Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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.

For the most part, search engine optimization (SEO) is a recognized necessity of running a successful auto dealer website.  Not just in the auto industry, but there are still some hold-outs that think building websites and content to be found by search engines is a little spammy.

According to Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s web spam fighting team, his company does not consider SEO to be spam.  “We don’t consider SEO to be spam,” and SEO is a “valid way to help people find what they’re looking for via search engines”.  While he does denounce black hat SEO tactics, Cutts emphasizes that Google’s goal is to return the best possible search results they can, and sites with quality SEO help them achieve that goal.

So the next time someone tries to tell you that SEO is spammy, direct them to this video, and then hopefully to your search engine optimized auto dealership website at the top of Google page 1.

While many dealers see press releases as a marketing strategy for larger companies, it can be (and is) a valuable and worthwhile strategy for auto dealerships as well.  It’s a great way to get news about your company out both locally and nationally.  Press releases can make their way into both local and national news sources, helping your dealership brand itself within the community, as well as show up more often and higher on the search engine result pages.

Here are some ways your dealership can get the most out of each press release you create:

Put in on your dealership website.  If you have a blog, this is a great place to add dealership news in the form of a press release.

Link back to your auto dealer website when fitting.  Some press release sites use no-follow or don’t allow links, but most local new sites and your own site should definitely use keyword-optimized anchor text to link back to your website.

Don’t assume local news websites will pick up the press release on their own–send it to them.  Make sure that you’re only sending press releases about newsworthy items, though, or your contacts will learn to quickly dismiss your future press releases.  Also, put links on your social media sites.

Press releases can be a great tool for search engine optimization when done properly.  Does anyone use press releases as a tool in their dealership to get out news or add to your search engine results?

Most people tend to focus a lot of their local search engine marketing for their auto dealer website on Google Places.  While it’s true that a lot, if not most, of your search  traffic comes from Google, it’s still important to make sure your dealership is properly optimized for the other major players as well.

Here are directions to set up a free local business presence on both Yahoo and Bing:

Yahoo

Create a Yahoo account for your auto dealership.  While signed in, go to Yahoo Search Marketing and click “sign up”.  Make sure you enter all of your business information including name, address, phone number, and hours.  The preview page lets you edit or submit; click submit once all the information is accurate.

Bing

Click “get started now” in the Bing Business Portal.  You’ll have to check to make sure your business isn’t already listed, so enter your dealership’s information when asked.  If not already there, enter all business information, then verify your dealership.  Bing also allows you to add photos and deals (coupons) for free.

Make sure the details you enter into these and any other local search directory (Yellowpages, Yelp, etc) match those you have listed in Google Places.  The first rule of local directory consistency is to focus on NPA:

–Name – Your business name needs to EXACTLY match across all of these properties

–Phone – Your phone # (hopefully local phone number) should EXACTLY match across all of
these properties.

–Address – Your business address should EXACTLY match across all of these properties.

Having consistent dealership data across the Internet will help each rank higher than those dealerships that don’t.  Also, use related keywords as much as possible (as long as they are relevant).

If you aren’t happy with the way your dealership website is performing in terms of search engine results (and you aren’t violating Google’s webmaster guidelines), you can ask Google to “reconsider” your site.  Essentially, you can ask Google to take a look at your site to see if it was manually marked as spam.

Over the years, Google has improved this process to make it more transparent.  After submitting a site, Google will let the webmaster know that they received the request and when the request is processed.

Now, if your website has been found to be affected by a manual spam action, Google will let you know and whether or not they are able to revoke that action.  They will also let the webmaster know if the site is in violation of their guidelines.  If your website isn’t ranking poorly due to either of these two issues, Google may let you know.

If you have questions about why your dealership website isn’t ranking as well as you’d like, I suggest talking to your car dealership website provider before submitting your site to Google for review.  They should be able to help you decide if your site just has poor SEO, or if something more serious is going on.  Has anyone ever used this tool from Google?  If so, what were the results?