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What questions should I ask my 3rd party inventory providers?

We touched on alignment. It’s one of the most important things we can make sure of: that our partner is providing exactly what we think. We want to ask them point blank: What are the main goals you’re helping dealers using your product meet? Is it leads? Is it impressions? Is it branding? What am I getting for my money? […]

Woman standing behind a large chess set analyzing her next move

How Can I Use AI to Help My SEO Strategy?

Over the last couple of weeks, Emily and I have talked about what artificial intelligence (AI) language models are, how they work, and some pros and cons of this dynamic technology. Why are we spending this time learning and teaching you about this, though? What ties does AI really have to search engine optimization (SEO)? More than you may think. […]

How can I compare my 3rd party inventory providers?

What are some of the ways you should compare 3rd party inventory providers? As we’ve discussed previously, the way we hold our vendors accountable is going to differ depending on what service they’re providing. In this example, let’s talk about some ways we can compare a 3rd party inventory listing provider. On-Page vs. Off-Page When we’re looking at a 3rd […]

An SEO specialist looks past a holographic console to ponder an AI robot in the foreground

What Are the Pros and Cons of an AI Language Model?

As discussed in the first part of our AI series, an AI language model is a form of artificial intelligence that interacts with language in a highly sophisticated way. This has only recently become possible, thanks to the use of advanced algorithms and complex pattern recognition. Because of its proficiency in generating natural-sounding responses, it can be easy to forget […]

What tools should I be using to hold my vendors accountable?

Now that we’ve discussed what vendor accountability is, let’s discuss some of the tools we’ll use to hold our vendors accountable. Now, before I get into that you’re going to notice that I’m going to use the word ‘our’ a lot. That’s because I don’t identify as a vendor. I identify with the dealer. Our job is to hold the […]

Girl on her smartphone catching a robot analyzing her

What is an AI Language Model & How Does it Work?

The internet has been hit by a storm these last few months. We have heard so much about artificial intelligence (AI), ChatGPT, and how “robots are taking over.” But, in all seriousness, you may be wondering what all of this actually means. For that reason, I will answer two of the biggest questions in this article: What is an artificial […]

What is Vendor Accountability?

Are you really okay writing checks to countless vendors, settling for meaningless reports and questionable results? If you’re paying them month-after-month you need to hold them accountable. In the coming weeks, I’ll give you the complete playbook, as well as a number of FREE tools, dashboards, and reports. But first, I’ll define Vendor Accountability, identify which vendors you should be […]

"The number one benefit of optimizing your site is increased visibility", a quote by Emily Taub, Technical SEO Operations Manager of Wikimotive taken from her blog article titled "Maximizing Your Online Presence: A Guide to SEO for Car Dealers"

Maximizing Your Online Presence: A Guide to SEO for Car Dealers

Like all businesses, modern car dealerships rely heavily on the internet to reach prospective customers and increase sales; given the competitive nature of the automotive industry, it’s crucial to stand out from the crowd. Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the best ways for you to accomplish this goal. Through a variety of techniques, SEO works to optimize your […]

An image of Wikimotive's Technical SEO Operations Manager, Emily Taub accompanied by a quote from her article stating, "If you're not curating your online presence with intention, you are missing out on all of those connections."

Car Dealership Marketing Agencies and What They Can Do for You

Regardless of who you are or what you do for a living, you probably have a pretty good idea of what traditional marketing looks like: newspaper and TV ads, billboards, radio spots, and other costly investments. While they may feel like tried-and-true avenues to pursue, these advertising mediums have become increasingly less fruitful over time. Unlike modern digital marketing, they […]

Dave Estey laying across the words "SEO CLIMB"

SEO Climb with Dave Estey Series 1 Recap

A few months back, the team here at Wikimotive began a new video series called SEO Climb with Dave Estey. Series 1 is officially coming to an end, so we figured we would give you a full recap of everything discussed over the past few weeks. Let’s get started: Defining SEO: The What, Why & How In the beginning episodes […]

SEO Climb Video Series – January Recap

SEO Climb with Dave Estey is officially coming to a close. Well, for now, anyway. January wrapped up the first series, which had us all learning the ins and outs of automotive SEO (search engine optimization) for the last few months. To wrap things up, Dave answered some big questions in January, like how long it takes for SEO to […]

Brick and mortar vs. online competitors

Competition… Are your online competitors the same as your brick-and-mortar competitors? What’s the difference? And how do you figure out who, and where, you should be targeting? Well, you know from your monthly OEM reporting what your market share is, and who your competitors are, right? But that doesn’t really encompass everything, does it? In fact, over the last five […]

How can I tell if my SEO strategy is correct?

