Clean it Up: Your Dealership’s Online Business Listings

Few people consult the Yellow Pages these days when they want to get in touch with a local business. There is simply no need for a physical directory when the Internet is so easily accessible, even when people are on the go. It takes merely seconds to conduct an online search like “RV dealership near me” and see a list of local dealerships to choose from. Many of these search engine listings will be links to those dealership websites, but many them will be business listings sites. Beyond YellowPages.com (yes, there’s a website for it now) there are also sites like Yelp, Google Business, and even social media platforms that appear on search when users look for a dealership like yours.

Managing and maintaining clean, accurate citations on business listings sites is important for several reasons. The first thing you need to consider is creating a profile for your dealership on all relevant sites so that your business exists there in the first place. If you aren’t listed, prospective customers can’t find you. Beyond the major business listings platforms and social media sites that are relevant for any business, there are likely also industry-specific listings sites that apply to dealerships in your trade.

Next, you need to look at the specific details you’ve provided for your business on each listings site. It’s important that the information you’ve provided is both accurate and consistent across all platforms. This is for obvious reasons, like making sure prospective customers can find your store with the correct address and call the right number, but for reasons that are not so obvious as well. Google and other search engines will actually “punish” your site, or give you a lower ranking, if there are inaccuracies or inconsistencies within your citations. These errors signal to search engine algorithms that your dealership is untrustworthy and is not a good option to give to searchers. Even a very small inconsistency could cost you – something like using “Street” vs. “St.” in your address in two opposing business listings would be considered inaccurate by search engine algorithms.  

One of the most challenging aspects of online business listings is managing them throughout the lifespan of your business. It’s likely that at some point your dealership will change locations, or perhaps your open hours change seasonally. Staying on top of these changes and making sure to update your citations promptly on all applicable business listings sites – even the more obscure ones you may forget about – is key.

Across all platforms where a business is listed online, the average business has an incorrect address listed somewhere 43% of the time. Nineteen percent of the time, there is a missing website URL somewhere within a business’ online listings. And 15% of the time, there’s no business listing on an important platform to begin with – which can be the most damaging mistake of all. Take the time to make sure your citations are clean or invest in a digital marketing service provider to manage your online business listings for you. Find out how Dealer Spike can help here.