By now, many people already know that search engine optimization has a huge impact on your business’s competitive edge in the marketplace. If you are not working towards making your SEO stronger, you are likely not ranking where you want to in Google’s search results. Ideally, you want your dealership to be in the local SEO 3-pack on Google search. This means your dealership’s website is one of the first three results that comes up when someone searches for dealerships in your area. At the very least, your dealership site should rank within the first ten results because only 14% of users will go to the second page of the results tab to find what they are looking for.
Here are some steps you can implement in your SEO strategy to improve your rankings:
1. Google My Business
This is an extremely helpful tool and the first step you need to take to improve your rankings. In Google My Business you need to start with adding the correct name, address, and phone number for your business. Secondly, make sure you have the correct categories listed for your dealership. Have the primary ones such as vehicle and motorcycle but if you also sell things like boats or ATVs, make sure to put that within your additional categories. Additionally, you can add photos and videos to your Google My Business page to improve your rankings. Within GMB, you can create 30 second videos which can automatically play on mobile devices. This is especially important to keep in mind because mobile devices are where many people do their searching.
2. Local connections
A strategy many dealerships would likely not think about implementing is to make a connection with your community. Having a page on your website that links customers to what’s going on in your city/community can show them that you are integrated and trusted in your area. You can also connect with various organizations in your area by creating links to their sites and asking that they create a link to your site in return. This can also especially help your local SEO ranking because you are directly using the name of your city that you are trying to rank in.
3. Keywords
Keywords that have a high search frequency, mid-to-low competitiveness, and direct relevance to your dealership’s website content are the ones you should be focusing on. Try thinking more like a buyer by using words that are likely to be used by potential customers when searching for vehicles. Additionally, using long-tail keywords will also increase your chances of ranking higher in Google search results. Instead of using phrases such as “Subaru cars,” use something more specific like “2020 Subaru Legacy features.”
4. Images
Recently, Google found that searches for “pictures of [automotive brand]” has gone up by 37% year-over-year. Based on this trend, when you are listing pictures of the vehicles in your dealership, you should be including “pictures of” with the brand name, make, and model of the vehicle whenever possible. This is especially important to keep in mind when you are naming the image file. If you want to show the dashboard of a 2020 Jeep Cherokee you would want the file name to be “picture-of-jeep-cherokee-2020-awd-dashboard.png” and then use the alt tag “Pictures of Jeep Cherokee 2020 AWD Dashboard for Sale in Ames.”
5. Track your results
Finally, if you want to see how certain pages on your dealership’s site really ranks on Google, you should download the free Google Search Console tool and monitor your rankings at least once a month. Google will customize a user’s search results based on their browsing activity so this is a good way to track how people are interacting with their results and your pages. Additionally, there are also paid tracking tools you can use that give you more detailed results such as RankRanger.com if Google’s tracker isn’t cutting it for you.
To get more SEO tips or to get started on your dealer website SEO implementation, call us at (515) 232-2024 or send us a message today!