An external link is a hyperlink on a website other than your own but points back to your website.  Many SEO companies believe that external links are important to attain good SEO rankings.  Beingseen360.com does believe that external links are part of the very big SEO equation but once again not at any cost.  Once again it must make sense.

External linking at any cost won’t win you any points with search engines.  They actually may hurt you.  I have worked with SEO companies in the past that will go out and link to different blogs, local radio stations or post event on our facebook pages to link the other way.  It all looks interesting but what good is it really doing.  Don’t do it just to do it.

First understand what search engines are looking for with external links. RELEVANCY AND POPULARITY.

 When doing external links the more relevant the page you are putting your link on the better.  For example, most dealers are on Cars.com or Autotrader, and on your individual vehicle listing pages and dealer profile page there is a link to your website.  This is a strong and relevant external link.  You are on a site for car shopping, what could be more relevant.

Below are some things to think about before doing external links:

1.       Is the site you are linking with a good one that people trust

2.       Is the content on the website you are linking with relevant to yours

3.       The more popular the page you are linking on and the more popular the site the better

Many dealership, particularly large dealer groups, have contracts with vendors.  I would recommend expanding the scope of that contract.  For example, if you have a contract with a radio station or a local online entity that you advertise on include content and social aspects to what you negotiate.  

If we spend at X level we would like 1 blog per quarter to be written about either our industry or our dealership with some reference to us and our website.  You can even see if you can provide the content.  This isn't meant to be a hard sell ad but just a way to establish your dealership with LOCAL relevance and trust.

Another interesting idea would be to get the entity to mention your dealership on their social media pages.  

Remember to include that all content must be approved by you to ensure your dealership is shown in an accurate way.