Your automotive website is crucial for helping your car dealership gain business. Times have changed and no longer do people trust the word-of-mouth of dealers when buying a new ride. All customers will perform their research online, before finally selecting on one dealership. To ensure that you are selected, it is imperative that you work on your SEO. This long-term marketing strategy can guarantee good branding, higher traffic, and a boost in overall sales and conversions. Are you facing trouble in creating an optimized automotive SEO website? If so, then these local SEO tips might help you out:
Gain Knowledge about the Basics of SEO
When it comes to creating an optimized automotive SEO site, it is recommended to hire a professional agency that has the appropriate knowledge and experience to ensure your website follows the guidelines listed by Google to help rank better on the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). However, to ensure you can make informed decisions and evaluate the work done by your automotive SEO partner, it is imperative that you understand how SEO works. Perform your own research on the best tactics for car dealership websites and double-check with the agency you have hired. Bear in mind knowledge is power when it comes to taking your car dealership to the next level.
Tweak Your Site the Right Way
To improve your rankings on SERPs, it is imperative that you make a few tweaks on your website. If you are an SEO professional, this shouldn’t be a problem. However, if you’ve hired an agency to do the task for you, it is imperative that you instruct them to add a search bar to the main page (for promoting easy navigation and searching). Add social share plug-ins to the homepage (for allowing customers to share crucial data on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc) and list all the cities that you serve (too many cities could be considered spam, so if you serve many small towns or communities – be sure mention a large area that covers all).
Zoom in on Local Keywords
In order to boost your car dealer SEO, it is vital that you keep your focus “local”. After all, you are not selling to the whole word. Therefore, if you’re dealership is selling vehicles in Allentown, you don’t need to be the highest-ranking dealership for those searching for new cars in Lancaster. Bear in mind that people searching Google for “New Kia”, might be in the market looking to buy a new ride. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean, they are from Allentown. Majority of the times, these people won’t be anywhere near your dealership. To help target customers in your area, zoom in on local keywords. For instance, you can make your keywords, “new Kia in Allentown” or Allentown new Kia’s”.
Create Useful Content to Win Traffic
The main reason why it’s so difficult to receive online business is that you have a lot of competition in the digital world. However, dealers especially prove to stay behind, as they never really work on being “unique” and follow the same templates that are used on dozens of automotive websites. If you really want to separate yourself from the competition, create a unique design and focus on using interesting and appealing content to win traffic. Create a blog section on your site for regularly posting fun and intriguing things to read. You can always write about automotive news and guides, customer appreciation events, employee of the month announcements, changes to your dealership, car charity events and fundraisers, and community events.
Manage Your Online Reputation
If you have ever shopped online, you know that reviews play an important role in the decision-making process. Before ever buying a product, individuals will read just about every review. The same is applied to your dealership. You need to display reviews in order to help customers evaluate your business and decide whether they should shop with you or not. You can do so by leveraging your existing customer base into a review-machine. Ask customers who have bought from you recently to rate their experience at your dealerships. In fact, make a page that lists reviewing instructions on how to write a review. Also, use this space for stopping bad reviews. For instance, you can ask, “Had a bad experience? Tell us all about it here”.
Respond to Reviews and Customer Queries
It is imperative that you maintain a good reputation with your customers. In addition, there is no better way to do so rather than to be extremely cooperative in your communications. Therefore, don’t hesitate on interacting with your customers. It isn’t necessary that you respond to all reviews, but saying a nice “thank you” will make the customer feeling appreciated. If you are responding to negative reviews, always try to be friendly and sound reasonable. At the same time, try your best in answering all customer queries to show that you care about them. The more your customers will talk about you, the better chances for you to gain more business.
Claim Your “Google My Business” and Save Location in Maps
True local SEO doesn’t just mean that you appear on the SERPs. It is imperative that your dealership pops up, when someone searches in their Google Maps application. Check by typing “car dealerships in Allentown” into your Apple or Google Maps app. Check and see if your dealership shows up. If not, you need to work on your automotive SEO further. Start by claiming listing in “Google My Business” and make sure all information you add is precise, clear, and legit. Be extra careful when adding contact information and address.
Last, but not the least, you need to “mobilize” the online experience for your customers. This means, you need to create a mobile-friendly version of your site. Nowadays, users are more active on their smartphones than on computers and laptops. Lack of mobile optimization means you are missing out on masses of mobile traffic that could be potential sales.
