Car Dealer Internet Marketing

I get teased at work sometimes.

"Aren’t you supposed to be going after Google? Why are you spending so much effort on Twitter?"

When I tell them that Twitter is the future of search and the reason that Google has shown so much interest in buying them, they normally laugh. "What, are people going to search for ‘What’s JD Rucker doing right now?’"

With changes made yesterday to Twitter search, it appears that CNET, Mashable, and Techcrunch/Washington Post are finally starting to agree with me.

Twitter is going to start to index the links that are posted on their site in Tweets. This is a significant development in the world of search engine optmization as the need for real-time data that Google and the other search engines have never been able to master will come to life in the world of Twitter.

Most believe that the interest shown by major companies like Google, Apple, and Facebook in buying Twitter has been a result of its exponentially-increasing popularity on the Internet and in mainstream media. Celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, Oprah, and President Obama have made thousands of headlines with their exploits and uses of Twitter.

While the popularity is definitely a factor, the real value in Twitter is in the accumulation of limitless amounts of data. What’s hot? What’s the best for this or that? In essence, an advancement in Twitter search is positioning it to become a major player in the search engine marketplace.

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Technorati Tags: automotive social media, twitter

This post is in part a con. While I’m definitely interested in offering advice and not a sales pitch to any DrivingSales member who has SEO or Internet Marketing questions, I have an ulterior motive.

If you aren’t on Twitter, you might be missing out. If you haven’t heard of Twitter, you need to watch more news, read more newspapers, and spend more time online.

Twitter is a microblogging and lifestreaming platform that has taken the Internet and the rest of the world by storm. It has been credited with helping Obama win the election, for helping Britney Spears improve her faltering reputation, and for giving Skittles a new direction in their marketing campaign.

Still not convinced? Do a search on Google for "Twitter". Hit the "News" button up at the top. Check out some of the headlines and the dates on these stories. You’ll notice immediately that Twitter is hot and it’s on the rise.

How is Twitter going to be used in business? How can it help car dealers, manufacturers, and vendors? These are topics for a future post as well as for my upcoming Twitter Ustream.TV show, but for now, I’ll just entice you with some quality, sales-free SEO advice.  All you have to do is tweet me.

If you have a Twitter account, you probably know what to do.  Add me: JD Rucker on Twitter, and send me an @ reply. Direct Messages get mixed in with the other 50 I get a day, so @ replies are the best way to get my attention.

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Technorati Tags: SEO, social media, socialmedia, twitter

For Searchers

The way it looks initially, searches will be experiencing a paradigm shift in the way they search.  Sounds pretty dramatic, but between changes coming in Universal Search and the SearchWiki functionality rolling out right now, searchers will (hopefully) be able to get the information they need more easily without having to use multiple attempts at different keywords to get what they want.

Before, typing a search for "Toyota Dealers" would yield mostly national searches in the organic section.  The sponsored section was normally geo-targeted results, but unless you happened to be close to dealership whose website was very well optimized, you probably had to do the search again.  If localized, universal, and personalized search make good on their promises and meet their goals of relevancy, that could all change.

For Website Owners

The real question should be, "Is your website provider or marketing firm ready for what’s coming down?"

Bruce Clay is saying that "ranking is dead."  Behavior based search is expanding, regardless of whether someone is logged into Google or not.  He predicts that in the first quarter of 2009, there will be a major shift to localized, personal search that will make the once-simple job of optimizing a website much more difficult.  The factors that determine the rankings delivered to the target audience will change and we will see a shift towards other indicators for success.

Matt Cutts says "ranking won’t be as important as it used to be in 2009."

This is a scary proposition for the ill-prepared SEO firm.  It isn’t a matter of making websites linkable and large.  What will be necessary is for them to be directly relevant to the search terms that they are wanting to rank for.  This is a subtle distinction, but in the whole scheme of things, it’s a huge difference from the way websites are optimized today.

Personalization and localization are coming.  They’re here, to some extent.  If you haven’t seen it already, don’t worry.  Your data center will update soon.

Universal search is changing.  It is apparently in a constant state of flux.  We’ve had a taste of it for a year, now.  SEO’s must embrace the fact that they are having to become more like marketers.  There is a distinction, and anyone who doesn’t make that distinction and adjust will be lost in 2008.

Other key points:

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Technorati Tags: automotive, ranking, search engine optimization, SEO

As with many of my posts lately, I’m going to ride the fence.  There are advantages and disadvantages to having your website inventory indexed.  This issue has popped up more and more lately as a lot of gurus are pointing towards indexed inventory as a strong SEO tool.

