How Car Dealers Can Avoid the Common Local SEO Mistakes

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Google's changing algorithms can instantly detect even the most minute detail of any website page. 

Therefore, it is pertinent to say that to rank on SERPs and attract potential customers; every business needs to stay on its toes regarding its local SEO strategy. 

Making mistakes in the local SEO can prove to be Pandora's box for your car dealing business.

Knowing what is up in the market and what Google Algorithm no longer entertains is the shortest way to not mess with the SEO game. 

10 Local SEO Mistakes That Car Dealers Are Doing

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1. Ignoring Duplicate Listings

According to Google Search Central, "Duplicate content generally refers to substantive blocks of content within or across domains that completely match other content in the same language or are appreciably similar. 

Mostly, this is not deceptive in origin."

Duplicate content can appear on its own, and hence there is nothing you can do about it. 

However, you must limit your duplicate content wherever possible as it might otherwise confuse the crawlers and affect the overall user experience.

Tips To Follow:

• Use 301 redirects to avoid any duplicate content penalties.
• Minimize Boilerplate repetition.
• Understand the ins and outs of your Content Management System.
• Add canonical tags.
• The "No Index" tag stops Google from indexing the duplicate page.
• Try to rewrite the content of the page. 

Tools To Analyze Duplicate Content:

• Moz is a free domain SEO analysis tool.
• CopyScape.com is one of the most used duplicate content checker tools.
• Siteliner helps you find duplicate content on your site. 

Here’s a screenshot of Siteliner:

2. Neglecting Irrelevant Backlinks

Backlinks are the top three ranking factors recommended by Google. Backlinks are often known as the "vote of confidence" as they help link the site to other valuable sites. 

Therefore, when a site is linked back by spammy websites, the crawlers get an alert and might lower the ranking. However, this can backfire if there are irrelevant backlinks to your site.

Irrelevant or toxic backlinks can hurt the ranking of your website. 

Tips To Getting Rid Of Backlinks:

• Use the audit tools mentioned below.
• Contact the site owner if you're unable to delete the link.
• Disavow links if they are too many to delete manually. 

Tools To Locate Toxic Backlinks:

• SEMRush helps determine the toxicity of the backlinks on a scale of 1 to 100.
• Ahrefs is another tool widely used to check the toxicity of backlinks. 
• Google Disavow tool lets you submit the links that are not authorized by you and thus signals Google to ignore them. 

Here’s a screenshot of SEMRush showing the toxicity of backlinks:

Read: Tips to Generate Enterprise-Level Backlinks for Your Website

3. Disregarding Page Loading Speed

According to Unbounce, nearly 70% of customers expressed that the page speed significantly impacted their buying cycles. 

Inadvertently, page loading speed is essential to the overall user experience. 

The higher the page loading speed, the higher the bounce rate of your website. Therefore, disregarding the page loading speed can be a big pitfall for your car dealing business. 

Tips To Follow:

• Compress the images and elements on your website as much as possible without compromising their quality. 
• Minify CSS, JavaScript, and HTML as much as possible.
• Reduce redirects wherever possible as it leads to boredom and distraction.
• Use fewer videos and animations.

Tools To Optimize Page Loading Speed:

• PageSpeed Insights gives you the time your site takes to load, thus helping you analyze the site performance for improvement.
• CDN helps speed up page load time.
• Optimizilla is the ultimate image optimizer to compress your images. 

Here’s a screenshot of PageSpeed Insights:

4. Stuffing Keyword 

How would you react to reading "card dealers" in every third blog sentence? Wouldn't that feel unnecessary and avoidable? The same is for any other site or content page. 

The more you stuff it with the exact words or make a porridge of all the keywords on the single page, the more annoying it gets for the readers and the search engines to assess your credibility. 

Therefore, it is essential to avoid this practice as much as possible.

Tips To Follow:

• Avoid unnecessary repetition of words or phrases on your website.
• Refrain from using out-of-context words.
• Strictly avoid using keywords that are not relevant to the concerned topic. 

Tools To Find Keywords Stuffing:

• Keyword density checker tools help find the percentage of the number of times a keyword is used on the page. 
• Yoast SEO Plugin is a free and trusted tool to help avoid keyword stuffing.
• SEO Quake by SEMRush is a chrome add-on perfect for tracking keyword density wherever you type. 

Here’s a screenshot of the keyword density checker tool:

5. Missing Google My Business page

Google My Business helps grab the attention of local customers. As a car dealer, you gain most of the profits from locals around you. Therefore, not having a GMB account can make your business suffer. 

