Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the most important online marketing strategy there is today. But with every dealership investing in SEO, how will you get your website to stand out? In today’s blog, we’ll cover 7 SEO secrets that will help improve your dealership site.
1. Start a blog for your dealer website.
Content is the main driver of SEO because it’s how users and search engines find your website, and blog posts are an effective way to put out new content to show search engines that you are active. It’s also a great way to build relationships with your customers by providing useful information and giving users more reasons to stay on your website.
For tips on optimizing your blog posts for SEO, check out this blog.
2. Update your content regularly.
You don’t have to constantly put out new content every day. Instead, you can regularly update your existing blog posts and web content to follow search trends, update your keywords, and to provide quality, up-to-date information. Try setting aside some time each week to go through any blogs that can be updated. Plus, this is another way to show search engines that your dealer site is active.
3. Invest in improving your site speed.
The average person’s attention span is 7 seconds, but most web pages don’t fully load until 11 seconds, which means that you may be losing out on potential sales if your site is not up to speed. If your dealer site loads too slowly, potential customers will get irritated and close out of your page, only to go to another dealership’s website. This will result in higher bounce rates, which is calculated by how frequently a user visits a page on your website and then exits immediately. Higher bounce rates will damage your SEO because it tells search engines that users don’t want to engage with your website.
4. Build quality backlinks.
A backlink is when another website links something back to your website, which shows search engines that your dealer site is trustworthy. It’s as if someone else is citing your website, or giving your dealer site a vote of confidence.
A few ways to get started on quality backlinks include online business directory submissions, blog post collaborations, news articles, and press releases. You can also collaborate with us for more help!
5. Remove your lowest ranking pages.
Low-ranking pages lower your overall domain authority. If a page on your dealer site is determined as low-quality by Google or other search engines, it hurts your overall “score” and hurts your SEO efforts. Whether it’s an outdated specials page or an informational page that isn’t doing well, it’s better to remove those pages completely and move the content somewhere else.
You can tell if a page is low-ranking by looking at the following:
- Bounce rates
- Number of visitors/hits
- Engagement with the page
- Loading speed
- Average time spent on page
6. Use a responsive web design.
As opposed to a website that is just mobile-friendly, a responsive website will adjust automatically to fit any screen size, so your customers can access your dealer site from any device, which leads to more web traffic. Responsive websites also load faster and look more attractive.
7. Ask users for website feedback.
Search engines prioritize user experience, so ask your customers for website feedback. You can try sending out surveys, asking your customers about their experiences with your dealer site, and adding a section on your website for users to submit their feedback.
For 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!