Steve DiMatteoAuthor: Steve DiMatteo
Updated on 03/29/2023

The strategy of utilizing traditional marketing is much less common these days, as the age of social media and online channels have become the norm. With that said, we have to change the way we do business and adapt to the current trends.

Over the last decade, there has been massive technological growth, which has made a major impact on the practice of digital marketing. Specifically, search engine optimization is now the go-to initiative for increasing your company’s online presence and overall sales/revenue.

What Is Automotive SEO?

Whether your business is a car dealership, an online dealership, auto repair shop, or automotive manufacturer, SEO is an online marketing strategy that will improve your online presence across search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and more.

Within search engine optimization there are many marketing initiatives that you can implement. Before implementing any of the strategies listed below, the first thing you’ll need to do is identify the keywords that are most applicable to your business, along with your target location and audience.

If you’re unfamiliar, keywords are a mix of words and phrases, known as search queries, that your customers type in on search engines to find your business. For example, if someone is looking to get their car repaired, the keyword might be something like “automotive repair near me” or “body shop in [city].”

Take a look at some of the crucial elements of automotive SEO and how they apply to your business:

Content writing

Not only is the content on your site important for showing customers the value and services your business provides, but it also matters to Google. When Google is crawling, indexing, and ranking site pages, it will scan your site for content quality and authority to ensure that your content is providing value to site visitors.

What does that mean for your automotive business? It is recommended that you dedicate some time reviewing and updating your site’s internal pages with keyword-optimized content that displays both quality and authority. Additionally, Google rewards pages with unique content, so make sure the content on every page is different.

Link Building

Link building is a strategy that is used to increase the Domain Authority of your website. Domain Authority is a statistic from industry leader Moz, and is a search engine ranking score out of 100 that measures the overall SEO equity of your site.

A great way to increase your site’s DA is by building a strong profile of backlinks that show you are an expert in the automotive industry. Not only will this help you in the SEO race against your competitors, but it will provide the foundation you need to get more qualified visitors to your site.

Competitor analysis

A great search engine optimization strategy starts with understanding where you rank against your competitors. By performing an in-depth competitor analysis, you will be able to see which keywords you’ve overlooked and how you can improve your content.

Additionally, you will get a better idea of how to portray the value your business provides compared to a competitor. Potential customers who are serious about doing business will want to know why you are better than the business down the road. This gives you the opportunity to take a look at their content and craft your “why.”

Technical improvements

While the customer-facing content is important, there are many backend things that need to be done that can influence your rankings. Here are some questions to ask yourself when making technical improvements:

  • Is your website mobile-friendly?
  • Have you performed a site speed analysis?
  • Do you have a way to capture leads coming from your site?
  • Are you utilizing Google Search Console and Google Analytics?
  • Are visitors able to easily navigate your site?
  • Are your fonts and colors easy to read and see?

These are just some of the many changes you can make to the backend of your website that will dramatically assist in your rankings and overall lead generation.

Site optimization

There is more to search engine optimization than implementing keyword-optimized copy on your site pages as mentioned above. There are other optimization techniques that further assist Google when ranking your website.

For example, ensuring that each page has a unique and optimized meta title and meta description can be very beneficial. You’ll also want to make sure that your site images have an optimized alt and title tag.

Why Automotive SEO Is Important for Your Business

Not only is automotive SEO a necessary tool to keep up with current trends and customer habits, but it will help you reach your target audience to ultimately bring in higher quality leads and customers.

Think about the way you find local businesses. Typically, if you’re looking for a nearby store the first thing you’ll do is a quick Google search to find a related service or business. That is exactly how your potential customers are going to find you, so it is extremely important to make sure your overall site content is optimized to target your audience.

Additional Tips for Attracting Customers to Your Dealership or Shop Online Using Effective Automotive SEO Tactics

Today, most successful automotive digital marketing strategies incorporate SEO. By improving your online presence, you can attract new customers to your dealership or shop and generate more leads that are likely to convert.

1. Utilize Your Social Media

Some social media statistics to consider:

  • Facebook has 1.6 billion daily active users
  • YouTube has 149 billion daily active users
  • Instagram has 600 million daily active users
  • Twitter has 134 million daily active users
  • Snapchat has 109 million daily active users

As you can see, social media is thriving with users and potential new customers for your business. Keeping up your social media content to promote your business will only lead to good things.

2. Refine Your Website Content

Most car buyers will research online before going to the dealership. The same goes for people looking for a car detailer in their area. This is your opportunity to reel them in with your website. In order to do so, you need to make sure your site is easy to navigate, visually appealing, and loaded with unique content that will make potential customers choose your business.

Add photos, videos, informative content about your work, and even a blog featuring new trends in the industry.

3. Establish a Clear Call-to-Action

There is nothing worse than having a customer who wants to contact you for a purchase but not having any idea how to do so. Make sure to have a button with a number or email address to reach out with concerns or inquiries. You can also create a banner or form on each page of your site so it is clear how to connect with you.

