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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.

Years ago, when Dealerskins changed the face of automotive website design with full Flash based technology, dealers flocked to the new platform because the sites were more “alive” than their static brethren.

The excitement eventually faded when dealers realized that 100% flash website were not indexing properly in organic search results.

Since that realization, website platform providers have moved away from heavy use of Adobe Flash technology in favor of other solutions.

At the recent NADA Convention, website providers revealed some very “flashy” web and mobile designs that might scare dealers at first glance.  The good news is that today’s “flashy” effects are not the old school Flash coding but rather HTML 5 code.

HTML5 Will Clarify Specification

HTML5 seeks to clarify web coding standards and document all the “tricks” that were once undocumented. By clarifying specifics — especially in error handling — HTML5 stands to open the doors for much more efficient and effective JavaScript, heralding a new era for robust interactivity with dynamic interfaces and rich user experiences that would be too heavy and difficult, or impossible, to implement in XHTML or HTML4.

As some of the largest website providers retool their website technology for release in 2011 (Cobalt/ADP, TK Carsites, Reynolds, etc.) you will see some solutions include the graphical energy that HTML5 can deliver.  This is very important for applications or website that are viewed on iPads and iPhone.  Currently Apple does NOT support flash technology so HTML5 is the way of the future.

So when you get your next demo from your website provider, ask them about their plans to integrate HTML5 coding on their websites to achieve stunning graphics and transitions once reserved only for Adobe Flash.  HTML5 compliant websites will be more cross-platform compatible as well.

It’s good to know that people are reading my blog posts. Just after I posted a recent story that Dealer.com was selected as a preferred website provider by BMW USA, I received two emails informing me that I did not have the whole story. Indeed they were correct.

This of course is a good time to remind vendors to send us press releases when new products or announcements are made.  PCG always tries to communicate products and services that can benefit car dealers.  Future announcements can be sent to: news@pcgdigitalmarketing.com.

The Power Of Three

BMW USA in fact had selected three website providers to bestow the coveted “preferred” website vendor status. The preferred website providers will work with BMW dealers and BMW USA’s compliance partner Williams-Forest, to ensure that all BMW dealership websites achieve their new written website standards by April 1, 2011.

All BMW dealers must achieve Level 1 compliance by April 1, 2011. Dealers who comply with Level 2 website standards can apply to have co-op dollars used for their website marketing costs. The co-op funds max out at $2,000 a month which is not an insignificant savings!  Dealers should request details on which products and services qualify for the $2,000 co-op funds.

BMW dealers by now have most likely received their website compliance letters and actions that need to be taken.  The clock will be ticking to meet the mandatory website standards by April 1st. The three companies approved for BMW dealer websites are well versed on what is needed to achieve Level 1 and Level 2 compliance.

Cobalt BMW Websites

Cobalt has created a PDF document that outlines their specific services and website opportunities for BMW dealers. You can download that PDF on this link: Cobalt Websites For BMW Dealers.  Cobalt also offers a special bonus for BMW dealers.

According to the Cobalt brochure: “All Cobalt-endorsed website packages include pre-owned vehicle listings on BMWUSA.com and your regional marketing sites at no extra charge. This is a $300 per month value and a significant source of additional exposure for your pre-owned BMW inventory.”

BMW Dealers can call Cobalt for more details on this program using this special BMW dealer hotline: 1-888-434-1053

Reynolds & Reynolds BMW Websites

Reynolds has created a microsite dedicated to their BMW dealership offering.  That website can be reach on this URL: http://bmw.reynoldswebsolutions.com.  Dealers interested in the Reynolds BMW website solutions can reach them at: 800-767-7879.

Dealer.com BMW Websites

As previously stated, Dealer.com is also a preferred partner and Matt Murray added these notes to the original story we posted:

“Those centers compliant with Level 2 standards will be able to submit their website invoice to NSI for retail co-op reimbursement beginning May 1, 2011. Eligible items will include general website management, search engine optimization (required to adhere to BMW policy), chat, mobile, video products and reputation management.

These costs will be reimbursed at 50%, not to exceed a co-op reimbursement of $2,000 each month. A onetime set-up fee for one of the BMW preferred website providers will be reimbursed at 50%. More details will follow with the revised retail co-op guidelines in February. If there are questions regarding this or any other facet of the program dealers should feel free to call Dealer.com at 888-437-8159 or email sales@dealer.com.”
If you are a BMW dealer and would like to reduce your website marketing and support costs, you should check out this new offering by Dealer.com. The website links that explain the program are: http://bmw.dealer.com.