Now is the Time to Invest in SEO

Halloween is just a few days away, which means Thanksgiving is around the corner. Before we know it, the holidays will be upon us. For most dealers, the holidays are a busy time of year and not necessarily one that lends much extra time to new marketing strategies. Ideally, you have already set yourself up for success with a stand-out website and a healthy budget devoted to additional digital marketing tools. However, there is one tool that is worth investing in now so that you can expect to see results later – Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

SEO does not begin to work instantly like other tools do, such as Search Engine Marketing (SEM). For most businesses, it takes a few months to build up SEO and begin ranking in higher positions on search engines. There are several factors that affect how long SEO takes to show results. But there are three specific areas that significantly affect how well your website ranks.

1. Competing Local Businesses

• The more websites with similar content to yours in your area (aka local competitors), the harder it is to achieve the highest ranking. Additionally, it’s important to consider how marketing savvy these competitors are. If these dealerships, like yours, partner with a great web provider and invest in digital marketing tools, they will be harder to “beat” in terms of search engine appearance. It is not only quantity that matters in terms of ranking above your competing local dealerships, but the quality of their marketing efforts as well.

2. Backlinks

• Links to your site from other high-quality, trustworthy websites are extremely beneficial. These show search engines that your business is credible and worthy of supplying to search engine users looking for a business like yours, helping you rank in a high position. On the other hand, negative backlinks could hurt your dealership’s ranking. These include links from low-quality websites, links that have been paid for, and more. The links on your site should be considered as well. Broken links, spammy links left by customers in a comment section, and more can all have a negative effect on your overall SEO and cause your site to lower in ranking or take a longer time to rank in a high position.

3. Quality of Content

• Search engine algorithms favor long-form content that is rich in keywords, which it naturally will be if you are setting out to provide valuable information to your website visitors. A technique that can really help in providing high-quality content is maintaining a consistent publishing schedule, which is typically done in the form of a blog. Perhaps your dealership publishes two blog posts per week – not only does this set an expectation for customers and encourage them to return to your site regularly, but it encourages Google and other search engines to visit your site more frequently too. Positive user experience signals from website visitors as well as regular “crawling” by search engine algorithms help speed up your efforts in SEO and get your site ranked higher faster.

It's important to have realistic expectations as well as patience when it comes to SEO. Unlike paid advertising efforts, it doesn’t take effect right away. Getting started now, perhaps during a bit of downtime in other marketing endeavors over the holiday season, can help you begin ranking higher just in time for the spring when your busy season likely starts back up again. Do a favor for your dealership’s future self and invest in SEO – or enhance your strategy with additional investment – during these colder, quieter winter months.