One of the most common theories in automotive search engine marketing is the idea that a high keyword density results in better search engine results. But is it true? Does the highest possible keyword density really result in great rankings?

No. Well, maybe. OK, a little bit. Let’s explore.

First off, what is keyword density?

Keyword density is the percentage of your text that is made up of your keyword. If your page has 100 words and your keyword occurs once, you have a keyword density of one percent. If your keyword occurs ten times, you have a keyword density of ten percent.

Does keyword density give you high search engine rankings?

This is where things get complicated. Keyword density does certainly contribute to your search engine rankings, but not nearly as much as many people think it does.

When the internet was younger, search engine ranking algorithms were far more simple than they are now. It was assumed to be true that if someone enters the phrase “blue widgets” into a search engine, they want their results to show something that is highly focused on blue widgets and only blue widgets. Search engines used to believe that the more times “blue widgets” showed up in your text, the more relevant your page was to what they’re looking for.

Unfortunately, too many people got ahold of that information and started abusing the system. They stuffed pages and pages full of the same search term over and over. They were trying to game the system, and the search engines caught on. They changed the system so it couldn’t be gamed that way anymore.

The key with modern search engines is human relevance. Use your keyword frequently, but not so much that it wouldn’t make sense if read aloud. If it would look ridiculous to a human reader, it looks ridiculous to the search engines. Don’t eliminate your keyword entirely, but use common sense. Sprinkle it through the text, but do so sparingly.

If you build your site for search engines and visitors equally, you’ll have a head start on all the rest.

A lot of people seem to think that search engine marketing is the most difficult thing in the world. Automotive dealership website and blog owners think are under the impression that there is great mystery surrounding search engine success, and that it’s more luck of the draw than anything else.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

When planning your online automotive search marketing strategy, the important thing to remember is that you’re not out to beat the search engines. You’re out to beat your competitors. The fastest way to beat your competitors is to stop competing for the same terms.

But how can you do that when you’re all trying to secure the same competitors?

Change the game.

Nobody can guarantee you that you’ll rank for this term or that term in the search engines. Nobody can promise you that you’ll get the perfect search term. What they can do, though, is give you the tools to rank for numerous “long tail” keywords that in the end will add up to the same results as one first tier keyword.

Here’s an example. If you’re trying to rank for “used cars Pennsylvania”, you’re going up against every other used car dealership in the state. You’re probably also going up against places that aren’t even dealerships. People selling cars on online auction sites, newspapers, automotive publications, the whole works.

But what if you were to try to rank for something completely different? Something more attainable? How about titling a blog post “Where can I find the best used car deal in Pittsburgh?” The chances of the rest of your competitors having the same title are pretty slim.

These longer search terms are called “long tail” keywords because instead of allowing you to achieve a major spike in success in the short term, they allow you to achieve long term success. On a graph, the long tail is what comes after the spike. Master the long tail and you’ll master the search engines.

We all hope for world peace. We hope for an end to hunger and famine. But what we really, really want is to be number one in Google.

Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not that hard to be number one in Google. It’s not a difficult process and it’s not as mysterious as a lot of people make it out to be. In fact, if you have a website, the odds are pretty good that your website comes up number one in search engines for something or other. But what?

The trick to doing well in automotive search engine marketing is to know what people are searching for and ranking for that. The most competitive search terms are often not what you want to be number one for.

What you really want to be number one for is the most common search phrase your customers type into a search engine when looking for something you sell. That’s it. That’s the secret to success.

For example, someone who lives in Brooklyn and wants to buy a new Nissan is not typing “cars” into their search engine of choice. They’re not typing “new cars” or “new car” or “Nissan”, either. So what are they searching for?

They’re searching for “Nissan dealership Brooklyn”. Or “where can I buy a Nissan in Brooklyn?”. Or “new Nissan Murano Brooklyn dealer website”.

Compared to “cars”, those are pretty easy search terms to rank for, don’t you think? There probably aren’t a whole lot of people who want to rank for “Nissan dealership Brooklyn”. That means almost all you have to do is try to rank for it and you’ve got a fairly good chance of success.

