One way to look at your SEO efforts is to compare them to something you know well…sales. As dealers, we continuously refine our sales and financing processes to be more efficient and effective. The same logic can be applied to your online marketing efforts.
And just like a discerning customer who may leave or walk off the lot if what they were promised isn’t delivered, Google’s algorithm, is continually on the hunt for the most relevant and reliable websites that provide users with exactly what they are looking for.
These 5 SEO considerations for 2022 will draw the traffic you need to be successful.
1. Google’s EAT Principle
Google’s EAT principle has been around for a while, so this part isn’t necessarily “new” but each time there is an update such as MUM the factors that make up the EAT principle become more important to rankings. The EAT acronym stands for Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness.
A quick breakdown looks like this:
- Expertise – Accuracy, timeliness, and depth of content provided on your website. Elements like regularly auditing the content on your site to ensure it’s meeting the needs of your customers or adding an industry blog can help.
- Authority: Content promotion typically in the form of links to your site and social shares.
- Trust: Overall sentiment about your brand and website. Things like brand authority, positive reviews, etc.
These factors bundled together are the foundation of a good website. Each one works in conjunction with the others to help the search engine decide how best to rank pages based on the user’s specific query.
2. Link Building
Another essential strategy for a well-constructed long-term SEO plan is link building. This effort can be done organically by producing useful content and data that makes other industry sites want to link back to your site as a reference point. These are the three main factors you need to understand to take an active approach in creating high-quality links.
- Quality – Links from high-quality, trusted sites carry much greater weight than low-quality ones. Look for sites with incoming traffic estimates in the thousands.
- Quantity – When it comes to links, it’s generally a case where more is in fact more, meaning the more links or citations you gain the better off your site will be in terms of ranking and authority.
- Anchor Text – Evaluate the keyword being used as the link – build a diverse library of keywords that are relevant to the auto industry. Improve existing links by examining what the anchor text used to get to your site was.
3. Voice search
Current estimates predict that at least half of all households today own a smart speaker such as Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri. This means that voice search is now a prominent way your audience will be looking for you online. Keep in mind that we typically don’t speak the same way we type in a search query.
So, keywords like “used car dealers Phoenix” won’t typically work for voice. Voice search SEO can best be optimized by businesses by including longer, more natural-sounding phrases with relevant keywords embedded within the content such as “best car dealerships near me”.
4. Local SEO
Local SEO is one factor that is fairly simple to achieve and can be a great return on investment if done properly. Start by ensuring all of your online business listings on each major search engine is up-to-date. Check that vital information such as your address, contact number, and hours of operation are all correct. More and more users are adding the phrase “near me” to their queries so be sure to mention your city, community, even neighborhood on your site to truly target your prospects.
5. Mobile Friendly
Google officially launched the Mobile-First Indexing (MFI) last March 2021 meaning the search engine will prioritize indexing and ranking of websites that are mobile-friendly. The top two most critical components for a business website will be pages that implement responsive web design principles as well as use images and videos that are optimized properly to increase page load speed.
Build on the Foundation
Although SEO and its best practices continue to be tweaked and changed as we move into 2022, the foundation of a successful auto business stays the same – meeting consumers’ needs whether that’s online or offline. In the long term, a proven SEO strategy will equate to an updated website that provides users with relevant content and your latest offerings.
NIADA has supported the independent used auto dealer community for more than 75 years. Learn how joining NIADA can help you navigate the changing market.
