The Six Degrees of Automotive SEO [VIDEO]

Last week, I presented at Digital Dealer 19 in Las Vegas. Even though I got interrupted (twice!) by a fire alarm, the presentation was a huge hit with attendees. We wanted to share the presentation with everyone out there who wasn’t able to attend the conference, so we’re posting it here as this week’s Wednesday Workshop video.

Since it’s a video of the entire presentation, it’s much longer than our typical Wednesday Workshop video – so if you don’t have time to watch it right now, come back when you can take the time to absorb everything.

As always, if you have any questions, leave them in the comment section below, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Digital Dealer 19 Preview – Wednesday Workshop

Heading to Digital Dealer in Las Vegas next week? This week’s Wednesday Workshop gives you info on all the DealerOn speakers, events, and giveaways… make sure you watch and get all the details!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Hey, and welcome back to another Wednesday Workshop with DealerOn. This week’s video is short and sweet, because we’re getting ready to head to Vegas for Digital Dealer 19. In fact, that’s what we’re going to talk about today…

If you’re going to the conference, make sure you take a look at the agenda beforehand and plan out your sessions. Once you’re there, it’s a pretty overwhelming experience, and you don’t want to get distracted. Think about your current pain points, and what you want to learn while you’re in Vegas – then check the schedule and see which sessions will help you the most.

And of course, make sure you block out the time to come see me speak on Monday at 1:30, when I’ll be sharing all the latest Local SEO tips to help your dealership get more visibility online.

I’ll also be a part of the breakfast keynote panel on Tuesday morning, along with our VP of Marketing Shaun Raines, and dealers Bobbie Herron and Jennifer Briggs.

You should also make sure to carve out time to check out our other awesome DealerOn speakers…

At 1:30 Tuesday, you’ve got two awesome speakers to choose from: Mike DeVito is going to be talking about what Google and car buyers need from a mobile website, and Shaun Raines will be partnering with Joe Webb for CSI: Dealership, helping you track down the killers of your sales and reputation.

Don’t forget to stop by our booth and pick up a temporary tattoo pass for the DealerOn VIP section of the big Digital Dealer party on Tuesday. You’ll also want to grab one of our t-shirts so you can share a selfie on Twitter or Facebook to be entered for a chance to win an Apple Watch.

Thanks for stopping by – check back next week for another Wednesday Workshop video, which we’ll be shooting in our booth at Digital Dealer!

How to Use PPC Impression Share

If Google AdWords were a piece of juicy pie, your impression share would be the size of your dealership’s slice… Tracking impression share is important, since it shows exactly how much you’re showing up in local searches. If you’re not measuring how big your slice of pie is, you won’t know if it could (or should) be bigger! Watch our latest video to learn more about PPC impression share and how you can use it to boost your dealership’s performance online.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back to another DealerOn Wednesday Workshop. This week, we’re talking about impressions in SEM campaigns. Impressions are not achievements, so how important is impression share to your SEM campaigns?

The answer is – VERY important… but you might not know why.

Impression share is basically the comparison of opportunity and reality. Google defines it as the number of impressions you’ve received, divided by the estimated number of impressions you were able to receive. Pretty simple – but why is it important?

Think of the automotive online advertising landscape as a delicious apple pie. You and your competitors are all trying to grab the biggest slice. When you track your impression share metrics, you’re keeping tabs on the size of your slice compared to the whole.

The most important factor regarding your impression share is your ad rank and quality score. If your quality score is poor, your ads will not show – regardless of what you’re willing to spend.

Tracking your impression share is a great way to determine when budget increases are necessary. If your piece of the pie isn’t as big as you want, increasing your budget can help grab more pie. Plus, maximizing your impression share helps your campaigns generate more traffic and leads.

How do you track impression share? Here’s a couple of tips:

Sign in to your AdWords account and click the campaigns tab. Then, click the columns button above your statistics table and choose “Modify Columns” from the drop down. Click competitive metrics and then add the impression share columns you’re interested in.

Another way to view impression share data for specific ad groups and keywords is to enable the “impression share” column in the Ad Groups and Keywords tabs.

Decreasing your targets can increase your impression share, but comes with the trade off of reducing the size of the pie. The fastest and most effective way to grow your impression share is by increasing your campaign budgets and bids.

If you want a serious competitive advantage, be sure you’re chasing the largest impression share in your market.

If you have questions about impression share or SEM in general, jump down to the comments section and leave your questions there. We’ll get back to you as quickly as we can.

Thanks for stopping by to watch – we’ll see you next week with another DealerOn Wednesday workshop!

PPC Tip – Use Micro Ad Groups

Most PPC accounts are set up in a way that saves lots of time – but saving time isn’t your goal! This week’s Wednesday Workshop explains why the “every keyword in one ad group” strategy isn’t a great idea… and then explains why “micro ad groups” are the right way to set up your account. If your dealership does any PPC advertising, you don’t want to miss this video!

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back to the DealerOn Wednesday Workshop. Today we’re talking about paid search, also known as SEM or PPC.
And specifically we’re addressing campaign performance tips.

Since the beginning of automotive SEM campaigns, agencies and providers have employed Ad Group strategies that cram hundreds of keywords into each Ad Group, usually using dynamic keyword insertion. This is not optimal, but it is easy.

Typical automotive campaigns are set up this way to save time – it’s definitely not for optimal performance. You should avoid throwing every keyword into one ad group with a few generic ads. Sure, it saves time… but saving time isn’t your goal.

If you want to get the best results from your campaigns, use a micro ad group structure. With micro ad groups, there are only a few keywords in each ad group (both modified broad and exact match) that relate exactly to your text ad.

Space permitting, the ad should include the keywords in the headline, and the ad copy must speak to the keywords and land on a related page on your site. You should never have an ad land on your site’s home page. This will help your quality score and overall ad performance.

If you have questions about micro ad group structures or SEM in general, jump down to the comments section and leave your questions there. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks for check out this week’s video – See you next week with another DealerOn Wednesday workshop.

Google’s Recent Map Pack Update [VIDEO]

You’ve probably noticed the recent update to the map pack on Google’s local search results. We all had a collective freak-out when we saw that the traditional 7-pack had been replaced by the new 3-pack that doesn’t show addresses or phone numbers. Even worse, a click on a pack listing now leads to the new Local Finder page, where competitors are stacked right next to you.

Our latest Wednesday Workshop video outlines all the changes, so you’re up to speed on how the local pack works now. We also talk about getting your dealership into the pack, or skipping it altogether and focusing your efforts on dominating organic results.

Continue Reading

Call support
(877) 543-4200
Call Sales
(877) 543-6321