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.