Accountability… Whether we’re talking about the SEO vendor you’ve hired, or your in-house team, what are the ways you can tell if they’re not hitting the nail on the head with your SEO? Well, let’s be honest; when it comes to SEO, there are often a lot of people saying words AT you, instead of communicating WITH you to help […]

How long does SEO take?

So, you have an SEO strategy in place, but how long will it take for you to see any results? And are there any tools you can use to monitor those changes? So, you’ve written that first check to your new SEO provider. Now you find yourself checking your watch and thinking to yourself, “Okay, where are my results?” Well, […]

Three Wikimotive employees podcasting about the most important SEO topics of 2022

Search Engine Optimization: 2022 Year in Review

2022 has officially come to a close, and what a year it was for automotive SEO. With changes coming from left and right, it might have been hard to keep track of it all. For that reason, SEO Climb host Dave Estey held a podcast-style panel to discuss the most important SEO topics of 2022. The panel included me, Meaghan […]

SEO Climb Video Series – December Recap

December was a special month for SEO Climb with Dave Estey. Not only did two of the regularly scheduled episodes air, but a special edition of the video series was released. The first two weeks followed the regular format as Dave covered content marketing, touching base on over-optimization and the necessity of blogs. The third week, a Holiday Special, was […]

What were the most important SEO topics of 2022?

In this very special episode of SEO Climb, we’re serving up Wikimotive’s 2022 SEO Year in Review featuring Meaghan Farrell, Emily Taub, and your host Dave Estey.

How do I set my dealership up for the holidays?

The holidays are upon us and – whether you like it or not – that means you’re going to have to put in some legwork to make sure your dealership is prepared to keep your customers saying, “Ho Ho Ho” instead of “Oh no, no”. So, we’re going to remind you why it’s crucial to update your service scheduler, show […]

Are blogs necessary? What makes one effective?

If you’re looking for reasons why your dealership should have a blog, remember that I’ve prattled on and on and on about putting new content on your website. So why do we suggest a blog? It’s because blogs are the easiest way to create and curate up-to-date content, and present it in an organized fashion. If you’re just stacking a […]

Is it possible to over-optimize content?

We’ve talked a lot about content and optimization and you may be thinking to yourself, “Is there possibly too much of a good thing?” And the answer is an emphatic “yes”. Back in 2003-4… SEO practitioners could get away with a lot more than they could now, which led to a lot of questionable practices like stuffing keywords into your […]

SEO Climb Video Series – November Recap

We are now two months into our SEO Climb video series, where Dave Estey, Wikimotive’s search engine optimization expert, teaches you the ins and outs of all things SEO. Last month, he went over what SEO is, why it is valuable, and how you can rank well on Google. This month, the videos narrowed in on more in-depth topics, including […]

How do I know which topics to write about?

Topics to Write About You’ve heard me go on and on about the important of creating content that answers questions; and probably asking yourself, “How do I know what to write about?” “How do I do the keyword research?” “How do I know what questions are being asked?” The Answer is Actually Right on Your Showroom Floor Go out and […]

Do I Need an Automotive Marketing Company for My Dealership?

If you run a car dealership, it can be tempting to think that having a big marketing budget and paying for lots of television and radio advertisements means you’re covering all your bases. But if there’s one thing that automotive marketing companies know, it’s that any modern marketing approach would be woefully incomplete without accounting for the influence of search […]

What is Automotive SEO and Why Does it Matter?

As a professional in the automotive space, you want your website to perform the best it can. While paid ads on Google and various social media platforms can help to grab the attention of some online users, the fact is: focusing on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) strategy is not making the most of your online presence. A large portion of online […]

What about buying backlinks?

Should You Purchase Backlinks? If your inbox looks anything like mine does, there’s far too many emails from people you don’t recognize offering to sell you backlinks from “high domain authority websites”. It’s a trap. Why? Because it’s specifically against Google guidelines to purchase backlinks stating, “Google works hard to ensure that it fully discounts links intended to manipulate search […]

Wikimotive Discusses MRC 2022

Filmed on Day 3 of the Modern Retail Conference, Zach Billings (Wikimotive Co-Founder & Vice President of Client Success) & Angus Fox (Lead Analyst, ThinkBetter Marketing) have a candid discussion about: Their thoughts on MRC 2022 The state of automotive and its’ changing tide… Adjustments dealers need to make for continued success, and… How you can get access to their […]

What are backlinks and how do they help me?

