What Factors Impact Local Search for Car Dealers?

Local search is a hot topic these days, and for a good reason.

It’s an SEO strategy that helps your dealership be more visible on local Google search results.

Any business that has a physical location or serves a specific geographic area can benefit from optimizing for local search.

To fully maximize your SEO strategy, keep these factors that influence local search in mind.

Google My Business isn’t just for directions anymore.

Google My Business (or GMB as we like to call it) is considered the key to optimizing your local search results. It is a free marketing tool that showcases businesses (like your dealership), making them easier to access.

As an integral part of Google Maps, Google My Business is part of how people get directions and search for places to go when they’re traveling—even if that’s just around town. Because it is one of the most popular ways to search for services, it’s highly recommended that all business owners utilize Google My Business.

GMB isn’t limited to just directions. Your dealership’s Google My Business profile is the top hit when your online customer searches for your dealership’s name in Google. This is where your customer can read your past customer’s reviews, and as online shopping, not just online searching, has increased – Google has upped their game and enabled dealers to post their current sales and incentives.

Optimizing these post options and taking control of your Google My Business profile will serve as an excellent local search resource for your online shoppers.

Check out this example below of a DA client that is participating in our GMB solution.

With constant engagement and utilization of Google My Business’ tools, this dealer’s GMB images have received 489% more views than similar businesses.

Do you still think GMB really doesn’t make that much of an impact on your dealership? The proof is in the data.

On-Page Optimization

There is a lot you can do to influence your local search rankings by utilizing on-page optimization. Ensure the content on every page of your site is high quality and meets your users’ demands—for example, if Ford F-150 trucks are popular in your town, craft content around the Ford F-150, and be sure to include local keywords, as well.

Local keywords could include the name of your town paired with the name of a car brand or model, such as “Ford F-150 Tulsa Oklahoma” or “Ford F-150 for sale in Tulsa.” Having a strong keyword ranking strategy will greatly assist you in your efforts to maximize your on-page optimization.  

Other important factors to keep in mind are to make sure your title tags, subheadings, and image ALT tags are appropriate for each piece of content; that your page URLs match your page title and don’t include stop words (such as “and” or “in”); and that appropriate internal, external links are included within the text.

Garnering High-Quality Backlinks

Quality beats quantity when it comes to generating backlinks to your site, so make sure that your backlinking strategy is focused on creating high-quality content, guest blogging on reputable sites with high domain authority, and engaging with local influencers and bloggers to see if they’re willing to link back to your content.

While each page doesn’t necessarily need to have a backlink on it, it is a best practice to include quality links where you can. Five well-placed and appropriate backlinks will ultimately drive more of the right kind of traffic to your site (as well as boost your local search rankings) than 20 poorly placed backlinks could.

Positive Reviews

Never underestimate the power of a good review.

Many potential customers turn to sites such as Yelp and Facebook—along with Google, of course—to feel out a potential dealership and see if purchasing a vehicle or servicing their current car with them would be the right move. In fact, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses in 2020 before deciding. That alone shows that reviews pack a serious punch!

Encourage your current customers to write your dealership a positive review by incentivizing it—give them a Customer of the Month feature on Facebook, host regular Amazon gift card giveaways for customers who write reviews, or even consider giving someone a discount on service for writing a positive review. 

Remember, ultimately, putting your best foot forward and serving customers with integrity and care is the best way to encourage good reviews—and will often be enough to garner them. People recognize quality service and are willing to let others know.

Let local search work for your dealership.

Keep these factors in mind when you are optimizing your local search strategy, and you are well on your way to connecting with more of your local customers–as well as increasing your Google rankings! If you need a little extra help – just ask us.