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4 Myths of Automotive SEO - By J.D Rucker

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#22
Hi All-
I sent a question to Google about the certification, asking point-blank if the training and certification can benefit someone optimizing a website. Here is the part of the response that applies:

"I can assure you that the organic search results are completely separate from AdWords and the Google AdWords Professionals program.  Certification and Qualified Status will in no way affect the organic search results you see on Google.com. "

It was not the definitive answer I was looking for, but it at least touches on my question while side-stepping it at the same time.

* * *

David-
While I discourage self promotion on open threads like these, you make some points...

David: "Myth #1: Thousand of Indexed Pages are Necessary
Yes and no."

Reply: Sounds like you're agreeing, but I wasn't completely clear about the "no" part of it. As you said, "These sites consist of 4-5 pages and out rank other larger sites."

David: "People do search for new cars by year and model. They want to know everything about that vehicle so Micro Sites target that audience."

Reply: I agree that people look for cars. Some. I don't like it when companies point to their abilities to get ranked for long tail searches as the proof of their prowess. For dealer websites, you go after the general, high volume searches first, then the long tail afterwards.

Microsites are a whole other topic, but we can discuss it at another time.

David: "Myth #3: SEM Certification Means Better SEO
Not true."

Reply: ?
Are you agreeing that the myth is not true?

David: "Myth #4: Flash Websites cannot be optimized"
Again, are you agreeing with what most others have been saying?

I'm sorry, David, but it just feels as if you saw the topic, scanned some of the points, and repeated what others were saying, throwing in the occasional references to your products. Then, you finish it off with a full two paragraph pitch that is completely off topic. I'm not sure how to respond, but thanks for posting.

* * *

Umer and Joe-
Thank you!
 
#23
J.D. -

"I'm sorry, David, but it just feels as if you saw the topic, scanned some of the points, and repeated what others were saying, throwing in the occasional references to your products. Then, you finish it off with a full two paragraph pitch that is completely off topic."

Agreed! Come on David,.
 
#24
J.D.

Myth #1: Thousand of Indexed Pages are Necessary.
I agree it is a Myth. I was pointing out from our experience that a 4 page site can out rank a much larger site. It is the content that is a factor. Which ties into your Myth #4: Flash Websites cannot be optimized. You can have all the relevant content and 1,000 page flash site, and the search engines wouldn't know it from a 1 page flash site. The technical part about it is that the huge flash site typically sits within 1 HTML page. So dealers with HUGE impressive flash sites typically have 1 HTML page to optimize (if allowed by the vendor). Thus making it very difficult to rank highly on Organic searches.

Myth #3: SEM Certification Means Better SEO
I agree with you in that it makes absolutely no difference to organic marketing as now pointed out by Google. It is geared towards the PPC. I would trust that someone with these Certs has enough experience with Adwords and AdSense and would know more than someone without one. I agree it is used today more for marketing purposes than it should be.

What you call "self promotion" is merely my experiences and opinions and from what I know to work and not work. I have been in the web development/SEO industry for 12 years and so I only speak and demonstrate from exprience. Sorry for any self promotion.

Thanks for the topic J.D.
 
#25
David-
I know what you mean. I wasn't trying to be rude. It's tough - so many come here looking for clients. The reason I go to this site more often than my own sometimes is because self-promotion is a no-no here. It is more objective and helps me to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry through the people who truly run it (even though our bosses don't know it sometimes).

I cross paths with many websites and want to say "we can do it better" but I always bite my tongue. It's tough, but it keeps the conversations more real.
 
#26
Longtail Keywords and Generating Leads

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The entry level SEO knowledge to sell affiliate products online is knowing to target the longtail.  Generally trying to rank for generic keywords does n...
 
#27
Summary:
You'll be preaching the "Long Tail Gospel" in less than 18 months.

Joe Pistell
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From my affiliate marketing experience dominating SERP's with longtail keywords is the "Holy Grail" that is where the targeted buyer comes from.

I much rather rank for "Buy a Used Chevy in (city name)" any day over "Buy a Chevy". The leads generated in the first example are targeted leads to my market area vs leads generated way out of my market area. I rather have 1 lead in my market for a specific inventory Item than 30 from all over the US for a generic term.

Paul
 
#28
Hi Paul,

I agree, in affiliate marketing, the long tail is everything. This is because you're targeting the people who are further down in the funnel, not just doing research. For affiliate marketing, it is so much more cost effective to do AdWords for the long tail where conversions are high.

In the automotive industry, so few people will type in "buy a used chevy in san diego". "San Diego Chevy" or "chevrolet san diego" get literally tens of thousands more searchers than the longer tail searches, and these aren't just research searches. These are buyers. Conversions are much, much lower, but like with the example above, would you rather have 0.1% of 32,000 people looking for "Toyota Minneapolis" or 10% of 28 people looking for "used camry in minneapolis"?

