When we took a look at the differences between SEO and Local SEO, we explored the interconnected nature of SEO, Local SEO, and the new strategies of GEO. In particular, having a content strategy for your dealership that combines all three is the strongest way to future-proof your content, and thus keep your dealership visible and gaining presence online. How, though, can both SEO and Local SEO help your dealership shine in the new AI world that has gripped online marketing? Read on, as our team covers actionable strategies you can use for both traditional SEO and Local SEO practices that will have you showing up in LLMs and AI Overviews (AIOs), including easily readable content that’s structured smartly and uses the EEAT (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness), as well as optimizing your information online by having a strong Google Business Profile (GBP), accurate and consistent contact information, and location keywords to better get your dealership seen.
Using SEO to Highlight Your Dealership in an AI World
How to Write Content to Serve Traditional Search Engines & AI Tools
SEO is all about getting your content to potential customers, and that’s achievable by optimizing it to show up better on SERPs, and now on LLMs and AI Overviews. The better-quality content you write, immediately answering queries, and the way you structure it (with proper headers, bullet points, tables and more) makes it more likely that search engines or AI tools will rank it, or pull information from it. As well, your content should show you are an expert in the automotive field, and are trustworthy enough for potential customers to consider purchasing a vehicle from. Don’t limit yourself to only creating content for your website, either: SEO extends to other platforms as well, including social media profiles, and even content for video sites such as YouTube and Instagram. Good content can always be repurposed to further extend your online presence and get more potential customers to your business.
Structure Content to Better Rank with AI
Part of your SEO strategy has to include how to make it easier for AI to find and grab information from your content. This can be done by following core principles of SEO, including giving your website a strong structure that’s scannable and easy to read by both the Large Language Models (LLMs) that power AI search tools as well as your potential customers. Use headers with terms that might be searched for by potential customers as well, as this puts the answer in the paragraph right below, making it easy for the AI to see and thus rank higher. Cross-platforming your content is also wise as it helps the AI to parse through it, while also extending your reach to potential customers who might enjoy the format of a different platform better.
Creating Quality Content to Showcase Your Dealership
Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust is the model that Google uses to rank websites, and is also the model that best showcases your dealership and what makes you special. Your experience in the automotive industry is shown through crafted content that highlights your expertise, which makes you much more trustworthy to potential customers. The more trustworthy you are, the better of a reputation you gather, which then leads to traditional SERPs, LLMs, and AI features trusting you as an authority on the matter, which can lead to more visibility and traffic for your dealership. Let your brand shine through in your content as well, as it’s much easier for potential customers to trust something that was obviously written by a human who knows your business inside and out, over content that’s vague and clearly written by AI that is taking its best guess at information that’s readily available.
Using Local SEO to Get Yourself Seen By the Right People
Local SEO focuses on traditional SEO by targeting a specific, local audience that’s much more likely to interact with your dealership: the people who live in the area. When looking for a new vehicle or vehicle service, people are going to want to stick to the general area around where they live.. That’s where Local SEO comes in, and focuses on getting your online information easy to find through traditional online means and in AI for increased visibility.
Keeping Your Business Information Correct
Without the proper business information (name, address, phone number, and website), or mismatched and outdated information attached to your dealership online, potential customers can’t reach you easily, and can confuse search engines and AI tools when thinking of your business as an entity online (if you have two competing phone numbers online, who is to know which one is actually correct?).
That is why you want to make sure that your name, address, phone number, and website (or NAP) is consistent on all of your online spaces. This is particularly true about your Google Business Profile, as your NAP there should match what is also on your website. This type of optimization creates trust with your potential customers as well with online crawlers and AI chatbots, making it that much easier for them to find you with the correct info. Make sure to check that your dealership’s NAP is also easy to find on all of your associated social media platforms too.
Utilizing Location Keywords
Use location keywords throughout your content and in ways that are easy for AI to crawl and collect as well, such as by putting them in headers, meta descriptions, and title tags. Adding your location in the content itself can help you rank higher in traditional local search engine queries, as well as in AIOs and LLM prompt searches as well. Of course, you should include these location keywords naturally, you don’t want to overstuff with many different areas, just because you think it’ll help pick up other location searches people make, as Google and AI models are smart enough to know you’re just trying to game the system.
Importance of Reviews
Online reviews have always been a huge part of Local SEO, and now an even bigger part as AI continually uses reviews and customer feedback about your business as a metric in deciding if your dealership is worthy or not to appear for a specific prompt. Positive review sentiment on places like Google, Facebook and reddit can go a long way in showing an AI crawler that you’re a trusted and authoritative business to be shown. Conversely, the opposite, with many negative reviews and customers sharing bad stories about your dealership on reddit can prevent you from showing up where you want to in LLMs and AIOs.
EDealer: Your SEO and LSEO Experts
Don’t let AI intimidate you, especially when our team of SEO experts at EDealer is ready to help! We have Content Marketing and Local SEO packages that allow you to take care of turning leads into sales while we create the content and optimize your dealership’s presence online that keeps you showing up in both traditional search engines, as well as new LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini. Get in touch with us and get started, today!