WHAT IS SEO?
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a process that increases the flow of organic traffic towards your website – essentially, making your site appear higher on the search engine results page (SERP) when a customer searches for models that your dealership sells.
WHY SEO IS SO IMPORTANT IN CAR BUYING
With there being over 5,000 car dealerships in the UK, and the fact that we live our lives online, you can begin to understand why an SEO strategy is crucial to the success of your dealership’s online presence.
We get our news online, we do our shopping online, we talk to friends online – and most importantly, we spend time researching what car to buy online. Therefore, making your car dealership site visible amongst the vast competition is fundamental in gaining business. Additionally, Google Research found that ”the average car shopper today makes just two dealership visits in the search for the perfect vehicle." Therefore, it is crucial that your showroom is one of the top results the car buyer sees in order for your online presence to be worthwhile.
Furthermore, Google likes to change its algorithms quite a lot, and a dealer’s site that was well optimised last year may not be anymore. This is a reason why SEO needs to be implemented as a long-term strategy for your automotive website, in order to keep car buyers heading to your site year-on-year. Keeping up to speed with Google’s algorithm changes will make sure that you are cruising ahead of the competition.
KEY PARTS OF SEO FOR YOUR AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
Local SEO for Automotives
For most car dealerships and showrooms, local commerce is the heart of your business. An SEO strategy can help to target searches to ensure that your website appears for those searching locally. For example, if your showroom is located in Peterborough, an ongoing SEO strategy can help your site become the number one result for ‘used cars Peterborough’. Making sure that your address and phone number appear on every single webpage is a great place to start with your local SEO strategy.
Keywords
To increase the exposure of your dealership’s website it is important to choose relevant keywords. These need to be relevant to the automotive industry but also specifically relevant to your car dealership. This ties in with local SEO, because if you are a local independent dealership, your location will be one of your important keywords for the website.
Automotive Website & Content
A salient factor in choosing which car to buy is, of course, what it looks like. The aesthetics of your website are thus, extremely important in the car buying experience. Smart and aesthetically pleasing vehicles need a website to match. Whilst improving user experience, good website architecture is a key factor of SEO itself.
Moreover, it is important to have unique and compelling content on the website. Engage the potential customer with great copy, but be careful not to repeat car descriptions or use the same description as the manufacturer, because your site will be penalised and you could end up losing rank on the SERPs.
CONCLUSION
With the automotive industry at a competitive high, our lives being run digitally, and the importance of locality to dealership showrooms, the need for an SEO strategy for your automotive website is paramount. If your website traffic has hit a red light then get it back to green.
Whether you’re an independent dealer, a manufacturer or a franchised dealer, grab the wheel and take control! Start driving traffic towards your automotive website with an effective SEO strategy, and keep the attention on you.
Written by Alice Pelham