4. Engage with Customers Online

You should respond to comments and reviews, send out email blasts, and craft content relevant to and interesting for your audience. Continue to maintain an ongoing dialogue with your customers and respond to praise or criticisms. Establish trust through engagement online and your clients will appreciate you and your transparency.

5. Build Quality Links

In the eyes of Google, obtaining links of high authority is imperative for your search engine rankings. To do this, you’ll want to write blog posts other sites may want to share, get listed on automotive directories, engage in forums, and interview car experts.

Through strategies like these and more, Sixth City Marketing can help to get your automotive SEO strategy where it needs to be.

Why You Should Consider an Automotive SEO Company

Automotive businesses of all types can benefit from investing in a quality automotive SEO agency, no matter if you are a used car dealership, a parts manufacturer, or a repair shop.

We understand that making the choice to partner with an SEO agency is a big decision, so here are a few things to keep in mind when considering automotive SEO services:

  • Results – The main reason you’d likely invest in automotive SEO is to see improvements in your online presence. What is different about our agency is that we can help you see your ROI from using our services.
  • Site Health – What we do to our clients’ websites is never with an eye on just the short-term. The content we write, website fixes we implement, and everything else we do can make your site stronger in the long run, ensuring a steady flow of leads and sales for years to come.
  • Expansion – Another great thing about SEO is that it opens the doors to a variety of other digital marketing tactics you may have never considered, such as CRM marketing, email marketing, social media, and paid advertising.
  • Learning – Through the meetings we have, emails we send you, and entirely custom strategies we create, you will be able to acquire more knowledge about SEO and have a greater understanding of its value.
“We re-vamped our website and quickly learned that we weren’t getting the SEO numbers that we were used to and in addition, Covid-19 hit. Sixth City came in and took control of our SEO and really improved our google presence and improved our leads by quite a bit. They are professional, well-versed in all things SEO, and very responsive. I am very thankful for Sixth City.” – Madison Osborn, FitWorks

What Do Your Automotive SEO Services Offer?

We’re glad you asked! When you work with our automotive SEO specialists, some of the things we do within your campaign will include:

Content Writing and Optimization

Not only will we refresh all the current copy on your website, but we also supplement what you already have with additional blog posts and landing pages to target specific terms you want to rank for.

Local Search Techniques

Your automotive company may have several locations that you need help with, and our local SEO strategy can provide a road map for all of them. From setting up your local profiles to getting local backlinks to helping get rid of spam competition and more, our local focus is just what you need.

Technical Design Updates

Sometimes, the way your website is currently structured could be hindering your online performance, and our on-staff analysts and developers know how to correct that. We can make tweaks to your website to have it running its best.

Link Acquisition

One way that search engines evaluate the strength of your website is through how many other websites link to yours. A tactic called link building is a strategic way to get your site linked on others. Our creative strategists will use proven and creative ways to get you links from high authority websites to enhance your link profile.

Data Measurement

One of the most important parts of doing SEO for car dealerships, auto body shops and more is being able to track its results, and as a Google Partner agency, you can trust that our team is well-versed in setting up Google Analytics on your website properly so you can see all the important numbers.

From Auto Repair Shops to Part Manufacturers to Used Car Dealerships and Everything In-Between, Our Automotive SEO Services Can Help Boost Your Business

Ever wonder how to increase your automotive website’s position on Google, or on Google Maps? With a bit of search engine optimization magic, it can be possible.

FAQs for Automotive Search Engine Optimization

  • What is Local SEO? – Local search engine optimization is an effective way to market your business to specific regions you serve. We can target regions that your business serves and implement our SEO efforts to attract local customers.
  • What is the difference between on-page and off-page SEO? – On-page SEO comprises anything that you can change on your website. This includes headers, titles, keywords, internal links, and more. Off-page SEO is everything you do outside of your website, such as link building, optimizing your local profile, and more. There are two other types of SEO we often use; you can read more about them on our blog.
  • Why do I need SEO? – If you want potential customers to find you online, establishing a solid SEO strategy is the key to driving traffic to your website. No matter what your niche is, SEO works great to produce the results you want.

Other Digital Marketing Services Sixth City Can Offer to Your Automotive Company

Not only do we specialize in SEO tactics, but we have a full-service agency ready to meet any online needs you may have.

Our other services include:

Not to mention, we have offices in Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. We work with clients all over the country and can help your business no matter where you are located.

“The Sixth City Team is truly knowledgeable about how SEO works and love what they do. They are natural teachers, excited to share what they know. The recommendations and information we got from them were super helpful in improving our site’s rankings and a few other things.” – Miranda Berner, Berner Air Curtains

Invest in Automotive SEO Services with Sixth City Marketing

Sixth City Marketing is here to bring your business’s goals to life through our services. If you’re ready to take the leap into automotive SEO, contact us today for more information. We look forward to speaking with you.

Our Partners & Awards