What is a Backlink? Backlinks are an important part of any SEO strategy, and there are a number of ways to get them. But what are they to begin with? A backlink is essentially a vote endorsing your site for offering the correct answer or reference to whatever keyword is being linked. How to Earn a Backlink There are a […]

3 Essential Practices for Effective Automotive SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential when it comes to generating online traffic to your dealership’s website. While it is quite a complex undertaking, there are a couple of general actions that you can take, or make sure your provider is taking, to best optimize for search. There are hundreds of factors that go into ranking, but with these couple […]

How do I optimize my Google Business Profile?

Optimizing Your GBP If you want to do well on search engines you need to answer questions, and your GBP is just another place for you to do that. Now, how far you want to go into answering questions on your GBP is up to you and how much you want to invest in terms of time and resources. Some […]

How do I get a Featured Snippet?

What is a Featured Snippet? To cite Google’s preferred definition, “Featured snippets are highlighted excerpts of text that appear at the top of a Google search results page in what is known as ‘Position 0’. They provide users with a quick answer to their search query. Featured snippets are more likely to appear when users enter informational search queries.” Why […]

SEO Climb Video Series – October Recap

When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), there are a ton of whats, whys, and hows. What is it? Why is it important? How is it done? All of those questions are common, but the answers may not be as simple as some may hope. That is why we at Wikimotive started the SEO Climb video series, where our […]

How can I rank on Google?

What Makes a Site Rank Well on Google? That’s a million dollar question. Wait. Actually it’s billions of dollars and, with the onset of things like AI and machine learning, there’s a lot going on here. In fact, sometimes, Google might be hard-pressed to tell you the answers themselves. However, SEO professionals who have been doing this for a long […]

Why is SEO valuable?

Why is SEO Valuable? I’ll tell you why…because it makes any number of things on your website – that you’re already spending money on – work better. So, here’s the thing. You’ve paid good money to have a website provided to you. You’ve paid good money to have that website filled with content. You’ve paid good money to have inventory […]

What is SEO?

What is SEO? SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all the actions you take to optimize your marketing for search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo. And yes, even your YouTube content, or Instagram & Facebook posts can be optimized. So what does that take? Well, there’s a number of different facets to SEO, some of which you are probably familiar with, […]

Why should I post blogs to Facebook?

Blogposts in your store’s website should be a cornerstone of your SEO strategy. But what are you doing to leverage those blogs on Facebook? What does posting a blog to Facebook do for me? We refer to this as “social syndication”, and it’s a very important way of being able to accelerate the rate of climb for an SEO initiative […]

Written Content vs Video Content

Seems like everything is video now. Why written content versus video? When it comes to your dealership’s SEO, are videos more important than written blogs? Words on your site are easier for Google to understand. Certainly the “artificial intelligence” that Google is bringing to bear is increasing in intelligence – and understanding of content is getting better and better. But […]

Do preorder pages help my dealership?

Do we recommend pre-order pages? Absolutely, but don’t think that you can do much in the way of search engine optimization for it. We have a lot of clients who have approached us about this, and we’ve helped most of our dealers with the creation of robust pre-order pages with good FAQ, clear calls to action, and resources throughout the […]

Should I turn my Paid Search off?

Organic search versus paid search? You’re looking at it all wrong and here’s why. With strong SEO, should I turn all my paid search off? No, that’s an easy oversimplification. We do have a lot of dealers who have completely moved away from paid search, especially in this current market situation where you can afford to pull back your paid […]

SEO for dealers struggling with inventory

Some dealers struggling with inventory have hit the brakes on their SEO and content spend. Here’s why that’s a big mistake. I Don’t Have Any Inventory Why would I want to put out content for something I can’t sell right now? Well, if you actually had no inventory, you would probably be out of business. Certainly service pays the bills, […]

Where should I focus on my SEO?

Are you a multi-store group and don’t know where to start when it comes to SEO? If you have a group site, and individual store sites, should you focus on your group site SEO? Or should you prioritize the store sites? Pay attention… SEO and group sites can be complicated There is definitely merit in doing SEO on your group […]

How Do I Get My Name to Display on Google Maps?

Your dealership’s name isn’t showing up on Google Maps? That’s a problem. Here’s the solution… Getting your name to display on Google Maps can be complicated. It mostly has to do whether or not your GBP (Google Business Profile) is able to rank for the keyword that was entered. For example, if someone searches for your dealership by name, you […]

How do I rank in the Map Pack on Google?

