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The tsunami of changes that are coming from Google these days is without parallel.  I look back to October 2010 when Google Places was integrated into organic search results and since that major shift, the team at Google has been keeping Automotive SEO strategists on their toes.

It is clear that organic search results shown on Google Page One are being influence by social media posts, likes, fans, and now +1.  Just this week I noticed that a dealer’s Facebook page moved to the second spot on Google Page One over well aged and well linked microsites.

This dealer has over 35,000 likes to his Facebook dealership page.  The highly trafficked Facebook Page outweighs the SEO strength of his other web assets.  Change is here and documented!

Google +1 Implementation

Now we have Google +1 to play with and people are asking how they can leverage this new search “stamping” tool.  According to Google’s website:

“Click +1 to publicly give something your stamp of approval. Your +1′s can help friends, contacts, and others on the web find the best stuff when they search.”

Do you believe that your business provides great products and service to local consumers?  Do your employees feel the same way?  If the answer to both questions are “YES”, then what strategy do you have in place to educate and energize each employee to +1 your key digital assets.  These assets are MORE than your website.

Your Google +1 strategy should include your Youtube Videos, microsites, press releases, slideshare docs, etc.  Any web assets that will help consumers connect with your brand and that show your company in a positive light.

Have you started tagging your web assets with the +1?  What are you waiting for then!

Empowering Your Customers

Once you and your employees have been educated and a strategy put in place, next comes family, friends, and customers.  This means that you email templates and communication process for soliciting reviews can be enhanced to leverage the Google +1 tag.

Have you added the +1 toolbar on all your blogs like the one at the top of this page? This toolbar makes it easier to get your readers and fans to engage in your +1 strategy. By the way, have your new customers been encouraged to +1 tag your Google Adwords ads?

By the way, before you leave this page, use the toolbar at the top to +1 the article and share it with your network.  What are friends for, correct?

When You Use Google +1 – SERP’s Change

Here is a quick task, please follow along with me.  Log into your Google Account.  Go to Google and search “Automotive SEO“.  Here is what you will see if you are logged into your Google account:

The first two listings should be www.dealer-seo.com and www.automotiveseo.co. 

Click on the +1 button for these two listings.

What happens after your +1′d these two listings, the next time you search for this same phrase “Automotive SEO“.  What changed?

Now was that hard to do?  You know the top search phrases that consumers use to find your goods and services.  If your website is not at the top of search listings, these +1 tags from local consumers can make your listing stand out.   Do you want your website assets to stand out?

The Bigger Picture – Socialized SERP’s

Google is aligning business interests and search engine result pages (SERPS) to get more consumers to create a Google account and use Google tools.  Once Google decided to get into the review business, a clear signal was sent.  Reviews posted with GOOGLE accounts can be leveraged top increase SERP visibility and traffic; that’s Google Boost.

Now that Google allows consumers to “mark” their favorite search engine result pages, once again businesses will educate and encourage consumers to mark THEIR listings to create a more visible SERP listing.

The future of SERP’s is socialized and personalized results for local markets.  The sooner your business engages with a proactive review collection process and now a proactive +1 process, the faster your SERP listings will be standing out.  The faster your PPC campaigns can be enhanced with “stars”.

Do You Have A Search Strategy

If you need assistance implementing a strong search marketing strategy that includes reputation management, SEO, Google Adwords, or Google Boost, we would love to discuss your needs and come up with a customized plan for your market.  Call our team at 732.450.8200 and ask for Matt O’Such for a free consultation.

It’s amazing how many people have called to ask about the JC Penny and Overstock.com SEO scandal. Let me assure you that anyone who has taken my Automotive SEO Workshops or attended my webinars, the strategies that these unnamed SEO companies implemented is NOT anything I would have recommended.

I made a video to help car dealers understand that good Automotive SEO strategies are compliant and effective. If you have any doubt,you can read some of the success stories on this blog. Let me give you a few recent examples of winning SEO strategies.

Fiat 500 Dealers

Recently the Fiat 500 was launched in the US and Fiat dealers were scrambling to get their facilities completed in time for March delivery of the car.  For many dealers their Fiat branded website is still not completed as of this writing.   Using Automotive SEO Strategies, we have been able to assist Fiat dealers with lead generation.

