News

On November 1st the PCG Digital Marketing will release the 2009 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) report at the 7th Digital Dealer Conference. I am tallying the final scores from the 34 website platform providers in our study and some early results are very encouraging.

Last year we reviewed 16 website platforms and only 2 platforms scored perfectly on the basics of SEO architecture for car inventory listing modules. This year out of the 34 providers we reviewed, seven platforms had perfect scores on the SEO basics.

This is great news for the automotive industry as more choices become available to assist car dealers with increasing organic search traffic for the cars that they sell. A number of automotive website providers have made significant improvements from our 2008 report.

By the number of improvements that we can see this year it is obvious that companies are listening to automotive forums like ADM, DrivingSales and DealerRefresh.

Scoring Inventory Modules

Of the 34 platforms that we reviewed, the scores on the “inventory modules” section of the scoring process look like this:

• Perfect SEO Scores – 7 platforms
• Partial SEO Compliance – 18 platforms
• Failed All SEO Basics – 9 platforms

We will also be scoring other aspects of the website platforms in addition to their inventory modules. We will be looking at the overall ability of the platform to add user generated SEO complaint content and how well these website platforms appear in search results.

This year’s report will have a number of new categories that are design to help General Managers evaluate the many choices on the market for an automotive website.

Are You Shopping?

If you have a website contract that is coming up for renewal or if you are in the market to change your website platform, I would suggest that you wait until this report comes out on November 1st.

The 2009 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) white-paper will be released at the 7th Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville.

This year, Brian Pasch and the team at PCG will review over 33 automotive website platforms and grade them on their SEO architecture and Internet search marketing capabilities.  This is double the number of company that were reviewed last year.

The ASMA report will be distributed at the Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville. 

PCG will be presenting companies with outstanding technology with engraved awards to proudly display at the Conference and in their offices. 

After the conference, the report will be made available online on www.dealer-seo.com.

2009 ASMA Candidates

Here is the list of companies that will be reviewed in the 2009 ASMA study:

If we missed any important companies, please send Carrie Valentine an email so that we may still have time to review their technology. Carrie can be reached at carrie@paschconsulting.com.

The PCG Digital Marketing is the host of the Pasch Halloween Bash which is being held on Halloween Night in Nashville.  Conference attendees are invited to attend by they must RSVP in advance since tickets are limited.  RSVP to Carrie Valentine at 732-450-8200.

The PCG Digital Marketing (PCG) will be publishing our annual white paper report on Automotive Search Marketing Architecture this November.

The ASMA study will identify automotive website providers that offer SEO compliant platforms using Google’s guidelines as well as best practices in the search marketing industry. All automotive website providers are invited to participate in our study.

The PCG Digital Marketing’s 2009 ASMA white paper will be released in time for the 2009 Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville which takes place November 1-3.   The Digital Dealer Conference is the automotive industry’s premier tradeshow which focuses on the latest trends in automotive digital marketing.

The 2009 ASMA study will evaluate and assign rankings to car dealer website platforms based on key components that represent the best in search engine optimization (SEO) architecture and consumer search experience.  These study parameters are established by Brian Pasch, CEO of the PCG Digital Marketing.

For many car retailers, their inventory pages make up over 85% of the total content pages on their website.  Organic search optimization and search ranking are heavily skewed to reward good content and good SEO architecture.  The report is designed to provide car dealers with an independent view of website platform technology as it relates to organic search marketing.

Last year, the 2008 ASMA report reviewed over 16 automotive platforms with only 2 providers receiving a perfect score for SEO compliance. In the past year car dealer website providers have released or announced many changes to their platforms which should make this year’s report even more interesting.

2009 ASMA Logo

A new element to this year’s study will be an official ASMA logo which will be awarded to automotive website providers that rank at the top of their peer group.  The ASMA logo will allow leaders in the field of automotive website design to proudly display their award on their marketing materials and on their websites. The ASMA logo will represent the best in SEO architecture for the automotive industry.

Automotive website providers who would like to participate in the review must submit three working websites which utilize their latest technology to the PCG Digital Marketing by 9-30-09.  Dealer software providers who do not submit examples of their technology may still be included in the report.  However, the website PCG reviews will be based on those found randomly on the Internet or referenced on their company websites.

Dealer software providers can contact Brian Pasch at info@paschconsulting.com for more information.

About the Digital Dealer Conference

The annual Digital Dealer Conference attracts hundreds of dealership attendees that are looking to learn more about Internet and technology-related issues.  Speakers who are experts in the field of Automotive Digital Marketing present seminars which help forward thinking dealerships stay ahead of the ever changing technology curve.   For registration or sponsorship opportunities, visit http://www.digitaldealerconference.com/