Posted by Shawn Ryder

Google My Business – Photo Management

June 6, 2020Dealership Tips, Digital Marketing, SEO

Google My Business Photos

Managing images of a dealership can have a significant impact on the quality of content users find when researching travel online. It is possible to add or remove photos from your account at any time. There are also ways to flag inappropriate images added by other users.

Adding Images of your Dealership

Data from Google shows that dealerships with high-quality, relevant images receive higher levels of engagement from users and are more likely to be visited by consumers who have viewed that dealership’s listing online.

Having the photography that includes the exterior and interior of your dealership as well as photos of models and the service department will be beneficial to attracting customers.

To add an image or images, simply log into your Google My Business account and select the “Photos” tab from the menu bar on the left side of the screen. From this section, you’ll be able to add and manage images, including selecting the cover image, identifying specific subjects (such as vehicle photos from your inventory) and other actions. You can add photos from your device or from Google Photos.

How to Remove an Image From Your Listing

Removing an Image Added to Your Account

Sign into your Google My Business account and choose the listing you’d like to manage. Select “Photos” from the menu on the left. Click the image you want to remove and then click the trash can icon in the top-right corner. This will delete the image from your listing.

Flagging Images from Other Users for Removal

To flag an image from another user for removal, navigate to your location’s photo gallery in Google Maps. Click on a photo to pull up the photo gallery image panel, and click on the three-dot menu icon in the top left corner.

Select “Report a Problem.” Complete the information on the form about why the photo should be flagged for your dealership and then click “Submit.”

A photo must be in violation of Google’s photo policy in order to be removed from the Google My Business. Sometimes it is necessary to flag an image a second time if it is not removed after an initial period of 7-14 days from the profile.

Photo Best Practices

Photo Orientation

Orientation is important for photo selection, and it’s best to keep this in mind when photographing a location. Horizontal images are preferred. Vertical images are acceptable if they have sufficient resolution to be cropped horizontally. Avoid using extreme angles or tight crops on images.

For example, when photographing the dealership’s exterior, try to find a direct shot that includes as much of the façade as possible. When shooting vehicles or service department photos, it may be more practical to use an overhead angle or a close crop shot.

Clarity

The dealership location should be the focal point of the photo. Users should be able to easily recognize what they are seeing when quickly looking at the pictures.

Photos should be sharply focused and without any blurriness. Images should look real and be high-quality without being heavily doctored.

Lighting

You want to add images that showcase the focal point in the best manner possible, including quality lighting. It’s generally a best practice to capture things during the day unless you are highlighting a location specifically known for its nightlife. Subtle differences in lighting quality can make notable differences in the visibility of photos within Google products.

Color

Choose images that have bright, vibrant colors because these often generate better visibility and more engagement for your Google My Business profile. Your image may be competing against hundreds of other photos of a given location for a user’s attention. While photos should not be heavily doctored, modestly boosting the saturation of images may be beneficial in some cases.

Seasonality

As much as possible, images should be relevant year-round. This means avoiding seasonal photos (for example – Holiday decorations or colorful Halloween shots).

Photo Rights and Watermarks

When adding photos, you want to avoid intellectual property violations. Make sure the photos you are uploading belong to only you. Try to add a variety of unique images rather than uploading the same images repeatedly.

If your photos have a watermark, it should be small and limited to one corner to avoid distracting from the overall image. Photos should obviously never include inappropriate or dangerous content and obviously no personal or confidential information. Photos should focus on the dealership – so include the building, service, vehicles and limited team members photos from the dealership.

Posted by Shawn Ryder

Outwit Your Competition

June 6, 2020Automotive Marketing, Dealership Tips, Local SEO, SEO

Outwit Your Competition On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO has to be understood before you can go and turn your new-found knowledge into cold, hard cash.

To make this term a little easier to understand imagine a finely-tuned engine that has several components to perform at its best. The same principles apply to On-Page SEO. It’s not just ONE thing you have to put into action, but several. Don’t worry, after reading this chapter you should have gained a good understanding of what to do. Let’s start with title tags.

Title Tags

The first thing you need to do is include your target keyword in the <title>title<title/> tag of your site. I suggest you use the keyword in a sensible form and maybe even consider using a long tail keyword to match. That way you will get more traffic. The best option, of course, is to incorporate your main keyword into a long tail keyword that gets actual searches.

