Freshen up your website with our SEO Checklist

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Spring is here! It’s a great time to clean up our homes, offices, and showrooms. While you’re sweeping dust bunnies and sorting paper inboxes, consider cleaning up your website, too. We recommend you revisit your digital content to ensure everything is accurate and your SEO strategies are still working for you. 

If you don’t know much about SEO, don’t worry. We’ve got a few suggestions to get you started.

Get your ducks in a row before SEO 

It’s exciting to launch a new website and sign up for content marketing and digital advertising packages. You know building your online brand takes time, so we understand the impulse to want to start right away. We recommend you first ensure your pre-existing business processes are fully integrated with your digital retailing solutions. You would make sure you have cars to sell on your lot before you erect an inflatable tube man and open the doors. The same applies in the digital sphere. For example: what will you do if you receive two simultaneous deposits for the same car – one from a digital shopper using your new online-deposit tool, and the other from an in-store customer who wants the same vehicle? Work out these kinks ahead of time so your physical and digital processes seamlessly function together. This way, you will make the best first impression and improve your opportunities to sell, build trust, and brand yourself as a reputable dealership.

Routinely check content for accuracy 

You’re only as good as your word. It’s important to ensure the information on all of your digital entities – website, Google Business Profile, and social media channels – all match. Has your business changed in any way in the last year? For example, your contact information, hours of operation, or the extension of a promotion. We recommend you double check that information on all of your digital properties is up to date. EDealer can help. Check out our Local SEO package for ongoing optimization and maintenance on your Google Business Profile. 

Every detail counts, including your website. If a visitor searches for one type of vehicle, or sees your digital ad for that vehicle, but lands on your product page for another model entirely, their confusing digital experience may deter them from your business. For this reason, we recommend your routine check includes inventory merchandising. Automated inventory tools are great for letting you quickly add new vehicles to your website backend (no more manual data entry). But specific product details  – like packaging or trim – can easily slip through the cracks. It’s a wise idea to double-check each vehicle for accuracy. 

In the case of a new phone number (and/or phone extension), a customer may find two different numbers listed on your website and Google Business Profile. If they’re uncertain which one to call, they might not bother. When you build in a process to help you regularly double check content consistency, you’re communicating to leads and customers that you care about the service they receive and your proficiency in providing high-quality service. 

Unique content is essential, not a “nice to have”

It’s vital to take care of the nuts and bolts of basic SEO on your landing pages and blog posts, like proper keyword use, headers, title tag, and meta description. This information informs how your page or blog will be viewed, displayed, and interacted with by both search engines and online users. This work can get technical very quickly! Take advantage of our Technical SEO solutions to build this often overlooked framework of your website. While technical SEO is important – especially ensuring that it accurately represents the content of a page – it’s that actual content on said page that makes the biggest difference in your SEO strategy.

What’s most important for your ranking in search is hosting unique web content. You may receive boilerplate copy from your OEM. While this content may seem a quick and easy solution, it’s the same copy that other dealerships of your same brand use as well. If every dealer has the same content, they diminish their chances to rank highly in search. To stand out from the crowd, we recommend you develop optimized, distinct, and high-quality content to satisfy both search engines and users. This strategy helps drive traffic to your website and builds up its authority. If you’re looking to invest in SEO, the technical part of it is one small piece of the pie. Unique content about your particular services and solutions is another larger slice. There’s only so much time in a day, so let us take care of it. Through our content marketing solutions, we provide unique content to improve your search ranking, help brand your business, and make your digital presence stand out from your competitors.

If you have questions or require assistance putting our SEO Spring Cleaning Checklist into practice, get in touch so we can discuss which SEO solutions are best for your business needs. We’re happy to make your website stand out from the rest!