Automotive SEO - Digital Marketing

In the past few months, I have been fielding calls from car dealers who are looking for ways to increase revenue to offset declining car sales. Car part sales and extended warranty sales seen to be the hot topic among the dealers that I communicate with. I've started a number of great projects to generate revenue from these two sources but part sales are so ripe, I just had to write about it.

For genuine manufacturer car part sales, it seems that only a few choices exist for car dealers who want to compete for online dollars. The car parts website platforms that are the most popular actually score very poorly from an SEO perspective. When I compare these website platforms to what matters in Google they fail miserably in my opinion. This creates an amazing opportunity for dealers who create their own SEO compliant parts website pages or find a work around to these flawed databases.

One of the leading website platforms for car dealer parts websites is Trade Motion who creates "skins" for dealers and then drives parts searches to their own website database. I don't think dealers understand that buying into this model will always require them to use Google Adwords or SEM to drive traffic and sales. The offsite hosted inventory pages in Trade Motion will never generate natural search rankings for their own main parts website let alone allow them to compete nationally via organic search.

A case in point is a site called www.directhondaparts.com which uses the Trade Motion parts database. This site was chosen at random. As soon as you start searching for parts, you leave the site called www.directhondaparts.com and move to the Trade Motion website. For example, the page that lists 2005 Honda Accord Brake Pads is:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getLocator&siteid=214308&chapter=APG646&appSectionid=18&groupid=10006&subgroupid=62206&make=12&model=Accord&year=2005&catalogid=1

If you look at this long and convoluted URL it obviously is not associated with the sponsoring domain. It also does not comply with Google recommendations about simplifying dynamic URL strings or to utilize a clear set of sub-directory structures. You can read Google's recommendations in this PDF document, click here: Google SEO Starter Guide

The reality is that all the page views associated with paying for a consumer via SEM to shop the parts database will never be associated with the car dealer's parts website domain. Only www.trademotion.com gets credit for the page views and time on site.

Another example is www.infinitipartsonline.com which uses another version of Trade Motion's database platform, which is better but not ideal. The Infiniti 2007 FX35 brake pads come up as:

http://www.infinitipartsonline.com/partlocator/index.cfm?action=getJointLocator&siteid=214952&chapter=&sectionids=18,0&groupid=10006&subgroupid=62206&make=14&model=Fx35&year=2007&catalogid=1&displayCatalogid=0

In this example, the database pages are tied to the main URL but the length and composition of the URL is not designed to compete for organic search listings. In addition, the META description and HTML title for this page has nothing to do with 2007 FX35 brake parts. This is in violation of Google's SEO guidelines.

Here are the HTML tags that are on the page for 2007 Infiniti FX35 front brake pads:

Dealers who want to compete nationally for parts sales need to create an SEO strategy that will build pages rankings and traffic that will not ONLY require SEM. Right now it seems like sites like www.parts.com have an inside track on what web architecture really drives organic sales results.

I've been studying parts websites for a while and have solutions to mediate the poor SEO design of many current parts website platforms. If dealers are interested in building a better parts business on the Internet, they are encouraged to share best practices here. Dealers are also invited to give me a call to discuss how we can help better optimize their current efforts in selling parts online.

I can be reached at 732-842-4720 or visit our website: Pasch Consulting Group.

I strongly believe in the long term ROI of Automotive SEO and the great "annuity" it offers car dealers to deliver low cost consumer direct leads year after year. I'm an advocate for organic search marketing but I'm often asked where Google Adwords (SEM) fits into my automotive digital marketing strategy.

If I were asked to choose between SEO or SEM, I would choose SEO because of the long term benefits it offers and its higher ROI. I'm also well aware that many General Managers are confused about what SEO really means so they often take the easy route and go with SEM

Despite my efforts to educate the car dealers on how to change the face of automotive digital marketing with some very simple SEO techniques, there are few early adopters.

Frustrating? Yes. Hopeless. No. There are many car dealers who have become believers in what PCG can offer with our SEO microsites and Google compliant automotive inventory modules.

It's All About Balance

Effective automotive lead generation strategies are not just about SEO.

I'm not about to drink the SEO "Kool-Aid" and tell dealers that PPC is a waste of time. Google Adwords is an important "tool" when used properly and car dealers should not avoid Adwords because of a perception that it is costly or has a lower ROI than SEO. Like many things in life, it is how the tool is used that makes it good or bad.

Consumer behavior dictates much of why PPC needs to be a part of car dealer marketing budgets. For this example, let's see what a consumer may type into Google when looking for a Honda Civic in New Jersey.

When you look at data from Google searches, consumers are typing in search phrases WITHOUT a geo-locator. (state, county or town). They are typing in very short phrases like:

• "Honda"


• "Honda Civic"


• "Honda Civic Prices"


• "Honda Civic Reviews"

Since these are national phrases, the third party lead collection sites like www.edmunds.com, Yahoo Autos and www.motortrend.com come up on Google page one. These third party lead collectors are optimized for every year make and model, unlike car dealer sites. They also have tremendous traffic which further supports their rankings.

