Whether you’re a dealer, run a tire shop, or run any other type of automotive business, master search engine optimization remains an integral part of a successful marketing strategy in 2024.
Today’s automotive consumers are more connected and informed than ever before.
Additionally, the preference for organic search results over paid advertising remains strong, underscoring the critical importance of SEO in today’s digital-first consumer environment.
However, always keep an eye on Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) and Algorithm changes Diligence is required.
To illustrate this point further, consider the following insights:
- 88% of potential car buyers now turn to digital channels to gather information.
- car buyer dedication 14 hours and 39 minutes Research online and find the perfect car to suit their needs.
- 95% of car buyers check social media platforms during the car buying process.
- 81% of car shoppers find online events improve their overall buying experience, citing time savings (93%) and price transparency (rated at 78%) are the main advantages.
- nearly half (46%) The car dealers surveyed had at least 9% of their sales entirely through online purchases.
With these insights in mind, let’s explore the top seven automotive SEO strategies for 2024 designed to keep your business on top and drive it to success.
1. Engaging original content and rich footage
In SEO, content is still king. For automotive companies, this means creating in-depth, informative content that engages and informs their audiences.
Focusing on valuable resources like blog posts, buying guides, and vehicle reviews, we combine informative details with engaging storytelling.
This is a great example of the more informative content provided by Miami dealers. They do a great job integrating CTAs into useful content to guide users through vehicle selection:
Image from bramanmiami.com, April 2024On the various car listing pages, they even add dealer notes to further add more uniqueness to their pages, so this isn’t just a rehash of manufacturer info:
Image from bramanmiami.com, April 2024rich fragments Increase your visibility in search results and provide a snapshot of your content’s value.
Implementing structured data markup can also help search engines understand and display your content more effectively, thereby increasing the likelihood of clicks.
Screenshot from Google Search Center, February 2024Useful automotive related architecture resources:
read more: How to Optimize Rich Snippets: The Complete Guide
2. Enhance your strategy with video SEO
Video content has become an indispensable tool for businesses. It provides a dynamic platform to showcase vehicles, demonstrate features and share customer testimonials.
A recent survey showed that by leveraging video content, 86% of marketers have experienced an increase in web traffic, and 87% have seen a direct increase in sales.
As a brand, you should take this opportunity to embrace Video SEO and expand your visibility on search engines and social platforms.
Include relevant keywords in your video titles, descriptions, and tags to ensure your videos match search queries.
You can also use short, engaging videos to highlight your inventory’s unique selling points to attract potential buyers and drive traffic to your website.
Check out this great example from Mazda of North Miami, which uses videos on its car listing page to showcase cars to potential customers:
Image from mazdaofnorthmiami.com, April 2024Even better, they marked up this page with structured data and now benefit from displaying the video element’s listing page in the SERP, which only further increases their organic CTR:
Image from Google, April 2024read more: How short videos and user-generated content impact marketing
3. Optimize action-first indexing
Now that most online searches are conducted on mobile devices, a mobile-optimized website is critical to SEO success.
Google’s mobile-first indexing means the mobile version of your site is the primary version Google considers ranking.
Make sure your website is responsive, mobile-friendly, and intuitive. This is crucial to attracting mobile audiences.
This is a perfect example of how dealers should adopt action-first design. They do a great job of presenting the most relevant information (images, specs, pricing, CTAs) to consumers.
Screenshot from bramanmotorsbmw.com, April 2024read more: 14 Mobile Optimization Best Practices You Need to Know
4. Increase your local presence
Local SEO is crucial for automotive businesses looking to attract nearby customers.
claims and Optimize your Google Business Profile.
Strategically include local keywords in your website content and engage in local community events to increase your visibility in local search results.
Additionally, testimonials and reviews are powerful social proof. In the field of automotive digital marketing, 82% of consumers turn to online reviews of local businesses.
To help future buyers feel confident in their choices and encourage satisfied customers Leave a positive review about their experiences.
Screenshot of search for (St. Louis car dealer), Google, February 2024read more: Local SEO Architecture: A Complete Guide to Local Markup and Richness result
5. Build authority through strategic connections
backlink Signal to search engines that your site is a reliable and authoritative source of information.
Automotive companies should aim to obtain high-quality backlinks from reputable automotive blogs, local business directories, and industry publications.
These backlinks not only improve your website’s SEO performance, but also increase targeted traffic, thereby increasing your online visibility and reputation within your industry.
This Miami-based dealership does a great job of leveraging sponsorships of local events in its community to gain additional inbound links to increase its authority:
Screenshot from Ahrefs, April 2024read more: How to Get High-Quality Backlinks: 12 Ways That Really Work
6. Prioritize Technical SEO for a Healthier Website
Technical SEO Make sure your site can be accessed and read by search engines and resolve issues that may affect your site’s performance.
By conducting regular technical audits, you can identify and correct problems that are loading slowly, broken linkand duplicate content.
A technically sound website provides a solid foundation for your SEO efforts, ensuring that your content and keywords can be indexed and ranked effectively.
read more: How to do technical SEO for your e-commerce website
7. Use EEAT principles to enhance user experience
Google pays more and more attention to Experience, expertise, authority and credibility (EEAT) When evaluating a website.
For automotive websites, this means creating content that not only showcases your knowledge of the automotive industry, but also provides users with valuable, trustworthy information.
This could include detailed guidance on choosing the right vehicle, practical tips on car maintenance or insights into the latest automotive technology.
By showcasing first-hand experience and expertise in your content, you can significantly increase your site’s authority and credibility in the eyes of users and search engines.
Learn how Edmunds.com leverages authorship to further validate EEAT principles:
Image from Edmunds.com, April 2024example: You can share a series of blog posts written by experienced mechanics on how to maintain your vehicle in different seasons and provide practical car care advice. This will show your in-depth knowledge of the topic and position your brand as a reliable source for your customers.
read more: What is user experience? How design affects SEO
generalize
By 2024, the importance of a strong, data-driven SEO strategy to automotive companies has never been more apparent.
Take your organic presence to new heights with:
- Create high-quality content.
- Optimize for video.
- Design with action first.
- Manage your local listings.
- Build a powerful backlink configuration.
- Maintain the technical health of the website.
- Focus on EEAT principles and provide a positive user experience.
Implementing these seven strategies will not only increase your visibility in search engine results, but also position your business as a leader in the automotive industry.
More resources:
Featured Image: iQoncept/Shutterstock
Examples of compelling content: Brannon Miami Screenshot
Video SEO Example: Screenshot of Mazda in North Miami
Google SERP and Ahrefs screenshots: taken by the author
EEAT image: Edmunds.com screenshot
