Zero to Page One: Unleashing the Power of Automotive SEO

For automotive businesses, it can be a challenge to make your website visible and achieve consistent online growth. This is because automotive specialists don’t tend to understand SEO, and SEO specialists don’t usually understand the automotive industry.

At Bravr, we live and breathe both! This means that we understand your business, and we know how to help you to make it stand out, generating leads and sales – consistently.

INTRO

The Digital Motorway

For automotive businesses, it can be a challenge to make your website visible and achieve consistent online growth. This is because automotive specialists don’t tend to understand SEO, and SEO specialists don’t usually understand the automotive industry.

At Bravr, we live and breathe both! Which means that we understand your business, and we know how to create a search engine marketing strategy that will make it stand out, generating leads and sales – consistently.

SEO is probably a term that you have heard of and even attempted to factor into your website by writing more blogs or adding keywords to web pages. But the secret of SEO goes deeper than a few blogs and keywords. Truly successful SEO involves a series of complex activities and analytics that will help your organisation and your products reach the right people, encouraging them to trust you and want to buy from you.

BASICS

GETTING STARTED WITH AUTOMOTIVE SEO

Automotive SEO has one key aim: to make your website appear as high as possible in search engine results pages. Bravr's strong automotive SEO services will use search engine optimisation techniques to create quality content for websites related to the automotive industry – whether that's car dealers, car parts sellers, marketplaces, or service providers – to ensure they score well in search engine rankings.

This practice incorporates a blend of technical proficiency, industry-specific keyword research and content creation to match the unique search behaviours of automotive consumers. Given the intricacy of the automotive market, combined with the evolving digital landscape, its necessary to have a subject matter expert who understands these intricacies vs a generic digital marketing agency.

WHY

The Importance of an Automotive Specialist for SEO in Your Automotive Business

It is unlikely that an online marketing agency with limited insight into the automotive world will turn away a niche client. By deploying standard best practices, these agencies may even achieve an initial improvement in organic search traffic, however they are not usually able to get the best results for their client.

This is because, search engine optimisation varies for different industries based on a range of factors including competition for specific keywords, industry saturation, and the ability to deliver to local partners. In order to be picked up by a search engine, it is vital that an organisation's marketing strategy incorporates niche terms that and relevant content for your specific automotive business or industry.

Here are just some of the subtle ways in which different automotive businesses differ to other websites.

Car Dealers
Car Parts
Service Providers
Car Dealerships
  • New customers will use a combination of online research and offline purchases; most will research online before visiting just one car dealership, two at the most, so most of the sale is done before they hit the shop floor
  • Local SEO is important; in general, customers will search for dealerships near them
  • Serious potential customers will search for specific terms and Make/Model keywords, e.g. "Cupra Formentor VZ2" vs just "Cupra Formentor"
  • Potential customers will be looking for video content, car walkarounds, links to car review sites, test drives
  • Schema marketing will allow search engines to get a better idea of what you are doing and give you an advantage over your competitors when it comes to driving traffic to your website
  • Reviews and reputation count; even the best marketing efforts will struggle to combat poor reputation
  • Your auto dealership site should be optimised for mobile to accommodate the large percentage of people who tend to buy cars via their mobile phones.
Online retailers for car parts
  • Highly specialised keywords - Part Names, Numbers, Brand Names
  • Compatibility with vehicles
  • Detailed Product descriptions
  • Schematics, diagrams, links to PDF's, Manufacture Sit
  • Technical Specifications - dimensions/materials/weight
  • Video: Links to How-to videos, product reviews
  • User reviews
  • Schema Marketing for Products
  • Inventory levels for ecommerce sites
Service Providers - e.g. Car Garages/MOT/Detailers/Vinyl Wrapping, Car Hire, Car Rental
  • Local SEO: Key for service providers, as often consumers won't travel far for a service that can be provided locally.
  • Service Keywords: e.g. "car detailing london" vs make/model/trim
  • Online Booking Integration: Not essential, but this functionality will save a lot of admin and enable customers to book slots based on mutual availability.
  • Review Management: Reputation is everything
  • Educational Content: Demonstrate expertise and knowledge through educational content
  • Mobile devices: Mobile first approach to website design and content optimisation.

Ready to talk? 

Get in touch with our founder to discuss your Automotive SEO

HOW

Automotive SEO affects online visibility for automotive businesses

CAR DEALERS

Car dealers can use search engine optimisation to improve their visibility for keywords related to specific car makes and models, as well as keywords related to car buying and financing. For example, a car dealer that sells used BMWs could optimise their website for keywords like "used BMWs for sale in London" or "BMW financing options."