If you search Google for “Fiat Dealer” or “Fiat Dealers” for example, you will see the AAN microsite on Google Page One:  http://www.fiatdealer.org.  As we add names, addresses, and websites for Fiat dealers across the United States, this site will provide an annuity of leads for Fiat dealers using SEO strategies.

Fisker Dealers in California

Just yesterday I received a call from Fisker of Orange County and was told that the microsite we built resulted in two Fisker Karma cars being sold in one week.  One of the cars was from a man in Texas and the second car was from a famous movie star.  One did a search on the Internet for “Fisker California” and another for “Los Angeles Fisker Dealer” and found the dealership website assets that I linked.

Keep in mind that the first search was very broad (the whole state) and the second was a large market outside of Orange County (LA) that the dealer wanted to attract shoppers from.  Automotive SEO strategies can increase the paths that lead consumers to your products, services, and cars.

Automotive SEO Requires Patience

So, Automotive SEO strategies are alive and well when authenticity, good content and design are implemented.  When you take your time to invest in SEO over 12-18 months, you can really increase your local search visibility.  Check our Brickell Honda’s search visibility in Google for the phrase “2011 Honda Accord Miami“.

When you optimize content on your main website, create microsites, utilize press releases, and post videos you increase the paths by which consumers can find you.  In this case, Brickell Honda has published their message in multiple places to gain 80% of the organic listings.

Digital Marketing and Social Media Education

If hope that articles such as this and others on this blog will inspire you to increase your investments in digital marketing and social media education.  the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp is coming up on April 16-18th and your return on investment will be rewarded 10-fold.  Check out the conference brochure below and register today at:  http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com

The largest Wiki website for the automotive industry is located at http://www.CarDealerWiki.org and its amazing to see what innovative dealers are doing to leverage this platform.  First, CarDealerWiki is free to create, update, and add pages about your dealership.  You can create pages for sales, service, parts, new cars, used cars, and the possibilities are endless.

With all this power, and SEO value that this platform provides, it’s odd that so few dealers have leveraged the website.  Content publishing must be a part of a comprehensive automotive advertising strategy.  Free platforms like CarDealerWiki.org, press release websites, blogs, bookmarking sites, and social media tools can all be part of a low cost, high ROI strategy.

Capital Ford in Regina

There are many examples of dealers who have leveraged CarDealerWiki to increase the “paths” by which consumers can find their dealership.  One of the best examples of Capital Ford Lincoln in Regina Canada.  They have created a number of great pages to market their dealership and best off all their investment in content publishing is paying off.

You can visit their main Wiki page at:  http://www.cardealerwiki.org/Capital_Ford_Lincoln

Their main dealership page, demonstrates the power of the customizes automotive Wiki platform.  Their main Wiki page contains YouTube customer testimonial videos, their blog feed, customer reviews, and live inventory from their daily inventory feed. One of the biggest advantages of  CarDealerWiki.org is that is can accept RSS feeds.  That means you can feed in live reviews from DealerRater.com and PrestoReviews.com.

Members of the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) can use this feature to create sustainable links to their dealership Vehicle Detail Pages because each night the cars that are displayed are updated by what is in stock.  This feature creates free “mini-sites” that help increase the visibility of the cars you have for sale.  Basically, members can create their own automotive classified pages, without limit.

Capital Ford Lincoln’s ability to make pages for each model year that they sell is also paying off. As you can see from the screen capture below, a year, make and model search for the city clearly shows the power of CarDealerWiki for Automotive SEO.

Anytime you use a free platform for content publishing, you need to check if the links that are being created are being respected by the search engines.  That is because some platforms place “no follow” tags on all outbound links.  CarDealerWiki.org offers strong Automotive SEO value and “follow” links.

Yahoo provides a link checking tool, and you can see that some of the pages that the dealership created are showing as trusted link sources to their main website.

CarDealerWiki in Competitive Markets

In competitive US markets like the Boston suburbs, innovative dealers like Marlboro Nissan use create CarDealerWiki pages to add additional paths for consumers to find their brand and be linked back to their primary website.

Creating an Account on CarDealerWiki

CarDealerWIki is free but accounts must be approved first.  Accounts must come from a dealership email address or from a company that serves the automotive industry.  All vendors that serve the auto industry should create a profile page for their business on CarDealerWiki.org.  Now that you know about a great content publishing and Automotive SEO tool, what is stopping you?  Create an account today for free automotive advertising resources.