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While (I hope) most dealership websites won’t be affected by this, Google has recently announced they will begin penalizing websites that have too many ads at the top. It’s being called the “page layout algorithm” and affects sites that “don’t have much content ‘above-the-fold’”, according to Google’s Inside Search blog.
We’ve all clicked onto a site only to have to scroll down through the ads to actually find the content we are looking for. This algorithm change will penalize sites with little or no “non-ad” content visible above the scroll line, so that they appear less frequently and with less prominence in Google’s search results.
So how does Google tell what is an ad and what isn’t? They have a “variety of signals that algorithmically determine what type of ad or content appears above the fold, but no further details to share. It is completely algorithmic in its detection…”. Not surprisingly, Google isn’t giving many details.
Double check your landing pages, micro-sites, and any sites your auto dealer website links out to, to ensure that none are so ad-heavy that users have to scroll down to see any content. Keep in mind that the screen may appear smaller to those on an iPad or other tablet computer.
Google recommends using their Browser Size tool to see how much content and ads are visible under various screen resolutions.
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In Google’s latest attempt to make Google+ the biggest social network, they’ve integrated it into your search results.
Of course, this hasn’t been done across all Google search results. In order to see this integration, you must be logged into Google+ (though some have seen it simply logged into Google) and be using their secure search portal at https://www.google.com. The company is calling this search update “Search Plus Your World” and allows users to “search across information that is private and only shared to you, not just the public web,” according to Jack Menzel, product management director of search.
Search results from non-”authoritative results” will be clearly marked, but relevant pictures, updates, and articles from those in your Circles will show directly on your search results page.
Here is an example from a search for “Ford Focus” when signed into Google+:
When searching for a person (and I would assume a brand name), Google assumes you are looking for someone in your Google+ Circles, if applicable. So imagine a potential customer, connected to your dealership through Google+, uses Google search to find their next car. Your dealership has another opportunity to connect with this car buyer (and your auto dealer website has another chance to rank on the search engine results page), but only if you have a presence on Google+ and use it to connect with buyers in your area.
Because Search Plus Your World will bring back results from “limited” shares on Google+ as well as privately shared photos from Picasa, there is the potential misconception that items appearing are public information, and the public sharing that could happen. However, nothing will be shown that you wouldn’t be able to see otherwise.
What do you think? Does this make you more or less likely to amp up the Google+ presence of your auto dealership? Or do you think this move just removes a step from searching your Google+ Circles and using the search engine?
In a recent study from retail analysis firm, RichRelevance, iPads and iPhones make up over 90% of online purchases that don’t happen on a desktop device. That means that 9 out of 10 mobile purchases come from an Apple product, a device that can’t read anything in Flash. This is up from 88% when RichRelevance conducted the same study just last April.
While many auto dealerships don’t make a ton of sales online (in the traditional, online store sense that this study refers to), this shows that the majority of those using their mobile phone for online shopping purposes are using these two devices. If your dealership mobile website uses Flash technology, the majority of those coming to your site from a mobile device won’t be able to see it. In fact, DealerOn customers typically see 2/3 of the traffic to their mobile website come from iPads and iPhones. Can you imagine if only 1/3 of your website visitors could actually see the content on your site?
Studies like this one show how important it is to ensure your mobile website can be seen by everyone that wants to see it, and if it is built using Flash, 2/3 of your web visitors won’t be able to. Check with your auto dealership website provider to find out how your mobile site is built, and if it’s in Flash, make sure they provide you with another option. You could be losing out on 2/3 of your mobile website traffic.
I’ve written multiple pieces on how to properly set up and maintain your Google Places listing and account, but haven’t touched on the mistakes you could be making, hurting your car dealership online marketing strategy.
Here are the places where you could really screw up your listing if you aren’t careful:
Don’t use a post office box. Even if this is where you get mail, make sure you use the actual address of your business.
Only enter the address into the address field. That means no directions, no landmarks (turn left at the yellow building), and no descriptions.
