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Content Wasn't Always King, But Now It Finally Is

For years, marketers and search engine optimization gurus have been preaching something. They've been telling the world that "content is king" and that if you put the right content on your website, that it will rank well. After all, who would deny the king, right?

 

The reality was different. Up until April 24th, 2012, content was not king. It was a queen, maybe even a jack - a face card to be sure. However, it wasn't king. Inbound links were king. Other factors such as exact-match domains, site age, and offsite attribution were aces.

 

Things have changed all the way around. Thanks to the Penguin update, links are now more challenging to come by. Don't misunderstand this - links have not been devalued. If anything, they are more powerful now than they were before the update. Low-quality, automated, spammy links have been completely devalued to the point that they can actually do harm to your domain. For this reason, inbound linking strategies have been forced to clean up their act. Only the highest level of pure links work the magic now. More on that in a moment, but first, let's talk social...

 

One of the "hidden" changes that happened on or around the same time as the Penguin update was the increased value given to social signals. Google has been considering social signals in the ranking algorithm since December, 2010 (publicly, at least), but they really started pumping up their significance this year. It's very likely that the timing of the change was intended to coincide with Penguin; making two major changes at the same time - one public, one behind the scenes - is the perfect way to keep people like me on my toes.

 

This brings us to the content. As I mentioned, links of the highest caliber are still powerful, possibly more powerful than ever before. Social signals are equally powerful. The inaccurate but easy math behind it is that links, social, and onsite content account for 30% of the ranking algorithm with the other 10% going to outside or uncontrollable forces such as domain age. If all three major components are equal, how can content now be king?

 

Today and going forward, there are three types of content for dealer websites. There's the "money content" - the pages that are there to generate leads such as inventory pages. There's the SEO content - the pages designed to target specific keywords and drive traffic to your site from various search terms. Lastly, there's "sharable content" - the pages that are of general interest to visitors that come to your website for reasons other than to do business with the dealership.

 

Many will avoid the third type as "cool content pages" such as a picture gallery of modified Honda Civics or a video of your dealership's participation in the March of Dimes walkathon do not directly generate leads. This is their biggest mistake and an opportunity for you to shine.

 

You see, these are the pages that can generate organic links. These are the pages that can be shared on social media to generate the social signals. These are the pages that will allow people to interact with your site even if they're not buying a car. The effects of links and social signals do not just hit the page itself. They help the domain. If you're posting content on your site that is bringing in links and social signals, the other pages (including the "money content" pages) will rank better in search and gain more exposure through social.

 

It's not an easy process without the appropriate understanding, but once you get the hang of it, there are few things that come more naturally to us. We're all "car people". We got into this business to make money and be around vehicles (at least that's the hope). If you generate the type of content that should come naturally to you and expose that content through the proper channels, you'll have an advantage over your competitors. Despite the ease in which this can be accomplished, few will attempt it. Even fewer will do it right. You have an opportunity to get way ahead of the competition in internet marketing with a little knowledge, a little practice, and a little help.

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Bing Traffic Optimization

Jared Hamilton sent out a Tweet that caught my eye about the recent report from Compete that Bing powered search is now 29% of the search market share so I thought it was time to share a few insights into Automotive SEO with Bing and Yahoo. Car dealers need to have a digital marketing strategy for Bing and Yahoo that is independent of what they are doing in Google. Do you have a Bing and Yahoo strategy?

In general, Automotive SEO "basics" apply to Google, Yahoo, and Bing which includes strong page titles, URL names, and relevant content. However there are some big differences. Yahoo and Bing favor sub-domains that are keyword targeted more than Google. Having hundreds of SEO tests running a year, I'll share with you a two examples that demonstrate this sub-domain preference.

Toyota Sale Search


When you search Google for the phrase "Toyota Sale" you will see among the Page One results "www.toyotaforsale.org" which confirms what I have witnessed thousands of times; Google favors exact match domains or near match domains.

Yahoo and Bing on the other-hand will often favor sub-domains more than exact matches when they are properly optimized. A search in Yahoo and Bing show similar results and shows the site http://toyota.cardealersale.com on Page One. The Home Page title on this site is "Toyota Sale | Toyota For Sale". This sub-domain is NOT on Google Page One.

Toyota Sale

What this means is that you can get on Bing and Yahoo page one for important keywords using a sub-domain microsite strategy.

Jacksonville Hyundai Searches


When exact match domains are not available you can see that sub-domains can also play a major role in achieving visibility for short search phrases. The sub-domain http://jacksonville-hyundai.fl.cardealersale.com is showing on Bing Page One. You will also see in the example below that Bing shows a domain with TWO dashes in the name "www.jacksonville-hyundai-fl.com" which you will normal NOT see appear on Google Page One. Bing and Yahoo like these dashed domains!

Jacksonville hyundai

OEM Compliance With Sub-Domains


Most dealers also should know that OEM are more tolerant with sub-domain microsites that stand-alone microsites on a new domain. For example, http://service.irvinebmw.com is a service microsite but it is associated with the primary dealer domain and thus complies with BMW microsite regulations. For Toyota warranty information, Acton Toyota created http://warranty.actontoyota.com which indexes nationally on Page One for a search on Toyota Warranty.

Toyota Warranty

In summary, there are more ways to gain Page One exposure on Yahoo and Bing than in Google and this means that the early bird will get the worm.

Automotive SEO Conference



Do you want to learn more about digital marketing?   Come out a few days early before NADA and attend the 2011 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference February 1-3, 2011 which is right before the NADA Convention in San Francisco.

Register online at: http://www.digitalmarketingstrategies.org.

The conference has attracted some of the top speakers and educators in the automotive industry and if you are looking to lock in a successful digital marketing attack in your PMA in 2011, you need to be in attendance.

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