There are a lot of misconceptions on the internet about search engine optimization.
There are just as many stereotypes about this realm of marketing.
And while many stereotypes do have their basis in fact, they aren’t always true, all the time. Here are ten of the biggest automotive SEO stereotypes that aren’t always true:
1. There is no such thing as guaranteed results.
While it is true that you cannot believe a company that guarantees you a number one spot in search results, this doesn’t mean that there are no guarantees in automotive SEO.
If you use the right strategies and the right tactics, in the right way, you will see improvements in your ranking.
Many firms will guarantee that you see improved rankings in a certain amount of time—those are guarantees that you can trust, especially if you are working with a qualified firm that offers you some sort of leverage if they don’t fulfill that guarantee.
2. There are a set gauntlet of strategies that you have to use in order to rank.
This one obviously has its seed in truth.
There are some things that you absolutely must do if you want to be able to rank highly for a search term.
For example, you have to include that search term on your website and have content that is relevant to that term surrounding it.
You should be wary, however, of anyone who offers you a one-size-fits-all or even one-size-fits-most solution to SEO.
There is no perfect strategy that will work one hundred percent of the time for everyone.
3. Keywords are the most important aspect of SEO.
Keywords are important, but it has been a long time since you could simply pick a keyword, stuff your pages with it, and be successful on search engines.
This is still one of the most widely held misconceptions about SEO and one of the stereotypes that comes up again and again, especially for those who are new to automotive SEO.
4. Links are all you need.
After it became clear to most of the SEO industry that keyword stuffing was no longer going to work, there was an obsession with backlinks.
And while backlinks are important, the stereotype that they are the most important aspect of automotive SEO does not always stand.
Links play a number of important roles, including help you build authority, but they are not the be-all, end-all of SEO like many people think they are.
5. Automotive SEO is too complicated for the average person.
One of the biggest stereotypes surrounding search engine optimization is that it is far too complicated for the average person to take on.
And while it is true that it is complicated, someone who is dedicated to it can actually learn what they need to learn and produce the results that they want.
That said, it is usually much less expensive and much faster to hand your strategy over to someone who already understands what to do and how to do it.
6. All you need for a successful strategy is a functional social media campaign.
It’s hard to deny that SEO and social media are linked, but the stereotype that a functioning social media campaign is all you need to drive traffic to your website is a harmful one.
There is no guarantee that having a lot of followers, even if they regularly engage with your posts will necessarily boost your rankings, especially if you are doing nothing else to help get your website ranked.
7. SEO takes months to start working.
You have likely heard this said about search engine optimization.
It’s one of the biggest stereotypes about the whole industry: that it will take you months before you start to see an uptick in your rankings.
Here’s the truth: it could take as little as a few days before you start to see improvements, especially if you were not doing any kind of automotive search engine optimization before you started your strategy.
For your campaign to be fully effective, it will take time, up to a few months, but it shouldn’t take three months before you start seeing any results or changes.
8. Only a professional can fully understand SEO.
This is one of the stereotypes where there is a nugget of truth at its core.
Someone whose main job is to work in a dealership will likely not have enough time in their schedule to fully understand and grasp every aspect of automotive SEO.
There are some strategies and aspects of this strategy that are complicated and require highly specialized knowledge in order to fully understand.
9. SEO takes a lot of your time.
This stereotype is generally true. It is a very time-intensive strategy, especially if you want to implement it correctly.
This doesn’t mean, however, that you always have to devote forty hours a week to your own strategy.
If you can cavern out a few hours a day to work on your automotive SEO, you might have enough time to take it on yourself.
10. Where your keywords are matters.
You’ll see guide after guide telling you exactly where to place your keywords.
There is both some truth and some falsity to this stereotype.
Having your keyword in the title of a blog post, for example, is important.
But it does not need to be in every subsequent header. It could be useful to have the keyword in the URL, but not if it doesn’t fit there.
