It can be a tricky process to figure out exactly what to look for when you are planning your SEO strategy for your dealership. It is important to start with the basics like Google My Business and setting up keywords but to also go a little bit more in depth with other tactics like mobile. Our focus today will be on those three things, Google My Business, keywords, and mobile optimization.
1. Google My Business (GMB)
Starting out with looking at your Google My Business page is a great first step when doing SEO for your dealership website. This is the simplest way to get information out to people searching for cars online. Make sure that your name, address, and phone number are all correct on your page. It may seem obvious that you need to have this information correct but you would be surprised at the amount of businesses that have put in one wrong digit in their address or phone number and no one is able to find or call them. Another part of GMB that is important to keep updated is your dealership’s hours. When the coronavirus was at its peak, many businesses had to change their hours. Some completely forgot about their GMB page and neglected to update the times that they were open which became frustrating for customers. Making the process of finding your dealership should be as smooth as possible and the person searching for you should not have to try that hard. There are many other features from GMB that should be looked at when strategizing your SEO but one of the more important ones is the question and answers section. This is where people can ask any questions about your business that they may have. However, because Google is a community based search engine, anyone can answer these questions. Because of this, it is crucial to check up on that section regularly to make sure no one is answering questions about your dealership incorrectly and spreading misinformation.
2. Keywords
Using keywords to make your page stand out in search engines is a great way to improve your SEO. Doing research on what the best keywords to use on your website is crucial. There are many websites that can tell you trending keywords by each month with how many average searches there are and what the competition is like for those words. You should also keep in mind that overusing keywords can be just as detrimental to your search results rankings as not using them at all. The way Google used to work is that the more times you would use a keyword on your page, the higher your ranking on the search page would be. However, now the focus is on quality over quantity. Just because you are stuffing your page full of the phrase “used cars” does not mean you are providing any kind of value to the person who is looking at your page. Additionally, putting an emphasis on the more competitive keywords and the relevant variations of long tail keywords is a good strategy. Long tail keywords are typically ones that are three or four keyword phrases that are extremely specific to what you are trying to sell. So ideally you would focus on a phrase like “2016 Black Honda Accord” and any variation of that in order to reach that specific audience and get better exposure.
3. Mobile experience
With over half of web users being on mobile accounts, it is crucial for your dealership to have a strong mobile site. You should try looking at your dealer site from your phone and seeing how easy it is to use, how quickly your pages load, and what the layout of the page actually looks like within that smaller screen. Many dealerships created their websites several years ago, when desktops were still the primary method of searching online. Because of this, many have failed to update their pages to make them more user friendly for those using their mobile devices. If you are able to get your website to function properly on a mobile device, you will probably be ahead of your competitors. It has been found that 79% of visitors to a website will seek a more accessible site if the one they are on is not optimized for mobile users. Luckily, if you have no idea how to fix your mobile experience, we can help! Our team at AutoJini would love to help you build a responsive website for your dealership that works on both mobile and desktop!
If you are able to start out with working on these three strategies, you are well on your way to beating out your competitors. SEO is not a scary concept when you understand the most important aspects of it. The best way is to start slow with the easy concepts and work your way up to the more advanced strategies. And if you ever get stuck there are tons of resources online that can help you through the process, including the website you are on right now!