Staying updated on GMB can be tricky, but it has more rewards to bring to your table than you can ever imagine. Hence, try all the features of this fantastic free tool by google to upscale your business.

Tips To Follow:

• Stay posted on GMB, look at your customer's comments, and reply early.
• Look at your clients' images and videos and engage with them.
• Add proper location with a map on your GMB account.

Here’s a screenshot of Google My Business:

Read: Get More Visibility for Your Google My Business Profile

6. Disappointing Mobile Optimization

According to bankmycell, in 2022, including both smart and feature phones, the current number of mobile phone users is 7.26 billion, making 91.54% of people worldwide cell phone owners. 

This indicates that people use mobile devices worldwide, making it mandatory for business owners like yours to create mobile-friendly websites. 

Tips To Follow:

• Conduct a Mobile-Friendly Test to see how accessible your site is on mobile devices. 
• Design mobile responsive websites, i.e., adapt according to the device's size without affecting the website's overall interface. 
• Convert your present site into a mobile responsive site with easy tools. 

Tools to use:

• Google DevTools Device Mode lets you see your website in different device modes.
• Gator Website Builder has a ton of responsive templates at your service. 
• Google Resizer is a cutting-edge tool for designing your website. 

Here’s a screenshot of Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool:

7. Rebuffing Customer Reviews

How often do you buy stuff without checking the reviews section? 

Yes, it is almost impossible to resist the urge to check out the reviews of a product or service before availing it. This substantiates that reviews play a crucial role in getting conversions.

Therefore, if you are playing with the power of reviews, you are pushing your business into danger. 

It is vital to provide customers with authentic reviews and let them decide if they want to go with your service or not. 

Tips To Follow:

• Appreciate the time and efforts a person puts in to write a review. 
• Always reply politely, even when the customer's tone is not pleasing.
• Never ignore the negative reviews as they give your business a chance to improve. 
• Take the matter offline if things go south. Don't spam the comment section on the GMB or any other social media platform.

Here’s a screenshot of a car dealership’s response to a negative review:

8. Confusing And Inconsistent NAPW

Who wouldn't get annoyed at seeing various versions of a business's contact details? 

The name, address, phone number, and website address become the core information you need to provide search engines to help you get potential customers. 

Inconsistencies in NAPW across multiple listings can be alarming for your business. Therefore, wherever this information is listed, make sure it is correct. 

Tips To Avoid Inconsistency:

• Getting the information right in the beginning is crucial to avoid inconsistencies in the future. 
• Get a domain name that is easy to spell and remember so that there are fewer chances of error whenever it is listed anywhere. 
• Whenever you change these details, update them on GMB and other places where you have listed them.

Here’s a screenshot of changing the business location on GMB:

Read: The Role of NAP in Local SEO

9. Boring Social Media Presence

Social media is vital in establishing a firm hold in any business today. This is primarily because people across nations and age groups actively use at least one social media platform. 

Therefore, if your car dealing business is not leveraging social media, you're missing out on tremendous opportunities for your business.

Tips To Follow:

• Try to portray the brand personality in your social media posts. Make things more humane and add specific brand colors/tone/font/design to your posts. 
• Collaborate with people of the same or different industries to make your feed exciting to the audience.
• Hire social media managers and build a team to give life to your business's social media handle. 

Here’s a screenshot of a car dealership’s Instagram profile:

10. Using Obsolete Technology

It is understandable to love antique pieces of jewelry and other decoratives, but it is a big no-no when it comes to technology. 

To keep up with the Google algorithm, buy a new website or upgrade your site to the latest software. 

Obsolete technology is a big turn-off to the user experience. Opting for newer elements, designs, and styles is your only bet. 

Tips To Follow:

• Get new software to access the progress of your website.
• Stay updated on the trends in your industry as well as in SEO.
• Update to responsive designs.

SEMRush is an effective software to access the progress of your website:

Key Takeaways

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• Ignoring duplicate listings can confuse the users as well as crawlers. 
• Neglecting irrelevant backlinks can severely affect your business.
• Disregarding Page Loading Speed will affect your overall conversion rate and increase the bounce rate.
• Stuffing Keywords sends negative signals to Google, affecting your website reach.
• Missing the Google My Business page hurts the local online visibility of your business.
• Disappointing Mobile Optimization affects the user experience.
• Rebuffing Customer Reviews gives an impression of an ignorant business. 
• Confusing and Inconsistent NAPW distracts the customers as well as Google.
• Boring Social Media Presence is a big turn-off for modern customers. 
•  Using obsolete technology affects the user experience.