Symptoms you may be seeing
- You hear about large projects after the shortlist has been made.Contractors and consultants shortlist from what they can check on screen: capacity, past jobs, approvals.
- Vendor registration stalls over documents you already hold.Certificates, approvals and company facts that are missing, out of date or different from place to place.
The moment it matters
A vendor-registration executive at a public sector company is filling in your details against her checklist: certificates, their numbers, the issuing bodies, expiry dates, existing approvals.
What the buyer sees
A row of certification logos, too small to read, linking nowhere. The text mentions an ISO version that was replaced years ago. The About page says "founded in 1998", the home page says "over 30 years of experience".
The approvals that matter most in your industry, from a railway body, a standards bureau or a large buyer's vendor list, are not mentioned at all, though you hold them.
What it costs you
Approvals and registrations are often the filter that decides who is invited to quote on a project. A buyer who cannot see yours may not know you qualify.
An outdated certificate reads as carelessness, and two founding years make a buyer wonder which other facts are wrong. AI assistants faced with two years pick one, not always the right one.
What the buyer is asking at this point
"How long have you been in business?"
He is checkingStability, and whether the figure agrees everywhere.
A good answerOne founding year, used on every page and every listing, and a short company timeline.
"Which certifications do you hold?"
He is checkingWhether you pass his vendor checklist.
A good answerOne certifications page: certificate, standard, issuing body, number and valid-until date, each one openable as a PDF.
"Are you on the approved vendor list of the main buyers in my industry?"
He is checkingWhether another large buyer has already done the checking for him.
A good answerApprovals and vendor registrations named by the body that granted them, with the product they cover.
"Will you send a test certificate with the dispatch?"
He is checkingDocumentation his site and his auditor will ask for.
A good answerA sample test certificate one tap from the product page, and a line on what accompanies each dispatch.
"Do you allow third-party inspection?"
He is checkingWhether his inspector or his client's can visit before dispatch.
A good answerA plain yes, with how it is arranged and the notice you need.
All 62 questions industrial buyers ask, with good answers →
Check your own website in two minutes
- List every certificate and approval you hold today, with its number and expiry date.
- Compare the list with what the website says, word by word.
- Try to open each certificate from the website. Can a buyer read it, or download it?
- Find every place the site states your founding year or years in business. Do they all agree?
What good looks like
- One certifications page: each certificate with its standard, issuing body, number, valid-until date and a PDF to open.
- Approvals and vendor registrations listed by the body that granted them.
- One company timeline, with one founding year, used on every page and every listing.
- Someone in the company who checks the page when a certificate is renewed.
How this gets put right
This problem rarely comes alone. It usually shares a cause with others on this list: a website written once, years ago, without the facts the plant and the sales team hold. Patching one page at a time seldom changes what a buyer concludes.
The AI Search Visibility Blueprint shows how far your own site has this and every related problem, how Google and the AI assistants read it today, and what to correct in what order. A Website Transformation rebuilds the site from your own documents so the whole set is put right together, and measures what moves each month.
Written by Arun Agrawal, founder of EbizIndia and author of Before the Buyer Calls, a free guide to what industrial buyers check on a supplier's website.