Remember that the key to success here isn’t being the top of the biggest pile in the world. All you have to do is be at the top of your own little pile and you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.

Wanted to take advantage of message by Seth Godin in one of his recent blogs. The blog touches on the subject of how Search, or search engines, makes the infinite more finite. It’s a valid point. The masses have come to rely on search engines for helping to initiate or at least narrow down a person’s infinite number of choices. But what does this mean for businesses?

Businesses, Car Dealerships included, can not be everywhere in Search and so you must be selective about where you position your website. If you focus entirely on where your competition is then you are missing out on opportunities to reach market share where you competition is not. By the same token, if you focus solely on where your competition is not then you will miss out on a lot of your market share. Alas, you need a balanced strategy for both.

This is where data and research become important. There is data available and there are tools that are accessible for determining where and how to position your website. For instance, Axandra and Web CEO which are two of the more popular software programs for researching and managing SEO (and to some extent your PPC efforts). There are also good online tools such as Webmaster Toolkit which are good for researching Search Markets too.

Car Dealerships have two choices…they can invest time and training into utilizing these tools effectively, or else they can rely on trusting providers to assist with or even manage these things on their behalf. Regardless, someone needs to be on top of these things in order for dealerships to thrive in today’s online marketplaces. For Dealers that do rely on providers to do this, which is the majority, they still need to be responsible for where and how these providers do position their dealer customer websites.

It’s all about supply and demand and while you do want to position your site where there is an abundance of demand, you also want to position yourself where there is little supply. You can obtain a lot of market share by positioning your site in spaces that are frequented and not saturated with suppliers.

So when it comes to Search Engine Marketing for Car Dealers, remember that you do not need to be everywhere for everyone. You do need however, a well-balanced mixture of visibility within your competitor markets and the market spaces where you can be the bright and shiny star in a galaxy of infinite possibilities.

Shouts out to Andy at Vinart for forwarding the Godin article.

If you’ve done any work at all with SEO, you might’ve wondered about the history of the concept and some of the changes it’s made since it began. I know I’ve wondered about that several times. Here is an article that explains some of the big changes in the last decade, but I’ve pulled out some of the highlights for quick reference.

• Minor changes in the SEO market have taken place over the years, and they often escape the notice of those in the industry. Taken as a whole, howver, they constitute major changes between today’s techniques and those from ten years ago.

• In the year 2000, Google had just over one billion pages indexed. Today, there are about 10 billion pages indexed. Of course, that figure is ever-growing. The only way the article writer could find the number of pages was to type “the” into the search box and see how many results came back.

• There is now about ten times more competition in the search engine optimization industry than there was in the year 2000.

• Search engines still look for things like keywords, key phrases, body text, title tags and frequency when indexing pages. The article writer suggests not wasting time on meta keyword tags, though, as they are of less importance today than they were years ago.

• Submitting your URL to a search engine is no longer necessary, as the spiders take care of that for you.

• Yahoo and Google are generally the two accepted search engines today, whereas there were several more popular and widely-used ones ten years ago, including Infoseek, WebCrawler, Excite and Lycos, among others.

Luckily, the fundamentals of SEO are still a major part of online marketing and other Internet-based industries. We’ll continue to see changes in the near future, but the basic concept will likely remain the same.

The search marketing industry is a fairly new concept. Although it’s been around for several years, it’s difficult to monitor how it will change or operate in various circumstances. And with the impending troubled economy, many are speculating about the future of the online marketing industry and its chances for profitability. A recent interview with a New York economist, Lauren Capp, discusses some of these concerns. Following are some interesting points she made:

• Search marketing trends follow advertising trends to an extent. But search marketing has a better chance of turning a profit in the case of a recession because it is more internationally-based than advertising.

• The advertising industry doesn’t suffer the effects of a recession immediately. This is because advertising companies typically get paid for their services well in advance.

• Search marketers will feel the effects of a troubled economy, but it will be only after consumers buy fewer products online and companies decide to stop spending as much money on online campaigns.

• Customers are less likely to cut their budgets for search marketing campaigns because they are an essential part of having a successful business.

• If you specialize in search marketing, you can generate an income by focusing on recession-proof industries like health care, food, pharmaceuticals, tobacco and alcohol.