Every day these third party lead collectors capture local buyer leads and sell them to dealers. The only practical short term way to get in front of consumers for broad phrases, without any geo-targets, is PPC. So, you can decide to buy leads or you can attempt to capture the local leads yourself.

It would take a significant investment in time and money to show on organically on Google page one for the search phrase "Honda Civic". There are no Honda dealers shown in the first two pages (20 listings) of Google for that phrase. You will see all the major lead collector sites on those first two pages.

There are exceptions. I was able to get national Google Page 1 ranking for "Infiniti G37 Convertible" and "Infiniti G37" searches, but it would be very hard to get on Google page one for "Infiniti G35" or "Infiniti dealer".

Google Adwords campaigns have a geo-based advertising radius so that if you decide to buy broad words, you can limit the radius to a practical driving area for potential buyers. If I only want to target Monmouth County residents,
because my dealership is in that county, I can advertise to local car shoppers typing in the phrase "Honda Civic" or "Honda Civic Prices".

This is not to say that PPC works for all dealers and marketing strategies. Dealers have to evaluate the costs and ROI for all lead sources; SEO and SEM. They need to compare the conversion rates for "broad search" leads versus long-tail searches like "Monmouth County Honda dealer". If both methods are profitable and sell cars, both should be continued.

SEO should have a better ROI but you cannot capture all of potential buyers via SEO. You have to have more than one tool in the chest. There is a limit at what SEO can do in any one month. Doubling a SEO budget in any given month does not significantly change the lead flow in the same month.

Since dealers are often rewarded on monthly or quarterly goals, SEM may be needed to hit short term sales targets. Also, if a car dealer is trying to boost extended warranty sales PPC is very effective since consumers normally just type "Infiniti warranty" or "Infiniti extended warranty" into Google.

We can create a microsite to attract organic car warranty leads. We did that successfully with www.infinitiwarranty.net and it is ranked #2 in the USA for that phrase. My client also gets highly qualified leads from buying a few selected warranty keywords in Google Adwords. So, in this case, the balance of SEO and SEM is generating a steady flow of warranty leads.

In summary, car dealers need both SEO and SEM to effectively compete on the Internet to catch the eye of local car shoppers. The Pasch Consulting Group has effective strategies to help car dealers implement competitive SEO campaigns as well as structure effective Google Adwords campaigns.

Call us to discuss your needs: 732-842-4720 or email sales@paschconsulting.com

I attended a very good automotive marketing conference this week and the consumer data that was shared was very enlightening. From survey data of online car buyers, consumers have a narrow set of expectations from car dealer websites.

It made me think how we could better address online buyer needs using better website design strategies.

This graphic represents my consolidated take-away from the seminar. Online car buyers want to be educated about the cars they are researching. They want that information provided in a convenient format.

They are expecting a simple process to obtain a price quote, MSRP and features for any car the dealer sells.

They expect dealers to respect their privacy and send them information via email before they call.

And finally they want to feel that all this work resulted in a better than average price for the car they buy. They want to win.

Now, take a look at your dealer website and ask if your site accommodates these needs. See how many clicks it takes to get information and pricing on the cars that you sell.

Once you start looking at your website from the consumer perspective, some small changes could make a big difference in conversion rates of visitor traffic.

If you would like a free evaluation of your car dealer website, give me a call; 732-842-4720. You can also read some addition digital marketing case studies at www.dealer-seo.com

The news this week has been very grim. This week we saw the largest drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in history. Banks are collapsing and stocks that were once blue chips are now cow chips.

In spite of this news, I drove my car today and I went out for a cup of coffee and ordered breakfast sandwich. I'm going camping with my son tonight. Tomorrow I have plans to go out for dinner with friends. Life goes on even though it will be tougher to make ends meet. People have to spend money and when their cars come up for lease, they need a replacement car.

The replacement car may be a downgrade in price from what they have or even a used car. That doesn't matter since car dealers need any sale that they can get to generate cash flow.

In this current economic crisis, business owners have to focus on reeling in all excess waste and use their value cash for effective advertising. My suggestion is to cut out the "ego" advertising and spend those dollars on Internet marketing.

Our customers who have kept their Internet advertising budgets untouched have actually seen an increase in leads so my advice is based on real data. Everyday people shop for goods and services and the most efficient and democratic advertising platform is the Internet.

Just two months ago, an auto dealership I know spent $10,000 on a radio advertising campaign. Today, that same $10,000 dollars would be best utilized for Internet advertising. It's nice to hear yourself on the radio (ego) but that $10,000 invested in Google Adwords would result in hundreds of Internet leads that can be tracked to cars sold.

It's very hard to track the success of a radio campaign. It's hard to measure the business impact of a full page glossy ad on the back cover of a local coffee table magazine. Business owners don't have the flexibility for wasted ad dollars in an economic crisis.

The Pasch Consulting Group specializes in effective Internet marketing Strategies for all business segments and especially car dealers. We have proven ourselves to be leaders in Automotive SEO and digital marketing. If you would like a free review of your Internet marketing strategies, give us a call at 732-842-4720.

You can also visit: www.dealer-seo.com

Looking for More New & Used Car Leads?
Did you ever consider that your car inventory module may be hurting your ability to attract local buyers?

