award notices
• Defense contract announcement press releases
• Aerospace industry award winner pages (Aviation Week Laureates, Aerospace Industries Association Supplier Excellence)
• Trade show speaker/exhibitor directories
• Local business journal contract win coverage

The multiplier effect: One contract win can generate links from the contracting agency, prime contractor PR, industry news coverage, and your local business media, if you notify them all. Sharing these success stories and highlighting SEO success from contract wins builds credibility, attracts qualified leads, and demonstrates your expertise in aviation link building. Earning these high-quality links also leads to improved search engine rankings and higher search rankings for your business, increasing your online visibility and long-term presence.

Action Step: Create a “Contract Win Link Protocol”—a checklist of 10+ places to submit your next contract award or company recognition for backlink opportunities. Track the impact of these links through transparent reporting to demonstrate your competitive edge.

Stop thinking of link building as a separate activity. Integrating link building into your overall marketing strategy and digital marketing strategies is essential to enhance your online presence. Link building not only helps attract organic traffic but also contributes to long-term online visibility, ensuring your website maintains a persistent presence in search results for sustained growth. Additionally, combining link building with targeted advertising as a complementary digital marketing tactic can further boost brand visibility and attract specific prospects within the aviation industry. Every business development action, from RFQs to facility upgrades, can generate multiple backlinks when properly leveraged.

Here’s the multiplication formula:

• Business Activity (new certification, contract win, partnership)
• Internal Announcement (website news/blog post)
• Partner Notification (update their supplier info)
• Trade Media Coverage (press release to aerospace publications)
• Association Recognition (member spotlight submission)

Note: Using tailored strategies and online marketing at each step maximizes the value and relevance of every link you build.

Example: Achieving NADCAP certification for chemical processing generates links from the PRI database, your prime contractor’s approved process list, an Aviation Week supplier news mention, your state aerospace association member spotlight, and local business journal coverage of your facility expansion.

These efforts help you stand out in the competitive landscape, especially compared to traditional marketing approaches that often struggle to deliver the same level of visibility and credibility in the aviation industry.

Action Step: Download our Aviation Link Multiplier Template to systematically extract 3-5 backlinks from every significant business activity.

Drop your email, and we’ll contact you for your company details, then we’ll send a custom content strategy, ready to use immediately, no obligation or purchase necessary.

You don’t need a content calendar or blogger outreach list. As an aviation supplier, you’ve already earned dozens of high-authority backlinks through your certifications, partnerships, and technical capabilities. The links are there, waiting to be claimed, optimized, and multiplied through systematic activation of your existing business activities.

Ready to unlock your hidden backlinks? Start with the certification audit. List every approval, certification, and registration your company holds, then systematically verify each one has an active backlink in its online directory. That single audit often uncovers 10-20 missing links from domains with higher authority than any blog you could pitch.

If you want expert guidance on your aviation SEO and link-building strategy, schedule a free consultation with our team today. We’ll help you identify opportunities and provide tailored recommendations to boost your online presence.