The internet has been overrun with AI-generated content. While it may seem, with the advent of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and Gemini, that you now can create content easier than ever by just typing a prompt into an AI model and getting back full landing pages and blog posts to post on your website. What you actually get is surface-level content that loses a lot of SEO value when you don’t know how to apply it to your dealership brand. Every dealership can do this, with LLMs sourcing their information from the same places online, leading to content that feels very similar.
You and your staff are the real life experts of not only your brand, but of everything related to your dealership’s services, from financing to the most niche service tips and even a handy tidbit about a part you know about thanks to years and years in the business. This is how you stand out online. The best thing for dealerships to do with their online content, and subsequently get eyeballs on you online, is to take an authentic, unique, and human-first approach to creating said content. Not only does this approach give that direct, human viewpoint that so much of AI-created content misses, it also clearly demonstrates your actual experience and expertise, which Google favours, and can help you show up more in traditional online search, AI features, and LLMs, all leading to further engagement for your business!
Read on as our team at EDealer takes a closer look at why your expertise matters now more than ever in this AI search era, and how to use your dealership’s unique advantages to beat AI at its own game and get more attention to your dealership!
How Google Evaluates What Content Will Show Up in Search: the EEAT Model
EEAT is what Google uses to determine which content to rank, based on the key factors of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. The EEAT model can be broken down thusly:
- Experience: When people are searching for information online, they want to get it from sources they can depend on: people who know what they’re talking about due to their past experiences. For dealerships, this is the staff right there in your building, and can be showcased by a salesperson test driving a car and extolling all of its highlights, or a service technician showing the ins and outs of an oil change.
- Expertise: It’s one thing to have first-hand experience with a product or service, but it’s another thing entirely to be an expert in said field. Your dealership staff are naturals at this, as there’s no one who knows the vehicles you sell better than you do, or the maintenance services you provide, thanks to years of demonstrated knowledge! This information is extremely helpful to those shopping for vehicles online or needing to find maintenance and repair work, as they can trust in your long-term expertise and know they’re dealing with pros in the field that can be trusted.
- Authoritativeness: Having experience and expertise both lend themselves to building the authority of your dealership, with how recognized you are in the industry and area as a pre-eminent source for information in your profession. Online reviews and being cited by other sources are a good barometer for this.
- Trustworthiness: All three sections above feed into trustworthiness: when you’re an experienced expert and the go-to source of information on your vehicles, you prove yourself to be trustworthy, after all! While reviews certainly play a part again in raising your trustworthiness, so too is the entire legitimacy of your website, how transparent you are with your information, and the accuracy that you present.
Why Your Expertise Matters Now More Than Ever
AI-written information about vehicles and services has led to a mindless churning out of generic information, which drowns a lot of dealerships in the sea of AI content. To keep your head above the AI water, you need to stand out, and the easiest way to do so is to put forward what truly makes your dealership unique: the experts you have working at your business, and the specific authoritative insights they have! AI content does not come up with new information, as it pulls from what has already been written online about as its source, taking information from other places online to synthesize and make its own content.
Write authentic, localized, and lived-in human insights into your content, directly from your staff who are the heartbeat of it all in your dealerships. This helps build trust with you before even interacting with your staff in person. Your team has decades of collective experience in sales, parts, service, and financing of vehicles, so use it in your content! Show yourself as the true authority of your automotive services in your area online, and show Google why you deserve to stand out as a truly unique and trusted voice in the wake of generic content from others attempting the same.
How to Use Your Dealership's Unique Advantages in Content Creation
How exactly do you showcase your “human-ness” in your content? Don’t worry, I’ve got your back! Here’s some ways you can ensure your content stands above the rest, and beat AI content at its own game:
Use the Conversations Your Team Has to Drive Content
Your sales and service teams have conversations with customers every single day. What sort of questions do they ask about your vehicles and services? There’s often similar questions being asked, questions you know the answers to, being looked for online as well by potential customers. This is the kind of content you can feature through landing pages and blogs, so future users online will find your content when they make their own searches or with AI prompting, and land right on your website. Is someone asking about the different types of engine oils and which is better for their vehicle? Write a blog on it! Not a writer? Not a worry! Your authentic, first-hand expertise and information behind that topic is more important than any formatting or grammatical missteps you might have, and that can always be fixed later!
Add Genuine, First-Hand Opinions Into Your Content
As we mentioned above, there’s nothing better than getting the information straight from the horse’s mouth, as the saying goes, so the content that you create should come right from your staff members, the established experts in the industry. Behind-the-wheel video reviews with your salespeople, for example, can be a great way to incorporate a video element into your online branding and content creation. Google heavily features videos in their AI Overviews, so this can help give you a straight shot into being at the top of a search result. Blogs of a similar type can also be written from the perspective of your staff to better establish a trusting relationship with potential customers before they even come to your dealership.
Put Your Staff Upfront and Centre on Your Website
The About Us page isn’t the only place on your dealership website where you should feature your staff’s actual names, positions and images. Going off of our first two sections above, ensure there’s an actual author bio on each piece of content (just like mine here on this blog, hello!), further establishing the backing of trust and authority with the expert who wrote the piece directly attributed to it.
Keep Your Local Target Audience in Mind
When you write content about your vehicles and services, always think about your direct local area and the people you’re serving in your local community. For example, point out the family-friendly features or tech that helps with the crazy weather in your area, or the ins and outs of those back-country roads that only locals like you know about. Write service pages that feature deals going on for seasonal-specific services, and keep the latest information up-to-date and fresh for your local shoppers.
Use Case Studies for Unique, Real-World Content
Longer form content like case studies, or blogs that feature stories of how a staff member helped solve a complex problem or situation a previous customer was having, not only gives you content that can’t be found anywhere else, but also shows potential customers how trustworthy and knowledgeable your staff are. You may think that super-specific vehicle repair process isn’t any interesting outside the walls of your break room, but you’d be surprised! Popular and informative real-world problem-solving showcased to the world is for people not only looking for similar help, but also highlights said expertise and experience your staff are demonstrating day-in and day-out.
Humanize Your Branding and Content Strategy with EDealer
If you need guidance, our EDealer SEO team is here to fortify an ongoing relationship with your staff and the content that gets put out on your website. Our content packages are built on collaboration and blending your team’s firsthand automotive knowledge with our SEO expertise to ensure your dealership’s authentic, real-world point of view gets discovered. With fully optimized content creation and Google Business Profile management through our SEO packages, we’re here to help show the world your dealership, and how you’re like no one else online! Reach out to us today to get started, and we’ll take care of your online presence while you take care of your customers.
