Google has done a great job at getting the most relevant local businesses to the top of their search with Google Local Business Listings.  However it is a gigantic task to make sure that all of the businesses have correct information.  Below is a video of how to log into Google and add or edit your dealerships information.  As mentioned in the video make sure and review this listing often as it is possible for other businesses to hijack your information in addition to the potential of software errors.

Example of Googles Local Business Listing

Getting your site indexed by the Search Engines is step one to SEO. If Google, Yahoo, MSN, or the other Engines don’t even know that your site and pages exists then the odds of it coming up as the number one hit is ZERO.
For most dealerships, especially franchise dealerships getting the ‘Home’ page indexed usually isn’t the problem, the problem is getting the rest of the site seen and available for possible buyers. Keep in mind that the main purpose of the Search Engines is to return the most relevant page for each individual search, so when you only have one or a few pages indexed you are limiting the ability of your website and your inventory to be found.
To see how many pages your site has indexed in Google and Yahoo run the following searches.
Google search for “site:www.yoursitedomain.com” to determine what Google has indexed for your site. Yahoo search “www.yoursitedomain.com” will give you a picture of what Yahoo has. You should have at least as many pages indexed as you have vehicles in inventory. Having your website indexed isn’t the only thing you need to do for SEO but it is definitely required before you can do anything else.

Simply put the major Search Engines use software programs called robots (also known as spiders, or crawlers) to go from link to link through the Internet in order to discover and catalog websites and their content.  This process is called indexing and is what makes it possible for a search for “pizza” to return 218,000,000 results in a fraction of a second.  Since the Search Engines already have the information stored it makes returning that information very quick.   Next post I will get into a little bit more detail of the importance of getting your site fully indexed in order to get better conversion.

What is a Backlink?
A backlink is just a link from one website to another.  The reason that backlinking is getting so much attention is because the Search Engines see each unique backlink as a vote for the site that it is linking to by the site that it is linking from.  In addition to a vote for a site or specific content a backlink is another way for the Search Engines to determine and validate what the content is on the site being linked to.  This is very important when you are trying to get your website seen in the Search Engines.  For more on how backlinking works and information on how to get the best benefits from them go to the  backlink page on DealerTrend.com.

Without a doubt the biggest topic of discussion and confusion in our industry right now is Search Engine Marketing in its many forms.  To help shed some light on this subject and how it relates to the car business I am going to first start with a summary of what Search Engine Marketing is and the value that it has, and then break it down into its parts in future posts.  You will find there is no mystery to successful SEM or SEO, just some basic concepts followed though with quality and effort.

What exactly is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?  The answer to this question will vary a little depending on who you ask, but in general SEM is taking an action to be found in the results of a search performed using one of the various search engines by a person browsing the Internet.  The intent is to be seen in order to sell a product, service, or idea.  SEM includes paid marketing like banner ads and paid per click advertising as well as free advertising like organic search, social, and viral marketing (all aspects that I will cover in coming posts)

Is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) as important as all of the hype?  Since the beginning of the Internet the potential for profit has been apparent in both sales and advertising.  So getting your company name, brand, or products in front of potential buyers as they were browsing the Internet was a great way to be seen.  Since the widespread adoption of Google over the last four years or so, coupled with their ability to put specific products in front of people as they are looking for that product has increased the marketing potential one hundred fold.  Imagine if you picked up a newspaper, and while looking at the front page decided that you want to see all of the 2006 Ford F-150’s at which point the newspaper rearranged itself to display all 2006 Ford F-150 classifieds and articles for you to see.  At the same time the newspaper brought up these all of the advertising shifted to the companies that have products or services for F-150 owners and potential owners. Then the next time you pick up a newspaper it remembers what you searched for last time, this is just a fraction of what Google can do.  With up to 80% of potential car buyers doing some sort of research online before buying, yes SEM is worth all the Hype.  Just be careful and do some research before making any decisions regarding paying for SEM or SEO services as there are companies out there that will take advantage of your lack of knowledge.

Over the coming weeks I am going to break down the components of SEO, kind of a glossary of terms to help as you talk to SEM/SEO companies and web site companies.

Mike

As I sit here and try and come up with what to write it occurs to me that my first post really should be about this blog and what your benefit will be from coming back and reading it often or utilizing the RSS feed to stay up to date.So here it is:  My goal for this blog is to inform and educate you as a dealer about what is happening on the Internet, from terms that you have heard and may not fully understand to those that are complete Greek.  After having spent over ten years in the car business, and having been on this side of things for a little over four years it has become very apparent just how far out of the technical loop dealerships are.  This “gap” has created great distrust by some dealerships, and complete gullibility in others.  Both of which are understandable yet avoidable if information can be presented in an easy to digest format.  I have chosen a blog format to present this information so that you can ask questions and interact with other dealerships that are in the same boat as you.

The other reason for creating this blog is to help maintain communication with our clients.  Customer service is a big deal for us here at DealerTrend and sometimes it is easy to loose touch with our clients, especially when they are content and have no need to contact us.  I would like this blog to be a venue for any dealership; client or not to learn what is available on the World Wide Web in order to maximize results and avoid being scammed by companies that target the less technically inclined.

Please come back often as I will do my best to come up with information that is of use to you.

Mike Fitzpatrick