Some webmasters use their keyword in their title tag (as is) which can actually repel visitors. Make them user friendly and you can’t lose, as long as your keyword is in the tag. This little tip alone can increase your search click conversions by 100% or more.

Page Headings

The next thing you need to do is use your keywords in the site’s page headings. By using <H1>, <H2>, <H3> tags you can further increase the keyword relevancy of your page.

If you use WordPress make sure the theme you use has these heading tags properly coded.

Some themes don’t and failing to pay attention here could lose you a substantial amount of search traffic over time. If in doubt, use an SEO plugin to help you rectify any possible issues.

If you worry about keyword density here, don’t. It’s more important to use the keyword in these tags and if possible incorporate long tails and keyword variations to help build your site’s authority.

Keywords in Content

Whenever you write content for your site be sure to use the keyword in the title, in the first sentence of the first paragraph, several times throughout the text and in the last sentence of the last paragraph. If you do this consistently, besides adding title and page tags you will see incredible results.

Another trick is to apply the following to your pages; every time you write new content do this once per article/post:

Bold the keyword
Italicize the keyword
Underline the keyword

This will strengthen the authority of your site because when you mark keywords like this they will stand out to the bots who crawl your site. But PLEASE, don’t do this excessively or you will get banned. Once each on every page is enough.

Keyword Density

Too many people worry too much about keyword density. While it is worth a mention here, you should be more concerned about publishing quality content that is actually user friendly. If you use bots and automation software to publish content you will eventually be excluded from Google’s index – guaranteed! Google is dedicated to clean their search engine from spam and crap and they do so aggressively all the time.

I have always done well by aiming for a density of around 2-3%. This means your keyword is featured twice, or three times for every 100 words of text. Just focus on writing quality content naturally, spike your content with keywords and most importantly use related keywords (LSI) and you will do well.

How Long Should Your Content Be?

In recent months, search engines have started to rank long content above short, spammy- looking content simply for that reason. You are best advised to opt for at least 500 words.

Optimized Images

Every single page on your domain should ideally feature one optimized image. This little On- Page SEO addition can help you outrank a competitor with his own optimized site if he fails to optimize his images.

You do this by placing your keyword into the image’s <alt> tag. You can see these tags by looking at the HTML code version of your website. In WordPress you can do this from within your post and page WYSIWYG editor at the top right hand side corner.

Optimizing your images will also give you more traffic since many people use image searches on Google to find relevant content.

Internal Linking

You’d be well advised to always use internal links where possible. When linking to your sub pages make sure to use the keyword of that page. So if you optimize that particular page for the keyword: how to buy pink widgets in new york, make sure to use the exact keyword to link. The resulting page would become a sub page of your domain.

Another thing I have found to work really well is to use the long tail keyword on sub pages and link it back (anchor text) to the home page (also called index page). This can get you a double listing on Google. More on those later in this eBook.

Outbound Links

Outbound links are links you point to pages outside your domain. In order not to dilute your Google juice you want to make these <nofollow> using the appropriate tag. The more <dofollow> links you use to point to websites outside your domain, the more “juice” you will lose in the process.

It’s the fastest way to dilute your site’s existing authority.

Posted by Shawn Ryder

What does Google Core Mean to Your Dealership?

June 6, 2020Digital Marketing, SEO

Google Core May 2020 Update

So, Google confirmed on May 4th that it is performing a core update to their algorithm, the second one in 202. What does this mean to your dealership web site?

Google is known for completing numerous algorithm updates on an annual basis but they are usually minor and search engine optimization (SEO) professionals usually don’t see much of a difference when it comes to search results for a client.

Search Engine Optimization professionals always need to pay very close attention when a core update is made public by Google on a regular basis. This is because it can certainly affect rankings and there will be a noticeable fluctuation in those rankings. While this affects everybody, it can certainly adjust rankings for all sites, including automotive.

Later today, we are releasing a broad core algorithm update, as we do several times per year. It is called the May 2020 Core Update. Our guidance about such updates remains as we’ve covered before. Please see this blog post for more about that:https://t.co/e5ZQUAlt0G

— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) May 4, 2020

Automotive Industry Traffic Results

The automotive industry has also shown some significant results when it comes to traffic increase. In almost the entire world, the majority of modes of transportation are at a standstill. The pandemic event affects user behavior in terms of looking for transportation to get around.

