SEO for Car Dealers – 5 Expert Tips

Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO, is the boosting of website visibility to potential customers. There are many ways to approach SEO but one of the easiest and most beneficial is the inclusion of keywords on your site. By using keywords that a customer may search when looking for a dealership, your business is more likely to come up in their search than other dealerships. 

When a potential customer searches for “Car Dealers in my area” it can often return a large volume of results. 

When faced with the choice, most people will simply select the first couple of results that appear on the page. After all, why spend hours siphoning through every result? 

This is where SEO comes in. 

There are many variables which search engines consider when ranking results to searched terms. Therefore, if you are looking to increase click throughs to your website, securing a high placement through these variables is essential. 

Research from Backlinko found that the top Google result has, on average, a CTR (click-through-rate) of 31.7%. Which is over 10x higher than those at the very bottom of the first page.  

Moreover, if your website is not even on the initial page your visibility is minimal as just under 12% of consumers click through to the next page. 

But how can you secure a higher ranking? 

If you’re following all the information you need to, it may eventually lead you to reaching that sought-after top spot of the search. Even if you only reach somewhere in the top four, research suggest that is still where the majority of user clicks go.

Local SEO is an integral element to any business. It is particularly important where local dealerships are concerned as most of your face-to-face customers are looking for the right dealer in their area. So, you want to make sure that your   business appears when your local area is searched.  

One way to improve your website’s local SEO is through keywords or phrases such as: 

Using these keywords across your website means you can already begin to boost the likelihood that your dealership appears high on these searches.   

Additionally, you can improve your local SEO by simply marking you company on Google Maps through a Google My Business Profile.. 

For many this can be a first point of call for judging whether a company is worthwhile. If you are able to routinely update this page with relevant information, customer reviews and pictures of your dealership, it will appear more reliable to potential customers! It can give your more credibility and add that human touch that will make people want to choose YOUR location. 

Using these keywords across your website means you’re optimizing your chances of appearing in these searches. Resulting in your business climbing those pesky search engine rankings already.

We’ve put together a list of our top 5 SEO tips and tricks for car dealerships, so you can start making changes today.

Having a good understanding of the appropriate keywords you need to interpret across your website is incredibly important.

This is the easiest way to begin your SEO journey across your website. As stated previously, search engines use these words and phrases to determine website placement on search results! 

The best way to identity the right keywords is to get into the mindset of someone looking to buy a car.

What words would you use in a search? What specific features might you include? By doing this, you might find some words you may not have considered. 

You can also use specialised tools (e.g. Google Planner) which can definitely help but these may be inaccessible to those not using an SEO agency.  

To help, we’ve put together a list of keywords that could suit your website: 

Some of these may already be on your site as special qualities you of your business. If that is the case, you’re probably already advertising them.

But if you’re not, try highlighting them across your posts and content on your site. Additionally try adding them to meta titles and descriptions on your website (which we will discuss more in our next tip.) 

There is a lot to consider when applying SEO to dealership sites.  

Start small. Implement a few keywords into your page content and you will start to see a rise in the website’s traction. When you feel more accustomed to SEO you can start adding more! 

You can also include these key words or phrases in page titles and meta descriptions. 

To do this, you will either need to access the content management system (CMS) of your website or edit it directly in HTML. You can find some great advice for doing this from Google Webmasters support!   

While important, targeting keywords and phrases is only a part of the SEO jigsaw. If you want customers to return to your website consistently, your technical SEO needs to be spot on.  

The term Technical SEO refers to optimizing the construction of your site.  

Customers want things to be easy and quick when using a website. If your website design is confusing or internal links are slow and buggy, you will lose engagement. Customers may click away before even making a booking or returning customers may turn to new dealerships with a better user interface. 

When considering technical SEO, we need to consider all aspects of the site’s infrastructure. This includes everything from URL structure to page loading speeds!  

By including technical SEO, you can further improve that all-important organic traffic generated by search engines.  

Free SEO audit tools  can help but the information you receive can be difficult to decipher if you aren’t a specialist in SEO. A full SEO audit can be a solid foundation for resolving your website’s technical challenges. 

Featuring creative site content relevant to your business can help strengthen the experience of those visiting your site. 

There are many ways you can do this, from something as simple as including photographs or even writing a blog for first time buyers. 

Though it is centred less on actual car sales, it creates a sense of engagement and community, spurring browsers to return to your site.  

Taking the example of a blog, these are some post ideas that might inspire you: 

Doing this can also allow you to include another set of keywords (known as long-tail keywords) that are more niche to your dealership and boost your SEO. 

If you have a service where clients can book in for a consultation or a visit, consider adding a button where people can ‘book a meeting now’. This efficiency could be the deciding factor between your service and another that only offers phone bookings.

If your location is saturated with similar businesses and you’re still finding it hard to stand out against competition, then this tactic might be the thing to save you.  

An underappreciate way to improve your SEO is the quality of the links that recommend your website.  

It’s important to remember that simply having many links alone won’t improve your placement on the results page.

Search engine’s identity of quality of these links when considering them in your ranking. So, it’s very important to try and get yourself placed on well known, reputable sites when you’re link building. In turn, it will also improve how much credibility prospective customers give your website.

A targeted content marketing strategy is the ideal path to these links.  Why not offer to write a high-quality feature for a car magazine, for example? By offering small content in exchange for respectable links back to your website, you can create a foundation of solid back link.  

However, this kind of content creation may not be appropriate to your car dealership. If that is the case, you could instead create links to similar dealership sites. 

One way to do this may be through an event or deal with one another. This can then be shared across a number of platforms and may offer customers something in return which is always appealing. 

Look for high-quality and recommended car dealerships in your area. If you host used cars whilst they sell new, see if they can point customers looking for a quality car for a smaller price towards your business. The same goes for people who may be looking for something new at your business. 

Never underestimate the power of positive reviews. Your visitors are your best friends when it comes to free advertisement. 

Another aspect that shouldn’t be overlooked is public relations. 

Do something fun for the community! Host an event like a big weekend promotion for a new type of care. It’ll promote your business whilst encouraging your brand in your location. It’s a win-win. 

Once you have begun the process of integrating SEO across your website, changes will not suddenly occur overnight.  

PPC (pay-per-click) can offer a more immediate reward. 

Paid advertisements usually have the greatest site traffic as they appear early on the page, making them an enticing way to draw attention to your business. But you not only need to pay for the click, but also a PPC expert to set up the ad.   

Google have made setting up adverts on your own more accessible, but it could lead to you spending money on the wrong keywords if you don’t know what you are doing.