Are you still depending on traditional marketing strategies to speed up sales? Old tactics like billboards and direct mailing have a conversion rate of 1.7%.
Search engine optimization (SEO), on the other hand, has a conversion rate of 14.6%.
Don’t wait around for customers to find your dealership! Instead, use automotive SEO to appear in front of them while they’re in the mood to buy. Then, you can optimize your opportunities and start kicking up sales!
Ready to take your business to the next level? Here are the 10 SEO tips you need to succeed. With these tips, you can boost your ranking on search engines, amp up website traffic, and speed up your sales.
Drive your business forward with these 10 tips!
1. Rev Up Page Speeds
53% of mobile visitors will leave your website if it takes longer than three seconds to load. People don’t want to wait around. Their need for speed is as common online as it is on the road.
The first step for improving your automotive SEO strategy is to check your website speed. You can use Google’s PageSpeed Insights to determine what page elements are slowing your site down.
Google’s search engine algorithm BERT looks at page speeds when determining your ranking. If your site takes too long to load, people will leave without clicking around. That could impact your clickthrough and bounce rates.
Both of these metrics factor into your rankings.
A high clickthrough rate tells Google that people are exploring your content. A high bounce rate, however, tells Google people are leaving without exploring.
Google prioritizes pages that improve the user experience (UX). When pages load too slowly, you risk frustrating visitors.
There are a few factors that could slow down your pages. Make sure to check your plugins and compress your images. That way, neither takes up too much storage space.
Improving your website so it’s fast and easy to use will improve UX. When you update your car dealer website design with UX in mind, you’re improving your SEO ranking, too!
2. Kick Up Keywords
An effective SEO strategy relies on customer data. After all, you can’t optimize your content for customers if you don’t know who they are.
In order to develop a strong automotive SEO strategy, research your target audience. What keywords are they searching for? How are they framing their search queries?
Google’s BERT algorithm update has changed how we approach SEO. Keywords are still important. However, it’s even more important that you frame your content based on how people are searching.
For example, more people are relying on voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. As a result, people are searching on Google the way they speak.
Try crafting your keywords so they sound natural and conversational. Use long-tail keywords as well. You can check out Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, or SEMRush to determine how your customers are searching online.
Then, use these keywords throughout your car dealer SEO strategy.
3. Link Up
Link building is another important factor in determining your ranking.
Your website will need both internal and external links. Internal links send readers to other pages on your website. External links send readers to other websites.
You can also use backlinks to improve your car dealer SEO. These are links on another company’s website that send people to your site.
As you work on link building, don’t forget EAT. EAT stands for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.
In order to demonstrate your expertise, show off your skill! Let customers know you’re knowledgeable about the automotive industry.
Then, add authority by using links from relevant websites. A strong link building strategy depends on high-authority sites. Otherwise, they won’t improve your ranking.
Trustworthiness takes a little more time. Make sure to address negative reviews that could impact your brand reputation. Then, make it easy for customers to contact you.
Don’t forget to secure your website with an SSL certificate. Check for the “HTTPS” in front of your domain. Google also searches for security when determining your trustworthiness.
Adding EAT to your car dealer SEO strategy will help boost your ranking.
4. Keep an Eye on the Competition
What keywords are your competitors ranking for? Read their posts and learn how they’re using those keywords.
Then, improve on that contact. Add your own expertise. Make sure the post is your own.
Keeping an eye on the competition will help you find ways to get ahead of them.
5. Consider Quality
Google wants unique, original content. That means quality over quantity.
What information can you provide your customers? How can you help them? Creating blog posts that focus on quality will help you become a go-to resource for those customers.
As a result, you’ll gain more traffic to your site, which can improve your ranking.
6. Stay Social
Make sure to share your website content on social media. You can also gain more traffic through automotive SEO by making your site content easy to share. Try adding eye-catching social share buttons to your content.
As more people visit your site, Google will take notice.
7. Get Local
Don’t neglect your local SEO strategy. After all, you’re likely trying to attract locals to your car dealership.
First, make sure your Google My Business listing is up-to-date. You’ll want to update your listings on Yelp and other sites as well.
Make sure the contact information is consistent.
Then, take the time to create location-based pages and blog posts. Optimizing these posts will help you attract a local audience to your site.
8. Request Reviews
Reviews are another way to improve your EAT.
Ask happy customers to post reviews online. Adding these reviews to your Google My Business listing and website will help you build brand trust and credibility.
9. Make Sure You’re Mobile
Google’s SEO algorithm uses mobile-first indexing to determine rankings. If your site isn’t mobile-optimized, you’re neglecting a big chunk of your target audience.
Make sure your site is easy to use on any device.
You can also use minimalistic trends in your car dealer website design to improve UX on smaller devices. Optimizing for mobile will help you avoid scaring off potential customers.
10. Analyze, Optimize, & Strategize
As you use these automotive SEO tips, make sure to track your results. Determine which pages and tactics are working and which aren’t. Then, optimize and improve your low performing pages.
Don’t forget to keep up with the latest SEO trends, too! The algorithm changes all the time. By keeping up with the trends, you can avoid falling behind.
Rev It Up!: 10 Automotive SEO Tips to Speed Up Sales
It’s time to speed up your automotive SEO—and your sales! With these car dealer SEO tips, you can give your business the boost it needs. Grow faster than ever with these 10 tips.
Ready to start strategizing? Book a call with us today!
