Voice SEO – What is the Future in Automotive?

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 2022. 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.

Other Content Sources

A lot of voice search platforms, like Siri, don’t actually use Google My Business. Instead, they use third-party sites like Yelp or DealerRater for their results. You are definitely going to want to make sure that you have those profiles all optimized. Filled out as completely as possible and you’re probably going to want some good 5-star reviews. As well and that’s pretty much all there is to getting found in those near me searches. Because the number one main factor is just geographic proximity to the searcher.

So if people are searching near you you’ll pop up if they’re searching further away from your competitor. Who’s closer to them is likely to show up there but you do want to make sure that when people are close to you they’re finding you. But what about if you want to get some of your great content to show up as an answer to questions?

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.