Automotive SEO Increases Fixed Operations Revenue

Dealer franchises looking for new ways to increase revenue through service and parts need to understand the importance that “search” has on their business.  The Internet has become the primary education tool for consumers researching car purchases and related services; that includes service, warranties and parts.

Despite acknowledging that over 85% of consumers shop online for a new car purchase, dealers have not taken consumer behavior seriously in regards to parts and service.  This can be demonstrated in most local markets by conducting a Google search for franchise service or parts like “Ford Ranger brake pads NJ“.  National websites and automotive portals appear with local dealer franchises oddly absent.

Fixed Operations Content Is Normally Weak

The reason is simple; dealer websites have nothing significant to offer the search engines in regards to service and parts.  Google rewards text content and well tagged videos and images,. Many dealer websites have a few service coupons as graphical images tacked on a page labeled “Service Specials”  with no text and tags.  It reminds me of the old Wendy’s campaign that boasted a tag line “Where’s The Beef?“.

Automotive SEO  (Search Engine Optimization) is often a strategy deployed for new and used car sales and rarely have I found a discussion on how Automotive SEO can be used to increase revenue in other areas of the dealership.   Over the past three years I have tested a number of strategies that have increased dealer direct warranty sales, service and parts which are often omitted from online marketing budgets.

If dealers are serious about increasing their Internet visibility for all areas of their business they can follow two primary paths.  The first path is to add significant content to their websites on these profit centers.  Dealers can add information on extended warranty plans, coverage and pricing.  They can add recommended service schedules and common service tips.  Once the content is in place, linking strategies and social media can be used to promote the visibility of these new pages.

The second path is to create dedicated microsites for service, warranty sales and parts.  Microsites are websites on a unique URL with content that is normally about one topic. (i.e. www.infinitiwarranty.com)

Parts microsites are a bit more difficult and require more of an upfront investment because dealers have had only a few choices in OEM parts ecommerce systems.  All of the commercial auto parts platforms that we have reviewed fail the basic SEO guidelines set out by Google.  It’s odd that the major automotive parts platforms offered to car dealers have such bad architecture and SEO structure.

The good news is that there are new platforms and strategies that we have been testing that can either compensate for these SEO flawed online parts websites or to replace them altogether with a new optimized parts site.  As dealers look to increase revenue from their Fixed operations business, selling an extra  $100,000 in parts a month can add to a sweeter bottom line let alone dealers who are selling three times that a month with online parts sales.

Extended Warranty SEO Solutions

One example of using Automotive SEO to grow revenue outside of car sales is extended warranty plans.  Imagine the impact on your bottom line by selling an additional  75 extended warranty plans a month.   Dealership owners who have self-funded warranty plans will understand the financial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

If you go to Google and type in search phrases like “Infiniti Warranty” or “Toyota Extended Warranty”  or “” you will see PCG extended warranty microsites  come up on Google Page one.Extended Warranty Ford This national visibility gives dealerships more opportunities to sell their genuine OEM warranty products.  Warranty sales websites have a typical ROI of 6 months which is a tremendous opportunity for dealers who want to compete online for additional sales revenue.

Increase Service Revenue

For service, microsites can be created to ensure that your franchise comes up number one in your state for brand searches like ” Texas Chevrolet Service” or “Toyota Service Boston“.  These sites should be filled with service information, coupons and even a video walk-though of the service lane process.  Give consumers the confidence that servicing their car at your facility if fast, painless and handled from trained professionals.

An Automotive SEO consultant can help to determine the best places and techniques to post targeted content on dealer fixed operations services. Most car dealer platforms do not allow unlimited content pages to be created without custom programming fees.  This common limitation often develops a strong case for the creating microsite however dealer platforms will be coming out with embedded blogging tools in the coming year.

Automotive microsites allow dealers  to create unlimited content pages for the products and services they sell.  With the correct training on how to write for the Internet,  dealer staff  can target searches in their PMA, State and even nationally.  Since Google provides free tools to document what search words consumers are typing in each month, you don’t have to guess what are the most popular terms for the products you offer.

Content Creation Key For Car Dealers

The future of automotive marketing will require dealers to either hire a full-time content writer for their business or outsource that service part-time to a consultant.  Automotive SEO with a content based approach yields results year after year; a lead generation annuity.

Dealers need to make the commitment to add new content about the cars they sell and the products and service they offer on the Internet.  If dealers choose to ignore content marketing strategies they will be dominated by their competitors and placed in a deep hole that will not be easy to crawl out from. Dealers must include marketing budgets for Automotive SEO for parts, service and F&I to remain competitive.

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Tags: car dealer seo, extended warranty seo, fixed operations seo, parts seo, service seo