Automotive SEO

A recent post on an automotive social networking forum brought up the question about back links to their dealer website.  Having high quality automotive website linking to your dealership website is an important part of an Automotive SEO strategy.  However, getting links from other automotive websites is not an easy task.

Before I make some suggestions on how to build links, it is important to stay away from offers that sound too good to be true.  Every week I get email solicitations from companies from India, Russia and the UK offering one-way links for a low fee.  Most of these services create links from websites that will add no real value to your Automotive SEO strategy.

Automotive User Groups 

In the automotive space, consider becoming a sponsor of popular automotive user group forums for your specific brand.  Many offer links building opportunities and banner advertising at a very reasonable cost.  For example, if you are a Nissan dealership you may consider becoming a supporting member of http://www.nicoclub.com/ or http://www.nissanforums.com/. 

There are dedicated user groups and forums for every brand of cars.  These sites have high keyword density and relevance for the dealer brand they represent.  Articles posted on these sites, posting your cars for sale, or just advice to forum members can produce high quality links back to your website. 

A word of advice; become a supporter and clearly identify yourself as a vendor. Also, take it slowly and build up your reputation and trust in the forum or you will be thrown out on your ass.

Outside of well ranked automotive user groups websites, look for automotive blogs that offer advertising space; many exist.  An alternative is to look for automotive blogs or communities that will allow you to post articles in a field of your expertise for free.  This is perfect for automotive professionals that like to write and share ideas. 

If you don't have the time or the motivation to write, considering hiring a firm to write articles on automotive topics and post these articles on "ezine" websites like http://ezinearticles.com or article directory websites like http://www.articledashboard.com . 

The articles you write must be informative and not sales pitches. When done properly they can create powerful links and attract organic search traffic.  For example, writing an article on the benefits of purchasing a Toyota ExtraCare warranty over a third party warranty would be a good article to gain link relevance on extended warranty keywords. You can link to charts or warranty information on your website  and pickup a good back link.

Local Business Directories

Outside of these two strategies, look for ways to also establish local relevance for OEM car sales in your state.  These opportunities are normally found on reputable statewide business directory websites. Make sure that the website has a Google PageRank of 3 or higher. Banner ads or sidebar articles can often generate hundreds of links to your website from one advertising sponsorship.   The optimal advertisement will include some text that you can hyperlink with a strong anchor tag. An example is: http://www.newjerseyvisitorsnetwork.com

Press releases are another great way to build quality links and there are about a dozen great websites that you can utilize for PR and back links.  The key is to use press release websites that allow hyperlinked text in the body of the press release.  This allows for you to create "votes" for important keywords surrounded by relevant text. Try www.prlog.org and www.webwire.com .

If you donate to local charities, schools, colleges and churches ask for them to create a sponsors page and add a short note about your support with a link back to your website.  Links from these websites can be very valuable to establish credability.

Free Linking Exists

Other opportunities like Yahoo Answers, Merchant Circle Blogs, Fast Company and SlideShare are just a few of the dozens of free sites that can provide a good back link that will raise your relevance for the keywords you are targeting.  Try to build links from blog articles that are about automotive topics.

You can also look for blog posts that you can reply to that allow links to be followed.  Firefox has a nice plug-in that will show you which website forms have a "no-follow" tag and those that do not.  Reply boxes that have a no-follow tag will not build back links.

In the end, link building is very important but it takes time and experience to know how to build the most effective links. Car dealers often do not have the time or expertise to build a consistent monthly link building campaign. 

In the ideal situation, link building and other Internet Marketing tasks should be a shared responsibility between car dealer and outside consultant.  Techniques and strategies are constantly changing and someone who builds links all day is normally finding new sites every week which can be an advantage over your competitors.

If you have questions, drop me a line or an email.

Brian Pasch, CEO

Pasch Consulting Group

732-450-8200

http://www.dealer-seo.com

I wanted to recognize a few individuals that have lead by example in regards to Automotive Internet Marketing and Social Media this past year. It is easy to add a shingle to your virtual door and call yourself an Internet Marketing Expert, but in reality the Internet is the great filter for exposing facades.

As dealers shift more of their Internet Marketing dollars online in the attempt to capture more consumer eyeballs who are researching cars online, there will be dozens of companies claiming to deliver greater visibility with SEO, Social Media or Microsites. In the past year, an influx automotive vendors have added SEO, Social Media, Internet Reputation Management and Microsites to their list of services offered.

Dealers have commented that they are being bombarded with calls and everyone has started to demand a piece of their Internet Marketing budget. In the end, I would like to suggest that those who seek to assist dealers with Google Page One results, should in fact demonstrate that ability for their own goods and services. If a vendor is offering Internet Marketing services for any niche or part of your Internet Marketing strategy, they should have a Google Page One Management (GPOM) strategy in place for their own business; organically.

