There are over 200 ranking factors that make up the organic search algorithm; and while Google doesn’t come right out and tell us what all of them are, experimenting with various elements of optimization is how we learn more about how sites best perform in search. Most of us are very aware of some of the biggest factors, including: keyword placement throughout your website, healthy backlink profiles, presence of a verified Google My Business listing, etc.; but what about some of the more obscure search engine ranking factors? How do we optimize for the unknown? To answer this question, we are going to break down four ranking factors in Google’s algorithm you probably aren’t aware of. 

1. Meta Description Duplication

You may know that having a meta description is important, as it indirectly impacts search rankings through click-through-rate. And while having one doesn’t have a direct impact on search results, using duplicate meta descriptions across your site can actually negatively impact your SEO. Meta descriptions are intended for search users to tell them what a page is about, and to influence clicks; but if you are using the same meta description across multiple pages you may notice that those pages, or even your whole site, don’t rank as well. This is why it is important to not only have a meta description, but to make sure it is unique to the page it is describing. Search engines recognize duplication and will not reward this lazy tactic with higher ranking. It’s always better to put the time in to creating unique and descriptive meta descriptions to improve the experience for search users and engines alike.

2. Contact Page Completion

Obviously, as a dealer, you want to make yourself available to customers in a variety of ways. You may add chat boxes, or an option to text the dealership; you could even have multiple phone numbers in the header, so the car buyer can reach each department more quickly. Unfortunately, the area of the website that is often the most neglected is the very page designed to connect you with prospective customers. While it may seem tedious, having a complete and robust contact page is a factor measured in the algorithm. Google has stated that when the correct information is found on a contact page, it is extracted and Google “is more likely to surface that information to searchers looking for the business.” This information can include images with appropriate alt-text, schematically marked up NAP information, hours of operation, etc. As long as this information is consistent with other citations across the web, you are more likely to show up as a local option for automotive-related searches in your area.

3. Up-to-Date GMB Categories

According to Local SEO survey data, using the right Google My Business categories is one of the top ranking factors for local packs. Now that we know utilizing the right GMB categories is crucial, it is important to know how to get the most out of them. You probably didn’t realize that Google My Business categories change all the time. For example, “Dodge Ram Dealer” doesn’t work as well as it used to – now, “Dodge Dealer” or “Ram Dealer” is preferred. So, the first key is making sure you’re using the right verbiage as your primary category. It needs to accurately reflect what you sell or how you serve. The next thing you need to look out for is the age of the category you’re using. Newer categories can actually boost your rankings in some cases, so if you’re still using something like, “Lincoln Mercury Dealer,” applying changes, such as separating these two makes into two different categories, can actually help your brand rank better.

4. Viability of Outbound Site Links

When it comes to outbound links on a site, there is a lot to unpack. Not only is having too many outbound links against best practice, but nofollowing too many outbound links can seem fishy, too. Rather than dizzying ourselves by discussing how to best approach link quantity and followership, let’s focus first on one thing: their viability. Having too many broken links, or links that lead to nowhere can actually impact how the search algorithm evaluates a page on your site, as it may think the page has been neglected or abandoned. You should regularly monitor the outbound links on your site to make sure that the pages they are linking too are still live, not redirecting, or not otherwise broken.

While trying to account for all of these different ranking factors may make your head spin, there is hope that by trying earnestly to do good with your site, not mislead people, and by following the key points mentioned in Google’s Quality Guidelines, you can avoid penalty and improve how pages rank across your site.

If you’re still trying to understand which factors are crucial to the search algorithm, check out Greg Gifford’s Local SEO book, which you can download for FREE right now.

A few months ago, Greg made a video about your content being stuck in 2005 and how dealers need to rethink their content strategy. Too often are there multiple pages with content like “get your *insert service* here in *insert city 20 miles away*” — and all of them use the exact same text. That’s not going to help your customers, and none of the pages will show up well in Google. So, if those old ideas don’t work, what does?

Take your dealer hat off and think about the first time you bought a car. It could have been during the dark times of no internet, or it may have been more recent. What were some of the things you wish someone told you? What did you not know about the process or about the dealership? Your website visitors have some of those same questions. Answer those questions with content on your site Here’s a list to get you started:

What do I need to bring to the dealership?

