To those who are just now learning about automotive SEO, there might be some skepticism about whether or not it really works.
The internet has its fair share of articles about why it doesn’t work and why you should invest your money in other digital marketing strategies.
There are also plenty of articles about why it is important and why you should choose this strategy over all others.
The question you might be left with is, “Does automotive SEO actually work?”
Some will say that it works for some, but not for others.
We’re here to tell you that it always works.
Here are the ten reasons that automotive SEO always works:
1. It is a longer term solution than just about any other marketing method.
Most marketing methods are only effective as long as they continue to reach out to people.
With most marketing methods, you have to go out and get people to come to your website or dealership.
With automotive SEO, people come to you and once you have an effective strategy in place, they will continue to find you and engage with your dealership.
It provides you with much more staying power than you will get from radio or television advertisements.
2. It encourages you to create a better website.
Even if you do not keep up with your automotive SEO campaign, it encourages you to build a better website with better user experience, better content, and a more attractive design.
Even if you never get your website onto the first page of Google search results, you will have a much better website as a result of optimizing your website, and that is something that should not be discounted.
3. It will continue to work, even as other marketing methods fall away.
Remember banner ads? Banner ads were all the rage about five years ago, before advertisers understood just how annoying the average user found them.
As it became clear that most users would never click on an intrusive banner ad, except for by mistake, the face of marketing had to chance.
And while SEO does change as search engines update their algorithms, it is one of the most enduring forms of digital marketing that has ever been created.
It has been around since the advent of the internet and will continue to exist decades into the future.
4. More and more people go online to do research before going to any dealerships.
When it came time for me to buy my first car, after driving around a ten-year-old Mazda donated to me by my parents, I didn’t just go to the dealerships in my area, I started online, looking at the vehicles, researching their safety ratings, and looking into the dealerships themselves.
More and more people are doing exactly the same thing before they actually leave their homes.
Some of your customers might want to have their search narrowed down to just a few vehicles before they actually arrive at your dealership.
This means that you need to have a website that is easy to find and functional. SEO helps you do just that.
5. SEO is designed to provide a level playing field.
More than any other marketing method, automotive SEO is designed to give every business the tools they need to be successful and then rewards the businesses that do the most with what they are given.
Many other marketing methods reward you for dumping the most money or have the cleverest marketer in your corner, but SEO allows for small businesses to compete with big ones.
6. SEO relies on your credibility as a business.
The cream always rises to the top when it comes to automotive SEO.
More than any other marketing method, if you are a reliable, trustworthy, high quality business, you will be rewarded.
7. SEO is like buying a house.
If SEO is like buying a house, just about every type of marketing is like renting an apartment.
You only get value from the marketing method as long as you continue to dump money into. SEO, on the other hand, yes, requires money, but it also creates its own value, especially if you stick with it for a number of years.
8. SEO is flexible.
One of the reasons those pesky banner ads died? Because many users started switching to their mobile devices.
This made banner ads even more intrusive. People accidentally clicked on them, but would immediately back out of the link, providing very little value to the company paying for those ads.
Obviously some companies still use them, but they are far less popular than they used to be.
There is no flexibility with these types of marketing. SEO, on the other, is extremely flexible.
It is actually designed to adapt to the changing tides of the internet.
9. Search engines will continually come up with ways to cater to their clientele.
Search engines are the kings of the internet.
They dictate its ebbs and flows.
They will continue to make adjustments to their algorithms to make sure that their searchers get the very best, most relevant information possible.
This is something you want to be a part of.
10. SEO makes you a better dealership.
People want to buy vehicles from dealerships they trust.
When you have a high quality website, you are more trustworthy.
When you have a blog full of not just “Buy from us” type articles, but also information posts that help car owners keep their vehicles clean and functioning, you become a hub for information.
People are more likely to come back to you again and again, because you have provided them with something valuable, along with their vehicle.
