With the average car shopping experience becoming more complex by the day, your dealership can’t afford to take just one or two routes to win over customers. It takes a combination of PPC advertising, traditional advertising,  social media marketing, digital marketing and, yes, SEO strategies to pull buyers into your dealership.

While SEO hasn’t been getting as much attention as it has in years past, it’s still integral to your marketing strategy. Take a look at these SEO statistics from the last year and half to see what I mean:

• Companies that mix their PPC campaigns with organic SEO techniques, generated 25 percent more clicks and 27 percent more profits than they would have if they had only used one of those strategies, according to Business 2 Community.

• Making your way to the top of local Google listings is still extremely effective. Organic results that land in the second, third or fourth spot receive about 63 percent of clicks. The top organic listing gets about 33 percent of those clicks, Business 2 Community reports.

• For all local searches, about 72 percent of people will visit a store that’s within five miles of them, according to Wordstream.

Develop your automotive SEO strategy

Just as SEO counts in other industries, automotive SEO definitely counts when you consider that more than 80 percent of car shoppers will take a test drive before buying — meaning they’re coming out to check out the wheels.

Keep in mind that SEO is only one component, albeit a very important component, of a comprehensive marketing strategy.  Here are 6 tips to get you started.

1. Start with an Engaging, Well-Designed Website.

When developing a solid SEO strategy that gets people to your site, you kinda need to work backwards.

Would you build a massive super highway to take your buyers to a destination that you didn’t feel was worth it? Of course not! Your website is the place where all the magic happens. You need to make sure you invest the time and resources to develop a website that provides plenty of answers for prospective buyers who have taken the time to visit. Your website should feature high quality photos of all the vehicles on your lot, and it should have as much useful information as humanly possible.
 

2. Develop a Strategic Content Plan.

It goes without saying that your website needs to do more than look pretty. As you likely already know, the keywords you leverage in the content on your website can help attract visitors who are searching for those specific terms and phrases on Yahoo, Bing or Google. By understanding what it is your consumers are searching for, you can develop a content plan that caters to their specific car shopping needs.

It’s the key to getting found by the thousands of car shoppers who will spend an average of 12 hours browsing online before they ever step foot in your dealership — or someone else’s. A keyword strategy, coupled with a content plan, can and will provide an opportunity to highlight the vehicles and services your dealership is known for.

Now, you don’t have to overdo it with the words — about 500 to 600 words per page should be more than adequate. Although there should be a balance between words and images on each page, your images should be a primary focus for your consumers. People want to see photos and relevant details like mileage, cost, and CARFAX history. If at all feasible, don’t forget to include those details within meta-descriptions, title tags and alt-text.

The last time to remember in regards to content planning is that search results typically improve with fresh content. Be sure to regularly update your site with new content. Not only will your consumers find it engaging and interesting, but it’ll help your rankings as well. Think of natural topics, like car trends, safety features, updates and tips on purchasing used cars.

3. Dazzle with Videos and Interactive Experiences

One of the reasons why your dealership’s website is arguably your most important marketing tool is because of its ability to leave an impression on its consumers. There’s no question that you want your website’s visitors to remember who you are! In order to effectively do this, you’ll need to engage visitors through a variety of mediums. Statistics have shown that video marketing, in particular, is gaining popularity as a way to engage audiences. By leveraging video marketing (Ex: How-to videos, walk-around videos, etc.) and interactive tools (Ex: calculators, quizzes, etc.), your website will likely generate more clicks -- and that’s another key component to boosting search rankings.

4. Optimize your Site for Mobile.

The majority of your consumers are doing tons of research on their mobile devices -- tablets and smartphones alike. Another way to improve search rankings (yes, search engines take this into consideration) is to make your website mobile-friendly. As you come up with more engaging elements for your website, makes sure you’re optimizing them for people using mobile devices. One big thing that should definitely be taken into consideration is navigation when optimizing for smaller devices. You want a consumer’s mobile experience to be simple and enjoyable.

Optimizing your dealership’s website for mobile might feel like a daunting task, but in recent years, creating a mobile experience has become easier. Look for auto dealership software options that automatically resize for mobile devices.  A smooth, seamless mobile experiences is no longer a nice to have, but rather, an essential aspect of any dealership’s website.

5. Ask for Reviews.

Have happy, satisfied consumers? You absolutely should have plenty of those if you’re delivering a great customer experience. Make it easy for buyers to leave a great review about their most recent purchase at your dealership. Create a strong social media presence online and go the extra mile by asking a new buyer if they could comment on their experience.

Good reviews offer consumers some measure of assurance that they’re working with a team they can trust. Additionally, social media reviews (and even reviews on search engines like Google) can have a big impact on what a consumer decides to click on while they conduct research.

6. Be a Good Samaritan.

Believe it or not, you can get better search results by being a good samaritan within your community. Are there opportunities within your neighborhood to support a worthy fundraiser or act as a sponsor for a social services agency? Rally your team together and go help those organizations out.

Now, you might be asking yourself: What does this have to do with search rankings? Let me tell you that it has EVERYTHING to do with search rankings. If you’re helping out a local organization, chances are good that they have a website. If you and the rest of your team contribute your services to an organization, you can request that your dealership is listed on the organization’s website (with a link, of course). By having other websites acknowledge your digital presence (especially in a positive light), you can increase your website’s search rankings.  It’s a win-win! You help people and you can get your dealership’s name out there on the web.

Naturally, charity isn’t the only way to get other organizations to link back to you and acknowledge your digital presence. Business organizations, like the Better Business Bureau, chamber of commerce and other business directories possess high-ranking websites that can influence, not only your site’s ranking, but its online reputation for folks who happen to stumble upon those websites.

Once you have a solid SEO strategy in place, keep at it. Continue to monitor your dealership website’s on-site activity to better improve the user experience and make it more engaging. Make sure you’re regularly posting fresh content and that you’re reaching out to new car buyers and community groups to produce a great digital footprint. With time, your efforts will pay off.