How long is the process?

If I need a cosigner, what should I do?

Should I buy or lease?

When is my first payment due?

These are just a few, but these types of questions are great topic ideas for your blog, a frequently asked questions (FAQ) page, or even a fancy guide for the car-buying process that your dealership can share across the internet.

You shouldn’t write content simply because you think it will show up in Google searches. Everything that goes on your site should be there to make your user experience better. If you’re writing content to answer the questions that you know your customers will have, you’ll win on multiple fronts. Customers will love your site because it helps them, so you’ll get more traffic and more conversions. Google will love your site because you’ve got robust content that’s useful to humans.

To err is human, and to get an error page is just another part of having a website. We’re all uncomfortably familiar with the 404 error page, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty of other ways you can cause an error, and a few things your visitors can do too. If you find yourself at a loss when trying to decipher an error page, start here with our guide to the most common errors, especially if you’re trying to decide if the problem is due to your site or if it is caused by a visitor’s browser.

Error 404 Not Found

We’ll start off with the notorious 404. Anyone who’s used the Internet has encountered this one. A 404 error occurs when a visitors tries to access a web page or resource that doesn’t exist. The fault could be with either you as the website owner, like if you moved a page without redirecting (we’ve got some tips on that too), or it could from a mistyped URL, which would make it the user’s issue.

Error 400 Bad Request

Another common error, the 400 error page shows up when a request gets lost in translation. Somewhere along the line a user’s request was corrupted on its ways to the server, and the web server just doesn’t understand what’s being asked of it. Lucky for site owners, you’re off the hook, since this is usually a problem on the user end.

If you do happen to encounter 400 error, there are a few things you can do. The first step is always to double check your URL and make sure you didn’t mistype it. You can also trying clearing your browser cookies, since sites may report a 400 error when a cookie is read as corrupt.

Error 403 Forbidden and Error 401 Unauthorized

This two aren’t the same, but they have enough in common we decided to put them together. A 403 error means that the page that’s being accessed is forbidden. Unless you as the website owner accidently made a public page unavailable, then this error is the fault of the user for trying to access a something that they shouldn’t.

A 401 error is similar and occurs when a user is trying to access a page that they aren’t authorized to. Usually this happens after a failed login attempt.

Error 500 Internal Server Error

This one, according to Google, is the most popular error of all. This error occurs when something with the site is wrong in general. This could be due to the web server being overloaded, a permissions error, a PHP timeout, or a host of other issues. Unfortunately, this one is rarely caused by the user end, and will need the site owner’s attention to solve.

You’re going to get error pages on your site, and sometimes it’s going to be your fault. The best way to avoid this is to audit your site periodically and always double check your links after you redirect. Sometimes problems just happen, and it’s always better to be prepared. 

With an upcoming update for the ADA (American with Disabilities Act), let’s take just a few minutes and talk about what this means for website owners. The ADA was signed into law in 1990, and was designed to prevent discrimination against marginalized groups. When you see a ramp next to a set of stairs or sign language interpreter, you’re seeing the effects of this law. What many people don’t know is the ADA’s effect on website accessibility.

The words “website accessibility” aren’t expressly written in the ADA, but the Title III section discusses discrimination in “places of public accommodation.” This phrase originally referred to brick and mortar stores, restaurants, and other places of business that were open to the public, but in recent years it’s also begun to apply to websites. After a landmark case in 2015 involving Netflix and the National Association of the Deaf, where a judge ordered the streaming company to include captions on all their videos and to pay $755,000 in fines, the ADA compliancy guidelines changed how we approach website accessibility.

But what does all this mean for you? Since that 2015 case, website providers have taken ADA guidelines seriously, which means your site should too. Though there are no official ramifications imposed by the Department of Justice for noncompliance, sites that don’t meet these guidelines are in danger of lawsuits similar to the Netflix case.

In 2017, DealerOn completed a year-long project that focused on adjusting pages and forms to meet ADA guidelines, and included working closely with our third party vendors. We strive to meet ADA guidelines by actively training our support, implementation, and design teams to spot common noncompliance issues, and we are always able to run audits and offer fixes for dealers who are concerned about their site’s accessibility.