So, you’re worried about your Map Pack ranking on Google, but you don’t know how to improve it? Listen up. How do I rank in the Map Pack on Google? Ranking in the Map Pack on Google has a lot to do with your physical location, which you can’t change. It also has lot to do with categories on your […]

3 Tips for Writing Effective SEO Content

For your dealership to have highly-performant SEO, you need a strong content strategy. But what does that mean? Whether you’re trying to write content in-house, or simply want a better understanding of how you can hold your vendor accountable, I’m going to tell you the 3 fundamentals you should be focusing on. To be effective for SEO, content needs to […]

The Assassination of User Location Data | By the Cowardly Apple iOS

Google Analytics Now Misreporting Location for iOS Users Brace yourself. This is the biggest change to the usefulness of Google Analytics acquisition data, in almost a decade. The last time we lost this much visibility in Google Analytics was when Google themselves started obfuscating keyword data for organic users. Over a few-year period, we went from seeing 99% of the […]

Understanding Page Experience

Content is king…we say it all the time. But even if your site offers the very best in insightful blog posts, comprehensive model pages, and thorough vehicle comparisons, Google will devalue those pages if your site offers a less-than-than satisfying user experience. When discussing user experience (or UX) it’s fairly common to see the terms “core web vitals” and “page […]

Understanding Your Dealership’s Core Web Vitals

All right, dealers… Since November, we’ve covered ‘How to set up and optimize your Google Business Profile’, the ‘Top things you can do to help your dealership’s SEO’, and ‘How to tell if your content sucks, and how to fix it’. I’m Josh, and today we’re going to talk about “Core Web Vitals” and update your understanding of them for […]

Does Your Content Suck? How to Tell & How to Fix It

All right, dealers… Last month, Dave gave you some actionable steps to check the functionality of your site, create certain types of valuable content, and better understand metas. So let’s take one of those tips, and build it out a little bit further. When it comes to creating SEO-friendly content, there’s no shortage of misconceptions out there. Many of them […]

AAAS2021 Recap with Tim Martell

From November 14th to the 16th, the 2021 Automotive Analytics and Attribution Summit (or AAAS) staked its claim to the coastal shores of Palm Beach, FL while occupying the lush, breathtaking grounds of the iconic Eau Resort & Spa. For three days, the former Ritz-Carlton site played host to some of the most influential thought-leaders, forward-thinking dealers, and innovative vendors […]

Chip Perry of A2Z Sync Discusses ‘SEARCH WARS’

From November 14th to the 16th, the 2021 Automotive Analytics and Attribution Summit (or AAAS) took over the beautiful Eau Resort & Spa, welcoming the entire industry to the balmy seaside climate of Palm Beach, FL. A perennial attraction for some of the most innovative professionals in the automotive space, the AAAS provides an opportunity to address the shortcomings, inefficiencies […]

Top Things Auto Dealers Can Do TODAY To Help With SEO

All right, dealers… Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing the various signals generated by your online presence with the goal of increasing the quality of traffic to your site. More high-quality leads means more sales. So, let’s talk about ACTIONABLE steps. In other words, what are the top things YOU can do TODAY to help with your SEO. […]

How to Set Up & Optimize Your Dealership’s Google Business Profile

Disclaimer: In November 2021, Google changed the name of Google My Business (GMB) to Google Business Profile (GBP). Since its initial publishing, this content has been updated to reflect that change. Why are Google Business Profiles Important to My Dealership? According to a recent report more than 2/3 of prospective customers will seek out your dealership’s Google Business Profile (or […]

3 Changes Made By YouTube That You Should Know About

The average American’s video consumption has increased 52% since 2019, with most people consuming 16 hours of online video content per week. Now, sure…some of that’s content is attributed to streaming – but when we look at video through the eyes of the consumer, we see just how valuable it becomes to any business or brand. Consider this: video content […]

Google My Business Nested Listings (Part Two)

Last week, we talked about nested department listings, why they’re important, and the steps you need to take to get them set up. Now, let’s talk about steps you can take to further optimize them. Now…this is a topic that we’ve covered in the past but, today, we’re going to look at it from a slightly different perspective. So, let’s […]

Wikimotive's Josh Billings Hosts Part One of "Google My Business: Nested Listings"

Google My Business: Nested Listings (Part 1)

You don’t need me to tell you that your dealership has a lot of moving parts – some of which may be separate departments, possibly with different physical locations. And while that may be simple for you, it’s imperative that your customers know any differences in Location, Hours, Phone Number and Services – or at least that they can find […]

How to Write Your Dealership’s ‘About Us’ Page

Let’s talk today about one of the most basic purposes of your website: showing a potential customer who YOU are. More specifically, we’re going to talk about creating the best “About Us” page possible. Your “About Us” page should explain to a potential car buyer who you are, where you are, what you sell, and explore exactly what sets you […]

