Having an SEO strategy is crucial because it helps your business stay on track with consumer trends.

Instead of targeting what you think your shoppers are looking for, you can ensure your strategy focuses on what they’re actually searching for.

With summer upon us, many people are planning annual vacations and road trips, and that means an influx in vehicle maintenance and repairs. Proper SEO strategies will help you get in front of consumers who are searching for the automotive services you offer.

Reconsider How You Use Keywords

While keywords are foundational to SEO, they are not the first step to driving organic website traffic. Ultimately, your goal is to create copy that’s valuable to your shoppers and fulfills their search queries. General keywords such as “automotive shop” and “auto services” may not be sufficient to help your website rank well in local searches, especially if you’re in a highly competitive area. Instead, use these generic terms as a base to search for more targeted short-tail keywords – or the words and short phrases that shoppers type into the search bar. These could include “transmission repair,” “windshield replacement” or “brake service.”

Short-tail keywords are the pillars that support long-tail keywords – the specific phrases that help search engines associate your content with online search queries. For each short-tail “pillar,” create a list of relevant long-tail keywords. These are the keywords that will help you create value-driven, search engine-optimized copy.

For example, if your business offers towing services, you may not be able to compete in generic searches for “towing services,” but you can get in front of shoppers looking for “towing to auto shop” or “towing without AAA.”

Create Specific Content

Content isn’t just about keywords; it is also about connecting with your audience by addressing their interests. Does your shop provide a niche service that’s unique to your area? Base your content on this unique value proposition by creating webpages and blogs that detail the service you provide and how it benefits a vehicle’s integrity.

If you don’t have time to regularly create brand-new content, you can repurpose older posts and webpages by updating the information with new data, images and videos. You can also add more content for added depth.

Make sure each piece of content includes a clear call to action (CTA) to encourage readers to act. This may be an invitation to request a quote, schedule an appointment or call your shop.

Build Pages for Each of Your Services

Search engines are looking for websites that are educational and informative. How do they make that distinction? They crawl the copy, images and videos on your webpages to determine if your site offers value to users’ search queries. This doesn’t always bode well for auto shops whose services are summed up in bullet points on a single webpage.

Creating webpages for each of your services gives you the ability to create copy with the list of specific long-tail keywords you created. Remember those niche services? They deserve to be more than a bullet point on a singular page. Help search engines (and shoppers!) see the value in what your business offers.

Keep Your Site Mobile-Optimized

Search engines practice mobile-first indexing, which means the algorithm looks at your mobile site versus the desktop version. With smartphones reigning supreme in 2022, 63% of searches are performed on a mobile device¹. Mobile SEO is a similar process, with a particular focus on page load time, responsive design, local SEO tactics and content that’s easy to read on any device.

Use Ethical Link-Building

Link-building has been around for at least a decade, and it’s still a useful SEO strategy when done right. Be selective about the links you use, as Google penalizes websites that feature poor-quality or spammy links. Here’s how you can gather reputable links:

• Choose authoritative sources: Do you subscribe to any automotive industry newsletters or online publications?
• Promote your articles on social media: Practice off-page SEO (links directed to your website from elsewhere) by sharing your blogs and specialty webpages to your social media. Drive traffic from your social posts back to your website.
• Regularly audit your site for broken links: At least once a quarter, review the links on your website to ensure they’re still active and good-quality, and remove any outdated or broken links.

Off-page link building is the process of attracting inbound links to your website from other internet sources. This can be done by guest posting on other publications or having copy on other sites use your website as a resource. If you have industry connections that give you the opportunity to create guest posts, we highly encourage doing so to increase your brand exposure and improve your SEO. Even if you don’t have opportunities to post on other sites, you can encourage others to seek out your website as a resource by creating informative, valuable content that people will want to share on their own platforms.

Achieving a good ranking on search pages can be difficult, but it’s worth the effort to pull in more summer traffic. While it may seem logical to create content that focuses on high-performing keywords, a better strategy to meet your business goals is to create an SEO strategy that answers your customers’ search queries so you can grow your lead acquisition.

Looking for more SEO resources? Connect with our digital marketing experts for a complimentary assessment of your website’s online health and see where SEO can take your online ranking this summer!

¹Oberlo