Don’t hide your address. Google gives you the option of hiding your physical address–don’t do it! Google Places wants to be able to show users where you are located on a map, so let them.
Using a tracking number? Stop. Google has officially stated “Types of phone numbers that should not be included are: call tracking numbers and phone numbers that are not specific to a business location.”
Don’t ignore errors in your account, including a misplaced map pinpoint. Google is notoriously difficult to get a hold of, but don’t let that deter you from reporting an error if and when you see it.
A well developed and maintained Google Places listing can be a huge asset for your dealership’s online marketing efforts. If you need help with your Google Places account or other aspects of your Internet marketing program, feel free to contact DealerOn for help.
Are you ready to start 2012 with a competitive online game plan? The Digital Dealer Workshops are bringing you everything you need to succeed online.
Two distinctively different tracks will be offered and are customized to your level of experience: the dealer who feels behind on their e-commerce education and the dealer who is prepared but wants to excel.
Want more information? Send an email to events@digitalrainmgmt.com, check out our Facebook Event page, visit us online, or keep reading!
WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
Dealers, GMs, GSMs, Internet Sales Managers, e-Commerce Directors,
CRM Managers, BDC Managers and Fixed Operations Managers
WHEN:
Tuesday, January 17, 2012, 8:00am – 6:00pm
Workshops begin at 10:00am.
WHERE:
Hilton Houston Post Oak
2001 Post Oak Blvd., Houston, Texas, 77056
Less than one mile from the Galleria area
Tel: 1-713-961-9300
REGISTRATION:
Register early to take advantage of early bird pricing.
Early registration prices:
TADA members: 1st person from dealership/group: $199, 2nd: $99; 3rd: $49
Early registration cutoff is December 31.
We have secured a discounted room block for $129 plus tax per night. Reservations can be made from the Digital Dealer Workshops website, or ask for the Digital Dealer Workshops when booking.
Now that Google+ is open to businesses, many are trying to figure out the best way to utilize this new social media portal (including DealerOn). I’ve gathered some of the more common mistakes that businesses are making to shorten the learning curve for auto dealerships.
Like all other social media sites, not posting on a regular basis can hurt your marketing efforts. Consistently providing visitors with quality, worthwhile content is the best way to attract (and keep) potential dealership customers engaged in your social sharing.
Google+ really lends itself to sharing photos, so make sure you take full advantage. Switch up your text posts with photos of your vehicles, dealership, and staff. Make sure your profile photo identifies your dealership to help ensure your visitors know they’ve found the right Google+ page.
To further help identify your profile, make sure your tagline is clear and descriptive. Use it as a way to stand out from other dealerships and make it very clear to visitors that this is an official page for your dealership.
One of the great things about Google+ is the ease in which you can segment your viewers…so make sure that you do! Consider separating potential customers from those that have previously bought from your dealership, or segment those that bought used cars from those that bought new. Take advantage of the ability to tailor the information you are sharing with your visitors.
Those that are using Google+, what mistakes have you made and learned from so far?
If you aren’t already planning on attending the Digital Edge Summit, Tuesday, December 6, 2011 in Los Angeles, pay attention.
A number of leading gurus in automotive online marketing are bringing their expertise to the Southern California market for one information-packed event. This full-day seminar will teach you how to implement the latest Internet strategies guaranteed to increase your dealership profits in 2012.
Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.
DealerOn’s Jeff Clark will presenting “7 Proven Digital Strategies to Double your Internet Leads and Your Fixed Operations Profits in 2012″. He’ll focus on maximizing organic search traffic for service and parts, how to use content and PPC campaigns to increase traffic and sales, and how your dealership can measure these efforts to continue to increase profit each month.
