When Google generates search results for your keywords, you’ll see a description below the page title, this is called the “Snippet.” The snippet can be an important section to optimize for driving traffic, so what can you do to optimize for that? First, let’s understand where Google looks to create your snippet. First and foremost, Google will try to find the parts of the page content that best match the keywords you searched for, and will show snippets surrounding those parts. In this case there’s nothing you can optimize other than just having compelling content on your dealer website. Otherwise, Google will use the meta description for the snippet. In the rare case that Google is unable to crawl the page, the snippet may be pulled from the “Open Directory Project.” This is why it’s important to have good meta descriptions on your pages. The SEO value of the meta-description is very minimal compared to a couple years ago in regard to pagerank. However, by catching the user’s eye with a compelling description, you will drive more traffic to your … Continue reading →
Category: seo
SEO, PPC, and ROI for your Dealership
SEO and PPC have very different costs and results. For PPC/search advertising, your ROI is pretty clear. You spent X dollars, you got Y clicks, of which Z people converted. However, when it comes to SEO and content development, the results are much less clear. When you put the time or money into writing quality content, you might not see any benefits in the first 30 or even 60 days. Over time, though, the more high quality articles you publish, the more your traffic will improve and the more it will benefit your search ranking. This can make SEO very discouraging to pursue, but the results are far more sustainable. With PPC, you buy a click, and boom, it’s over. You either made a sale or you didn’t. With SEO, you are building authority and relevance, which will continue to drive traffic for months or even years. This makes it hard to convince someone just starting out that it’s worth the time and money, but when it comes to long term results, a strong SEO effort will pay dividends. … Continue reading →
Is Link Building Dead?
First, let’s review what’s happened in 2013. Matt Cutts released several videos talking about how guest posts for the sake of link building has become a more and more spammy practice. As a result, must websites that would actually benefit you to have links on them (the non-spammy sites) are most likely going to put “nofollow”s on your links, meaning they won’t affect your pageRank. Additionally, Google has updated their webmaster guidelines stating that any large-scale link networks or article repositories will result in penalties as well. Ultimately, the trend is toward high quality content, and fewer links from higher quality sites instead of hundreds of low quality links. Going forward the best strategy is going to be around building your brand, and promoting as if the search engines didn’t exist. Here are some good tips to determine if a link is going to look good to Google. Taken from http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2259674/Penguin-2.0-Forewarning-The-Google-Perspective-on-Links Would you build the link if Google and Bing did not exist? If you have 2 minutes with a customer, and the law required that you show a random … Continue reading →
Where Facebook Fits In
I’ve noticed a few rumors on the web that Facebook can help your SEO, or that having more likes will boost your Google pagerank. These are (currently) inaccurate, but that doesn’t mean Facebook isn’t a legitimate way to generate traffic and leads. Facebook falls under the “Content Marketing” strategy. Content marketing is all about putting relevant content out there for customers to find. Where Facebook comes into this strategy is providing content for the customers that have already connected with you in the hopes that they will spread the word. The best content strategy for Facebook tends to be 1 offer/promotion to every 4 posts of useful content. The goal is to provide value to your followers so that they tell their friends, and as your reach increases, you send the offers that convince them to come to your website and convert. For each new follower, that’s another free impression you have on all future content, because your new posts will show up in their feed. Facebook advertising can accelerate the process by putting your content in front of the … Continue reading →
Write Good Content and the SEO Will Follow
When you hear about a change to a Google algorithm, the knee-jerk reaction is usually “how will this affect my SEO?” Every day, this reaction is becoming more backwards. SEO, as a product, has been inflated by digital marketers over the past 5 years. The reason is that it’s easy to sell a magic bullet that gets you on the top of the Google results for keywords related to your business. SEO means Search Engine Optimization, so it’s safe to say that the service should be focused on making your site the first choice when a user searches for something relevant to your site. So an SEO expert should be able to make changes to your site, and take action around the web to take advantage of Google’s search algorithms. Google has changed their search algorithms twice a day on average in 2013. So how can you possibly expect to be consistently “optimized” for them. As the algorithms evolve, and Google cracks down on link building scams, their focus is more and more on providing relevant content for the searcher. … Continue reading →
SEO Insights
Another article had some interesting insight in the evolution on SEO strategy. The article below goes into much more detail, but the gist of it is that having a site that functions well for the end user will get an SEO boost over a site that focuses so…