Be that as it may, the update has been favorable to the sites for this industry. As you can see from the noticeable spike in traffic on May 5th, this site has also enjoyed a favorable appraisal from the algorithm broad core update.

Dealership SEO Tips

One of the worst things someone can do for their dealership is to be lazy with content + keyword strategy, not monitor and updating site content on a regular basis. When a dealership has a Search Engine Optimization strategy of ‘set it up and forget about it’ the core updates can really impact automotive rankings in a very negative way.

Here are some things that you can do to help with your web site rankings during this core update (and to prepare for others that will be coming):

Content will always hold the key to automotive success on Google. Make sure your web site content is up to date and relevant. This includes models, service, and local content to ensure that Google connects your dealership to the local market.
Take a look at your overall on-page web sites SEO strategies such as your page titles, meta descriptions, alt tags (image descriptions), and header tags on pages / posts.
Authentic link building strategies will also be helpful during this time. Which means links that are not obviously paid for as Search Engine leverage. Building links to your dealership site builds strong credibility and ensures that it becomes more recognized as an authority in the automotive industry.
Under the E-A-T approach which stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. When raters view your content, Google will use this approach to better understand where and how to place your content. They want to know there is good content that is relevant to the viewer – meaning they find your site, look around and stay for a visit.

Google Core Updates SEO

Typically, Google Core Updates present some sort of challenge for SEO professionals and will inevitability cause them to do a pivot to different or more enhanced strategies. Since the May Core Update is still only a few days old – it is hard to tell what needs to be done right at this moment.

Google always aspires to not rank low-quality web sites. What matters most is whether a web page satisfies a user when they make any particular search query – either for a vehicle, service or dealership location.

Google doesn’t rank a web page because it’s on a high-quality site. It ranks a web page because it is relevant to the search intent of the individual conducting the search.

If your rankings are negatively impacting your brand, I suggest that you work on crafting content with a publishing plan and working on obtaining links to your website for a better holding position.

Posted by Shawn Ryder

Future of Automotive SEO in 2020

June 6, 2020Automotive Marketing, Dealership Tips, SEO 3

Future of Automotive SEO in 2020

The future of automotive SEO in 2020 online marketing is essential for the success of car dealerships. In fact, it is increasingly vital since automotive consumers generally explore different makes and models. Using content online before deciding which vehicles to test-drive.

Online Marketing

Likewise, they may use online research to determine which dealerships to visit. Customers now even how much they should pay for their next vehicle. SEO or search engine optimization is a critical element of successful online marketing. Campaigns for today’s dealerships involve many areas.

Automotive SEO

Automotive SEO is constantly evolving your dealerships marketing campaign needs to be at the forefront of change. It is key that your dealership is a true leader rather than a follower. Who wants to be lagging behind? SEO types of changes to searches in 2020, since the way users conduct searches, has evolved dramatically over the years.

Automotive Voice SEO

The next change in this area may be through voice recognition searches. Voice commands have been available on smartphones for years. But the technology is increasingly being used by consumers in addition, voice recognition is now available in new vehicles themselves.

Artificial Intelligence

AI will increasingly be used for keyword research. Artificial intelligence technology is rapidly evolving. It will play a role in search engine optimization marketing. Within the next few years consider that search engines could begin connecting users’ demographic details.

Searches with relevant details on your dealership website for rankings. What does this mean for your dealership? With so many potential changes that could affect your online marketing campaign.

Automotive SEO Future

In the near future, you must keep tabs on each of these and other potential developments. Many dealerships may not be aware of these significant pending changes or how to properly use them strategically and advantageous.

This means that your dealership could be positioned to benefit dramatically. If you are prepared to make rapid thoughtful changes you can see that car dealerships must stay ahead of these SEO trends in the next year. In order to continue to maximize the benefits from an online marketing campaign request a consultation with me to review your dealership web site and opportunities to increase SEO.

Posted by Shawn Ryder

Voice SEO – What is the Future in Automotive?

June 6, 2020Automotive Marketing, SEO

If you want to know how to optimize your dealership website for voice search I’m going to show you exactly how to do it. This will help transform your website into a sales customer and lead generation machine.

The internet now consists of many ways to conduct searches online. We all use computers for writing content, updating web sites and searching the internet for information. We all have mobile devices for social, search and communication with others.

