In today’s digital age, having a strong online presence is crucial for businesses of all types, including car dealerships. With so many consumers turning to the internet to research and purchase cars, it’s essential to optimise your online presence to grow your car listing revenue. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. SEO is the process of improving a website’s ranking on search engine results pages, and it can be a powerful tool for car dealerships looking to increase their visibility and drive more traffic to their websites. In this article, we’ll give you some useful tips that are guaranteed to improve the visibility of your business and reach more potential customers

Update your Google Business Profile

For any business that is looking to capitalise on local search opportunities, having an up-to-date and optimised Google Business Profile is crucial. This is especially true for brick-and-mortar businesses like car dealerships, which can leverage local search preferences to appear at the top of search engine results and attract new customers. When a customer searches for a product or service in their area, Google favours businesses with local listings that include an accurate business address, contact information, and hours of operation. 

Additionally, including high-quality photos and customer reviews can build trust with potential customers and improve click-through rates. To ensure that your dealership’s information is consistent and accurate, it’s important to keep your Google Business Profile up-to-date and align your website’s content with the information on your profile. By following these practices, you can improve your SEO credibility, attract more customers, and increase your chances of becoming a top listing in your area.

 

Use the right keywords

While many car dealerships prioritise listing the model names and prices of their inventory, it’s important to present the information in a way that aligns with how customers actually search online. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and try to avoid using industry jargon and technical specifications that may be unfamiliar to the average user. Instead, adopt a language that speaks directly to their needs and preferences. This means adding specific terms and features that customers would often search for, such as ‘panoramic sunroof’ or ‘spacious trunk’.

By updating your car listings with the terms and language that real customers use, you can set yourself apart from the competition and improve your chances of being found by potential clients. Conducting a simple SEO audit or manual keyword research can help you understand the specific search terms that customers are using to find cars like yours, and allow you to optimise your listings accordingly. By using language that resonates with your target audience and meets their specific needs, you can attract more leads and improve your overall sales performance.

 

Make your images more recognisable by Google

Search engines are capable of analysing the text on your web pages but they can often struggle to interpret the content of your images. This is where ‘alt-tags’ come in and we can’t stress how underestimated they are.

Alt-tags are short descriptive text snippets that you can add to your images to help search engines understand the content of those images. By providing alt-tags, you can help search engines index the visual content on your website, making it more likely to appear in search results when relevant queries are performed. For car dealerships, alt-tags are especially important since the details of each vehicle can make a significant difference in a customer’s purchasing decision. By including specific details like the model, colour, and year of the car in the alt-tag, you can help search engines properly ‘see’ and index the images on your site, increasing the likelihood of your listings appearing in front of interested buyers. 

In short, including alt-tags is a simple but effective way to improve the visibility and searchability of your car dealership’s website, and help ensure that potential customers are able to find your inventory when they’re looking for relevant information.

 

Post useful content on your blog

Purchasing a new car is no coincidence. For most people, buying a car is an important decision and it’s often prompted by significant life events, such as starting a new job or growing a family. If you’re already familiar with this, you can use this information to improve the customer experience through specific content.

To ensure your dealership is part of this customer journey, it’s important to focus on SEO for your blog. As search queries become more specific, your blog posts should answer these questions. Create content that addresses what people search for when faced with these big life moments, such as ‘The Best Family Cars’ or ‘Top Cars for College Students’. By doing so, you can increase organic traffic to your website and appear in front of qualified customers when they’re ready to buy.

Conclusion

Enhancing your automotive SEO is a highly effective method to attract traffic to your dealership’s car listings, both online and in-person. Utilise these suggestions to rank higher in search results and increase footfall to your dealership, thereby boosting your business.

About Magic

Magic helps local businesses grow. Thousands of local businesses use Magic to get more online reviews, win new customers, easily manage customer conversations and grow sales. Magic offers these features:

• Reviews: Get more reviews with easy review requests for popular review sites like Google, Facebook, Yelp, TrustPilot, and more. Rank high on local search and enhance your visibility on Google. 
• Inbox: Keep track of customer conversations across channels in one inbox, including SMS, Facebook, Instagram, and Gmail. Manage conversations better as a team and do more with industry specific templates. 
• Text Marketing: Drive more sales with instant text campaigns and reach your customers at the right moment with automation. Use prebuilt templates to send out text campaigns in minutes. 
• Webchat: Turn website visitors into customers with SMS powered Webchat. Chat to website visitors directly through SMS so you won’t miss a lead, even when they leave your website. 

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