Who Are The Thought Leaders

Google rewards those who are first to act as well as those who provide good content. I conducted a number of Google searches for a subset of the "search phrases" involved in Internet Marketing and you will see some patterns. This is not just a self serving post but a litmus test for car dealers who are bombarded with sales calls every month.

My advice: Google the companies that are claiming to be experts in any field of Internet Marketing. If they are nowhere to be found, run away!

With that said, I would like to take my hat off for the tireless writing and effective Internet Marketing and Promotion of these indiviuals and their businesses.

These automotive marketing professionals PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH, and Google confirms it:

If you want to dominate online organic search and social media, the companies and indiviuals listed above have Google "proof" that they know how to get their message on Google Page One.

Put your online vendors to the Google litmus test in 2010!

Brian Pasch,CEO

Pasch Consulting Group

http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

http://facebook.com/paschconsulting.com

SEARCH RESULTS - 12-25-2009

Car dealers looking to leverage Google, Yahoo and Bing in 2010 to increase the visibility of their brand when a consumer types in a search phrase have another tool from Google they can use to refine their efforts.  It's time you tested Google Insights for Search and how you might leverage this data for refine your Automotive SEO Strategies.

From a high level perspective, search engines like Google query “best matching” assets in their database of web pages, videos, images, and social media feeds when consumers type in a search phrase. When it determines what the best items to show, it creates the infamous “Google Page One” search result. (SERP)

A big question has always been: “What search phrases are consumers using in my area?”

The questions that should follow are:

• What assets can I upload and tag with text that will be a good match? (SEO)
• What am I willing to pay per click for that search phrase? (SEM)
• How will I track if clicks from that search phrase results in a conversion or sale? (GBP )

Google Page One Competition or Clutter

Most recently “best matching’ includes real-time Twitter tweets and Facebook posts; this is an Internet Marketing strategy game changer. I’ll be posting an article on real-time search results and the effect on Automotive SEO strategies shortly. So now, Google Page One Management (GPOM) and IRM strategies have to deal with social media feeds, videos, static images, press releases, ecommerce images, Google Maps and text links.

It’s a good reminder to state that localized search is a part of the equation of what search engines will serve on Page One in addition to best matching keyword assets. When a consumer types in “Nissan Sentra” from their home, the search engines have to decide how to balance local content and national content when they display a search engine results page (SERP).

If you type in “Nissan dealers” from a PC in Irvine, California, Google will show you local California Nissan dealers on Google Maps. That fact that you did not type in “Irvine” or “California” does not matter since Google knows the geo-location of your IP address roughly. The same query from a PC in Preston Maryland should show a different result.

As a side note, please make sure that your dealership’s Google Maps listing is correct and that it is showing for broad searches like the ones given above. Google Maps normally pops up with a city, county or state is included in a search phrase. If your Google Maps listing is not tagged properly, you may be missing hundreds of free advertising views per month.

Google Keyword Tool

Many dealers have come to know that Google provides a free tool called the Google Adwords Keyword Tool which can show them how popular search phrases are on a monthly basis based on total USA data. The Google keyword tool can be used to help select domain names as well as keyword strategies that have a broader target.

A new tool that I would like to discuss is called Google Insights and this tool has a different spin on Google search data that will help car dealers with localized content development in 2010. The tool is designed to help online marketers research seasonal and regional trends in search phrases.

Google Insights will also show which search phrases are picking up in volume; I like this feature the best. This insight can help car dealers decide what they should be targeting in terms of their blog posts and the wording of their press releases, tweets and online ads.

Applying Google Insights

Automotive retailers approaching the end of the year may want to know which search phrases local consumers are typing in that are looking for an “end of year” car sale. In your area, Google Insights could tell you which phrase was on the rise; “Nissan Year End Sale” or “Nissan Clearance Sale” or some other variant. Once you have that data in hand, you could create a blog post with those search words in the title to increase your chances for a “best matching” asset in your local market.

The tool can also help refine local vocabulary and terms that might be unique to a market. Some areas of the country use the word “pop” to describe a soda so regional differences that can be exposed with Google Insights. Dealers should research the top search phrases for their brand, in their local market, so they do not base their strategy on national data or worse yet, a guess.

Google Insights also maps areas of search interests on your state which can also show further localized trends in your PMA and beyond. There is so much that can be done with this data, but there is a limit to what you'll read in one sitting.

Google Insights is another tool that should be in your Internet Marketing toolbox for 2010. Since content and asset matching is so important for search visibility, this tool can help your hard work go even further. If you have questions, just ask.

Brian Pasch, CEO
Pasch Consulting Group

http://twitter.com/automotiveseo
http://facebook.com/paschconsulting

According to a post on DealerRefresh Forums "Ford yesterday re-issued a statement regarding the disapproved domains for dealerships to use - these include geographic names."