In this blog post, we dig into the way of the future – the voice search has come a long way and the future is loud and clear search. We are going to share some stats and look at Voice SEO opportunities for the automotive industry. Want to have an idea of what to do to prepare? Read through the data, plan a strategy and execute over the next year.

What is Voice SEO?

With the growth of the internet, comes the growth of ways to index the internet for searching for information. For a number of years, Google has been top at indexing the entire internet, using text search, maps, image search and more!.

With digital marketing, it does feel like we’re getting closer and closer to the future every day. That means that more people are performing voice searches. Whether they’re on the go with their smartphone or if you’re using their smart speakers at home in their kitchen. An Echo or a Google Home, these voice searches are definitely on the rise and they are not slowing down anytime in the near future. This will be more widespread in cars and everything else, so you’re definitely going want to be optimized for it. I’m going to share a few quick stats of your way to really hit home.

Voice SEO Statistics

Basically one in two smartphone users use voice search every day. Half of all searches are going to be voice-based this year in 2020. While 72 percent of people who own one of those smart speakers like a Google Home says that it’s part of their daily routine.

Voice SEO Next Steps

Let’s review how you can optimize the website and your dealership location to be found in those near me searches for people who are looking for a dealership like yours. Then I’ll give you some actionable tips about how you can get your content to come up as answers to questions that people may have in the area. Because when you’re the one to answer that question you have a much better shot at winning that business. So since you are a local dealer it makes a whole lot of sense to want to be found in those near me searches.

Google Site Speed is Key

With a voice search is the first thing is to make sure your site loads really quickly. Just go to Google PageSpeed insights and run a test. There you will see if there’s anything they recommend you can use to speed your site. Next is you definitely want to make sure your site is authoritative, to begin. That’s definitely going to help all aspects here so the way to do that is to start creating really high quality relevant consistent content on your dealership site and you’re also going to want to start building some really high-quality backlinks to your dealership site.

Google My Business Listing

The first real step is going to be to claim and optimize your Google My Business listing for the dealership. This includes choosing the right categories. You also need to make sure that all the info that’s in your Google my business profile is correct. This links back to your website itself. So you want to include your dealership name, address and your phone number on your site exactly as it appears on Google My Business. There are a few extra things you can include on your website.

A dealership is really going to cement their geographic area like an embedded google map and links to you know the neighborhoods or cities that you serve.

Website Answers to Questions

Here is where you want to brainstorm and find the actual questions that people are likely to be asking in your local market. Think about the problem solutions your dealership sales and service department provide. You know now think of what are the most basic versions of those solutions. They are looking for information on vehicles or how to fix something on their vehicle. Building content around those questions will boost exposure to local questions being asked. A great example is in the fall season, great to focus on winter tires. Writing a descriptive blog post is also when a new model is getting ready to launch so you can prepare readers for the vehicle. Search for questions that people will be looking for answers. This can include features of a new model, pricing, safety and much more.

In the content, including lots of images headers, numbered lists if possible. That’s just the overall structure that Google likes to see. Also, think of questions that aren’t even how-to content. They are just general knowledge questions like what are great local restaurants. Or can I switch my tires myself? Things like that if you’re stuck thinking of questions for a dealership site.

Web Site Post Structure

Structurally ask questions, because that’s gonna be what people are going to verbally search for into their smartphone or home speaker. Make a list of all the questions that you think your dealership can do a good job answering. Then create an FAQ page that links to posts on the site. Just be sure to structure the question in the exact words that you found it in your research and use that as a headline. It can be based on a model, feature or service associated with your dealership.

Then make the answer body text below it when you structure it that way Google can just detect. It is just a question and an answer. So other than that there are a few things you need to keep in mind in order to increase your chances of being found as a featured Google snippet (more on that later) that will be highlighted organically on search terms.

Voice SEO Conclusion

Voice search is a great opportunity that your dealership can use to drive visitors. You will want to take advantage of it in 2020 and moving forward. I want to know all about any reservations you might have or questions just leave it in the feedback form below and I’ll answer every question that is sent over to me.

Are You Ready?

Based on my experience, my objective is to work with your dealership and ensure that all aspects of SEO are covered for organic growth. This means more traffic on the website, in the dealership and more sales for the dealership! Contact me to learn more about how I help dealers.

Google My Business – Photo Management