Sam from Wikimotive discusses "Auditing Your Third-Party Tools"

Auditing Third-Party Tools

Every day, prospective car buyers are visiting your website. But today, we’re not gonna talk about how they GOT there, we’re going to talk about what happens when they ARE there. More importantly, how it could hurt YOUR chances of making that sale. Whether we’re talking about your website’s ability to (i) calculate the value of trade-in (ii) to schedule […]

Why You Should Be Branding Your Salespeople Using Video

Annnnd we’re back – in the studio – after a great week in Napa Valley at DMSC 2021. In fact, it was such an impactful experience that we’re going to hold off on our regular topics for one more week — because we’re feeling particularly inspired to #weaponizetheconnectivity. Of all the amazing keynotes, panels and breakout sessions that took place […]

What are Beneficial Purpose, YMYL & E-A-T?

In recent months, we’ve talked about Core Web Vitals and the various other metrics used by Google to determinate the quality of a site’s user experience. However, Google’s methods of assessment aren’t solely reliant upon technology and algorithms. Google also employs “Human Search Evaluators”- individuals who review content to help inform Google’s standards for high-quality web pages. They also review […]

How to Create Tailor-Made Content for Your Dealership (Part Three)

Alright everyone, it’s time to find out the final step to refining your content… Two weeks ago, we went over how to find your target audience… …and last week we discussed the importance of using a unique tone for every piece of content. This week, I’m going to tell you about the final piece of the content puzzle: VOICE. One […]

Image Selection & Alt Text

When someone loads your dealership’s page, the first thing to catch their eye is your imagery. Whether photo or video, the visual elements you incorporate are essential to having quality digital content. But that’s not all. You also need to write alt text for these images, if you want to rank in local search. But let’s not get ahead of […]

What is Structured Data?

Last week Sam & Meaghan talked about Meta Descriptions and how they’re a great way to help prospective car-buyers and service customers find the content they’re looking for on your site. Meta descriptions are an essential place to start, but if you really want to get exposure, you’re going to need Schema Data, or as it’s more commonly referred to […]

What are Meta Descriptions?

When working in SEO, you need to optimize for users AND for search engines And there are different ways to do each of those things. But what if we told you there is ONE thing you can do to improve optimization for both? Because guess what? There is! We’re talking about meta descriptions! Meta descriptions are HTML tags that describe […]

Content: Authority vs. Engagement

Fair warning, today’s topic might get us in trouble with some of our friends who specialize in social media… but here it goes. Just because your content isn’t “engaging” on social media, doesn’t mean it’s not valuable for your business. Hopefully, we don’t get canceled for sharing this… If you are like us, the majority of the content you will […]

Just the Tip - NAP Syndication and Why it's important

NAP Syndication & Why It’s Important

When it comes to your dealership’s business, one of the most important things you can do is…well…attract more of it. So…it’s imperative that all of your pertinent information is easy for prospective car buyers to find. That said, you also need to make sure that (i) it’s accurate (ii) that it’s synchronized across all available platforms (iii) that you know […]

Why Your Dealership Needs Reputation Management

Reputation Management… It’s FAR more accurate to call it “PERCEPTION Management” since your prioritization of it (or LACK thereof) will drive public opinion of your dealership’s credibility and its revenue. Whether we’re talking about perception of your operation as a whole – or that of individual departments, or personnel – letting things slide will only HURT your dealership in the […]

How to Perform a Tag Audit

Tags…whether you realize it or not, you probably hear this expression all the time. Marketing tags, web tags, website tags…these generally all refer to a small piece of code, or a pixel placed on a website to allow the collection of information about the user, hardware and on-site behavior. Tags are powerful and widespread in their installation, but unfortunately, most […]

Own Your Data

Sometimes it feels like “change” is the only constant in marketing. It’s why it’s so important for dealerships to have continuity when assessing their overall marketing performance, and the effects of any changes they enact. And to ensure that continuity, a dealership needs take ownership of all of their various data sources. What do we mean by “data sources”? We’re […]

5 Steps to Optimize Your Dealership’s Inventory Feed

If you have been following JTT you know how crucial a strong social media influence is to a successful marketing campaign. Where is this social media influence going to take flight. FACEBOOK. As many of you may be doing (and if you are not you should be) you can use Facebook’s advertising platform to target potential customers showing them a […]

How to Audit Your Core Web Vitals

Last week we revisited Core Web Vitals, three relatively new factors that Google takes into consideration when assessing the experience offered to their users, by your dealership’s website. Specifically, we talked about LCP, FID and CLS. Now remember, Google’s primary goal is to ensure a positive user experience, and directs any search query to the site that (i) best answers […]

What are the Most Important Ranking Factors in Local Search?