ONLINE CAR PARTS

Car part online shops can use SEO to improve their visibility for keywords related to specific car parts, as well as keywords related to car repair and maintenance. For example, a car part online shop that sells car tires could optimize their website for keywords like "car tires for sale in Manchester" or "how to change a car tire."

CAR SERVICE PROVIDERS

Car service providers can use SEO to improve their visibility for keywords related to specific car services, as well as keywords related to car maintenance and repairs. For example, a car service provider that offers MOTs could optimize their website for keywords like "MOT test in Birmingham" or "car servicing near me."

MARKET

The Road to Success: Examining Market Trends and Assessing Impact

One of the critical elements of SEO strategies is to understand the market, so you can understand why you need to invest in SEO, who your potential customers are, what you need to do to reach them and increase online traffic, and how that could (and should) impact your sales.

Here’s what the data says:

Why you need to invest in digital marketing:

  • According to a report by eMarketer, the US automotive industry spent $14.1 billion on digitaladvertising in 2020, which was a 6.8% increase from 2019. The report also projected that the spending would grow by 18.3% in 2021, reaching $16.7 billion. The report attributed the growth to the increased demand for online car shopping and research during the pandemic, as well as the recovery of the auto market in general. (Source: RulerAnalytics)
  • According to a study by Borrell Associates, the US automotive industry spent $2.8 billion on automotive SEO services in 2019, which was a 7% increase from 2018. The study also estimated that the spending would grow by 9% in 2020, reaching $3 billion. The study noted that SEO is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies for automotive businesses, as it helps them attract and retain customers who are searching for vehicles or related services online (Source: McKinsey)
  • According to Google's study, over 90% of vehicle buyers start their process with online research. Furthermore, about 75% of all automotive shoppers state that online video has influenced their shopping habits or purchases. (Source: Think with Google - The Digital Path to Purchase)

These trends continue outside of the United States; according to Statista, in 2021 UK digital marketing spend increased 42%, which means it now accounts for 75% of all marketing spend.

STRATEGY

Key Elements of an Automotive SEO Strategy

In order to improve your website’s ranking, it is important that your strategy contains three key elements: keyword research, technical SEO, and on-page SEO.

Keyword Research - detailed research to drive traffic

Keyword research isn’t just about finding the most popular words that potential customers look for and including them in content. It is a subtle game that involves looking at a range of data including not only how popular a search term is, but how competitive it is, and how relevant it is to your business.

Our founder is a car enthusiast so understands the target audience and how users search. Having an agency who understands car terms and your market is hugely valuable and means you won't need to spend time educating your agency what different terms mean and able to hit the ground running.  Here are some SEO keyword patterns to incorporate into an SEO strategy for an automotive website.

Car Dealerships
Auto Parts
Car Services
  • [Brand] dealership near me
  • New [Brand/Model] for sale
  • Used [Brand] cars
  • [Brand] dealership [City/Location]
  • [Model] [Year] price
  • [Brand] car financing deals
  • Best car dealers in [City/Location]
  • [Model] test drive
  • [Model] car specs and reviews
  • Buy [Brand/Model] [City/Location]
  • [Part name] for [Brand/Model]
  • [Brand/Model] replacement parts
  • [Part name] near me
  • [Brand] OEM parts online
  • Buy [Part name] for [Model]
  • [Part Category] for [Brand/Model]
  • [Brand] car part distributors
  • Best quality [Part name]
  • [Service, e.g., "oil change"] near me
  • [Brand/Model] service centre in [City/Location]
  • Car detailing services in [City/Location]
  • [Brand] authorised service centre
  • Car repair shops near me
  • [Service, e.g., "tyre rotation"] for [Brand/Model]
  • Emergency car repair [City/Location]
  • [Brand/Model] maintenance schedule
  • Car wash and detailing specials
  • Car diagnostics and inspections in [City/Location]

Technical SEO The OBD of site health and performance

Technical SEO doesn’t just optimise your website for search engines, it can help to improve user experience, too. Key activities include:

Page Loading Speed:

A slow-loading website can harm both user experience and SEO rankings. Compress media, use efficient code, and consider using a content delivery network (CDN) to enhance your site's speed.

Secure and Accessible Website:

Ensure your website's URL can be easily reached and crawled by search engines. Using a well-coded website builder and having an SSL certificate to move to HTTPS are steps in the right direction.

Schema Markup:

Schema markup makes it easier for search engines to understand your website. This helps search engines not only to display the most relevant websites in search results, but allows them to provide more information – rich data. Rich data, or rich snippets, are enticing pieces of content that appear under a search result which can help to improve clickthrough rates.

