Recently Google started offering vanity URLs for Google Plus. The announcement stated that the vanity URLs will start being rolled out with a few verified users but it will soon become available for all users. Finally this is what many of us have been waiting for with Google+ no more massive strings of numbers in your URL now you can just have a simple short URL like…

If you have been following my latest articles discussing Google Adwords, you are well aware that Google is testing new ad formats for the automotive industry.  

I have recently discussed the Google Advisor For Cars program which is very controversial.  I recently documented that Google is testing …

Does anyone remember when car dealers thought the Internet was not going to impact their business and that they did not need it? Heck I sure do because I was behind a desk at a store and remember it like it was yesterday.  Well now we are faced although in a smaller scale a similar question, “Do I really need a mobile website”?

My goal of this blog is to give you some statistics and patterns that will certainly open your eyes as to what is happing in the automotive segment and what is…

Dear Google:

You amaze and confound us daily.  You have created an infrastructure, tools and resources for accessing and organizing information that the majority of people and businesses all over the world rely on every day.  That is truly awe-inspiring.  You are pulling search, social and reviews together in envelope-pushing ways.

Nevertheless, change and innovation are rarely universally embraced as you have experienced first hand.   As the old saying goes – you can…

Before I decide to make a purchase on any big ticket item,  I search the company’s name in Google and see the rating  the business received. I also read a couple of the customer reviews. I, like most shoppers, am turned off by bad reviews. Shoppers are using the Web now, more than ever to research and review companies.

Which rating service should dealerships pay most attention to? Google and here’s why:

I googled a local dealership here in Orlando, and the first…

I received a call yesterday from a Dealer that was negatively impacted by the Google Penguin update.  Their organic search traffic is down about 25% and they asked me to take a look at their Analytics and Webmaster Tools.

The frustrating part is that their marketing and "SEO Company" deleted the message inside of Webmaster Tools alerting the dealer that Google had some concerns about the linking strategy used by the dealership.  So without a specific message to go on, I…

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

Automotive Internet Sales / Phone Sales "What to Do if There is NO Phone Number or a Bogus Number"  

The hardest part of Automotive Internet Sales or Business Development is simply getting the prospect on the phone and that in part is because you might not have ANY phone number to…

In April, 2012, Google began rolling out major changes to their search algorithm. The update, known as "Penguin", had dramatic effects on many of the searches that people do on a regular basis. In the automotive industry, the effects were felt by thousands of dealers. Some moved up if they had quality SEO practices being employed on their sites. As a result, others moved down.

This graphic goes into a little detail about the philosophies that dealers and their search partners should…

Google recently released an eBook (or playbook, as they call it): "The Mobile Playbook: The Busy Executive's Guide to Winning with Mobile".  For any dealership interested in mobile websites, mobile paid search, and how to expand your brand with mobile technology, this guide is extremely concise and helpful, answering the "5 crucial mobile questions that every business executive should be asking today".

Their playbook is…

In all of my years of doing presentations at conferences, I don't believe I've put one together that was as important as this one. Google's adjustments from just a few days ago are changing the game for many in the automotive industry. Sites are moving up. Sites are moving down. Being on the right side of the moves comes down to some simply yet important actions that dealers and their vendors need to make as soon as…

Automotive Internet Sales and Google’s ZMOT for Car Dealerships

By now, nearly everyone has heard of ZMOT and how it might possibly be relevant for the automotive…

http://www.automotiveinternetsales.com 

This is a Video that I created in 2009! Wow... it is scary how this information is STILL relevant and MORE important than back…

Dealers, if you have been having problems with Google Places, this may be the right time to join the Google+ Hangout.

Join +Joel Headley and …

The ZMOT study guides automotive dealers through an educational process that demonstrates how to make marketing and budgeting decisions based on the latest data on consumer shopping behavior.

EATONTOWN, NJ – PCG Digital Marketing (PCG), a multi-award-winning digital marketing firm has announced that April 24, 2012 will be the start of the 2012…

Today the Information Week website posted an article by Eric Zeman that shared a statement by Andy Rubin, SVP of mobile and digital content for Google, stating that today over 850,000 Android devices are activated PER DAY.

This is up from 550,000 activations a day just 4…

At times I feel like a newspaper reporter on the Google "beat" just trying to stay up with the latest changes in Google search, Google Places, Google paid search, and their social strategy.  

This week I noticed that Google is exposing the details of the Google Places listing on a search that…

Over the last year (plus) there have been numerous hypotheses shared regarding Google Places and the practice of customers entering reviews while still in the dealership or business. The crux of the discussion was whether or not Google was blocking reviews from a common IP address because of the possibility of gaming the system or as some have suggested, because a customer might feel “pressured” if asked to do this review while still at the business location.

Many opinions and…

Google announced yesterday via its blog, that it had instituted a feature in Google search and GMail ad transparency. This change will give consumers the ability to see why ads are being delivered (ie. what previous searches triggered the ads) as well as the ability to block ads from a particular company/advertiser. This option is available for all…