The short version: In the three months before we started, Google barely showed Craters & Freighters Pensacola for the military, defense, medical, commercial and industrial crating searches that match its best work: 29 times across 12 key searches, mostly from page five or deeper. Nine months into the program, those same 12 searches show the site 1,052 times, mostly on Google’s first two pages.
The ask
Pensacola sits in the middle of the Gulf Coast’s military, defense and aerospace community. Chris and Stephanie’s team crates to MIL-SPEC and handles defense, medical and other commercial and industrial equipment, but the website wasn’t telling Google that. The goal: get found by the contractors and procurement teams who need that work done.
What we did
We started in January 2026.
- Navigation built for buyers. A new mega-menu, live in May 2026, puts every commercial and industrial service one click from any page.
- Two new pages for the work that pays. MIL-SPEC crating and packaging and military and government shipping went live in July 2026. Chris and Stephanie’s team checked every military specification so the pages speak the language government contractors use.
- Written to be quoted. The MIL-SPEC page names the exact standards contractors search for (MIL-STD-2073, MIL-STD-129 and MIL-STD-130) and answers their most common questions in an FAQ, so Google and AI tools can lift the answer directly. Every page also carries business markup with the location’s name, phone, hours and address, and the national Craters & Freighters locations page lists Pensacola as part of the brand, so AI tools get consistent facts.
What the numbers said
Sources: Google Search Console (Oct–Dec 2025 vs Jul–Sep 2026), BrightLocal AI visibility test, Google Analytics 4 and Semrush position tracking for the Pensacola area.
Results: found for the work that pays
The new pages went live in July. Here’s how often Google showed the site for each search, and where it ranked, before and after.
| Search term | Times shown, Oct–Dec 2025 | Times shown, Jul–Sep 2026 | Avg. position, Oct–Dec 2025 | Avg. position, Jul–Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mil-spec crating | 2 | 141 | 43 | 21 |
| engineered crating | 10 | 140 | 21 | 19 |
| mil spec crates | 0 | 110 | Not shown | 24 |
| milspec crating | 6 | 107 | 75 | 20 |
| defense industry crating services | 0 | 98 | Not shown | 20 |
| heavy equipment crating | 0 | 88 | Not shown | 21 |
| medical crating | 0 | 67 | Not shown | 4 |
| hazardous material packaging service | 0 | 64 | Not shown | 7 |
| medical equipment crating | 3 | 63 | 70 | 6 |
| industrial equipment crating | 0 | 62 | Not shown | 15 |
| hazmat packaging services | 1 | 59 | 4 | 4 |
| military crating | 7 | 53 | 58 | 19 |
| Search term | Before (Oct–Dec 2025) | Now (Jul–Sep 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| heat shrink packaging services | 80 | 2 |
| shrink wrapping services | 80 | 3 |
| freight shipping company near me | 70 | 15 |
| crating companies near me | 36 | 15 |
| crating and packing services | 81 | 16 |
| crating services | 74 | 17 |
| shipping and crating services | 83 | 18 |
| crating company near me | 50 | 18 |
| on site crating | 50 | 20 |
| international equipment crating | 79 | 25 |
AI is changing how buyers find them
Today, about a third of the Pensacola-area searches we track show a Google AI Overview at the top of the results (101 of 282). That’s why we write every page to be quoted, not just ranked. Visitors sent by ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot rose from 25 to 37 (January–September 2026 vs the same months of 2025), and their lead actions from 4 to 10. Some of that is simply more people using AI tools. What we can influence is whether AI cites the site: in January, Google’s AI Overviews cited it on no searches. By September it was nine, including crating companies near me and freight packing and shipping services (Semrush).
We also tested eight questions a Gulf Coast buyer might ask AI, such as “MIL-SPEC crating company in Pensacola” and “defense industry crating services Pensacola” (BrightLocal, October 2026). ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode each named Craters & Freighters Pensacola in seven of the eight, first or second. The source those AI answers cited most was the Pensacola website itself: 26 of 38 citations.
Where it stands
Nine months in, Pensacola is visible for the military, defense and medical work it wants, mostly on Google’s second page. Page one is the goal, and the trend is moving in the right direction. SEO and AI search take time: rankings build month over month as Google and AI tools learn to trust a site. Next, we’re adding more answer-first pages so AI tools name Pensacola when someone on the Gulf Coast asks who can crate their military, defense, medical, commercial and industrial equipment.
Questions franchise owners ask us
How fast can a franchise location get found for specialized work?
For Craters & Freighters Pensacola, the military and government pages went live in July 2026, and by September Google was showing the site for its 12 key specialty searches 36 times as often as before we started. Purpose-built pages for a specific buyer move faster than general site improvements.
Does AI search change how a page should be written?
Yes. Two-thirds of the searches Pensacola ranks for now show a Google AI Overview. Pages that state plainly what the business does, to which standards and for whom are the ones AI tools can quote, so we write every service page that way.
Want results like this for your business?
We do this for all kinds of businesses, from single-location companies to national brands and franchise networks. See our SEO and AI search services, how we approach AI search optimization, and franchise SEO for multi-location brands. Read the Craters & Freighters national site, Chicago, Tampa and Boston case studies. Then ask us to look at your numbers.