Implementing schema for automotive listings and dealers requires a detailed approach that incorporates specific parts, vehicle makes and locations, such as the examples below:

Examples of schema markup for search engine algorithms:

Schema markup example for Car Dealerships:

{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "AutoDealer",
"name": "Romans International Ltd",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "Brighton Road (A217)",
"addressLocality": "Banstead",
"addressRegion": "Surrey",
"postalCode": "SM7 1AT",
"addressCountry": "UK"
},
"telephone": "01737 363 700",
"geo": {
"@type": "GeoCoordinates",
"latitude": "51.318169",
"longitude": "-0.2134378"
},
"url": "https://www.romansinternational.com/",
"logo": "https://www.romansinternational.com/newromanslogo.svg",
"openingHours": "Mo-Sa 08:30-18:00",
"mainEntityOfPage": "https://www.romansinternational.com/"
}

Schema Markup example for Online Car Parts:

{
"@context": "https://compare.parts/",
"@type": "AutoDealer",
"name": "Compare Parts",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "33a Cambridge Green",
"addressLocality": "London",
"addressRegion": "Greater London",
"postalCode": "SE9 2AN",
"addressCountry": "UK"
},
"telephone": "+44-7789902286",
"geo": {
"@type": "GeoCoordinates",
"latitude": "51.5074",
"longitude": "0.1278"
},
"url": "https://compare.parts",
"logo": "https://compare.parts/wp-content/uploads/logo-inner-1.png.webp",
"openingHours": "Mo-Sa 09:00-19:00",
"mainEntityOfPage": "https://compare.parts/torque/about-us/"
}

Schema Markup example for Car Services:

{
"@context": "http://schema.org",
"@type": "AutomotiveBusiness",
"name": "ABC Car Services",
"address": {
"@type": "PostalAddress",
"streetAddress": "456 Service Lane",
"addressLocality": "Manchester",
"addressRegion": "Greater Manchester",
"postalCode": "M2 5WD",
"addressCountry": "UK"
},
"telephone": "+44-161-1234-5678",
"geo": {
"@type": "GeoCoordinates",
"latitude": "53.4808",
"longitude": "2.2426"
},
"url": "https://abccarservices.com",
"logo": "https://abccarservices.com/logo.jpg",
"openingHours": "Mo-Fr 08:00-18:00",
"priceRange": "££",
"mainEntityOfPage": "https://abccarservices.com/about-us"
}

On Page SEO: fine tuning your content

This is the process of content optimisation to make web pages more visible and improve online traffic. There are multiple factors to be considered, including (in order of importance):

Relevant Keywords

While creating content, it's vital to ensure that it is tailored to the automotive industry with relevant keywords that resonate with your target audience and accurately describe the page. For successful content optimisation, it is necessary to find the balance between highly competitive and long tail keywords:

Highly Competitive Keywords

These are often broad terms with high search volumes. While they can bring a significant amount of traffic, they are usually difficult to rank for due to high competition. However, despite the challenges, it is worth targeting some of these in your content strategy while preserving resources for long tail keywords.

Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are more specific phrases that usually have lower search volumes but can lead to higher conversion rates, such as local SEO terms. They are typically easier to rank for and can target users in the later stages of the buying cycle. Great content optimisation achieves a balance between both types of keywords to maximise your reach and potential ROI.

A skilled SEO company like Bravr has the skills and experience to advise targeted keywords based upon search volume and competition, to help boost traffic to your website.

Content Quality

High-quality, keyword rich, informative, and relevant content is the backbone of on-page SEO. A skilled SEO strategist will prioritise the creation of content that provides value to the reader, answers their queries, and establishes your site as an authoritative automotive business. While quality content can improve your visibility, your site is likely to be penalised for poor practices including keyword stuffing and the use of duplicate content. A successful SEO strategy won't depend on AI content generation as search engines are increasingly getting smarter at detecting AI content vs human (Check out: Is Chat GPT going to steal my job?).

Title Tags

The title tag plays an important role in your SEO endeavours. Meta titles do not appear on a webpage, they appear in search engine results and in the browser tab. Successful title tags are unique for each page, accurately describe the content, and contain target keywords. It's also essential to avoid keyword stuffing, focusing instead on the creation of meta titles that are relevant to the content and appealing to users.

Internal Linking

Connecting different pages of your website through internal links can help distribute link equity throughout the site. Ensure your anchor texts are SEO optimised with target keywords.

Meta Description

Meta descriptions do not impact rankings, but they can influence click-through rates. A well written meta description should summarise the content of the page in 150-160 characters and include relevant keywords. It's safe to include a marketing/sales call to action within a meta description, however search engines may opt not to display it if it's not relevant to the user search or page content.