The best course of action is to be prepared and stay informed. Know what guidelines are required and how your site can best meet them, and stay on top of new updates in the industry. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, you can read up on ADA guidelines here.

Over the last few months, Google has been honing and preparing what they call the “Dealer Playbook” – an attempt to get dealerships to reset, focus on what’s truly important, and drive traffic that can actually create incremental business.

If you haven’t already seen the New Dealer Playbook from Google, do ask your agency partners or account manager to discuss it with you.

We thought it would be a good idea to pen our thoughts from the perspective of an agency whose lifeblood is digital marketing for car dealerships.

The crux of Google’s playbook.

If there are two things worth focusing on and discussing they’re as follows –

1. An emphasis on Micro-Moments, which are critical in today’s hyper connected, multi-device world; and in turn pointing out which search terms and which consumers dealers should actually be focusing on.
2. An emphasis on ensuring that you or your advertising vendor are paying attention to the fundamentals first, and then moving on to the cutting-edge technologies after you have a solid digital marketing base. Our industry is full of shiny objects, so this is a welcome move to re-focus us (dealers and agencies) on the things that are truly going to move the needle in terms of what matters – leads and car sales. Google has captured this extremely well in the snapshot below.

Our Thought Bubble – What DealerOn thinks

Let’s talk about the “Micro-Moments” approach first. Our team has a collective 50+ years of experience in automotive digital advertising. Over the past few years, we’ve been analyzing our data closely and we’re thrilled that Google’s micro-moment approach mirrors the approach we’ve been taking. The only difference is in terminology.

What we’ve advocated from the very beginning is that dealers focus on what we called “shopping or buying intent terms” and prioritize them over “research terms” (see graphic below). Buying terms tend to have higher conversion rates, higher quality scores and lower cost-per-click and cost-per-lead. They tend to drive a lot more form submissions on the site and tend to have a higher close ratio when we track down to the sale.

An important aspect to note, is that the average dealer in the US spends anywhere between $4,000 - $7,000 on their SEM budgets. In light of this, and assuming that a dealer isn’t willing to spend any more (for any number of reasons), it is crucial that dealers emphasize and focus on getting the highest impression share possible on “buying intent terms / micro-moments” before focusing on anything else.

We’re certainly not saying that dealers shouldn’t buy terms like “2017 Toyota Camry”. Instead, we’re saying focus on buying “2017 Camry lease or 2018 Toyota Camry offers” first and as you watch your budget utilization or impression share, continue to add research terms. Of course, if you’re starting out with a $20,000/month search budget, it’s a lot easier for you to accommodate all types of campaigns. Now let’s look at the other crucial aspect of the Google Dealer Playbook – the slide on “maximizing Google’s products."

Google has done a great job of laying this out in a digestible format that isn’t overwhelming. We’ve tried to map this out against what DealerOn is doing for customers against each of these 4 categories.

1. “Foundational Fundamentals” - If you’re not knocking these out of the park, you’re not using Google the right way.

2. “Brilliant Basics” - Basic but often overlooked... powerful tactics worth prioritizing before the rest.

3. “Today’s Differentiators” – Tested & true growth strategies... some dealers are all-in, while others have yet to see the light.

4. “Future Growth Levers” – Where the savviest dealers are already testing, where Google & our most sophisticated marketing partners are placing bets.

In Summary and Conclusion

1. We think the Google Playbook is a great reset for the auto industry, which is being bombarded with new products and offerings. We’ve seen time and again that the fundamentals are ignored or handled incorrectly in favor of what sounds like the coolest thing on the market place.
2. We agree 100% that dealerships, especially those with budgets under $7,500/ month for Paid Search, need to emphasize shopping or buying related terms more than research oriented terminology.
3. Dealers should not ignore Bing and Facebook. In fact, the approach to Bing needs to be the same – buying first, research next. Facebook offers a plethora of granular targeting options that can provide a powerful way to reach in market shoppers in your local markets.
4. We’re excited to be in-sync with what Google sees as the gold standard for operating automotive digital advertising and we intend to continue being at the forefront of developing and adopting best practices.
5. Lastly, as a rapidly growing Google Premier Partner we have a front row seat to Google’s offerings and we’re excited to bring them to our dealer partners.

