WHY SEO IN A CAR DEALERSHIP WEBSITE IS IMPORTANT
These last couple of weeks I have been searching for a new car to buy, I am looking to get a 2010 BMW X5 Diesel. So of course, my search began with Google and typing “2010 BMW X5 35d”. I was pretty shocked to find out that my results rendered in articles from Motor Trend and other automotive E-magazine websites and not 1 local dealership showed up from an organic search result (with the exception of sponsored links).
Reading the articles were great, but I already knew everything about the car. After all, that is the reason why I am buying it. So after refining my search and finally getting dealerships in my results I began to browse dealerships website. I started to notice something funny, was it just me, or did I already visit this site before? All of these sites were beginning to look the same, “cookie cutter” or “template” style websites. But aside from that, I noticed that a lot of the content was duplicated. Here is a screenshot of Shelly BMW and Irvine BMW Dealership website on the same page.
As you can see it is almost 100% identical from one site to another, but that wasn’t the only huge flaw I saw. It appears that the images on the website are being hosted elsewhere outside the directory of the dealerships website. What this means is that if someone does a Google Search for an image say “BMW X5″. dealerships using these platforms will not get credit for that image. And most of the time, if a potential customer see’s an image he or she likes they will click on the link associated with that image, which will take them to the site where it is being hosted.
When properly optimizing a website for search engines, it is important that everything works together to get optimum results. This means Meta Titles, Descriptions, Keywords, Content, Images, and also video. And seeing from most dealership websites I came to realize that a lot of them are getting “feeds” or using templates that have duplicate content. Now In case you didn’t know, duplicate content is really bad. I am not going to get into that, just do a YouTube search for “Duplicate Content” and you will see what I mean. These were just a few of many flaws that I saw that not only BMW dealerships are doing but also Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes, and many others. These cut and paste solutions are inexpensive for a dealership but provide poor results.
As the economy continues to gradually improve, an influx of consumers will re-enter the car market and, surprisingly, will have no clue where to begin. They haven’t purchased or leased a vehicle in 3+ years, aren’t familiar with current deals, and are often indecisive on what to get (make, model, options, etc.). This is where the powers of SEO are flexed.
Now to increase business, dealerships must focus on SEO and proper web development (no cookie cutter website) achieving top rankings in search engines. If potential customers are searching for ” BMW Dealership” and your dealership is ranked on the first page, there’s a good chance of getting a sale. And, if you’re ranking at the top of the first page (positions 1-4) you will – with attractive meta information – have a very high probability of receiving a sale.
Moral of the story: Car dealers should jump on the SEO bandwagon ASAP, create original content and use better tools than just a simple Template style website. The Internet is here to stay and placing your website at the top of search engines today will help you secure business tomorrow.
Web Design Lab can help your Dealership website by providing a proper strategy to help your dealership rank higher on search engines. Please feel free to contact us for a consultation.
Good Luck!
