Automotive SEO Tips
Does your dealership website not have the traffic you expect? It’s possible that your website lacks search engine optimization, which refers to a collection of strategies to improve your dealership visibility on web searches for words related to your vehicle makes, models, and service.
The best automotive websites out there grow organically in popularity, in the sense that their recognition is grass-roots and not necessarily always purchased through pay per click like Google. You can find out how you can also work to grow your site organically by implementing some great search engine optimization tips (SEO).
Search Engine Results
You will need to make your automotive website pop up in the Google search results. Build a really solid website and use search engine optimization to have it discovered. If other local dealerships in your market haven’t done as well, you will stand out like a shining star from the crowd.
Treating your Automotive SEO efforts like homework is a great way to achieve in the highly competitive field of automotive digital marketing. This means you should be approaching the trafficking of your site like the completion of an educational term paper. You need to do your keyword research, build a synopsis, bullet the important points, and run down the dealership checklist to refine the process.
Try several different keywords when you are working to rank higher in all search engines. Search engines will “read” the metatags and help you appear in a wider variety of searches that are conducted.
Monitor Traffic Results
One sure way to increase traffic to your dealership website is to check the traffic statistics for the most popular search engine keywords that are currently bringing visitors to your dealership. Use those search words as subjects for your next few blog post content, as they represent trending topics with proven interest to your visitors.
Search engines track the average visit length to websites and use that information as part of the ranking algorithm. Abundant useful content is the key to keeping visitors on your website longer, which results in a higher page rank and more new and repeat visitors to your website.
Local Business Directories
Take advantage of free local business directories and related sites. Enter your dealership’s information into any or all of the free local business directories out there – locally is best but national ones will be helpful as well. This will make your website slightly easier to be stumbled upon during web searches by potential customers.
Google My Business
Claim your Google My Business location to maximize search engine optimization! That is for websites that are designed to map out locations for dealerships with a local presence. Search engines will bring up sites local to a customer’s IP address when they are searching for a physical dealership location. By claiming your site on these pages you can control your brand and make customers more likely to visit your website and ultimately your physical dealership location.
Content is Key
Keep your website content fresh. While having lots of content is essential, it has to be current and up to date. The search engines track how frequently your site is updated and this has an effect on your rank in the freshness category. Any form of change on the site, whether it’s a new article or automotive blog post, will help to boost your rank.
Search engines like Google and Bing are constantly evolving in terms of how they find information on the web. Consequently, you will have to change your dealership site and pages to correspond with the changes that are occurring in search engine technology if you want to stay on the cutting edge of Search Engine Optimization for your dealership.
Patience is Important
When it comes to search engine optimization, you also need to be patient. Dealers are not going to see immediate jumps in traffic simply because they worked on optimizing their site yesterday. It can take several months to see a significant result from your search engine optimization process as it is being conducted. Especially if you are a new dealership, or have recently started updating the website.
You might work hard changing things around and not see an instant reward for those adjustments. Don’t get discouraged during the process. Just keep at it and you will eventually see the results of growing traffic to your website.
Check out the Competition
Grab any information your competitors give you and use it to your advantage as well. Sometimes, competing dealership websites will give you exact information about their targeted keywords objectives. There are some common ways to find this information out. One is to look in the META tag of the dealership’s homepage. Additionally, on some pages with articles and blogs, some or all of the keywords will be in bold. Spend some time reviewing competition sites and if they are doing well in their strategy monitor closely but if they aren’t doing a lot it should be easier to grow your own exposure in search results.
Linking to Lists
Linking to lists is very popular for dealership websites and can help your search engine optimization. You can find a lot of articles that are written as a top 10 list or top 100 list of tips or small facts. If possible, present well – written content with relevant content composed as lists with numbers, not bullets, such as “10 ways to buy a new SUV for your family.”
Keywords on the Website
Place your keywords in unexpected places on your web site. Obviously, you are using pictures, advertisements, graphics, or other forms of media where the coding is unseen, include your keywords in there somewhere – like in the alt tags for images. Doing this gives you an upper hand because you are not bombarding your readers with it, but it is still seen by search engines like Google.
You may also wish to include the keywords within the title of site pages. Your title is your websites first handshake with the various search engines, so make it very relevant and friendly. By having a more generic word in the title, searchers who aren’t aware of your company’s name will still visit your website to find the vehicles or services they are looking for.