SEO Is Not a Project – It’s All of Them

I want to talk about SEO from a bit of a high level. I share a lot of specific tips & strategies for boosting specific signals for your dealership, but today we're going to take a step back. A lot of people are disappointed in their SEO efforts because they're thinking of it as a project with a start and an end date – like a radio ad or a billboard – where the costs are predictable and they’re buying something specific.

Instead, SEO is all of the projects that go into maintaining and improving a website’s visibility, with recurring and variable costs depending on how large the projects are.

SEO is Content, it’s Public Relations, it’s Social Media, it’s Community Involvement, it’s User Experience, it’s Conversion Optimization, and everything else combined. Everything digital that you do at your dealership sends a signal, which search engines use to determine your visibility. All of those signals need to work together. A slow website with poor content can get all the links in the world, but its potential visibility will be very low. On the other hand, a fast website with great content will go nowhere if no one knows about it. Good optimization needs a holistic approach that addresses each signal with a purpose.

Now, in order for it to be holistic, we need to find out what we’re working with. The first month of most SEO engagements is spent on audits and research. Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution if you want sustainable results. How many times can you hit the bullseye if you’re wearing a blindfold? The audits point us to the board, and the research lets us see the target. There are a lot of moving parts that need to align in order to get results – and we have to know the condition of each one.

Sometimes, people like to just focus on specific areas of SEO, like Content, or only do what they're good at. A-la-carte SEO can work if you’ve already got resources put into everything else and just need some extra hands. However, if that one piece off the menu is the only thing you’re doing, the results are going to be sluggish and unreliable. Everything needs to be dialed in and working toward something specific. If you've got an SEO provider, but you never talk to someone who understands how every channel needs to be aligned with your goals, do yourself a favor and walk away before you spend too much time going nowhere.

It’s also important to keep in mind that even the strongest efforts don’t show quick results. Your site’s organic performance typically stems from changes that were made weeks or even months ago. If you stopped SEO 90 days ago and are starting to see a decline, it’ll take another 90 days to fully recover – that’s 6 months down the drain while your competitors are moving further out of reach.

What Are SEO Signals?

I’ve mentioned signals a number of times – all that really means is the stuff search engines see when they’re crawling the web. These digital signals are what SEO projects are designed to influence.

There are direct signals (or On Site Signals) that are under your control:

• Your Name, Address, and Phone number (NAP)
• Your code, like the alt text for an image, or Schema markup
• Your content

And indirect signals (or Off Site Signals) that you can’t actively control, but you can influence:

• Reviews
• News articles
• Natural backlinks

Each one is used by search engines to help them interpret a page, its purpose, and determine its value.

So at its core, all SEO really means is optimizing the right stuff consistently. Search engines look for two answers for each signal: Yes, or No. A few examples:

Is the searcher’s phrase on the page? Does the rest of the page support it?

Check out this example. If someone is looking for an oil change, they probably aren’t looking for articles on how often fast food places change their oil. How can we optimize for that search phrase? Add some extra context with Service Coupons, Tech Certifications, Oil Brands, or Mileage and Maintenance checklists.

We also have to stay within that context. If we overload the page with references to Buying Used Cars, or Leasing New Cars, and talking about Multiple Cities, we’re effectively diluting the amount of confidence in the page. A higher level of confidence means more potential visibility – don’t make search engines guess what the main topic is. If they’re confident in what the page is about, they’ll show it more frequently in the results.

Does the page have any authority? Does the page matter?

Does anyone else care about the page enough to link to it? Did you make sure search engines could find it through smart internal linking, or is it hiding in the sitemap? If everything else is highly similar to your competition, a higher authority may make all the difference. Get involved with the community – work with car shows, work with charities, and work with other businesses. In general, the more references there are to your site the more authoritative you become. Trustworthy references build trust.

Does the page load reasonably quickly? Is the experience good?

