Why Building Pages is the Highest ROI Activity a Dealer can do

If your website isn't built on a true content management system (CMS) that allows you to put up pages in minutes without technical experience, don't read this article. It'll only make you jealous.

If you are on one of the various platforms (TK Carsites, Dealer.com, etc) that has a robust and easy-to-use CMS, today's the day to start using it more often. Google (and Bing) has always placed the majority of emphasis on links as their primary ranking contributor, but a close second is the hyper-targeted content that they crave. Too often, we put so much emphasis on our homepage or landing pages that go after dozens, even hundreds of keyword variations at once.

While this is fine and can be very effective, the highest ROI of time is in building SEO-targeted landing pages with your CMS. It's inconceivable to most dealers to be able to rank well for a competitive brand or even the same brand in a competitor's city, but it's not as hard as it sounds.

In the example above, you'll see that the #1 ranked listing for "Seattle 2012 Toyota Avalon" is a Nissan dealer. How, in a major metro area, can a Nissan dealer outrank Toyota dealers for a Toyota term?

Answer: content enhanced by links.

Build a page with a specific keyword in mind. Make sure that keyword is in the title tag and mentioned in the HTML content. Make sure there's a lead form - don't rely on clicks to other pages. Get the leads.

There are 6 other car dealer SEO tips available for your review. Feedback is appreciated!

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Comment by Nunzio Esposito on March 26, 2012 at 4:17pm: @JD The training time is where I believe they find the most challenging. Then even after training its making them stick to it. What they need to understand is that this is a way of selling a car. It needs to be part of your daily routine. So important, so overlooked. Definitely the dealers should assign someone with this knowledge base to begin to perform these easy steps. Or... hire us, LOL!

Comment by Bill Goodfriend on March 25, 2012 at 10:09pm: Good article JD, but is there any way to quantify 'the highest ROI'? Example, employee or organization empowering the dealerships website for optimum SEO. Internal/External pay rate vs. actual outcome in measurement regarding new/used sales, service, parts & body? What is the actual percentage of expense vs. ROI? 100%, 500%, 1000% etc.?

Comment by JD Rucker on March 25, 2012 at 10:08pm: @Nunzio - Yes, there are two major challenges for dealers in this regard. First, while I haven't been able to look at all of them, of the 7 or 8 content management systems that dealers are given by their vendors, only 3 were easy enough to make page-building like this practical. Second, there seems to be very little training available for dealers on how to make something like this possible. If dealers really want to take charge (or hire someone to take charge) of their digital marketing, it starts with search and THAT starts with content.

Comment by Nunzio Esposito on March 25, 2012 at 6:01pm: This is excellent and a practice dealers need to be doing or the agencies handling them. Most dealers aren't even set up with a true CMS and as we are working with more and more we notice how far behind they truly are. Jealous? This makes them simply put their head threw the wall! HA!

Comment by JD Rucker on February 24, 2012 at 5:06pm: @Adam - exactly. There needs to be a reminder/refresher every few months because SEO is boring and the social media/mobile/review shiny balls are always pulling us away from the basics. I love local/mobile/social, but search is still king in auto sales.

Comment by Adam Barish on February 24, 2012 at 2:45pm: Back to basics SEO. O so easy and O so overlooked. Thanks for this great tidbit JD.