SEO conglomerate Backlinko found that clients who pay more for quality SEO services are more satisfied with their results. Backlinko partnered with Northstar Research Partners to survey 1,200 small business owners across the United States with the goal of better understanding the current state of the SEO services industry. We decided to put Backlinko’s data to the test and apply this methodology to our dealer clients. Before we do that, let’s dig a little deeper into their findings.
We discovered that clients spending $500/month [on SEO services] were 53.3% more likely to consider themselves “extremely satisfied” compared to people that spend less than $500/month.
Brian Dean | Backlink Surveyor

Specifically, business owners who spent less than $500/month were 75% more likely to be dissatisfied than those that invested at least $500/month on SEO.

The key takeaway of the study is this: small business owners who spend more than $500/month are significantly happier with their SEO provider than those who spend less than $500/month. Want to know more? Read Backlino’s entire study and SEO Services Report here.
So What Does this mean for Car Dealerships?
Automotive SEO is such a crucial part of your car dealership’s digital marketing strategy because it provides a competitive advantage over the competition. Automotive SEO modifies the relevancy of navigation links, meta-tags, headlines, content, and keywords to help your dealership website rank higher in search engine result pages (SERPs).
While you could forgo SEO and focus on other traditional marketing methods (like radio or TV ads), all you’re doing is reaching out to the public in hopes of finding people in the market for a car. SEO for the automotive industry is designed specifically to increase the likelihood that your dealership will be found by consumers who are actually in the market for a new or used vehicle by targeting the keywords used within the research and buying process.
You want to make sure that your SEO only targets relevant, authoritative sites with content related to the auto industry (or interesting locales in your area). This ensures that your dealership’s site is not getting mixed in with spam and that advanced relevancy is created between your site and the sites that link to you.
The Proof is in the Numbers
Paying for an expert SEO provider, such as Dealer Authority, ensures that your site is getting the optimized attention it deserves. Here are some examples of two of Dealer Authority clients’ Google keyword rankings over a three-month span of time and the life span of the client on this performance tracker.
Client A Ranking Increases

Here you can see an impressive month over month keyword ranking growth for Q2 2019 – an increase of 381 spots across 121 keywords for Google and an increase of 278 spots for 94 keywords on Bing.

Looking at the life span of this client, tremendous growth is apparent with a whopping increase of 2,146 spots on Google and 1,482 spots on Bing over the course of 15 months since we first began using this performance tracker.
Client B Ranking Increases

Similar growth can be seen for Client B during the same Q2 2019 timeframe – an increase of 199 spots across 52 keywords for Google and an increase of 286 spots for 26 keywords on Bing.

In just under a year, Client B has seen an increase of 987 spots on Google and 1,100 spots on Bing for their keyword search terms.
Ranking Performance Breakdown
Having #1 Google page rankings for clients is what most SEO providers strive to do. Paying for quality SEO services from experts in the field, like those provided by Dealer Authority, assures that businesses get the results they want.

In this breakdown, you can see that when we began using our performance tracker, Client A had over 70 pages on page 1 for Google with 40 already ranking in the first three spots. There was room for improvement for 32 keyword rankings in the 11 to 51+ range and others not listed beyond the 100th place marker.

Over the course of 15 months, keywords ranking on page 1 were maintained and improved upon, jumping from 40 keywords ranking at 1st, 2nd, or 3rd on Google for Client A to 63. Increases in the 4th through 10th spots on Google are apparent as well, spiking from 34 to 48.
Your Satisfaction is our Guarantee
Our automotive SEO product is always being refined to provide clients with the absolute best service in the automotive industry. Our experienced team never takes shortcuts and we are available whenever you need us. Our product follows Google’s guidelines and adapts in order to best serve our clients. In the end, we know that your success is our success. We love working hard to see you grow! Contact us today and let’s start working on a plan for you to get ahead of—and stay ahead of—your competition.