If it consistently takes 15-20+ seconds for the page to load, the searcher has already hit the back button and found your competitor. Search engines can recognize that, and they know how long it took the page to render last time they crawled it.

The click patterns of an unhappy searcher are pretty recognizable: click a link, come back to the results quickly, click on another link, and stay there. After hundreds or thousands of people do that, search engines catch on that the competitor should be ranked higher.

Putting it All Together

SEO is about cumulative action and smart, purposeful optimization to maximize your signal strength. Everything that isn’t consistent is just an anchor that weighs down your site.

• Research – what are people looking for, what’s the competition doing? What has or hasn’t worked
• Implement – optimize specific pages to answer specific questions.
• Promote – community outreach, social posts, share content, get links.
• Patience – trust the research and let it play out. When the strategy changes, the clock starts over.
• Convert – this is the whole point. The funnel has to be optimized in order to turn visitors into customers.

At the end of the day, the best SEO strategy is specific, realistic, and data-driven — and that requires understanding the process soup to nuts. A common complaint I hear is that SEO services were paid for, but the results just weren't there. If that's the case, go back through your SEO strategy, point by point, and make sure you're covering the areas I've listed here. If you're not, fill in the gaps.

Happy optimizing!

In the wonderful world of PPC, we've all come to know and love (to some degree) automation services. For most of us, using automation with our paid search efforts has made life easier. But, while it can certainly make your PPC campaigns run more efficiently, it can also waste money at a pretty alarming rate if not set up correctly.

Now, I love a good rock n' roll reference, so today I'm talking about raging against the machine of artificial intelligence so that you don't spend money on something that's simply not working.

There are three main areas I want to focus on here: ad scheduling, site links & ad extensions, and bid management by device type.

Schedule Those Ads

Today's technology allows us to auto-schedule a lots of things: your bill payment, doctor's appointments, A/C system, and more. But when it comes to setting a budget for your PPC campaigns, you may want to customize your own ad schedule so that you're not automatically spending money & clicks at pre-designated intervals. If you or your provider are constantly bidding the exact same amount of money on ads, regardless of the time of day or week, that's not an efficient use of your budget.

I've used this example before, but if your business isn't open at 3:00 a.m., but your PPC ads are running 24/7, what happens when someone clicks an ad and your store isn't open? Unless you've got a followup strategy, those are lost advertising dollars because any incoming lead won't have a chance to contact your dealership.

Sitelinks & Ad Extensions

When ad extensions were rolled out, it was a glorious day. From a customer's standpoint alone, having more information on a SERP is always a good thing, because everyone loves to make informed decisions. However, many ad platforms don't have sitelinks & ad extensions fully automated yet, so if you plan on using those, a manual setup and management will be necessary for optimal results.

When customers are clicking a sitelink within your ad, they rightly expect to be taken to the specific page they clicked on. If that isn't the case, and they're sent to another location, or just your homepage, that's a surefire way to see your bounce rate shoot up. It's really all about the expectation. If you trust your automation process to choose the right page, then go ahead. But if you've got a more specific ad campaign in the works, it may be a better idea to manually set the site links before hitting "Go."

Bid Management by Device Type

You might be tired of hearing this one, but you'd really be surprised at how often I'll do an audit of a PPC process, only to find that desktop ads were used on mobile platforms, and vice versa. Consider the device that will be accessing your ad, and then design it accordingly. As an extreme example, a towing company with 24/7 service options probably won't run a lot of desktop ads, especially late at night. Most of their target audience is stranded, and only has one connection to the internet: their phone.

Now, these three areas I've mentioned aren't no-zones for automated processes. But, in my experience, you DO need to have some human oversight into how the automation is set up, otherwise you run the risk of wasting your money - or someone else's.

And there's one more thing I wanted to mention: call extensions & message extensions. One of the more recent things I've been noticing in the PPC world (especially in the automotive vertical) is ads that have "Call Us Now!" in the text, but no call extensions to click on. This is a similar issue to the earlier one about running ads 24/7. If you're calling someone to take a certain action, then you need to have a path for them to follow. A strategy, if you will.

