Anyone Have Experience with the SEO offered by OEM Website companies?

[Jeff Kershner]

Better off doing nothing to your website at all than paying them for this service.

May even end up worse after the fact.

They recycle content..change a few city names, and you pay for them to correct basic page and meta data that they should have gotten right in the first place.

I’d be surprised if they even got into google search console in anything they do..

I'll second this and also agree with @Cameron Anchondo 's comments.

These SEO services LOVE to show you the increase in traffic but most of it isn't relevant/local traffic that's ever going to patron your dealership. I believe most of the SEO a dealership needs anymore can be simply done in-house. IMO - Get your relevant geo-targeted keywords on page, maybe a few targeted content posts here and there to keep things fresh - but it's near impossible to compete with all the other sites that have the money and resources to squeeze you out of the rankings. Instead, place your efforts into reviews, social and mapping efforts.

 

[MarcyMMDealerAdvocates]

Even though I ranked DDC #2 for CDJR website vendors, I'd rank them near dead last for SEO.

You might be lucky for them to spend 30 minutes a month on your site - and you'll get a report saying they updated one page title, three meta descriptions, and created one citation listing for you on some obscure no-follow site.

100% agree with Ryan and the rest of the opinions below. We actually do REAL SEO and DDC and for the most part all of the website provider's SEO, as well as many other companies - is completely ineffective and a total ripoff. Super annoying that it ends up giving SEO a bad name when there is so much value in well done SEO!

 

[ideveroux]

One of my locations recently signed up for DDC SEO.

Was wondering if anyone had experience with the SEO these companies offer.

Are they any good and worth it or am I better off doing it in house?

Kody, reach out to Customer Scout. We have used them for several years and they are awesome. we lost a lot of organic rankings when we switched website providers in December and couln't migrate the thousands of pages of content to new company. Let me know if you need contact info but you can google them

 

[Greg_Gifford]

Kody, I've been talking about SEO at automotive conferences for over a decade, and I speak all over the world at SEO conferences teaching other marketers what to do... Happy to hop on a call with you and help you sort out what's important and walk you through the pros and cons of doing SEO in-house vs. outsourcing to a vendor (and even help you sort out which vendors you should work with) - let me know if you want to chat!

 

[Brad Burlingham]

We also have been super underwhelmed with their SEO. And a ton of turnover in our reps. we have cancelled at two stores and soon cancelling the rest

 

[TimCross]

That is a real challenge nowadays to find a dependable SEO agency and not some lazy guys who say a lot but do near nothing. Ryan is completely right. No wonder that there are a lot of people dissatisfied with DDC SEO.

 

[Baron Ringler]

Agreed. Vendor SEO from companies like DDC, a) the overall expertise isn't there because that is not their sole focus and, b) they are banking on the notion that most dealers are too wrapped up in the convenience of a one-stop-shop for all the different website related tools.

Even though I ranked DDC #2 for CDJR website vendors, I'd rank them near dead last for SEO.

You might be lucky for them to spend 30 minutes a month on your site - and you'll get a report saying they updated one page title, three meta descriptions, and created one citation listing for you on some obscure no-follow site.

 

[caseytoliver]

I haven't personally used DDC SEO or similar OEM website companies for SEO, but I've heard mixed reviews. Some businesses find value in the convenience and expertise these companies offer, while others prefer to handle SEO in-house for more control and customization. It ultimately depends on your specific needs and resources.

 

[ideveroux]

I haven't personally used DDC SEO or similar OEM website companies for SEO, but I've heard mixed reviews. Some businesses find value in the convenience and expertise these companies offer, while others prefer to handle SEO in-house for more control and customization. It ultimately depends on your specific needs and resources.

Check with Customer Scout. We have used them for years and they are rockstars in the SEO space. They are not certified through Stellantis so their hands are not tied.

 

[lyamen.savy]

One of my locations recently signed up for DDC SEO.

Was wondering if anyone had experience with the SEO these companies offer.

Are they any good and worth it or am I better off doing it in house?

I highly recommend SmartSites: SmartSites is an Award Winning Web Design & Digital Marketing Agency

Here are top 3 reasons:

1) Transparency - Honest, transparent, and ethical.

2) Best rates—Instead of cookie-cutter (good, better, best) subscription plans, they sell a bundle of hours ($65/hr, which is way below any other SEO agency in the automotive industry). Every month, they tell you how they will spend those hours based on your dealership's specific situation (inventory, market, competition, what has already been done to your website for SEO). DDC I heard charges $999 to $2,999 per month and all you get is 2 blog posts per month with lowest plan and 4-6 blog posts with the highest plan. They claim they will clean up your SEO title tags, technical SEO, etc., but that's the job of your website provider and should be included in your website package, so if you remove the fluff, all you get is 2-6 blog posts for the monthly subscription. Also, I heard Force Marketing charges $3,500/mon for 4 SEO pages and no link building.

3) Innovative - The founder, Alex Melen, is not from the automotive industry, which is a HUGE competitive advantage. His background is he used to work for Publicist Media Group, the world's largest brand and media buying agency. He was one of the first people to do digital marketing for global retail stores like Baby R'Us. SmartSites is industry agnostic, they have about 500 employees and over 2,000 customers. Out of those 2,000 customers, about 200 are in the automotive industry, so they bring innovative ideas from all industries. When you work with agencies that only work with car dealerships, you're just doing what has been done for decades and missing out on the opportunities to disrupt and innovate. BTW...they are also award-winning, with an A+ BBB rating, and Alex just won a lifetime achievement award in Web Hosting at Cloudfest for his early day's involvement with web hosting, pre-Google, and pre-GoDaddy.

I'm happy to introduce you to Alex if you would like. Message me at [email protected]