Inbound Link Strategy
Set up a strategy for getting inbound links to your website from relevant, highly-ranked websites. Of course, everyone’s goal is to find a way for Wikipedia, the most highly ranked site of all, to send us its link juice. Your goal should be to find other websites who’s topic matches your dealership to provide you with their Page Rank boosting links.
Build a great series of appropriate backlinks on your automotive site. Have your keyword phrases be in the all titles of those links for sure. Make sure that these links are related to your own content, otherwise, they could possibly work against you. Using backlinks is a great way to bring in traffic from various areas and other web sites to visit your site.
Building a steady volume of backlinks is critical to all internet marketers, but it is important to know that all backlinks to your site are not equal. Google assigns page rank scores to all websites as part of its ranking process algorithm. Your goal should be to attract backlinks from websites that have a page rank that is at least equal to your own, but preferably higher obviously. Higher page rank signifies higher status in the eyes of the search engine results and the fact they are linking back to you, can raise your own status in search rankings. Which leads to more traffic and in turn more leads – with sales generated.
Make it a Daily Routine
A great way to improve search engine optimization is to work on it as part of your daily routine, in the same way, you would check your emails. This is because SEO techniques are not static, as search engines evolve continually and rapidly, and what worked yesterday might not work today or tomorrow moving forward.
Focus on Images Too
When looking to ramp up the dealership profile, don’t forget that image names count in search results – quite heavily, in fact. Be sure to give the names of the images that searchers will easily find. If you’re writing about a particular vehicle model, be sure to include keywords for that product in the image name itself, so that the image will pop up in a Google image search result.
Blogging and Content
Add a blog to your website in order to maintain the freshness of your dealership content and to target specific long-tail keywords, both of which will increase your page rank within Google. You can also place links to and from blog posts on other areas of your site to refresh the content on pages that are not typically updated – like the manufacturer content that is provided automatically.
Writing unique content is an overlooked SEO strategy. The Internet is filled with free information on many websites. The best way for your content to get attention is by using information that is either very specific on a vehicle for example or not widely published. This will give your site a competitive edge over those using stale and widely published information that is on every other dealership site.
Knowing which search engines and keywords are used by a target audience is very important when utilizing search engine optimization.
Highlight Industry News
To get an immediate increase in traffic pay attention to the industry and manufacturer news. If you cover a soon to be searched topic (or new vehicle model) before other sites do, most search engine algorithms will place your link at the top. To get the latest scoops you can follow people relevant to the industry on Twitter and set up notifications from Google to get emails when something relevant shows up about the new model being launched.
Social Media
Get involved in social media heavily. Posting links to your website content on some of these sites can get you multiple responses that can add to your audience base. It’s a great way to draw in new leads and customers!
Monitor Ranking
You should always monitor the ranking of your page using programs such as the Google Console and Analytics. You should also always know what location the people visiting your website are from. Check this information on a consistent basis so that you can alter your targeting strategies if required at all. Once a month is suggested for a dealership – let experts regularly oversee, monitor but don’t obsess over it every day.
Improve Dealership Traffic
Search Engine Optimization is not a big mystery, and there is nothing unethical about conducting it. Every dealership owner who wants to increase his or her website’s traffic (i.e., every automotive dealer owner) should be willing to take steps to improve search engine rankings.
Using the tips we went over here will help increase the popularity of your website over time.
If you want to increase the traffic to your dealership website by making it more visible on search engines, remember these tips and you will have more visitors, leads, and ultimately sales!
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With over 20 years of experience in the car business, I’ve navigated the evolution of the industry from traditional sales to the dynamic digital age. My journey through various roles in both sales and management has endowed me with a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities in automotive sales today.
As the founder of Shawn Ryder Digital, I combine my extensive background in technology with my deep understanding of the automotive industry. This synergy allows me to craft digital marketing strategies that are not just effective but tailored to the specific needs of each dealership. My commitment is to drive your sales, enhance your brand awareness, and ensure your dealership thrives in the digital landscape.
Here at Shawn Ryder Digital, we’re not just about providing services; we’re about building partnerships. As I often say, “In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, staying ahead isn’t just an option; it’s a necessity.”
Together, let’s embrace the challenges of the digital age and turn them into opportunities for growth and success. Join me in redefining the future of automotive digital marketing. Let’s accelerate your dealership’s journey to the top.