Competition is fierce in the automotive industry. Dealerships of all sizes and types struggle to get shoppers into their showroom month after month. As digital marketing vendors offer all sorts of solutions, GMs continue to struggle to meet their monthly goals. One commonly overlooked component of online advertising is search engine optimization and precisely Google’s core web values. When dealerships find the right vendor to optimize their website and excel at those values, organic traffic and leads that convert into sales skyrocket. Before agreeing to sign on to any new vendor’s program, let’s briefly discuss what all these terms mean and how it impacts your store’s visibility. 

Have you noticed that you can’t always find the website you clicked on a week ago when you repeat a web search? Sites displayed on a search engine results page are constantly changing because of what is known as ranking. Put simply, search engines such as Google use a formula to figure out the order in which to display sites. This means that websites that are of high quality appear first. You might think this isn’t a big deal, but consider this: most shoppers spend anywhere from six months to a full year researching vehicles to purchase. Consumers now rarely visit sites that aren’t on the first or second page of a search. Moreover, car buyers only visit an average of one dealership to complete their purchase. Thus, where your website appears on a relevant search could profoundly impact your ability to reach shoppers. 

Dealerships need to improve their core web vitals to appear on a search result’s first or second page. These are the components that pages must meet to get a high ranking. The majority of them relate to user experience, that is, the elements that make a great website. Intuitively, you know what makes a website great because those characteristics get you coming back for more. Fast loading times, ease of finding information, a mobile-friendly interface, and an aesthetically pleasing layout are all aspects we look for on a site. Dealerships’ websites need to feature all of those elements if they want to survive in the coming years.

Compliance with core web vitals isn’t just the layout, though. There are technical components to meeting these requirements that you need an expert to perform. For example, switching to HTTPS instead of HTTP requires a set of skills your resident computer nerd might not know how to perform. Additionally, coding is often required to ensure that search engine robots categorize your store’s site correctly. One way to determine whether or not your vendor knows how to make these changes is to ask whether or not they have a Google consultant. Having someone on the inside, as it were, makes all the difference for balancing a complete makeover with a few minor tweaks. 

Selling vehicles isn’t easy, and, as a dealership, you need all the help you can get. There is no better way to improving your bottom line than by incorporating the latest technology into your website. Adding this service can’t hurt your store. Instead, it will only improve it. There’s not a moment to lose. Shoppers are waiting to find your store and purchase or lease a new car. Help them find it by making sure your store’s website meets Google’s core web vitals.