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PCG has already reported on the power and importance of the Google +1 button. Needless to say Google has strongly emphasized the value of the + One button.

However, many of you still do not have a Plus 1 button on your website. You need to be relevant, recommended, and found, and the Google Plus One button will help.

Just What does Plus One do?

It shows the people in your Google network that you like a piece of content and/or trust a certain site. The recommendations influence the ranking of results for you or your extended network, causing listings to potentially be moved to page one, based on your social connections, and altering the look of results by showing an aggregated number of +1s from all people in your network.

Don’t be left out. Google is quickly moving toward Social Search, and Plus 1 is a major factor.

Why Add Plus One Button to Your Site if it Already Appears in Search?

Simple, it does not always appear. Often when a listing is conjoined with a Google Map no Plus One button will be shown. Maybe I can suggest that the Google Places team sit with the Google Plus One team and take a look.

No button in search, no ability to Plus One. So, if you don’t have one get one now. Then make certain you have a completed Google profile, get connected, and begin to Plus One.

Let me know what you discover in the world of Plus One, and your theories behind the elusive Plus One button in search.

Kristen Chiarello is a Project Manager/SEO Strategist at PCG Digital Marketing, and has been in the Marketing, SEO, SEM and Content Creation fields for many years.

PCG has a number of microsites optimized for the automotive industry on popular terms like “Automotive SEO“, “Automotive Advertising“, as well as “Automotive Social Media“.  I periodically check search results based on a list of key search phrases I want to target via our own SEO strategies.  We always want to practice what we preach!

What happened today created one of those “Ah Ha” moments that I wanted to share with car dealers and our industry.

You first have to know that Google changes the search engine results page (SERP) if you are logged into your Google account. While logged in, Google records your past activity with the goal of making sure that it can display the best search results for your online behavior.

So, with this in mind, have you asked what happens when you click on the +1 button next to a website you like, or own.

Automotive Social Media Searches

Here is the SERP for the search phrase “Automotive Social Media” when I am logged out of my Google Account:

Notice that TK Carsites website located at AutomotiveSocialMedia.com is ranking in position #1 over the PCG website at www.AutomotiveSocialMedia.org.   To clarify this screen capture, notice there are no “+1″ buttons or thumbnails of my friends since I am logged out of my Google account.

Now look at the same search result while I am logged into my Google Account:

Notice a few things.  First, Google PULLED from Page Two our Automotive Marketing Boot Camp website which has content optimized for “Automotive Social Media” into first position.  Secondly, it placed our microsite AutomotiveSocialMedia.org into position #2,  It also pushed up websites that I visited frequently or +1′d which in effect pushed the TK Carsites website into position #5.

Also see how the thumbnail effect colorized the SERP and reminds me that my friends ALSO liked certain pages or companies.

Identifying The Googlized Consumer

Now, think about what this means.  If your dealership is implementing a proactive reputation management process in your dealership which uses 3G iPads or iPhones to get “Googlized Consumers” to post a review from inside the store using the Google Places App, why stop there?

When they are done with their 60 second review posting using the Google Places App, why not setup a boomark on your browser for a search that shows your key website pages one the iPad?

Hand the iPad back to the consumer and ask the consumer to click on the +1 buttons next to your key pages or at least just your home page.  Here is what a Google search using the site command does, which in some cases is all you need to show for your dealership:

In this case, many key pages are displayed like the home page, service page, parts page, and used car pages.  So if this page was bookmarked, it would be a breeze to touch the +1 button next to the pages that the customer chooses to +1.

If your website has the +1 button on each page, most do not today, then you could also have them go to the page directly and click the button.

Now the bonus.  Since they are logged into their Google account, their +1 activity is recorded.

Since they are logged into their Google account, their +1 activity is recorded.  This means that when they search for car dealers in your area in the future from their home or mobile device, your website assets will get priority placement.

In this example, my +1 activity significantly changed my top SERP placements.  If you liked this article, please click on the +1 button on the top of this page and also share it with your network om Facebook.

Mmmmmm the benefits of connecting with your Googlized customers are getting better by the day.  If your dealership needs assistance with a comprehensive IRM, SEM, and SEO strategy, give us a call.
Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
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Brian Pasch

With recent changes to the Google formula and other search engines quietly adopting similar habits, it’s a good time to run an Automotive SEO Inspection Checklist on your own internet marketing procedures at your dealership. If you’re hitting all of these points, you’ll be able to set aside worries your team is doing at least the most basic of search engine optimization work.