• Some analysts say online marketing is immune to the effects of a recession.

• The upcoming elections will likely prove to be a profitable opportunity for online marketers. Candidates will probably spend more money on Internet ads this year than ever before.

You can read the entire interview here.

Optimizing your site for one search engine doesn’t necessarily mean it’s also optimized for others. But in the world of online marketing, optimizing is vital for getting your auto dealership recognized. Unfortunately, your site could be ranked high with Google but much lower with Yahoo. That’s because each search engine is different, typically looking for different things when ranking sites. Following are some differences and similarities to consider to ensure that both major search engines rank your website as high as possible.

Inbound Linking
With Google, inbound links are the bread and butter of your website. The more websites that link to your website, the higher your website ranks. But there’s more to it than that. The Google spiders look at each website’s Page Rank, too. If you have many inbound links from high-ranking pages, your rank also increases.

Keyword URL
Yahoo places greater emphasis on your website’s URL than Google does. To achieve a higher Yahoo ranking, make sure your keyword phrase appears in your URL. If it doesn’t, make a new page or add a keyword-relevant URL as a new page from your website’s front page. Google also looks for this, but only when other websites link to your page by using strictly the website’s address.

Keyword Density
In addition to using your keyword in the website’s URL, it’s also important to have keywords scattered strategically through a site. The ideal amount of keywords is between 6 and 8 percent. Anything over 8 percent could adversely affect your website’s rank.

Link Building
This is similar to the idea of inbound links that Google focuses on, but it goes a step further by encouraging website owners to build linking relationships with other sites. Ask others to link to your site if you link to theirs. Or you can even offer something free to those who link to your site, such as a complimentary web tool or download. Google spiders like to see this, and it radically improves your chances of getting ranked higher.

Site Maps
Site maps used on your site make the spiders’ jobs much easier, allowing them to quickly search your page. Be sure to keep the maps updated so they continue to offer the latest information to searchers.

It’s extremely difficult to know exactly how the Google and Yahoo ranking systems work, as the algorithms and other procedures are confusing and ever-changing. Following the tips above, however, has increased many website rankings, and these are still the most basic ways to get your website noticed.

When it comes to the idea of Big Brother, Google really tops the list these days. Google knows more about your website than you do, which makes search engine marketing all that more interesting because even when you are implementing ineffective or harmful methods of which you are not aware, Google and the other engines know it.

Achieving SEO is not terribly difficult. There are some basics you should understand and some no-no practices that are published by Google. Beyond that it is more a matter of diligence. Like sports there is preparation, training, game time, and analysis involved with SEO. Do you want it more than your competitors and if so then how hard are you willing to work for it?

Diligence in regards to SEO comes from producing regular quality content written in a way that puts emphasis on the keywords and phrases you are targeting. Your content should also be natural. One method I find useful is choosing a message or topic and then writing about it for several ways, or numerous times over the course of a few weeks.

Blogs are useful for this, but unless people are commenting on your posts from other sites then your link backs may not be rich. You can publish articles on your website and then build static link backs to those from relevant sites. Of course, interesting content is ultimately what draws readership.

The ultimate no-no, and one that I find surprisingly ignored, is when people attempt to trick, fool, or cheat the search bots. Any sort of tomfoolery or black hat method is guaranteed to result in your site being penalized or having it completely banned from Google. The best SEO is the open and transparent type intended to be perfectly clear with the engines what you are set to achieve.

Whether you do your own SEO or outsource it, or a little bit of both, make sure the methods being applied are consistent, persistent, and legitimate. Your SEO technique is an extension of your business, your product, and you need trust and credibility with the engines and your customers.

Technorati Tags: automotive seo, search engine optimization, black hat, link back, natural, organic, methodology, technique, Google

As stated in previous posts, the idea of brand marketing is not a new concept for car dealers. They have been doing it off line for decades with conventional advertising such as radio, TV, and print. But the car business has manifested in such a limited way on the Internet with its emphasis on conversion and lead generation that when you talk about online brand marketing it can be difficult for dealers to grasp.

“How can I measure the number of leads/sales I get from showing up high in the search results?” is one question often asked.

