Is Your Website Provider a Search Engine Optimization Expert?

Author: Bill Cook

Selecting an auto dealer website provider knowledgeable in aut omotive search engine optimization can give your automotive dealership the competitive edge it needs to be successful online. Many website providers choose to completely forego this essential aspect of website creation because it requires in-depth knowledge of the various search engines and their proprietary algorithms. In addition, the process of properly optimizing a site is ongoing and requires constant revision and careful maintenance. The simple solution for many providers has been to outsource this painstaking task. The question then becomes

Should I go with a provider that out-sources SEO?

Should I use one that builds websites with SEO in mind?

The latter will always prove better results in the long run. Simply put, a third party company will not be able to edit your auto dealer website's framework as easily as your web site provider and therefore is not as effective in giving your site high placement in search engines.

These questions require careful consideration when choosing a website provider. Below are a few ideas to help you make the right decision.

Keyword Research

An immensely important part of the optimizing process is the identification of relevant keywords and key phrases. An auto dealer website provider should cultivate the right list for your automotive dealership website in the setup process taking into account your market and franchise. This is a highly specialized and time consuming process requiring industry expertise. Once your website provider has identified a good list of terms, they should provide them to you for a review and update.

Site Review

This is an important consulting task where the site is evaluated from a technical aspect. In order for an auto dealer website to be given high placement in search results, the site needs to be indexed and analyzed by the search engine. Search engines accomplish this by sending out small computer programs, called 'Spiders' to compile this data about your website. The website needs to be built in such a way that it can be easily accessed by these spiders. For instance, search engine spiders do not like flash, heavy graphics, and frames. The proper website provider should use these elements as strategically as possible.

Manual Submission

It is important to manually submit to major search engines and directories, as well as having a website provider that will send you the submission confirmations. Submission alone does not guarantee good positioning; it's the optimization of pages that determines high rankings due to good content and properly coded pages.

Paid Inclusion

These are fee based listings, available in various search engines and directories. Overture's SiteMatch service will get you listings in Yahoo!, AllTheWeb, AltaVista and other portals for $10-$49 USD per URL. Another important paid inclusion for commercial sites is the Yahoo! Express listing for $299 USD per year.

Link Popularity Strategies

What's important here is to get high traffic sites to link to you. This is not easy to do these days, and the proper website provider knows how to get quality links without resorting to unethical linking strategies.

Pay Per Click Options

Many times, a good balance between paid and organic search is required to meet site goals, and a good auto dealer website provider will utilize paid search and paid inclusion.

The main advantages of choosing a website provider with SEO expertise is that you will get better results when experts do it for you. SEO is a complex process that requires proficiency to maintain long term results. SEO work requires a lot of trial and error and has a steep learning curve because of ongoing changes in search engine algorithms.

Reviewing the above information while interviewing a website provider should help you choose an auto dealer website provider that will make the most of your online marketing efforts with effective automotive SEO and SEM.

About the author:

Bill Cook is the SEM Director for DealerOn, Inc - an Automotive Dealer Website Design Company providing Online Automotive Marketing Services to Auto Dealership nationwide.