With dozens of automotive website platforms on the market, it is challenging for car dealerships to sift through the marketing hype and evaluate their inventory listing modules for their search marketing potential.

The ideal inventory management module will be visually attractive to the online shoppers as well as following the guidelines set out in Google Webmaster Guidelines for indexing. Check out the best automotive websites which have won an Automotive Website Award..

If your inventory module is ONLY good looking, you will have to rely more heavily on paid advertising to get direct traffic for model specific searches.

Specifically, if your inventory module is not presenting unique page data for each car in stock, it will be hard for Google to match long tail searches. This means you are missing out on valuable local car buyers.

Read the entire article at SEO Inventory Modules

It seems each day there is another doom and gloom story from Wall Street. This week it is Lehman Brothers stock price evaporating. The financial anxiety in our country in this pre-election period seems to be at an all time high. Is there any way for car dealers to get relief in this economy? Yes. Automotive Digital Marketing; SEM, SEO, Email, Blogging and Social networking.

Car dealers are feeling the pinch from all sides since easy credit is a fading memory and many manufacturers have stopped direct leasing programs. The car dealers that we have spoken with this past month are looking for ways to boost sales at lower costs. Finally, dealers are asking how they can measure each expense in terms of sales and ROI. Ineffective print advertising seems to be the Turkey on the chopping block this Thanksgiving.

Our phone has been ringing off the hook. Business owners from all industry sectors are calling to ask how to better promote their business on the Internet. Car dealers are no exception. In the month of September we have contracted to work with a Nissan, Acura, Cadillac, Saturn, Saab and Volvo dealer. The calls all seem to be focused on increasing direct sales and a special emphasis on used car sales.

It seems that across the board, our clients are selling more used cars; up 10-20% over normal levels. It seems that consumers are finding good value in 2-3 year old cars coming off lease. There may be a increasing trend to downgrade to a more affordable car at lease end.

If used cars offer better margins than some new car sales, dealers should look at their advertising costs for used cars and decide what portion could be reallocated to new SEO campaigns targeting used cars. It may be the time to add a "used" subdomain to your primary website or buy a targeted use car domain name for a microsite.

Aside from on site optimization which we addressed in our previous post, dealers need to tap into social networks, forums and a number of free ways to list used cars for sale.

We have been amazed how some free blogging and networking platforms get top rankings from Google. By getting your used car message out in new areas on the Internet, you have a chance to build new channels for car sales.

Dealers should revisit posting their used cars on car forums sites that have low cost sponsorships. For one BMW client posting their new and used cars specials on www.bimmerfest.com drew a number of traceable case sales. Free microsite tools like www.merchantcircle.com or Squiddo is another amazing tool that can be used to posted sales, events and event specific cars for sale.

MerchantCircle is one of the best "free" resources on the Internet and Google loves to index their pages.

There are many outlets that we created for our clients that have been successful for growing new sales channels. Savvy car dealers looking to grow in this slowing economy need effective car dealer SEO strategies. If you are frustrated with the success you have seen to date, don't give up. Give us a call to discuss your online marketing goals. 732-842-4720.

Car dealers have found that paid Internet advertising campaigns work very well as part of their overall Automotive SEO strategy. This is not a revelation. However, what is disturbing is that many automotive retailers are committed to large monthly PPC budgets without analyzing their campaign data.

Since car dealer sales managers have a very full plate, it is not uncommon to outsource the management of their pay-per-click campaigns. This in itself is not a problem since we offer similar services. What was alarming was at some of our client shops, no one was taking the time to review the PPC data. The campaigns were in an auto-pilot mode, just being funded each month.

As SEO/SEM consultants, we have reviewed client campaigns and found ads running outside of their feasible marketing area. We have found ads that were going to wrong pages. We have seen ads running with expired offers. You name it and we have seen it!

One experience that left us uninspired was our review of a PPC campaign that was setup by a company with the initials R.L. My client that used this firm was convinced that R.L. were PPC experts and did not need that much oversight. They felt that the R.L. proprietary marketing system, which was displaying ads on multiple platforms, was optimized. It took me all of just a few minutes to disagree with my clients and show them a better way to run their ads.

R.L. is a big company with many account managers so this experience may not be typical. However, my clients who have asked us to manage their PPC are very pleased with the results and communication. Our clients feel that they have a much better handle on actual PPC costs. We create an account for each client that they own so they can monitor actual click costs without management fees added.

In our opinion, automotive PPC campaigns need to be updated at least on a monthly basis. Every month new car prices, programs and offers should be tested online. Having generic ads going to generic landing pages is a waste of advertising money and creates lost opportunities.

Don't forget that some PPC campaigns or tests could be going to outdated pages, so someone inside the dealership needs has to be checking your ads. If you are outsourcing your PPC campaigns and are not having a conference call each month with your marketing consultant, you are wasting money. It's that simple.

The competitive landscape in the automotive retail world changes every month. Google Adwords is not the Holy Grail. It is not a "set once" and run forever marketing tool, unless you have money to waste. No serious business owner has money to waste.

If you are not pleased with the communications you have with a third party management company, give the Pasch Consulting Group a call at 732-842-4720