There’s no such this as a “one-size fits all”, or “set-it-and-forget-it” SEO solution. When we talk about “Organic SEO” it’s important to recognize the reason why we use the term “organic”. It’s because SEO and the algorithms involved are constantly evolving, and your dealership’s strategy needs to evolve with them. Factor in the unique challenges of the automotive space, and […]

Is iOS 14 Affecting Your Ad Spend?

Hey digital marketers…more than 100 million consumers NOW have the option of limiting your ability to hit them up with targeted ads. So…whatcha gonna do about it? iOS 14 and Consumers When iOs 14 was first rolled out almost six months ago, there was a lot to like: better app organization, customizable widgets, less obtrusive notifications, improved map and translation […]

SEO Tips to Help Your Dealership to Succeed in 2021 Part 3

Machine Learning (SEO Tips to Help Your Dealership Succeed in 2021)

Machine learning, what is it? How does it affect me? And does this mean the T1000 is already here? The answer is maybe. On the face of it, machine learning is a complex and often times “scary” subject. But the truth is that machine learning has already been a part of our daily lives for years and you likely didn’t […]

SEO Tips to Help Your Dealership to Succeed in 2021 (Part 2)

Last week, we began focusing on SEO Tips to help your dealership succeed in (what we hope will be a post-COVID) 2021. More specifically, to succeed in a world where, every day, online retailers are taking increasingly more aggressive strides to attract prospective car buyers that might otherwise do business with you. And one of the topic we covered was […]

SEO Tips to Help your Dealership Succeed in 2021 (Part One)

Twelve months ago, we were living in a very different world. And at that point, an evaluation of over 8,000 American car buyers revealed that the average car buyer: – Spends up to six months researching vehicles before making a purchase. – Performs 59% of that research online, with 46% of car buyers using multiple devices to do so – […]

Visual Indicators amp The Page Experience Update

Visual Indicators & The Page Experience Update

A few weeks back, we talked about Google’s Broad Core Update which Google rolled out the first week of December. And just before that we had served up an introduction to Core Web Vitals, which were the focal point of Google’s previous update back in May. That said, new year, new game. Not only will those updates have laid the […]

Holiday GMB Tips For Your Dealership

The countdown is on: first Christmas, then New Years, and then we’ll say hello to 2021…all within the next two weeks. Between the craziness of the holidays, and a new year to come, you can bet that prospective car buyers and service customers will be looking you up. But is your GMB listing set up to tell them what they […]

What Does Google’s December Broad Core Update Mean to Your Dealership?

The events of 2020 have slowed down a lot of things, and here in the SEO world, one of the most notable delays comes in terms of Google’s broad core updates (of which there are usually several every year). In 2020 however, we’re only NOW – in December – getting the 3rd core update since January, with the last one […]

Is Vimeo a Better Platform for Your Dealership’s Videos?

Just a couple weeks ago, I was one of 70+ automotive marketing professionals invited to speak at the Automotive Analytics and Attribution Summit, and we had an awesome session on the growing importance of video content to dealerships like yours. But, after discussing the pros and cons of Facebook vs. YouTube as video posting platforms, a question arose. What about […]

What is a Featured Snippet?

When it comes to any of the topics that we cover here on “Just the Tip”, we can all gain important vantage points and valuable insights when we discard our professional roles and approach each topic from the perspective of the consumer. So put on your consumer hat, and imagine that you’re a car buyer, performing a search for the […]

What You Need to Know About Core Web Vitals Before 2021

Last week we just happened to revisit Aaron’s recent three-part series on the importance of User Experience. And then, this week, Google Webmasters announced that, as of May 2021, Core Web Vitals will become ranking signals as part of an update that will combine them with a number of existing UX-related signals. What are Core Web Vitals? Earlier this […]

Meaghan Farrell Makes Her Move to SEO

Please join the entire Wikimotive family in congratulating Meaghan Farrell on her recent transition to our SEO team. Since coming onboard as a valued member of our Editorial Team, Meaghan found herself immediately interested in technical SEO, the analytics related to it, and the outside-the-box thinking it requires. “I am looking forward to learning and evolving with the constant changes […]

Dave Estey - Senior Technical SEO Specialist at Wikimotive

Dave Estey Named Wikimotive ‘Director of SEO’

Wikimotive is proud to announce that Dave Estey will be stepping into a new role – that of ‘Director of SEO’. In this capacity, Dave looks forward to building systems that allow Wikimotive to provide even greater results for our clients, while introducing machine learning and automation to increase both our agility, and our responsiveness. “While one of the newest […]

Kelsea Filleul Named Wikimotive ‘Managing Editor’

On behalf of our entire team, please join us in congratulating Wikimotive’s very own Kelsea Filleul who has accepted a new role within our organization – that of ‘Managing Editor’. In her new position, Kelsea will manage our team of content writers, as well as our Editorial team, to ensure that our clients receive the highest-quality content, delivering optimal results. […]

Want to Use Stories to Sell More? Start Here.

