Do you want to boost your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in a way that is proven to be effective and virtually free? Welcome to the world of blogging. Adding a blog to your dealer website is a great way to build your brand, connect with your customers, and market your dealership. However, simply posting blogs is not going to bring immediate traffic to your site. By writing your content strategically, optimizing your blogs for search engines, and using a few extra tactics, you can get the most out of your car dealer blog.
Don’t have a blog up yet but want to get started? Check out our article on how to start a blog for your dealership website. Once you have your blog running, use our tips to get even more out of your content and reach wider audiences. To learn 7 different ways to optimize your blog posts for SEO, keep reading this article.
1. Check the Rich Results in the SERPs
The rich result is the one that shows up at the top of Google’s Search Engine Results Page (SERP) as a featured snippet, above the rest of the results. Once you come up with what you want to write your article about, try running a search on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Pay attention to the rich results and the links that are at the top of the page. As you look, ask yourself these questions:
- What are search engines looking for?
- What are the main keywords used in these articles and blogs?
- Who is the audience searching for this content?
Use this information to create a blog post that fits the criteria of the questions you answered. Be sure to use schema markup to help search engines understand what your content is about.
2. Write Strong Headlines
Your title and headlines are what catch the attention of readers. Use the information you gathered from searching for the rich results to help draft your headlines.
- Be straightforward; Avoid being ambiguous
- Use numbers and data
- Remember the 5 Ws: who, what, when, where, and why
- Be unique instead of cliché
- Incorporate keywords
- Use 70 characters or less
- Show that your article has valuable information
- Convey a sense of urgency or scarcity
3. Update Old Content
You may have had a successful blog post that brought a lot of traffic to your dealer site in the past. However, people are more likely to read content that is newer and fresher. Search engines also prefer to show users content that was posted recently. This doesn’t mean that you have to write a new blog post or that you can’t continue to benefit from your successful blogs! Update your old content with newer information to show your readers and search engines that you are an expert in the field.
4. Build Backlinks
A great way to bring new visitors to your site is to build backlinks. A backlink is a link from a different domain that takes the user to a page on your domain. Try collaborating for blog posts to reach wider audiences, and submit blog posts to other websites.
Not only do they bring new traffic to your website, but they are also important for SEO. Backlinks help determine a page’s importance and authority for search engines. Remember that quality matters more than quantity in this case. When you have backlinks on websites with strong authority, it increases your own domain authority, which then leads to a higher ranking on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
5. Incorporate Keywords Strategically
Research the keywords you want to use before you write your content. Your title and the first sentence of your blog post should use your main keyword. Then, use the keyword throughout the blog post but no more than 5 times.
You’ll want to make sure that your articles are at least 300 words long. Google prefers longer articles, but articles that are too long might scare away your readers. At AutoJini, we recommend a length of 500-1200 words, but no more or less.
6. Use Tags
Most blogging platforms let you add tags to your articles to help organize your posts and for SEO purposes. Make sure to use this feature if your blogging platform allows for it. At AutoJini, our dealer websites come with a built-in blogging platform , and we include features such as tags, meta title and meta description, categories, and more to bring more exposure to your posts.
If you are posting your blogs on a different platform that uses tags, take advantage of that feature! As you share your articles on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, etc., you should use hashtags there as well.
7. Post New Content Regularly
Show users and search engines that you are an active website. You don’t have to post content every day or anything, but something as simple as once a month is enough to show people that you are an active blogger.
Are you ready to write more blog posts that will bring new customers to your website and show search engines that you are an expert in the field? For more tips on SEO or digital marketing, check out our other blog posts. If you’re looking for a website for your dealership with a built-in blogging platform and built-in SEO, AutoJini is the solution for you. Our dealer websites come with all the tools you need to succeed and rank first on search engines.