To me, it’s a gray issue.

Advantages of Indexed Inventory:

• More pages
  
• More opportunities to rank for long-tail keywords
  
• Searchers land on specific vehicles versus navigation
  
• Internal link potential (if done properly) to help other pages rank well

Disadvantages:

• Temporary listings that can become 404 errors or redirects when the search engines crawl the page next time
  
• Duplicate content
  
• Lack of focus on primary linked pages

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Technorati Tags: indexing car inventory

There is a debate going on, though few are involved and even fewer understand it.  First, the definitions:

Long: Searches that are specific, normally 3, 4, or more words, that are highly targeted by minimal for traffic.  They are normally an extension of a primary keyword.  Example: "New Honda Accord Shreveport"

Medium: Less specific than long keywords, usually 2 or 3 words, with higher volume and lower conversion.  Example:  "Shreveport Honda"

Short: Very general terms.  High volume, low, low conversion.  Example: "Honda"

These definitions are loose simply because the automotive industry is so locally targeted, the traditional definitions of "long-tail" vs "short-tail" don’t do it justice.  Technically, all relevant automotive keywords for a dealership are long-tail, so it is important to add the middle definition.

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Technorati Tags: automotive seo, car dealer seo

Don’t you hate it when you lose a sale?  It could be a poor inventory, not clicking with a customer, or a conflict in trade difference that causes a lost sale.  Luckily, all of these are easily fixed - we all know how to handle those.

Sometimes, a lost sale starts from your website where the chance is missed to convert a visitor into a lead.  This, too, is easily fixed with a better website.

We can look at our salespeople or check the statistics on our websites and identify problems with these forms of lost sales, but there is another lost sale that affects many dealers and most don’t even know they are losing them

Search for your dealership by name.  You should (we hope) see your dealer website at the top.  Now scan down on the page.  Anything out of place?  There should be the vendors who are vying for your business - nothing you can do about those.  No, what you’re looking for is something bad.

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Technorati Tags: online marketing, online reputation management, reputation

The old saying that "content is king" is just that… and old saying.  In automotive search engine optimization (any SEO for that matter), the importance of content has been superceded by quality, relevant inbound links.

Content still has its value, of course.  In the race to the top of the search engines, every little bit helps.  The way that SEO has evolved over the last couple of years has placed a strong emphasis on what other websites are saying about your website.  They know that you can manipulate your content, play with the percentages, and stuff keywords.  That is why content, while still important, is not the factor that it used to be.

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Technorati Tags: automotive seo, content, links

Gas mileage is a hot topic to automotive consumers. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a hot topic to automotive dealers. With today’s economic conditions, getting the most mileage out of a vehicle has many parallels with getting the most out of your SEO.

In both cases, we want more for less. Search engine marketing is becoming more expensive, so smart dealers must position themselves on the organic section of the search engines to get the most bang for their buck. Here are some tips to help achieve the most possible clicks for the least amount of money.

Buy a Hybrid
Just as hybrid vehicles are rolling off showroom floors at record rates, hybrid SEO campaigns are becoming more popular for car dealer Web sites. A hybrid SEO campaign is one that properly utilizes both onsite and offsite optimization techniques.

In the past, having proper SEO on a Web site itself was enough. Today, the search engines like to see more in the way of relevant, high-quality inbound links from other Web sites to your own. These links act as “votes” for a site, and search engines are counting these heavily.

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Technorati Tags: automotive seo, car dealer seo, search engine optimization

When we take on a new client, I have the opportunity to really dive into the Search Engine Optimization that has been done the sites by various vendors.  There are certain things we do that others do not do and visa versa.  Everyone thinks they have the right formula — it’s all a matter of knowledge and taste.

One thing that is definitely not up for debate is the keyword selection.  This essential part of the equation can help set a proper SEO campaign in the right direction.  It can also be the part that ruins the optimization of a website and sends it down the dark path of oblivion.

Dramatic? Yes.

True?  Absolutely.

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Technorati Tags: automotive keywords, car dealer seo

Leave it to Google.  Just when search engine optimization companies were starting to get a better understanding of what it takes to get their clients on top of the search engine results pages, Google starts to make some major changes.

There have been major changes in the past, but only two in the last couple of years.  One was Universal Search, which many companies are starting to get into.  The other was the effect of paid links on PageRank.  These two are miniscule compared to what is coming down the road.

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Technorati Tags: automotive seo, google algorithm, google changes, seo for car dealers