A strict domain use policy will be painful to enforce, like previous OEM efforts, because some of Ford's biggest dealers and most successful dealers use microsites to sell cars. Personally, I think that Ford Motor Company (FMC) has strong lead generation partners that are whispering in Ford's ear; "Microsites are Bad!"

It's bad for third party lead collectors to have Ford Dealers create multiple domain names. It would infringe on their lead flow and push national lead collection websites off Google Page One.

Boston Microsite Examples

For example, if random Boston car dealers who were Internet savvy created websites like "bostonaudi.com", "bostoninfiniti.com", "bostonbmw.com" in addition to their registered trade name websites, guess what would happen. The tens of thousands of searches per month on those exact phrases would go to local dealers directly and less would go to Edmunds.com, Automotive.com, Autotropolis.com, and other lead collectors.

If you use the Google Keyword Tool to see traffic on OEM names per month, using the term Boston you find:

Each month, thousands of consumer shop by geographical targets.  They are looking for dealers and you would think that Ford would understand that dealers should be getting those leads directly.  If a dealer operated a microsite, they would like be in the top organic position an benefit from good click through rates.  Still, their website would need to provide value to attract customers, but why limit their opportunity?

In today's competitive online community, Internet Marketing strategies need to include more than a Ford dealer's primary domain. Microsites deliver more first party leads to local dealers. In the past it was expensive to create, but today that are inexpensive. With leads costing dealers $20 a piece, you can see the economic in the fight. Ford seems to be siding with the lead collectors.

Reasonable Policies Are Feasable

I could see a reasonable policy that requested that only Ford dealers should be able to have domains with the Ford name in the domain name. BMW has a strict policy about commercial sites that include BMW in the domain name. I could also see that Ford dealers would be discouraged from creating domain names using the town name of a competing local Ford Dealer. There are limits to how aggressive one should get; big cities get a bit sticky.

If OEM's strictly enforced and demand that dealers only use their primary business name in the URL, then I would have to believe that the OEM's were in collusion with lead collection portals. Dealers take out co-op TV advertising that crosses PMA boundary lines. Ford co-ops newspaper ads that have distribution that crosses PMA boundary lines. The Internet should not be viewed so narrowly.

The first OEM that strictly enforces this idea will see less creativity and competition on the dealership level. Dealers will have less control of their own marketing platforms. This will result in third party companies and lead sources commanding a higher price for leads. Lead collectors will be able to use non-Ford automotive domains to surround local Ford dealers and capture leads.

Brian Pasch Offers His Help

I would actually benefit from a strict OEM lockdown because my Automotive SEO lead generation portals that I am building for my clients will slip higher in the local rankings. Regardless of my benefit, it would hurt Ford the dealers who are just getting the tools to control their own destiny.

This is a backward step in Automotive Digital Marketing; a compromise must be reached. I will offer my time to sit down with Ford executives to create a fair and balanced domain naming policy. Ford needs to see how one sided this type of strict ruling would be for their dealer own network.

Brian Pasch

http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

http://facebook.com/paschconsulting

If great social media websites provide excellent content and engagement for their members, how can car dealers provide value, on a consistent basis, on their social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Ning.  I have concluded that for car dealers, it will most likely be a  partnership between a key dealership  employee and a consultant or service bureau.

Have you read a press release from one of large car manufacturers?  Often, the press release is NOT written for the average consumer so it has to be reworked.   If a dealer automatically inserts posts from the manufacturer’s RSS feed on their website, they are likely to fail.  OEM press releases have too much CYA wording to be of interest to the average consumer.  There are gems of information in most press releases, a good  editor just has to pick them out.

In addition to press releases, news articles from third party review websites like JD Powers and Consumer Reports are often verbose and need editing.  Editing outside content is the perfect job for an Automotive Internet Marketing firm because when done properly, car dealers social media websites can be filled with the latest news from their brand(s) that they carry.

The Pasch Consulting Group offers outsourced content development that can be leveraged on car dealer blogs and social media websites.   We offer Comprehensive Internet Marketing packages that include content development as well as blogging, microsites, link building, press releases and social media management.  You can read more about these services: Automotive Digital Marketing Package.

Customer Interactions Best Done Internally

Car dealers need to “step up to the plate” when interaction with their customers is needed. A trained employee is in the best position to respond to a consumer post since they have access to other staff and the customer files. That’s why Facebook and Twitter should not be a 100% outsourced management task.  An outside consultant does not have the rich experience and data to answer questions as well as an insider.

If a recent car buyer sends the dealer a thank you on Facebook, the dealership needs to respond and leverage that praise.  Customer interaction tasks are BEST done from competent dealership employees.  If your staff needs training, we can provide that coaching and supervision.

The combination of outside content specialists and inside consumer communication staff can make social media portals turn into the best lead generation websites in their control.