Where to Start – Revisit the Automotive SEO Basics

1. Research & Direction

Not knowing what your target audience is searching for, and the keyword phrases that are most typed into a search, can lead you down the wrong road.

The question to ask: What are our major and minor keyword targets?

Use free tools like Google Adwords Keyword Tool and Google Insights to determine what people are searched for, and if it is worth your team’s time and effort to target such a keyword. Using the keyword tool, test any keyword phrase you can think of, its free information that will shape your goals.

2. Benchmark Your Starting Point

Comparing month to month traffic is not always the best indicator of a successful SEO campaign. Seasonality affects many dealerships and unfortunately in this case, numbers can lie.

The question to ask: How are we measuring our success?

For the most part, traffic increases should occur at a gradual pace a few weeks and months into the start of an SEO campaign provided the number of people searching for any given keyword you show up for doesn’t drop off. Benchmark the number of unique visitors to a website during the month. If possible compare it to year over year statistics, not just month to month.

3. Analyze Past Performance & Spend

Know the amount of time, money and energy your company’s previous attempts have spent on Pay Per Click (PPC) in order to evaluate your future performance in SEO. Don’t just throw more money in the budget without making educated changes, find out where your PPC spend went before and understand what the results were.

The question to ask: What is our conversion rate on our Pay Per Click campaign for our major keywords?

Find the words that are converting best, or you are paying the most for, and try to show up for those keywords organically. Conversion rate is a goal for any campaign, but why am I talking about PPC when this is an SEO checklist? The importance is their relationship to one another by looking at your Internet Marketing campaigns as a blended function. If you cannot achieve a goal with organic search results, one may have to rely on PPC. Once you are receiving a sufficient amount of traffic from multiple listings in page one’s organic SEO listings, then you could start testing your PPC budget, and by testing, I mean reducing. Gradually. Gauge the effect it has on your numbers and find the right blend of SEO and PPC.

4. Enhancing Community Relationships for Links

If you’re part of the community that surrounds the dealership, you know which organizations your company sponsors or donates it’s time to. Ask for a link back to the dealership, it’s a valuable ranking factor!

The question to ask: How many links do we have pointing back to the dealership?

Look to increase this number as time goes on. Find new resources in both your local and regional community. If you’re donating time and resources to a local charity, they usually do not have an issue with listing you as a sponsor of their events, and linking back to your website. Make sure these links are of good quality, not just “Bob’s Superstore” but a description of the dealership, with the important keywords being the clickable text like “Chicago used car dealer”. Other resources include local bloggers on a variety of topics, little leagues, question and answer forums, religious communities and local car enthusiast sites.

5. Update your Title & Description Tags with Google Rules in Mind

Don’t just blindly start hacking apart the content, page titles and descriptions on your website, approach them from an educated analysis, taking into account the target keywords and how much room you can fill.

The question to ask: What does a “site:” search on our website say about us as a company?

Go to Google and type in “site:yourwebsite.com” and see what it knows about your site. Your title tags and description tags are what populate the actual search results when your website shows up in a search. Is there a good call to action to click thru to your website? They’re also an important ranking factor, and without the right words in a Title Tag, you might as well not be listed in the results at all. Use Google’s Webmaster Guidelines to help you with their standards.

I hope this checklist is helpful to those looking to be successful in internet marketing, and keep in mind, the items above are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a complete immersion in digital marketing for automotive seo. You’ll want to look at SEO, PPC, IRM, Mobile & Social Media, to name a few of the major topics that make up your entire internet marketing strategy.

About the Author:
Matthew O’Such is a fanatic of Search Engine Optimization techniques, having spent the last 12 years specializing in internet marketing and website development. When he’s not fixing meta tags and training dealerships on better SEO practices, he’s doing research and development on the latest Google releases and updates from their webmasters blog and testing white-hat strategies. Matthew is the Senior SEO Strategist at PCG Digital Marketing in New Jersey and loves answering your challenging questions, you can contact him form more information at matt@pcgdigitalmarketing.com or 732-450-8200 x3.