Additionally, message extensions are also a great way to connect with your audience. But, as with call extensions, many dealers are implementing them with little strategy, which results in inefficient performance. If you plan on using message extensions in your ads, then make sure to test the CTAs so that you're getting the best results.

Hopefully, these insights into paid search strategy have been useful for your dealership. I spend a lot of time advising people on optimizing their PPC campaigns, so I try to share helpful tips whenever possible.

In a previous post, we talked about website optimization as a general concept and laid out some ground rules for A/B testing to gauge how visitors interact with your site. Driving traffic to your site is a worthwhile effort, but it can quickly become worthless if you never track which buttons are being clicked, which pages are being viewed, and what path your customers are taking to conversion. Now, it’s time to get specific, so let’s talk about how to optimize your homepage.

Layout

Odds are, your homepage is the most heavily trafficked page on your website, so content matters a lot. Most can be separated into four different sections, which you can see below:

Top right header – Logo, Branding, & Identity
Top left header – Titles & Contact Info
Lower header – Global Navigation
Below header – Main Content

Every site will be organized slightly differently, but for the most part, that’s the universal template. Your mobile homepage will have a variation of the same layout as well.

Headers

Your homepage’s headers act a bit like a driver’s license for the page. They tell the visitor what site they’re on, what page they’re viewing, and how to get in touch with your dealership – all the basics. Consistent headers actually help people interpret webpages as part of your website. For example, consistent headers would tell someone that your service page and a vehicle detail page both belong to the same website, even though the content on the two pages is quite different.

Logos & Branding

Within your headers, logo and branding consistency is also a key part of homepage optimization. And just like with headers in general, it’s the absence that speaks volumes. A website with a different headers & logo placement on each page would be extremely hard to navigate, frustrating users. Moreover, having logos that aren’t hyperlinked to the homepage can contribute to that confusion as well. Again, being able to navigate from page to page (or get back “home”) is a function that most people come to expect now. Additionally, your logo should always be in the top left part of your header, paired with your dealership’s title.

Contact Information

In the olden days of website design, you would include a “Contact” link in the site’s footer, and your address & location were only visible after someone clicked through. While the “Contact Us” page is absolutely necessary, your address and phone number should also be spelled out in the top right header area. Instead of hiding your contact info on an internal page, display it at the very top of each page.

Global Navigation

Lots of websites (not just car dealer websites) rely on form submissions as a main source of internet leads. When site visitors want to interact with your dealership, they’re most likely going to fill out a form, exchanging some information for an appointment, a phone call, or maybe a coupon. So then, site navigation is incredibly important to optimizing for conversion, as are CTAs. As the heatmap below illustrates, most users read in an “F-pattern” and take in data from left to right, top to bottom – reading less and less as they scan down the page.

What does that tell us? Put all your pertinent links and CTAs in the red areas, where people’s eyes are naturally going. As far as global navigation goes, we see the best results when dealers put their “Home,” “New Cars,” and “Used Card” pages on the left hand side of their navbar, and the “About” and “Contact Us” pages on the far right. And here’s an extra tip: using a “home” icon on the navbar can help lower the number of people who click there as a “reset” strategy. Why? An icon is more subtle than plain text, and therefore a little less noticeable. Users are more likely to leave your website after resetting to your homepage, so you don't want to disrupt the conversion process if at all possible. While it’s not usually a good idea to use icons in place of text (it can get very confusing, very quickly), the “home” icon can help guide user flow to a CTA that your dealership has found to have a high conversion rate. To put it simply, don’t make it any easier than it already is for potential leads to get distracted and bounce off your site.

Extra Tips & Tricks

• Popups can be a high-volume lead producer when the offers are compelling and promise a savings or coupon.
• Any vehicle search function on your homepage should be above-the-fold.
• Eliminate any unnecessary widgets, as they increase site load time.
• Use drop-down inventory search bars when possible, as they’re still the #1 search method for car shoppers.
• Make any “floating” chat boxes static.
• Use colored vehicle photos on your model bar, white/silver are the least-clicked colors.