DESIGN

Importance of a Well-Designed Site

User Experience (UX):

Fewer things will see a potential customer leave your site more quickly than poor user experience. With automotive customers doing high numbers of mobile searches, it is important that UX is optimised for mobile as well as desktop, and that the customer journey is planned in a way to boost conversion rates. From informative imagery to compelling content and optimised page speeds, at Bravr we examine every element of UX to make sure that your website is a welcoming environment for your customers.

Mobile Optimisation

With the growth of mobile search, ensuring your site is responsive and mobile-friendly is paramount

  • The majority of consumers use mobile devices for online activities. As vehicle browsing and research increasingly shift online, a mobile-friendly interface is essential.
  • People often quickly check car specs, reviews, or nearby dealerships on their mobile phones even when they are on-the-go.
  • Mobile optimisation boosts local search results. Potential buyers frequently use their phones to find local dealerships or check for ongoing promotions.
  • Mobile users looking for a local service such a car dealership often visit the physical location within the same day.
  • Mobile optimisation ensures fast loading times, easy navigation, and a responsive layout. This leads to a more positive user experience, which can positively influence purchase decisions.
  • A well-optimised mobile experience can result in higher engagement and conversion rates, from booking test drives with a local car dealer to booking a service with a local car garage.
  • A car dealer with videos, virtual tours, and images (essential for showcasing cars) should display correctly and effectively on all mobile devices.
  • Google and other search engines prioritise mobile-optimised websites in their ranking algorithms. Better mobile optimisation can lead to higher organic search rankings, increasing visibility and SEO.
  • Many customers leave reviews or feedback through their mobile devices. An optimised mobile experience facilitates this process, allowing automotive brands to gather more reviews and engage with their customer base.

Site Speed

Nobody loves a slow website. If your website is beautiful but it takes an age to load, the chances are that you will lose your customer before they have even seen what you have to offer. Optimised site speed will reduce bounce rates and improve overall user satisfaction.

REVIEWS

THE DIGITAL WORD-OF-MOUTH

Customer reviews can significantly impact your online credibility and conversion rates. In a time when we tend to look online first, the review is the 21st Century equivalent of a recommendation from a friend.  The same goes for Google’s search results: good ratings show the search engine that you are a legitimate site and provide a good service, and the provision of unique content in a world where people are searching for car parts and services that may have generic descriptions will help to provide valuable data to search engines.

Gathering genuine customer reviews can be a challenge but a targeted marketing approach is useful. Tactics such as emails asking for reviews and cards with QR codes on them linking straight to your review page can remind customers to review your services. Be wary of incentivisation as this can lead to fake reviews, but can also make your customers feel as though they are being tricked or forced into giving a positive review, which can have the opposite effect. Your marketing strategy should also cover how to approach responding to reviews. While it is great sport to read scathing responses to under par reviews, it doesn’t say much for your customer service.

DESIGN

Importance of a Well-Designed Site

User Experience (UX):

Fewer things will see a potential customer leave your site more quickly than poor user experience. With automotive customers doing high numbers of mobile searches, it is important that UX is optimised for mobile as well as desktop, and that the customer journey is planned in a way to boost conversion rates. From informative imagery to compelling content and optimised page speeds, at Bravr we examine every element of UX to make sure that your website is a welcoming environment for your customers.

Mobile Optimisation

With the growth of mobile search, ensuring your site is responsive and mobile-friendly is paramount

  • The majority of consumers use mobile devices for online activities. As vehicle browsing and research increasingly shift online, a mobile-friendly interface is essential.
  • People often quickly check car specs, reviews, or nearby dealerships on their mobile phones even when they are on-the-go.
  • Mobile optimisation boosts local search results. Potential buyers frequently use their phones to find local dealerships or check for ongoing promotions.
  • Mobile users looking for a local service such a car dealership often visit the physical location within the same day.
  • Mobile optimisation ensures fast loading times, easy navigation, and a responsive layout. This leads to a more positive user experience, which can positively influence purchase decisions.
  • A well-optimised mobile experience can result in higher engagement and conversion rates, from booking test drives with a local car dealer to booking a service with a local car garage.
  • A car dealer with videos, virtual tours, and images (essential for showcasing cars) should display correctly and effectively on all mobile devices.
  • Google and other search engines prioritise mobile-optimised websites in their ranking algorithms. Better mobile optimisation can lead to higher organic search rankings, increasing visibility and SEO.
  • Many customers leave reviews or feedback through their mobile devices. An optimised mobile experience facilitates this process, allowing automotive brands to gather more reviews and engage with their customer base.

Site Speed

Nobody loves a slow website. If your website is beautiful but it takes an age to load, the chances are that you will lose your customer before they have even seen what you have to offer. Optimised site speed will reduce bounce rates and improve overall user satisfaction.

Ready to talk? 

Get in touch with our founder to discuss your Automotive SEO

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