In a recent study performed by Cox Automotive, it was determined that the average car buyer spends 13 hours and 55 minutes researching a vehicle purchase. And that 61% of that average time (equivalent to about 8.5 hours) is spent online. Today, that time is split between time spent on dealer sites like yours, OEM sites and 3rd party consumer […]

5 Things That Could Redefine Your Dealership’s Social Media

There’s a lot of territory to cover when it comes to your dealership’s social media activity. The problems are a-plenty, and we see them every day. The wrong kind of content. Inconsistency and infrequency of posting. Misreading your audience on one platform versus another, delivering the wrong message in turn, and not taking the correct steps to grow those audiences. […]

Just for Your Dealership: JTT Episodes You Might Have Missed

It’s officially been one year since we started this weekly series of SEO and Digital Marketing tips. And what a year it’s been. No seriously…is it 2021 yet? Not yet? Well, if you haven’t been watching all along, let’s circle back on what we’ve covered here on JTT since…well, since 2020 first starting going to sh*t. Jay: The Quarantine Months […]

3 Current Problems That Could Be Affecting Your Dealership (Part 2)

Last week, we started talking about common Google Analytics problems affecting dealerships everywhere. And since I’m young, healthy and have a fast recovery time, guess what? Yup…we’re gonna do it again. Problem #1: Self Referrals in Your Reports What are “self referrals”? They’re what happens when your own website’s domain shows up on your site as referral traffic. This […]

3 Current Problems That Could Be Affecting Your Dealership (Part 1)

Today, let’s talk about 3 simple, but critical implementation problems plaguing the Google Analytics profiles of dealerships all around the country, right now, and could be affecting you. Problem #1: Data Loss Generally speaking, your analytics sessions are your vitals. If you see that line hit 0 and stay there, we’re calling time of death. That’s why we need […]

Why Google Isn’t Crawling Your Dealership’s Website

So, you have a webpage that’s not indexed by Google…that’s a problem. So let’s troubleshoot that. Well, unless you have something more important to do. (Newsflash…you don’t) If Your Page Isn’t Currently Indexed One issue could be that you accidentally told Google not to index your site. How? Well, there are two ways this can happen. One is you have […]

Crawlability & What it Means to Your Website

Last week, we discussed the importance of Response Codes, and how they play a role in determining whether or not potential car buyers are getting what they need out of your dealership’s website. But what about Google’s ability to get what they need in order to deliver your site to those customers? Well, stay tuned, because we have “Just the […]

Response Codes and Why They’re So Important to Your Dealership

You’ve recently heard Kelsea and Jay talk about the important role content plays in achieving your SEO goals. Then, Aaron did the same thing in regard to user experience. And, yes, both are very important but none if it makes a difference if neither clients or Google can find it. So, let’s talk about content deliverability. If you’re doing it […]

5 Steps You Can Take to Speed Up Your Website

When we talk about page speed, one of the key factors to having faster load times is the size of the page. Now, I’m not talking about width and height dimensions, I’m talking about data. The kilobytes, megabytes, or gigabytes of information being displayed. A great start to improving your site’s performance is to figure out what’s taking up the […]

3 Tools to Assess Your Dealership’s Page Performance

Last time, we told you how page speed is super important to user experience, and in getting your dealership to rank higher in search results. Now, let’s explore three valuable tools that can help you assess your page speed and identify any red flags. Page Speed Insights Last week we introduced Google’s Page Speed Insights, one of the popular ways […]

4 Ways to Optimize Your Dealership’s Content

So, you’ve decided to Improve your local search rankings by writing your own content. That’s awesome. How’s it working for you? How close are you to the top of Page 1 for local search results? Wait. Are you even on Page 1? Page 2? Worse? Well, we have ‘Just the Tip’ for you. Like our CEO always says, “When it […]

9 Steps to Improve Your Dealership’s Content

Does your content suck? Over the last few weeks we have gone over different types of content, tips for coming up with content ideas, and local content for your dealership’s website. Today, we’re going to discuss how you can improve your content, and optimize it to help you rank higher. Structure is Important Let’s start with one basic writing rule […]