Other Speakers Include:
- Dennis Colome, V.P. Sales & Marketing, eXteresAUTO
- Pogo Par, V.P. Sales for the Auto Division, CallSource
- Julio Gonzalez, Director of Digital Marketing, Moore & Scarry Advertising
- Clayton Stanfield, Manager – Dealer Training, eBay Motors
- Mike Paradies, Director of Training, eXteresEDU
Hosted By:
- DealerOn
- eBay Motors
- Moore & Scarry Advertising
- eXteresAUTO
- autobytel
- CallSource
HTML5 has been in the tech news lately, especially since Adobe announced that they are going to stop developing Flash in favor of HTML5 on mobile browsers. This doesn’t mean the company is abandoning the technology on desktops, but according to Mike Chambers, the lead in Adobe developer relations, “a lot of the things that you have done via Flash in the past will increasingly be done via HTML5 and CSS3…”.
HTML5 hasn’t quite arrived yet. None of the major Internet browsers fully support HTML 5, but most industry people agree that this is the technology of the future. If your mobile dealership website is heavily dependent on Flash, switching to HTML5 would most likely give your mobile dealer site a boost in search engine results since search engines can read things coded in HTML5. If your dealership website isn’t reliant on Flash, switching won’t give your dealership site many benefits.
As I’ve written before, DealerOn doesn’t use any Flash on our mobile sites, minimal Flash on our traditional websites, and we are completely migrating away from that technology. We have implemented the technology to eliminate all flash in our platform and are now in the process of rolling it out to our customer base. Once HTML5 is released for stable public use and major web browsers start conforming to its standards, DealerOn will begin to ensure our websites are HTML5 compliant, across the board.
Google recently announced a new update to their search engine algorithm that puts a greater emphasis on recently published, fresh content. “This change…promotes fresher results…so that we provide users the most relevant answers to their queries,” according to a Google spokesperson.
Regularly updated content has always been a positive ranking factor in SEO, but this announcement from Google makes it that much more important.
So how can your dealership use this change to help your dealer site rank better?
Individual Inventory Pages: Your inventory changes often, so why not use that to your advantage. Having an inventory page for each vehicle not only gives your dealership more pages for Google to rank, but having new pages with relevant content will help your entire site rank higher.
Blog: Blogs have always been great for SEO purposes because of their optimized content and regular updates. This update to Google’s algorithm just makes them that much more important. Make sure your auto dealer website has a blog within the dealership domain. Update it regularly with posts about dealership news, the cars you sell, and driving tips in general.
Create Custom Pages: Ideally, your dealership’s website provider has a platform that is flexible enough that you can create pages that specifically target your geographic markets, your inventory, and the relevant offers available from your manufacturer. When you create custom pages, you want to be able to customize the title tags, the URL of the page, meta descriptions, meta keywords, and the actual verbiage on the page. Your goal should be to make sure that the words and phrases relevant to one of your target customers (like 2012 Nissan Leaf sale) are reflected throughout each of these areas of the page. If you’re not sure exactly how to do this, reach out to the company that provides your dealership website, and have them help you. If you’re not able to get help there, you can reach out to our team at DealerOn; we’re always interested in helping dealers improve their online presence.
Keeping your dealership website up to date will help ensure your dealer customers find the information they are looking for, as well as help your site rank well in Google’s search engine results pages.
Google, in an effort to help small businesses ensure they have effective mobile websites, has launched “GoMo”. This website (http://www.howtogomo.com) lets users learn about why having a quality mobile site is important, test how your site looks in its mobile version, and find resources to help if your mobile site isn’t quite up to par.
I really like the option to see how your current site looks in mobile. From the homepage, click “See How Your Current Site Looks in Mobile”, then “Test Your Site”. Enter the URL of your dealership website to see how mobile users will see it. After answering a couple of questions about what you see, you’ll get a report card of sorts that focuses on four potential mobile website hangups: Loading Speed, Images, Text, and Navigation.
The DealerOn auto dealer website I tested scored a 4 out of 4. According to the site, the site I tested showed:
- Loading Speed: 0.404 seconds. The recommended loading time is 5 seconds.
- Images: Images appeared properly
- Text: Text is visible without pinching or zooming on the phone screen
- Navigation: All links and buttons are thumb friendly
Check your dealership website to see how well it scores. If you’re not getting a Pass in each category, you need to talk to your mobile website provider to find out what can be done.
