Dealer Search Insights #2 - Relying on OEM-Provided Content

[darrenstromain]

Observation: Many dealership websites continue to rely heavily on OEM-provided content for model pages.

Why It Matters:

When dozens, or even hundreds of dealerships publish nearly identical content, it becomes harder to differentiate in organic search.

Opportunity:

Enhance model pages with dealership specific insights, local information, comparison content, and answers to questions your sales team hears every day.

Discussion:

How much unique content are dealerships adding to OEM pages today?

 

[MattCopley]

This is a downer response but after 26 years in this business I’ve seen this play out thousands of times.

I also say this with the caveat that our builder community pumps a ton of localized model and comparison pages, articles etc, and we’re working hard everyday to democratize the skill sets across organizations so they don’t collapse on single points of failure… but generally most dealers would far rather rent visibility through paid media than do any work to build owned and compounding equity.

It’s not that they can’t… but more that the operational discipline does not exist in most dealerships (maybe as much as 80%) to execute anything with consistency.

When they get a champion who does execute and walk the walk, more often than not they’re scooped up by a vendor or another store and the operational discipline collapses in their absence.

Top performers execute. Innovate. Build muscle memory and core competency, and propagate skills across the organization. ‍♂️The rest spend and churn heavily to keep up, or prep for acquisition. That gap is growing everyday and likely will be painfully evident in the next 12-24 months as AI accelerates everything