The great thing about marketing your business online by way of Search is YOU CAN MEASURE its impact through what is known as quantification.

When you advertise your autos on 3rd party sites such as Autotrader.com and Cars.com, not only can you expect leads to come in by way of vehicle inquiries from these sites, but also you can expect increased traffic to your website and your showroom because these shoppers also seek you out virtually and physically. Tracking the increased business not accounted for as email leads is a challenge, but as time goes on you should be able to “quantify” a general increase in business for your retail center which you can attribute some, if not all of it to your 3rd Party subscription depending on your other marketing efforts. The reason why is because by subscribing to these 3rd Party sites you not only benefit from lead generation, but you also are benefiting residually from limited forms of online brand marketing.

With Search Engine Brand Marketing you have the inverse. Your purpose is to create long-term residual online brand awareness of your business by way of Search Marketing, Link Building, and Social Media. Although you can expect to see an increase in leads from your website, you also can expect a general increase in business everywhere else, including on your 3rd-Party lead generator subscriptions. Your success however is not measured by the number of leads you receive, but by quantifying the overall impact this has on your business through time.

A good example is that of an Internet searcher discovering your dealership for the first time by seeing you appear in Search (PPC and Organic) and maybe even on a social site or two over the course of 2-3 months. Then, when the shopper becomes actively engaged in a search he goes to Cars.com, bumps in to some dealers, including yours, and WHAM!, the user is jolted with a sense of familiarity of having seen you around here and there recently. Suddenly, your retail center has an increased amount of credibility and recognition with this person which makes it all that more likely he will inquire with you.

Dealers that grasp this have an edge on their competition. A simple philosophical shift in how you use the Internet to market your business can have tremendous impact for you in the short-term and the long-term. Applying these principals today will place you a step ahead over the next several years. Failing to do so will make it all that more expensive and cumbersome to do so down the road.

Short-term thinking is a dangerous practice no matter what business you are in. For auto dealers, however, it seems that the consequences for it are not as dire. Or are they?

Earlier this year, an auto group was formed which acquired a handful of dealerships. Naturally, along with the acquisitions also came vendor relationships and term contracts. In an effort to maximize resources, most (if not all) of these agreements were renewed without consideration for their long-term impact. Within the first 6 months this auto group ended up canceling more than one of the re-newed agreements and signed up for similar (and hopefully better) agreements with other vendors.

You could argue that the decision to re-new these existing agreements was short-sighted. You could also argue that doing so was appropriate and that canceling them so soon afterwards was inevitable. The point is that anytime a decision is made that impacts the long-term business operation and which is then negated shortly there afterwards is the result of POOR PLANNING and SHORT-TERM THINKING.

Recently I met with a dealership interested in a new online marketing strategy, or so I thought. What they really wanted, it turned out, was a “website”. While there, my team explained that our services were designed to promote a dealer’s website through organic search engine marketing and social media and that while not having a website in tact to properly represent the dealership would be an obstacle, the importance of putting together an online marketing strategy for their website-to-be was of equal if not greater importance than the website itself. The dealership seemed to agree at the time but then a week later it was explained to me that they had decided to just focus on getting a website launched and then get with us on the marketing sometime in the future.

The outcome could be attributed to a variety of things, including ineffectiveness in our own representation or communication, but the unspoken response I heard from the dealership was that they had their sights set on building a website and that everything after that was a distraction they would deal with afterwards.

This is an all-too-common scenario in the car business and I think it demonstrates the way many dealers think. The Internet is an overwhelming and ever-changing medium for many people and so it is intimidating to for some to approach it in ways not familiar to them, or at least in ways not yet popularized by their peers. Five years ago, many dealers we still fighting with the idea of whether or not they should have a website for their dealership. Three years ago dealers were jumping on the PPC bandwagon.

Today, dealers are faced with the reality of using the Internet to built lasting transparent relationships with their customers. It’s everything they have been able to avoid for the past several decades now staring them in the face like was depicted in the epic poem Beowulf.

ps - Shouts out to Brian Hoecht of Ai-Dealer for his wizardry in reflecting on this great tale of our time.