In the first post we went over how to use the SEObook.com toolbar and RankChecker utility.  We also covered creating a keyword list.  This post is a follow up to that with an updated RankChecker report as well as some other tools that I tend to follow to make sure that the SEO is progressing the way that it should.   One of the interesting things about the way we build sites at DealerTrend with Dynamic SEO is that even though we target Google and follow their best practices all of our sites do very well in Yahoo and live.  Look at the Southlake report now verses the first report, both Yahoo and live are coming up on page one for most of the keywords.

Ranking Report for Classic Chevrolet in Fort Worth

Ranking Report for Classic Chevrolet in Dallas

Ranking Report for Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine

Ranking Report for Classic Chevrolet in Southlake

Everyone is the best at SEO

So by now you have heard of SEO and the importance of being found in the Search Engines.  Not only have you heard about it, but every vendor that walks in your door is probably telling you how they do it better than anyone else.  I know this because that is exactly what we say when we talk to dealers and the response is alway “that’s what everyone says”.

So how do you seperate the quality SEO vendors from sales tactics?

Be careful of the Spin?

Vendors of SEO in general can very easily ’spin’ what looks like great results in their favor, here are just a couple examples;

Spin #1: Targeting one or two long tail keywords/phrases as proof of success.  An example of this would be targeting a phrase like “The biggest truck dealership northeast texas” to have this specific phrase come up #1 in Google.  This phrase could possibly generate one visit per year (probably the person who did it showing another potential client :-)), but no real relevant traffic.

Spin #2: Another good ’spin’ is to use “Independent studies” as proof that your sites are the best, in this case read the study there is usually a slant.

Spin #3: Using the site: function (e.g. site:http://websitenamehere.com) to show you how many pages are indexed in Google.  This is actually a great tool and something that you want to know, but is your site indexed AND relevant .  So in other words it is great that Google knows that your site has pages and the more they know about the better; however, if they aren’t relevant and get found for common searches it just doesn’t matter.

Test for Results

So as a car dealership how can test if a site is actually performing well or better in the Search Engines?  My belief is that the results speak louder that words.  Of course your site analytic tool should tell you things like; how many visitors are you getting from organic search, how many keywords are generating traffic to your site, the number of pages that are being landed on directly from organic search, and much more.  But you can only see those stats on your own site.  How can you compare your site with your competition or a prospective website vendor?  Using the RankChecker tool as described in the video allows you to check your site, a competitors site, or prospective vendors websites comparing apples and apples.  The main reason I like to test a list of keywords as described in this video is to determine if my sites are relevant for what a dealership sells where they sell so that the site is found when real buyers are looking.  You can definately add as many keywords as you would like or test on things that you see relevant.  As a matter of fact if you would like to add keywords that you would like us to get Classic Chevrolet ranked for please don’t hesitate to list them in the comments below.  We will and at least add them to our ranking reports to show you the true power of a well built site.

CSV reports of the Ranking that I ran per location.  Notice that the Southlake report shows completely blank for every keyword, this is because the previous web provider didn’t target it at all.  For the purpose of this example and as we get the site up and running we are including it.  If it proves to not generate any significant traffic we will change it to another location or remove the 4th city all together.

Grapevine Texas

Dallas Texas

Fort Worth Texas

Southlake

Google has done a great job at getting the most relevant local businesses to the top of their search with Google Local Business Listings.  However it is a gigantic task to make sure that all of the businesses have correct information.  Below is a video of how to log into Google and add or edit your dealerships information.  As mentioned in the video make sure and review this listing often as it is possible for other businesses to hijack your information in addition to the potential of software errors.

Example of Googles Local Business Listing

Getting your site indexed by the Search Engines is step one to SEO. If Google, Yahoo, MSN, or the other Engines don’t even know that your site and pages exists then the odds of it coming up as the number one hit is ZERO.
For most dealerships, especially franchise dealerships getting the ‘Home’ page indexed usually isn’t the problem, the problem is getting the rest of the site seen and available for possible buyers. Keep in mind that the main purpose of the Search Engines is to return the most relevant page for each individual search, so when you only have one or a few pages indexed you are limiting the ability of your website and your inventory to be found.
To see how many pages your site has indexed in Google and Yahoo run the following searches.
Google search for “site:www.yoursitedomain.com” to determine what Google has indexed for your site. Yahoo search “www.yoursitedomain.com” will give you a picture of what Yahoo has. You should have at least as many pages indexed as you have vehicles in inventory. Having your website indexed isn’t the only thing you need to do for SEO but it is definitely required before you can do anything else.

Simply put the major Search Engines use software programs called robots (also known as spiders, or crawlers) to go from link to link through the Internet in order to discover and catalog websites and their content.  This process is called indexing and is what makes it possible for a search for “pizza” to return 218,000,000 results in a fraction of a second.  Since the Search Engines already have the information stored it makes returning that information very quick.   Next post I will get into a little bit more detail of the importance of getting your site fully indexed in order to get better conversion.

What is a Backlink?
A backlink is just a link from one website to another.  The reason that backlinking is getting so much attention is because the Search Engines see each unique backlink as a vote for the site that it is linking to by the site that it is linking from.  In addition to a vote for a site or specific content a backlink is another way for the Search Engines to determine and validate what the content is on the site being linked to.  This is very important when you are trying to get your website seen in the Search Engines.  For more on how backlinking works and information on how to get the best benefits from them go to the  backlink page on DealerTrend.com.

Without a doubt the biggest topic of discussion and confusion in our industry right now is Search Engine Marketing in its many forms.  To help shed some light on this subject and how it relates to the car business I am going to first start with a summary of what Search Engine Marketing is and the value that it has, and then break it down into its parts in future posts.  You will find there is no mystery to successful SEM or SEO, just some basic concepts followed though with quality and effort.

What exactly is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?  The answer to this question will vary a little depending on who you ask, but in general SEM is taking an action to be found in the results of a search performed using one of the various search engines by a person browsing the Internet.  The intent is to be seen in order to sell a product, service, or idea.  SEM includes paid marketing like banner ads and paid per click advertising as well as free advertising like organic search, social, and viral marketing (all aspects that I will cover in coming posts)

Is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) as important as all of the hype?  Since the beginning of the Internet the potential for profit has been apparent in both sales and advertising.  So getting your company name, brand, or products in front of potential buyers as they were browsing the Internet was a great way to be seen.  Since the widespread adoption of Google over the last four years or so, coupled with their ability to put specific products in front of people as they are looking for that product has increased the marketing potential one hundred fold.  Imagine if you picked up a newspaper, and while looking at the front page decided that you want to see all of the 2006 Ford F-150’s at which point the newspaper rearranged itself to display all 2006 Ford F-150 classifieds and articles for you to see.  At the same time the newspaper brought up these all of the advertising shifted to the companies that have products or services for F-150 owners and potential owners. Then the next time you pick up a newspaper it remembers what you searched for last time, this is just a fraction of what Google can do.  With up to 80% of potential car buyers doing some sort of research online before buying, yes SEM is worth all the Hype.  Just be careful and do some research before making any decisions regarding paying for SEM or SEO services as there are companies out there that will take advantage of your lack of knowledge.

Over the coming weeks I am going to break down the components of SEO, kind of a glossary of terms to help as you talk to SEM/SEO companies and web site companies.

Mike