SEO is Great but do you REALLY Know what Keywords Matter?

[Alex Snyder]

I think customers do both types of searches.

 

[mattwatson81]

I think customers do both types of searches.

They do, but I would guess the 80/20 or even 90/10 rule applies here. 80-90% of the time the searches aren't that detailed. But the people who are searching that detailed obviously know exactly what they want.

SEO is the combination of content optimization and link building. With link building probably being the most important.

It is pretty much impossible to do link building for terms like "kansas city 2008 ford escape xlt". So the only way you can score high on those terms is content optimization. So that will probably come down to having a good platform for dealer websites that is well optimized with a lot of built in content because you may not be able to do much to really optimize for those terms on your own.

Think about it, you can't realistically optimize for every single combination of "year make model trim level" plus multiple cities. You have to take more of a shotgun approach after that broad variety of phrases.

 

[Indie Results]

Again, a real SEO company would determine the most valuable keywords first, ranking high for random terms is meaningless, that is not to say "some" seo companies don't try and push the whole "look at this super long tailed term you rank first for!" act. That said there is no guarantee that short tailed words like "make city" are the most valuable to go after, you need to do the KW research, track your goals, track your competition, and make your move.

Typically we suggest people focus on less than 10 keywords, from an SEO aspect, and pick up the rest with a complimentary PPC campaign. It is unrealistic to rank highly for hundreds of searches actively.

 

[mattwatson81]

Again, a real SEO company would determine the most valuable keywords first, ranking high for random terms is meaningless, that is not to say "some" seo companies don't try and push the whole "look at this super long tailed term you rank first for!" act. That said there is no guarantee that short tailed words like "make city" are the most valuable to go after, you need to do the KW research, track your goals, track your competition, and make your move.

Typically we suggest people focus on less than 10 keywords, from an SEO aspect, and pick up the rest with a complimentary PPC campaign. It is unrealistic to rank highly for hundreds of searches actively.

Looking at what your competitors optimize for is a great tip.

 

[Indie Results]

SEO is the combination of content optimization and link building. With link building probably being the most important.

There is a lot more do being successful at SEO...

adding new authoritative content being more important than anything bar none.

 

[joe.pistell]

Short Tail vs Long tail.
I say they are 2 different beasts and they need to be looked at differently.

Extreme Examples 1st:

• Short Tail Search: Chevrolet
• Long Tail Search: largest used chevy suburban dealer leather moonroof rear dvd near city, state

Ok, in my world EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.
The quest for a new car begins with very basic words or phrases. Then, over time, as the shopper begins to zero in on their choice, the TAIL GETS LONGER.

Watch as the "Tail Grows Longer".

• Short Tail Search, grows to Long Tail...
  • Chevrolet
  • Chevrolet SUV
  • Chevrolet SUV reviews
  • Chevrolet Suburban
  • Chevrolet Suburban dealer
  • Chevrolet Suburban dealer near city, state
  • largest used chevy suburban dealer leather moonroof rear dvd near city, state

What happens as the "Tail Grows longer" is the shopper's time and attention is pulled away from google as they encounter richer and deeper content. In our biz, the top short tail SEO sites all have local shopping features to keep the shopper from going back to google to grow the search tail.

SO, as the tail grows, what happens?

• Shoppers Time in the market is closer to the buy point (generally speaking)
• Search traffic falls.
• Shopper hasn't found what they want yet
• PPC costs drop
• Shoppers demo's change: web skills are higher (i.e more likely to own a Blackberry, a BMW, etc..)

In the end, It's all about you, your inventory and ROI.

Big Dealer vs Botique Dealer.

Botique Dealer:
IMO, the closer you are to a botique dealer, the more you have to avoid short tail and double down on long(er) tails with landing pages that'll make someone drive 2 hours to buy your car.

Mr Big Dealer:
Your competition is AutoTrader.com, Cars.com, KBB.com, Edmunds, etc... You have the size and scale to ENTERTAIN & EXCITE an undecided shopper and plant seeds for their frequent return.

I judge our shorttail PPC campaigns not by the number of leads submitted, but by time spent on the site and # of pages viewed and loyalty stats.

Hope this helps...

 

[joe.pistell]

At a glance...

Note: Web Skillz (aka demos) = Web Knowledge (aka demographics)
This column is an attempt to lable the google user's web skill level.

 

[parushing]

A site rich with content and a decent amount of link building will pull in tons
of long tail search terms. The value of the aggregate long tails will pound the
traffic volume of the short tail keywords.

Here is a link to a post I did about it a while back:

Automotive SEO - Benefits of the Long Tail | Internet Sales Manager in Training

 

[joe.pistell]

The more I look at that "Short Tail to Long Tail" table I built (above), the more I think it's friggin' brilliant. It touches on every variable in the PPC discussion INCLUDING the size of the inventory.

 

[DevBasu]

Joe you hit the nail on the head with the difference between short tail and long tail traffic. Here are a couple of ways to figure out the difference between buyers vs browsers that are somewhat advanced:

1) I've found that Google maps traffic drives more buyers than organic search traffic. To figure out what the split is between organic vs maps traffic follow this guide: Google Analytics For Local Search Part 1 of 7: Tracking Traffic From The 10 Pack | seOverflow

2) Want to know exactly which keywords people are typing in when they click your PPC ads? Use this Google Analytics hack to get practically real time data: AdWords Keyword Data Exposed With Google Analytics! | semvironment

3) First Click vs Last Click attribution - Sure, a visitor may start by searching 'honda dealers chicago', but they often end up buying through their last search/click which may be a more targeted term such as '2009 honda civic si in chicago, il'. Most analytics software only captures that last click and hence you're lead to believe that short tail keywords are not buying keywords. This guide is fairly technical but if you're geeky about your conversion attribution it fits the bill:
SEOmoz | How To Get Past Last-Touch Attribution With Google Analytics