Your website, your search optimization (SEO) and your search engine marketing (SEM) are all closely linked in what is essentially a ‘circle of life’.

It’s hard to believe, but even with all the mega-website providers in the industry, dealers still end up with ad traffic that has no logical place to land on their website. Understanding this critical error isn’t just the responsibility of the marketing or internet manager. General managers and sales managers should also be aware of the importance of this critical fact.

Your website, your search optimization (SEO) and your search engine marketing (SEM) are all closely linked in what is essentially a ‘circle of life’.

Let’s say your agency or even in-house expert writes you a great ad about a current lease or finance special on an SUV for $299 per month. You don’t really have a ‘specials’ or ‘offers’ page, but the special matches the information on your homepage slider, so the ad is pointed there.

When the shopper clicks-through, your Google AdWords account is charged for the click and the shopper lands on your homepage. But your slider is one of six or so graphics in this month’s rotation. They see one for a tire special, then one for your charity event, then a ‘truck month’ ad. They didn’t see the $299 SUV anywhere on your homepage so they hit the BACK button.

You didn’t just lose a customer for this vehicle cycle, but maybe a future one, as well because you broke the shopper’s trust. That’s not all, you also broke the trust of GOOGLE! Their digital watchdogs saw what happened (bounce), AND they already know you have no searchable text that matches the ad (low relevance). So you have to pay higher bid rates just to be seen on Page 1, if you can even get there. This isn’t just for the auto industry – it applies to ALL advertising.

But that’s not all! Because of the low relevance and bounce, your ORGANIC search ranking just took a hit, as well. Here are four ways to protect your store from lost customers – and lost rankings:

• Use a specials / offers page to land your traffic – and keep it updated regularly with accurate information
• Be sure the text in your search ads matches the text on your page and are updated when the information on the page changes
• Don’t use graphics with the special pricing embedded in the photo – search engines can’t read a picture
• Ensure landing page has effective conversion tools so you can both convert traffic to quality leads and so Google can see these positive results

There are dealers who do have a ‘specials’ page, but the agency has a bunch of photos with the lease or finance specials. Google can’t read the text in photos. Google can see if someone goes to your website and just bounces. It may not know the reason for the behavior but it WILL know if the content on the page doesn’t match the offer in the search ad and penalize you with higher click prices and lower placement.

Landing pages are the lifeblood of BOTH SEO and SEM. Start looking for ways (and tools) to help get this circle of digital life into better harmony – and better sales.