5 Automotive SEO Tips for CAR Dealers Entering 2023
Like every new year, 2023 brings many new opportunities. That goes for the world of automotive search engine optimization, too. Here, we’ll look at the top 5 automotive SEO tips for your dealership this year.
While the landscape of automotive digital marketing is constantly changing with new trends and new challenges, the fact remains that in a long-term strategy, organic SEO is a winner – particularly when done well.
Let’s get into some of the easiest and most effective automotive SEO to-dos for car dealers looking to propel business even further this year.
1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile (GBP) & UTM It!
So in case you haven’t heard, organic SEO is not limited to your website. Your GBP is a crucial part of attracting new eyes (and wallets) to your inventory.
That’s why top digital marketing specialists like the Dealer Authority team have been integrating GBP optimization into organic SEO strategy for some time now.
To start, your GBP is a Google product; thus, it’s given preferential positioning in search results. That means your GBP will appear above any/all other organic (non-paid) efforts. Further, a properly optimized and maintained profile will appear more often in more searches for relevant queries: both specific to your brand and dealership and for general related terms.
With all that said, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of your GBP in your overall organic SEO strategy. Now that you know why your GBP is a vital part of your organic strategy, let’s talk about how you can optimize it.
Branding & Relevancy
This is easy – just ensure users have all the details they need to know who you are and what you do.
Start with the basics. Fill out your GBP completely, adding proper details to every possible field. This includes selecting all relevant business categories and sub-categories, services, vehicle brands, and types, adding native images, etc.
When selecting the appropriate business categories, make sure they represent what you actually do. Meaning you shouldn’t select a “playground” category just because you have a children’s play area in your showroom. Instead, look to add those extras in the “Q & A” section or any related sub-categories.
Be sure to include all of your actual on-premise services (i.e., oil changes, tires, parts, collision, car wash, car sales, etc.) to tie into related user search queries.
Interaction is a Must
Once you’re set up, the bulk of your ongoing efforts will be spent on user interactions. Aside from adding new posts and images, you should be adding relevant user questions and answers to your “Q & A” section and keeping up with review responses (especially the bad ones) on a regular basis.
Not only is this important from a user perspective, but it will also help to keep Google informed and ready to deliver your GBP at the top of more search results pages.
Link It Up & Track the Traffic
The ultimate goal of your GBP is to help point users to your website and your doors. That’s why it is vital to bring users to your website through locally-focused landing pages and content to reinforce your brand and location relevancy.
An equally important aspect of this automotive SEO tip is the ability to track that traffic. That’s where an Urchin Tracking Module, or UTM, comes in. Basically, a UTM is a snippet of generated code added to the end of a website URL. This little code allows you to identify and track the user traffic coming from your GBP.
Here’s an example: https://www.yourdealership.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp
This is another aspect of GBP setup and optimization that the Dealer Authority team takes off your plate. Don’t stress about the heavy lifting. Just call in the pros.
2. Synchronize Your Organic Efforts
As previously mentioned, you want to set a logical user path from your GBP to your website through relevant landing page content. But there’s more you can do to synchronize your GBP and your website to supercharge your organic SEO strategy.
Just as you (or your Dealer Authority SEO strategists) would create content to increase your domain authority and organic Google rankings for top-performing, relevant search terms, and automotive keywords, you can optimize for your GBP business categories, as well.
Boost Your Organic SEO Authority
We know that the domain authority of a website is important, as a higher score indicates the site is a better source of information for related searches. The same is true for your GBP.
That’s why your organic SEO strategy should also include content specific to your GBP business categories. For example, your SEO team would build custom landing pages with unique content specific to “vehicle repair” or “auto body shop” in the geographically-relevant area.
Essentially, your GBP business categories are integrated into your website content strategy as new target keywords. This automotive SEO tip helps to validate your GBP and bring up your overall organic authority.
3. Don’t Forget Fixed Ops!
Literally, everything about the current automotive retail market is pushing drivers to keep their cars longer. With that, it could also be true that dealership fixed ops are more important than ever.
You’ll want to ensure plenty of room in your organic SEO strategy to optimize your website and GBP for each and every vehicle service you provide on-site. Reach out to Dealer Authority and let us tune up your strategy this year. As you already know, fixed ops are a crucial path to earning your customers’ trust and repeat business.
4. Engage Your Community
If you want to rank locally, you have to think locally, and that’s what our fourth automotive SEO tip is all about.
Your potential customers live in and around your community, and they love to hear about great things and fun happenings around town. It works incredibly well as part of a sound yet comprehensive organic SEO strategy.
Promote your community involvement and relationships via fresh, custom website blog and landing page content, and GBP posts. Let people see your local partnerships, annual fundraisers, or events. Highlight your favorite local restaurants and shops. Talk about local or regional history and points of interest.
People are always looking for things to do, places to go, and more reasons to like where they live. Plus, Google loves high-quality, relevant content of all kinds.
¿Hablan Español?
Do you speak Spanish? Many of your potential customers certainly do. So even if you don’t speak it, accommodation is key in your strategy to increase organic search rankings and website user experience.
Not only will this work to make Spanish-speaking shoppers more comfortable and confident in your dealership, but Google will also take notice of your genuine content and keywords.
Take the time to build Spanish landing pages that introduce and highlight any Spanish-speaking sales or service team members at your dealership or to let potential shoppers know what to expect when visiting your showroom.
Avoid Using Translation Plugins on your Site
By the way, having a translator app or widget on your site doesn’t count. In fact, those things are sometimes wildly inaccurate and generally useless. You need real Spanish content written and added natively to your website in order to rank for it.
Fortunately, your Dealer Authority team is bilingual and ready to create engaging content for your Spanish-speaking customers. ¡Vamos!
Give Your Automotive SEO Strategy a High-Octane Boost!
You can utilize these 5 automotive SEO tips to help build a comprehensive and fully integrated organic strategy with teeth. This year is the perfect time to get started.
While SEO is a long game, so to speak, adding these details to your organic strategy will also help your Google performance and traffic flow right away. It may seem like a lot of work initially, but it is all worth the effort. It also helps to have a team of dedicated specialists at your fingertips, too.
Contact the Dealer Authority team to see how our customized organic SEO strategy can work to build your dealership up and set you apart from the competition.