12 SEO Tips for Car Dealers

What Is Automotive SEO?

Automotive SEO is the use of search engine optimization techniques on car dealer websites. Its aim is to improve organic website visibility, attract more traffic, and ultimately, increase sales.

The process is similar to how SEO works in other sectors, but focuses on optimizing for people actively looking for a car.

This involves a mix of activities that prioritize local SEO, high-quality content production, and technical SEO.

Effective SEO for car dealers should help businesses dominate search engine results pages (SERPs) for informational and commercial keywords relevant to the car-buying journey.

According to a study by Google, 92% of car customers do research online before making a purchase.

Car dealers that prioritize SEO in their digital marketing efforts can capture customers organically before they make a buying decision. That makes SEO one of the most important parts of marketing strategy for automotive businesses.

The Unique Challenges of Automotive SEO

Successful automotive SEO campaigns can pay huge dividends, but they come with their fair share of challenges, including:

• High competition: The automotive sector is crowded, with over 18,000 dealerships in the United States alone. That means car dealer websites have to fight hard for every keyword position.
• Image-heavy websites: Automotive websites are image-heavy. This presents challenges when optimizing for site-speed—an important factor in both SEO success and user experience.
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