Government buyers search by keyword. If your language doesn't match theirs, you're invisible—no matter how qualified you are.
Imagine the best Italian restaurant in your city. Hand-made pasta. A chef who trained in Bologna. Regulars who drive forty minutes to eat there.
Now imagine it's listed on Google as "Food Preparation Services" in the wrong zip code. No photos. A description last updated in 2019.
That's what most companies look like to government buyers.
Federal buyers don't browse. They search. And the tools they use—SAM.gov, FPDS, agency procurement databases—are built on keyword matching. Not Google-style "did you mean" intelligence. Literal, rigid, keyword matching.
A DoD program manager needs AI-powered logistics optimization software. Your company builds exactly that. She types her search terms into SAM.gov. Your profile never appears.
Not because you're unqualified. Because her words and your words don't match.
The vocabulary wall. Government buyers speak a language shaped by decades of policy documents, acquisition regulations, and internal jargon. You call it "predictive maintenance." They call it "condition-based monitoring." Same capability. Different words. Zero search results.
This isn't a minor nuance. A single vocabulary mismatch can make a perfectly qualified vendor invisible across an entire agency.
The classification wall. NAICS and PSC codes are how the government categorizes what companies do. Most vendors register under one or two codes. Government buyers often filter by code before they ever read a profile. If you're not listed under the codes they're searching, you're eliminated before the competition starts.
Think of it like shelf placement in a grocery store. Your product might be excellent—but if it's in the wrong aisle, shoppers walk right past it.
The decay wall. A SAM.gov profile created three years ago describes a company that no longer exists. You've added capabilities, entered new markets, hired new talent. But your profile still reflects who you were, not who you are. Buyers searching for what you do today won't find the company you were in 2023.
Read your target agency's solicitations, strategic plans, and budget justifications. Pay attention to the exact words they use to describe the problems you solve. Then mirror that language in your SAM.gov profile, capability statements, and marketing materials.
Expand your NAICS and PSC codes to cover every relevant category—not just your primary one. And treat your SAM.gov profile like a living document. If you haven't updated it in six months, it's already out of date.
The companies that get found aren't necessarily the most qualified. They're the ones who speak the buyer's language.
Outrider uses semantic search to match companies with government needs based on meaning—not keywords. So buyers find you even when the terminology doesn't line up.
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