Managing a PPC campaign can sometimes seem like a free-for-all effort. There are lots of options and lots of ways to spend your money - but not all of them are worth your time. I've spent years in the SEM/PPC world, and I've noticed a trend in the way ad budgets are structured. Here are 6 ways to avoid wasting your PPC budget, based on the most common mistakes I see dealerships make.

1. Running Ads 24/7

This might be the most common mistake I see when auditing PPC processes - and it's not unique to dealerships. For businesses that are closed at night and don't have a 24-hour customer support system or call center, running ads 24/7 is a sure-fire way to waste money. If your dealership is closed and can't follow up on a website lead, then why pay to drive traffic there? Imagine you have a compelling click-to-call ad that requires an internet sales rep to follow up with immediately. If the ad is being run 24/7, and someone happens to see it at 11:30 p.m., what happens? A whole lot of nothing. Make sure to double-check ads that are running nonstop, because if you can't actually follow up with the lead in a timely fashion, it's a wasted effort. Conversion rates on overnight leads don't have strong conversion rates, so allocate those dollars for ads during your dealership's business hours.

2. Text Ads in Google Display Network

Can you guess what's wrong here? Two words in the subheading above are a dead giveaway: text and display. You technically have the option to run text-based ads on Google's Display Network, but text ads are traditionally served in search engines. By serving text ads on image-heavy websites, your clicks may go down and your bounce rate may go up, as you're more likely to get accidental clicks from users who will quickly leave your site. Further, text-based ads don't look compelling next to display ads, and it's not an optimal use of your money.

3. Ads in Google Search Partner Network

I hate to say it, but not everything Google offers is a golden goose. In other words, just because it's an option for your PPC campaign, doesn't mean it's a good idea - even if it comes from Google. The Search Partner Network might seem like a great way to boost your impressions, but that metric is undermined by the quality of traffic you'll get, not to mention it will hurt your overall campaign metrics. If you extend your audience to the Search Partner Network, where conversion & click rates are obscenely low, you're simply lowering your overall metrics because it ties into your Google campaign as well.

4. Poorly Managed Negative Keywords

Your negative keywords help target qualified traffic, plain and simple. If you're not excluding negative keywords like "headlights" or "headrests" from your campaigns, for example, then you risk wasting your budget by serving ads to car customers who are looking to accessorize or repair - not buy. Determine your campaign goals and make sure that you exclude all unqualified traffic by adding in the appropriate keywords. Here's a pro tip: exclude other products by the OEM, if applicable. For example, Honda makes lawnmowers and cars, and serving an ad to someone who's trying to cut their grass is a prime example of doing it wrong.

5. Sloppy Copy

I'm not talking about grammar & verbiage issues (that should be at a premium!), I'm talking about how well the ad matches your landing page. Sad to say, misleading and/or poorly written ad copy is a very real problem that not only wastes money, but frustrates your potential customers. If your advertisement says or implies one thing, but your customer finds something very different on your site when they click through, you've lost that lead. And, of course, that can negatively impact your metrics. Just think about how frustrating it is to spend time & effort investigating what you think is a good deal, but turns out to be wrong.

6. No Ad Extensions

A robust, optimized ad is one that includes extensions. And that's not just a matter of opinion, failure to make ad extensions can rank you lower in Google's Search Network or even cause you to lose a bid to a competitor who did take the time to build out amazing extensions. If it's properly implemented, adding things like link, phone, and pricing extensions can help boost conversion rates significantly. But neglecting extensions is essentially keeping helpful information from your customers, who are eager to learn more (and fast) about their search query. Telling someone that you have new Toyota Camrys is nice, but what if the customer could look at inventory links, could see price ranges, could call you, and even see your address in the ad itself? It's easy to see how that ad would win over a plain-text ad.

Get Going

It's important to note that quite a few of these PPC mistakes are the result of an automated advertising strategy. And, let's be honest. If there's anything more frustrating than wasting money, it's paying a machine to do it for you. But that's not to say that all automated strategies are bad, there's a difference between "set it & forget it" and smart automation. For some dealers, automated processes are the only way to manage a campaign, due to sheer volume. If any part of your PPC gameplan is automated, then test it against these 6 common mistakes to make sure you're not "automatically" wasting money.

This post originally appeared on DealerOn's website.