Getting found is only half the battle - SEO is NOT enough

[ed.brooks]

This is an AWESOME post from Moz -
Location Data + Reviews: The 1–2 Punch of Local SEO

“If I could drive home one topic in 2017 for local business owners, it would surround everything relating to reviews. This would include rating, consumer sentiment, velocity, authenticity, and owner responses, both on third-party platforms and native website reviews/testimonials pages. The influence of reviews is enormous; I have come to see them as almost as powerful as the NAP on your citations. NAP must be accurate for rankings and consumer direction, but reviews sell.”​

 

[Alexander Lau]

It is, that's a great post and it's true. It's very much so misunderstood.

 

[ed.brooks]

It is, that's a great post and it's true. It's very much so misunderstood.

If dealers invested a little more (time, energy, money) in getting chosen instead of focusing 100% on being found, I firmly believe they would sell more cars.

 

[TomLaPointe]

If dealers invested a little more (time, energy, money) in getting chosen instead of focusing 100% on being found, I firmly believe they would sell more cars.

This is so true and goes to my neverending point that it doesn't matter how great your SEM, SEO, website or marketing are if the in-dealership experience sucks. Dealers need to be proactive in collecting reviews and there are several good tools to help with that ... but to push for reviews when you havent earned them in any way, shape, or form is useless

 

[Alexander Lau]

So much more to discuss here.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

So much more to discuss here.

@Alexander Lau - Elaborate

 

[Ryan Everson]

At our nationwide chain of subprime used car dealerships we implemented a process 2 years ago to ask for a customer review at every single delivery and provided a guide on how a customer can easily share their experience using the Google Maps app on their phone.

We went from most of our stores having under 10 reviews, to every store now having over 100, many close to 1,000. And these are little used car lots with no new car, service, parts, or collision departments.

The key is coming up with a consistent process and getting staff bought in! One of our locations really took charge from the get-go and after the other locations saw their sales go up, every location was on board.

 

[Alexander Lau]

@Alexander Lau - Elaborate

Well, back to Ed's point. It's not just about being found, most organic searches are executed using a dealer's name or a derivative of it (if it's hard to spell, see Baierl Automotive, etc.), it's about the combination of being chosen with the correct execution of local listing citations, etc.

It's crazy to think that this isn't an essential for all dealerships. I've highlighted these guys before, https://www.vendasta.com/marketplace/listing-builder has an excellent concierge listing builder that is automotive-centric. I had 100+ dealers on it, at one point and we resold / white labeled. I think they sell it for something measly as well, like $50 / year and we charged $500. I've no affiliation with them, just a trusted resource. BTW, they use the four large aggregators, not Yext. To me Yext is a rip-off, the listings get updated quicker, but if you stop paying them (and they are expensive) your listings are at jeopardy. Aggregators don't work that way.

 

[Alexander Lau]

At our nationwide chain of subprime used car dealerships we implemented a process 2 years ago to ask for a customer review at every single delivery and provided a guide on how a customer can easily share their experience using the Google Maps app on their phone.

We went from most of our stores having under 10 reviews, to every store now having over 100, many close to 1,000. And these are little used car lots with no new car, service, parts, or collision departments.

The key is coming up with a consistent process and getting staff bought in! One of our locations really took charge from the get-go and after the other locations saw their sales go up, every location was on board.

Yes, outside of making sure your listings are up to date with all of the correct credentials, it's smart to create a protocol in terms of asking for customer reviews, photos, etc. (user-generated content).

 

[Ryan Everson]

Well, back to Ed's point. It's not just about being found, most organic searches are executed using a dealer's name or a derivative of it (if it's hard to spell, see Baierl Automotive, etc.), it's about the combination of being found with the correct execution of local listing citations, etc.

It's crazy to think that this isn't an essential for all dealerships. I've highlighted these guys before, https://www.vendasta.com/marketplace/listing-builder has an excellent concierge listing builder that is automotive-centric. I had 100+ dealers on it, at one point and we resold / white labeled. I think they sell it for something measly as well, like $50 / year and we charged $500. I've no affiliation with them, just a trusted resource. BTW, they use the four large aggregators, not Yext. To me Yext is a rip-off, the listings get updated quicker, but if you stop paying them (and they are expensive) your listings are at jeopardy. Aggregators don't work that way.

Back to Ed's post, isn't using a service to create listings more about "Being Found"? I think Ed's post was more about "Getting Chosen", with reviews being the primary driving force.

I do agree that NAP consistency is important (albeit not as much recently) to being found though. We use WhiteSpark.ca to handle our citation cleanup and management which sounds similar to Vendesta.