• This thread is just the tip of the iceberg.The people ahead of the curve aren't Googling for answers — they're already in here, having the conversations you haven't found yet. DealerRefresh is free.Get the full picture →

Is Edmunds STEALING from you?

Yep Alex;

This is kind of like when I discovered that AutoUSA was an aggregator of redistributed leads which had been worked by AutoNation stores.

Oh, and did I mention that AutoUSA was an AutoNation store/company!

World Wide Web, or Wild Wild West? You tell me...
 
Well, Google got us with the "area specific search term PPC"- "Ford Millington".

Just not right when our website name is "millingtonford.com". Thank you for the heads up, Alex- we're not a true partner with Edmunds- I've not been a fan of them since working for a Toyota dealership and the fact customers have to click too many times to get the disclaimer about the "invoice" price Edmunds gives them. I can't remember offhand if AutoTrader is paired up with Edmunds or not. I know AutoUSA used to be- frustrating to keep up with how long it took for leads to get to me after multiple scrubbings.
I struggle enough to reclaim page one with a sister Ford store that's been part of the group for 20 years versus this location only joining the group in March 2009- the heck if I want to be blindsided by a third party aggregate who's then going to try to sell me a lead that started off typing in search terms that could have brought them straight to me! Grrrrrrr.....
 
you guys are funny. If you have trademarked your name you can submit to google claim and block all ads that use your trademark as a part of ad content. You cannot prevent anybody in USA to bid on your trademark name.

You cannot forbid me to talk about you, it is freedom of speech, and I can put page about your business on my website and give my opinion and if google finds it the most relevant, comprehensive and interesting/unique article on the web about your business then you have a problem and me #1 position.
 
Zoran
Of course anyone can write an article and express their opinion. That is not the point here.

We are talking about website pages that are designed and optimized to collect consumers leads for profit off a dealers name. Many of these same sites, dealers have a business relationship with.

Those sites we would like to push off of GPO. A consumer, a blogger or a news source will always have the freedom to write and have the opportunity to be on Page One.

It's freedom of speech as you pointed out. We are suggesting that the barrier should not be so easy for lead collectors to jump over.
 
@Susan
When I type in "Millington Ford" you have a GPOM issue indeed. In the organic listings you only have 2 of the 10. Here are all the people optimized for Millington Ford:

ford.com
autotropolis.com
cars.com
motortrend.com
automobilemag.com
cars.trovit.com
commercialappeal.com

This is a BIG LEAK. Then you also have four people in the Adwords section. If the average Joe know you as Milling Ford, you are losing ALOT of direct leads.
 
@Brian P I so appreciate the help! I've got Dealer.com working on helping with what has slipped there- I get a lot of direct traffic monthly though. The other names people know us as are "Price Ford" (who we bought out in March) and of course, Homer Skelton Ford- which means I'm "competing" with my sister store in Mississippi. They've had a lot longer than me to build the online rep for their url, and I am limited on funds for what I can/can't do.
It's also been a trick with me being pulled many ways to get the focus I need to put on the online traffic placement to be there. I won't have any online traffic if I don't stay on top of the online placement!
Thank you for having my back, Brian and helping me with that tidbit- just that little bit, once corrected will help generate some dollars for the store. I am very thankful for the sites that I belong to and dealer-world friends I've got!
 
@Brian P
Look to meet with Shane and Andrew from Dealer.com to address what you brought up about my site- and these two will use what you give them to benefit other dealers (hint hint at other dealer.com users). Thank you for being on top of helping us so that I had some direction to begin correcting.