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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.

Google organic search results are getting more interesting to read. The trends that I observe are very encouraging to business owners who are using press releases to promote their business. 

Just today I posted a press release for an upcoming SEO briefing that I am conducting in Red Bank New Jersey.  Three hours later, when I was doing a Google search on my name, I noticed that Google had a special graphic to call attention to my press release since it included my name. 

The little newspaper graphic really calls out attention to the news story which I consider a big win for companies where are taking the time to promote their businesses with content publishing.  Notice that the press release title and teaser are included in the SERP as well as the press release source.  The graphic “call-out” for the story will make your press releases more noticeable on a search results page.

If you are not publishing out a press release every month, you are missing a great opportunity to gain Google page one placement for local targeted search phrases.  Remember, I have listed a number of free press releases websites that can help your Internet visibility immediately.  Now, with these icons highlighting press releases, it makes even greater sense to start writing.

Google Free Profiles in SERP

In addition to press releases, Google will also display a graphic/photo along with your name if you have created a free Google Profile.  If you have a Google email address, log into to Google and go to http://www.google.com/profiles and you can create a free listing.  When you create the profile, make sure you customize the URL with your name.  If your name is taken, you can add your state on the end to make it unique.  This way your URL is personally branded like this: http://www.google.com/profiles/brianpaschnj

When you do a search on your name, Google will show your profile if it is completely filled out.  Here is what you see when you do a search for my name. 

Once again, anyone doing business today will have their name Googled.  So why not have a free iconic listing showing up in Google search results.   Your profile can have all your contact information as well as a link to your website.  This free personal branding is something that should not be ignored.

Automotive advertising agencies – you are being called to task.  It is very common for car dealers to have their ad agency create a sheet of monthly specials like the one shown for Audi cars. These ads are used in local newspapers but they are also being used for dealer websites.

Unfortunately, the ad agencies are not telling automotive sales managers that these graphical contribute practically NOTHING to attractive car shoppers via Google and Yahoo search. Most traditional automotive advertising agencies don’t understand search engine optimization (SEO).  They didn’t grow up with SEO.  Their job is to produce auto ads every month, on schedule, and they are happy for the business.

Well, if I was the owner of a car dealership, I would not be happy how these ads are being used on the web. You see, these ads have text that Google cannot index.  Google cannot read the text on a photo.  They are in effect a blank page to the search engine spiders.  If car dealers expect for consumers to find their monthly specials online, they have to take the time to type the details in plain text.

You may think this is a simple task and one that should be commonplace on dealer websites.  But take a look at 20 car dealer websites by clicking on their “Specials” page and you’ll find that most are graphical ads with the pertinent information on an image. 

So should dealers login into their website administrative panel and add their car specials in text?  This is where things get interesting.  Creating a good looking text page on most automotive website platforms is not easy.  Yes, most platforms claim that they have easy to use HTML editors but in common practice, they are not easy to use.

I have worked with a number of HTML editors on car dealer websites and they all are tricky at best.  The skills to create “tables” or aligned text requires skills that are beyond the average Internet sales manager. Copying preformatted text into these embedded editors can cause more trouble that it’s worth.

So, Sales Managers take the least path of resistance and drop in a graphic advertisement on their specials page so it’s not blank.   Just keep in mind that these graphical ads do ZERO for drawing new customer via search. Even worse, pages that only contain one image will most likely never even get indexed by Google.

If car dealers take the time to create car specials and incentives, they should also take the time to publicize them on the web.  In an ideal world, you would have a dedicated web page for each car you have on special that month.  This way the HTML Title, META Description and content can be optimized for the offer. In addition to their own websites, specials can be posted on free services like Craigslist, MerchantCircle and social networking sites.  The dealers, who make the effort to give Google what they expect, will be rewarded with better search visibility.