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Knowledge, news, and more about Automotive SEO, SEM, and dealership websites
In Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Site Not Ranking as Well as You’d Like? Check With Google

If you aren’t happy with the way your dealership website is performing in terms of search engine results (and you aren’t violating Google’s webmaster guidelines), you can ask Google to “reconsider” your site.  Essentially, you can ask Google to take a look at your site to see if it was manually marked as spam.

Over the years, Google has improved this process to make it more transparent.  After submitting a site, Google will let the webmaster know that they received the request and when the request is processed.

Now, if your website has been found to be affected by a manual spam action, Google will let you know and whether or not they are able to revoke that action.  They will also let the webmaster know if the site is in violation of their guidelines.  If your website isn’t ranking poorly due to either of these two issues, Google may let you know.

If you have questions about why your dealership website isn’t ranking as well as you’d like, I suggest talking to your car dealership website provider before submitting your site to Google for review.  They should be able to help you decide if your site just has poor SEO, or if something more serious is going on.  Has anyone ever used this tool from Google?  If so, what were the results?

In Best Practices

What Would it Take for You to Leave the Auto Industry?

I try to spend at least a little time each day reading forums and blogs from outside the auto industry because I think there is a lot to learn from other business communities.  Today, I found an interesting question up for discussion, and would like to pose the same to you.

What would it take for you to leave the auto industry?

More money? More interesting work? Better benefits, or hours?

And reversely (and I think I’ll get more responses to this question than the previous),

What are the reasons you wouldn’t leave the auto industry?

The community?  Your love of cars?  The thrill of the sale?

Regardless of how you initially got into the industry, I would argue that those that stay do so because they truly love something about their job.  Working in a car dealership isn’t for just anyone, so what is it about the auto industry that you wouldn’t give up for the world, and what could a different industry offer you that you just wouldn’t be able to turn down?

In Best Practices

Google Buys Zagat as a “Cornerstone” of Their Local Offering

Google has just bought Zagat, a company that provides ratings and reviews of restaurants, entertainment venues, and travel locations.  Known primarily for their yearly restaurant book guides, they have been doing quite well with their online subscription based site and community.

Google plans for Zagat to be the “cornerstone of our local offering”, helping them  to compete directly with Yelp and other online review sites.  Think it was a coincidence that Google recently removed these other review sites from their Google Local pages and search results?

While Zagat doesn’t have a history of rating small businesses, like car dealerships, this only adds to the credibility that Google Reviews will continue to have.  Google seems to realize that online reviews are becoming more and more important to consumers, and doing all they can to make their offering the most trusted, reliable, and complete place to find review information.

So, what is your dealership doing to make sure your customers looking for dealer reviews will find your dealership on Google?

In Best Practices

Will Google’s Trusted Store Be Just Another Push for Reviews?

Google is at it again.  According to the Google Operating System Blog, an unofficial source of news and tips about Google, the search engine giant will soon be launching Google Trusted Stores.  This new service is designed to make it “easy for online shoppers to identify stores that provide an excellent online shopping experience.”

I have to wonder how closely this will be tied to the reviews a business receives.  Or perhaps, it will be a reflection of a business’ AdWord spend or a completely separate offering.  There is a lot of speculation on what this new feature will really entail since the landing page google.com/trustedstores isn’t live.

If I had to guess, I’d say Trusted Stores will be similar to what already exists in the automotive industry: all businesses will be a part of the offering, using reviews to help rank which are more “trusted” than others.  And of course, an option for businesses to pay to be a highlighted trusted source.

What do you think?  Is this another way to force businesses to focus on Google Reviews, or could this be a valuable way to differentiate your auto dealership from those around you?

In Press Release

DealerOn Named One of 2011 Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies

DealerOn, the premier car dealer website provider, has been named to 2011 Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies at #2002, based on a three-year sales growth of 127%.  “DealerOn is thrilled to be a part of such an elite group of companies,” said DealerOn co-founder and CEO, Ali Amirrezvani.  “This recognition means so much to the DealerOn family.  It is confirmation of, and a testament to, our employees’ hard work, dedication, and willingness to go above and beyond for our customers.”

The Inc. 5000 List ranks the fastest growing private American companies by the percentage of revenue growth over a three year period.  To be considered, a company must have generated at least $100,000 in revenue by March 31, 2007, have $2 million in revenue in 2010, and be an independent, privately held U.S. for-profit company.

DealerOn, Inc. is one of the premier online marketing companies serving the retail automotive industry. They provide a full spectrum of online marketing solutions to car dealer customers including car dealer websites, automotive service websites, SEO, paid search, social media, and online reputation management (including managed blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and press releases).

DealerOn was founded in 2003 by auto industry veterans to help auto dealers leverage online marketing best practices and technology to maximize the return on their marketing time and resources.  Their executive team combines 30 years of auto industry expertise with 30 years of online marketing leadership.

DealerOn continues to utilize their unique combination of auto industry and online ecommerce experience to pioneer tools like their analytics-based marketing tool designed for the retail auto industry, the Digital Marketing DashboardTM.  Since its inception, DealerOn’s Digital Dashboard process has provided a documented lead volume increase of over 250% for their clients.

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that deliver real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 712,647, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit them online at www.inc.com.

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