Local Versus Regional Automotive SEO

[David]

When optimizing car dealer websites for SEO, questions often arise not only around what keywords in general to use, but specifically what geographic focus the keywords should have. The question at first doesn’t seem like a big issue, but deciding how broad or how narrow your keywords are can have a huge impact on traffic, as well as conversion rate.

Consider the keyword Cleveland Ford. If the dealer is on the cusp of Cleveland and not in the Cleveland city limits, should the keyword be more specific geographically? That depends. This strategy could potentially be very effective as car buyers are willing to travel a reasonable distance to find the best deal available to them. So, they keyword Toyota Orange County can be a powerful term for traffic, despite focusing on a somewhat large geographic area.

However, in many cases being more specific, or having a “long tail” term, can end up converting better. The more your keyword relates to your website and dealership, the more relevant you are to the potential customers.

Take Honda Macon Georgia for example. This keyword is perhaps a more effective keyword than going after a keyword involving Atlanta, GA. The reason is attributed to the unique search psychology in a specific region as well as the size and vehicle demand within the city the dealership is in.

Terms that relate to your profit centers should also be considered. For dealers that have full-service auto repair and collision centers, consider terms such as Auto Repair Richmond VA where you can highlight service offerings beyond just new and used car inventories within your local area.

When it comes to geography, keywords can often fall into a grey area, requiring a bit of a judgment call. Going broader can squeeze out a bit more traffic, but can also derive fewer quality leads. With intense competition in the automotive industry in virtually any region across the U.S., it takes time and effort to rank for any keyword. However, broader terms tend to be somewhat more competitive and ranking for them will require more time and energy. In some cases it’s an obvious choice to focus search terms on local versus regional for car dealer SEO, but sometimes a dealer should consider the tradeoffs of one over the other.


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