Nobody is saying not to do the long tail. I'm saying the long tail is something you get after you get the high volume local searches that the bulk of buyers are typing.

I have affiliate pages, just like you. My affiliate strategy is the exact opposite of my automotive strategy because the stakes are higher in automotive. In affiliate marketing, it takes 10 sales to cover my AdWords costs, which I usually hit at 20% or 30% of my budget. The rest is gravy. In automotive, whether you spend $300 a month or $1500, 1 sale should cover the costs. It isn't cost effective to go after the long tail alone. You have to go for the bulk primarily, especially with optimization. I know dealers who have seen 20% plus increase MoM and YoY once they made it above the fold on page 1 for major local search terms.

One final piece of advice. Apply what you know about affiliates, but remember, it's a numbers game. One of my old dealers wanted to be #1 for "Oklahoma City Lincoln Dealers". I got them there, and as a result, sales increased a lot. As a result for placing in that search term, we also made the front page for "Lincoln Dealers" nationally. We did get several leads from out of state. In 1 month, they sold two lincolns to New York, 1 in Arizona, 1 in Oregon, and several to the border states. Getting 1 highly targeted, local lead will not sell you more cars than 30 leads from out of state. Trust me. People aren't stupid. They know where the lead is going. If they send in a lead from out of state, they know there are obstacles. Having your team ready to handle these situations will help you sell more cars than with the single targeted lead.
 
#29
In the automotive industry, so few people will type in "buy a used chevy in san diego". "San Diego Chevy" or "chevrolet san diego" get literally tens of thousands more searchers than the longer tail searches, and these aren't just research searches. These are buyers. Conversions are much, much lower, but like with the example above, would you rather have 0.1% of 32,000 people looking for "Toyota Minneapolis" or 10% of 28 people looking for "used camry in minneapolis"?
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I guess I was over targeted in my example above your "short tail" example is still more targeted than mine. If I can rank for used "Used Camry in (city name)" I better be ranking well for "Toyota (City Name)".

Adwords ranking and SEO are completely different animals.

Adwords position is about quality score. I can take a non indexed page and have it rank well for an Adwords campaign due to quality score.

Dominating organic searches is all SEO and the desired outcome for organic searches is not to just have #1 in the SERP but #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5 that is the "Holy Grail" this will never be accomplished with a well optimized 20 page site. The only way to achieve this is with multiple sites and multiple pages.

The only way Adwords and SEO intertwine is in keyword targeting. But just because you can get a good position in an Adwords Campaign does not mean you can get a good position in natural SERPs. If you have a good natural position there is no need for Adwords.

Paul
 
#30
> much rather rank for "Buy a Used Chevy in (city name)" any day over "Buy a Chevy". The leads generated in the first example are targeted leads to my market area vs leads generated way out of my market area. I rather have 1 lead in my market for a specific inventory Item than 30 from all over the US for a generic term.

===========================

Do you actually work at a dealership (ie - get paid for SALES) and use this tactic?

I'll take the 1st or second spot for just 'chevrolet' and make the owner of my dealership an extra $1million in profit a year! Well, if we were still a chevy dealer :)

Go only for the long tail search, and you will starve.
Plain and simple.

This is not typical IM. Typical adsense or affiliate strategies used by self employed internet marketers on a shoestring budget simply do not work in this market (forget the fact that 99% of those marketers are lucky to even make $100 a month). Selling only a few cars to internet shoppers a month simply is not an option. I need to generate over 100k of profit a month to justify my existance (and we're a small dealership, no more then 8 sales people total, and zero dedicated internet sales people). To do this, I need a site that converts, and lots of traffic to it.

If you only want searchers in your city, just use geo targeting - the VAST VAST majority of searchers don't even qualify their searches with city names! adwords ad impressions will verify this in heartbeat. There is no arguing the real stats.

I'd rather have 100 people a day from my market shopping for a 'dodge', then the 1 person shopping for "new white dodge caliber in BFE'. Both types of shoppers are equally likely to generate a lead or visit us. Set-up a free analytics account at google and anyone can verify this for themself.

Now, I can get easily get several hundred people a day to our site using geo-targeting and generic keywords like 'dodge', or I can take a month to get that traffic using long tail searches.

The nuances of car shopping and sales are nothing like selling digital cameras or e-books online :)

long tail search is mostly a way to buy clicks for cheap, as well as game the SE's and get higher SERPS.
Dealers don't need to do this. We don't need to try to get a trickle of traffic for pennies a click. I could pay up to $75 PER click before it becomes a losing proposition! Granted, the owner would probably shoot me if i did this :)

To anyone who actually works at a dealership and is just getting started in SEM/ppc, do yourself a favor and just use a few generic search phrases at first, and target your ads to only display for people within 20 miles of your zip. Keep tweaking your ads to get your CTR up, and you'll see results. This is the low hanging fruit, yet it could nearly double the total sales of the 'average' franchise dealer within a couple months.
 

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