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Knowledge, news, and more about Automotive SEO, SEM, and dealership websites
In Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Tips for Avoiding Over-Optimization Penalties on Your Dealership Website

Google announced a few months ago that they were going to start penalizing websites that were deemed to be over-optimized for SEO as an attempt to “level the playing field”.  While many auto dealer websites shouldn’t have an issue with this (your site provider should not only be up to date on Google’s latest algorithm changes, but make sure your site is performing as well as possible), here are some things to avoid so you don’t over-optimize your website:

Keyword Stuffing: Google wants the content on your dealership to be relevant, quality, and valuable to users. This means that every other word can’t be one that you are trying to optimize for.  Use your keywords when they make sense, but don’t write choppy, difficult to read sentences just because you are trying to get more keywords on the page.

Non-Relevant Anchor Text: This is the highlighted text that website visitors click to visit another page. The anchor text should describe what is on the page that you are linking to, for example, “used Nissan Altimas” should send traffic to a page about used Nissan Altimas.  Having the same anchor text for all links, or anchor text that doesn’t accurately reflect the content of the landing page for a link is spammy and is exactly what Google is trying to penalize with this update.

Having Hidden Text: Frequently, organic search spammers create extremely keyword-heavy text that is hidden or obscured from website visitors, but visible to search engine spiders.  Again, Google wants to reward websites that give relevant information to visitors, so there isn’t much value (and potentially harm) in hiding content from visitors.  Text that is “white on white” or hidden under a “see more” layer may be penalized by Google, and could even get a site dropped from Google’s index.

As always, create your auto dealer website with your customers in mind, and the chances you’ll be penalized by Google are highly reduced.  Talk with your dealership website provider to see what SEO techniques they are using on your dealership site and how they’re making sure you’re on good terms with Google.

In Lead Conversion

Revamp Your Contact Forms to Increase Dealership Website Conversion

Many of the dealers I talk to are extremely concerned about the conversion rate of their dealership website, and rightfully so.  Converting website traffic into leads should be a priority of everyone involved with your site, from your vendor to your Internet Manager to your GM.  One way to affect your conversion rate is by optimizing the contact forms you use to collect leads.

Reduce the Size: Keep the number of form fields to a minimum; only ask for what you absolutely need to follow up. Many people get overwhelmed when faced with providing a lot of personal information just to get some info about a car.

Design the Mobile Version First: Not only will this help ensure you have mobile-friendly forms on your mobile dealership website, but it helps you focus on keeping the form simple.

Reduce Friction: This could be as simple as making it clear which fields are required (even if it’s all), using in-line validation to correct errors as they are made, or using ghost text to help users know what format they should use.

Make it as easy as possible for your dealership website visitors to submit a lead by simplifying lead forms.  If you have long, complicated contact forms, talk to your auto dealer website provider to see how you can simplify your forms and raise your conversion rate.

In

Why Your Dealership Isn’t Seeing Engagment on Facebook

Many businesses struggle with achieving the level of engagement they’d like with their Facebook fans, especially car dealerships.  If your dealership is looking for more comments and interaction on your FB page, check out these potential reasons why your engagement on Facebook is less than you’d like.

Inconsistency: Much like blogging, regular posting makes a difference when trying to attract users to engage with your dealership on Facebook.  A user that comes to a page that is being consistently updated and posted to is more likely to stay engaged than one that only has a random post here and there.

Your Fans Aren’t on Facebook: Certain cities and industries are more involved in Facebook than others.  Check out your competitors to see if they are having success using Facebook.  If your community isn’t particularly engaged with dealerships in your area, don’t give up.  Try tactics no one else is doing, but at least you’ll have a baseline.

Your Posts: While only posting sales announcements may be informational to your fans, it doesn’t leave much room for interaction.  Photos typically draw the most interaction, but each post really needs a call to action. Ask users to leave a comment, ask them a question, or use a fill-in-the-blank question.

Overall, focus on your brand and community.  Be interesting and post things that you would want to see from a local business.  Experiment to find what works best for your dealership.

What do you find generates the most engagement on your Facebook page?

In Best Practices

Winning Answer from the DealerOn Webinar with Bill Wittenmyer, VP of ELEAD One

Katie Wagner, ISM at Swant Graber Chevrolet-Dodge-Ram-Ford, was the winner of a 500 name GoldDigger Campaign Gift Certificate, valued at $1750, during today’s weekly DealerOn webinar.  The prize was donated by ELEAD One – they also lent us their VP, Bill Wittenmyer, to present CRM strategies dealerships can use to maximize their profits.

Listeners were asked to share the most innovative example of customer follow up or lead generation ‘that actually worked’ in their dealership.  Here is Katie’s response:

“We use video in our newsletters and monthly web ads from their sales consultants to service adv.-When an inquiry hits our CRM we take a walk around video of that vehicle too. (Video may take more time to edit/publish/etc. but it proves to be beneficial overall). Customers love to know that we care because we really do!”

Such a great idea!  To find out more ways your CRM can help your dealership maximize profits, grab the recording of the amazing webinar Bill put on for us.

Also, check out the DealerOn FREE weekly webinar series for great tips every Thursday.

In Mobile

Google Announces Mobile Website Guidelines and Recommendations, Finally!

It’s official!  At SMX Advanced in Seattle, WA this morning, Google has finally announced guidelines and recommendations on how to build mobile websites that work best for users and Google.

Google recommends building your mobile site with a responsive design approach.  This means that your mobile site uses the same URL as your main site, and serves the same HTML, but uses CSS to change how the page is shown on the device.  Google says this is best since one URL makes it easier on users and Google doesn’t have to crawl multiple pages on different URLs.

Their second-best option?  Device-specific HTML.  This means that the same URL is used, but the mobile version serves different HTML and CSS depending on the device that is detected.

All of this is a little technical, so make sure you talk to your car dealership mobile website provider to see which approach they are taking.  You can read the full release from Google here: Recommendations for building smartphone-optimized websites.

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