Is Local SEO For A Car Dealership Important?

Is Local SEO Important for Car Dealers?

Local SEO is one of the most important components of an effective digital marketing strategy. Local SEO for car dealers is particularly significant since most buyers search for a dealership close to home while they are actively looking to buy or lease a car. We’ll explain why local SEO is so important to online marketing and show how it can help you.

What is Local SEO for Car Dealers?

Local SEO ensures that when users search for a product or service, the results are meaningful because the results are local. For example, customers searching for a car dealership want to receive search results for dealers in their local area. Conversely, dealerships want to be found by prospective customers who live in the geographic region they serve. Local SEO for car dealers helps to make sure a dealership is visible within their target geographic location, using qualifiers such as city, state, ZIP code, and “near me” searches, which rely on Google to provide the search location.

Why is Local Search Important?

Since car dealerships serve customers in a limited geographic area, local search is particularly important. The following statistics underscore the importance of local searches:

• 95% of smartphone users have used their devices to perform local searches. Of those, 61% called the business and 59% visited the business.
• 70% of mobile users called a business directly by clicking a link from Google search results.
• 50% of people who use their phones to do a local search visited a physical store within one day.
• 78% of local searches on a mobile device resulted in purchases being made off-line.

Looking at these numbers, you can see why location-based searches are so important as a means to generate leads. And these leads are from prospects who are actively searching for your business when they are ready to buy. This is why local SEO for car dealers plays such an important role in obtaining qualified leads.

What are the Components of Local SEO?

Local SEO is very similar to organic SEO. It’s comprised of content links, keyword research and on-page SEO techniques. The only difference is that local search is focused on a specific geographic location. Getting all the components right for your dealership’s website is important if you want to outperform your competitors.

These are some important factors to consider as part of your local SEO efforts.

• Physical location: A physical address is imperative in order for a business to show up in local search results. Your business’ address must be updated in Google My Business and any other online directories where it’s listed, or it won’t appear when a customer performs a locality name search or “near me” search.
• Consistent listings: Your business’ name, address and phone number should be consistent in all the directories where it’s listed.
• Citations: Citations are another important part of a business’s local SEO. A citation is defined as a third-party website listing your business as an expert or an authority in a particular capacity. It doesn’t need a backlink to your website. An example of a citation might be a blog naming your dealership as a good place to buy a car in your local area. This lets Google know you are a trusted business.
• Reviews: When Google ranks local businesses, it includes the number of reviews your business has received. It’s not important whether the reviews are positive or negative. It’s good practice to thank customers who left positive reviews and reply quickly and courteously to negative reviews.

Where is Local SEO For Car Dealers Heading?

Advances in computer technology and artificial intelligence signal a shift toward more sophisticated search methodologies. As devices and homes get smarter, we will see searches approach the level of human conversation. As a result, voice searches will become more commonplace. At this juncture, no one knows exactly where all this will lead, but we hope it results in better searches that will allow users to find what they are looking for more quickly and easily.