4 Tips For Your Dealership’s Local Content

Last week, we discussed three types of content that your website needs: Navigational Pages, Landing Pages, and Blog Posts. This week, we are going to dive deeper into blog territory, covering one style of blog that’s crucial for any SEO strategy…Local Content. Local Content allows you to: 1. Present your dealership to your community, or to a specific geography. 2. […]

3 Types of Content Your Dealership’s Website Needs

LET’S TALK CONTENT… If you have questions when it comes to content for your dealership’s website, you’re not alone. We hear them all the time… “How do I write content?” “How do I improve my content?” But what’s often surprising is how often we hear the question, “What do you mean by content?” In the simplest terms, anything you’ve made available […]

5 Steps Your Dealership Needs to Take to Optimize Your GMB

Consider This… More than 95% of your dealership’s potential sales are delivered to you as a result of online research. Local search accounts for 46% of Google searches, and 4 out of 5 consumers consider it to be their primary means of getting information about, or contacting a business. It’s also estimated a business’s GMB is the preferred resource for […]

Page Speed and Why It’s Crucial to Your Site

What Is Page Speed? Page Speed is the time it takes for a web page to load in the browser. While this sounds self explanatory, it’s a bit more complex. Any time you land on a web page, quite a bit is going on in the background. Your device is sending a request to an online server and that server […]

8 Things About User-Generated Content Your Dealership Needs to Know

Way before 2020 became the year of pandemics, murder hornets and protests it was predicted by leading marketers to be “the year of user-generated content”. And if you really think about it, the predictions were surprisingly accurate. Content creation has been a cornerstone of our collective coping when it comes to everything that 2020 had in store for us, thus […]

Not a Writer? Here’s the ONE Tool You Should Be Using

“But I’m Not a Writer”… The (bleep) you aren’t. Everyone’s a writer, and today we’re going to talk about a FREE tool you already have access to, a tool that can make it easier for all of you “non-writers” out there to create kickass original content. Words matter. Not only can the right words help you to better resonate with […]

Wikimotive's Jason Cook presents '7 Easy Ways to Optimize Your YouTube Videos' on this episode of 'Just the Tip'

7 Easy Ways to Optimize Your YouTube Content

Log onto Google and do a search for anything, and you’ll be provided with what Google interprets to be related video content. Most likely, the results will feature videos that are posted to YouTube (over other video platforms) since it’s a Google-owned platform. In other words, YouTube content has SEO Value. And since this series is all about optimizing your […]

YouTube Analytics &Your Dealership’s Video Content

Video analytics are crucial. They help you to assess the quality of your content, to identify what is and isn’t resonating with your dealership’s audience, and they help you to evolve your strategy so that your next piece of content can perform better than your last one. Plus, when it comes to YouTube (as opposed to Facebook) remember…you don’t have […]

Where Should You Post Your Videos (and Why)

Facebook. YouTube. Which platform should you be posting your dealership’s videos on, and why? On one hand, Facebook is STILL the most prominent social media platform out there with roughly 2.5 billion users, worldwide – but it also features additional post types in addition to video. YouTube, on the other hand, only boasts about 2 billion users but is the […]

Are You Paying Attention to Your Video Metrics? You Should Be.

It’s one thing to create videos – but what’s the point if those videos aren’t driving social media engagement and expanding your overall reach? By now, our regular viewers should familiar with Facebook Insights – and how to find them. If you’re a first time viewer, or would simply like to revisit our recent content, remember that you can find […]

The Value of Facebook Audience Insights

Last week, we provided an overview of Facebook Page Insights, a great front-end tool that helps you to monitor the effectiveness of your posting strategy. Now, there are more in-depth tools and visibility provided by both Facebook Business Manager and other third-party tools, but the simplified accessibility of Page Insights makes it universally valuable. This week, we’ll be exploring Facebook […]

The Value of Facebook Page Insights

Over the last couple of weeks, your dealership’s use of Social Media has been more important than ever…especially on Facebook. But whether you’ve been creating original video content, or updating your customers through regular posting, you should be gauging the success of your efforts. Which is why we want to help you to better understand Facebook Analytics – and the […]

Understanding Facebook Video Guidelines

During this quarantine, we’ve talked about the importance of original video content to your dealership. We’ve covered the different types of video content you should be creating. We’ve even given you a breakdown of affordable and easy-to-use equipment that can improve the quality of your content. But, for best results, you also need to understand the video specifications set by […]

Affordable & Easy-to-Use Equipment for Your Dealership’s Multimedia Content

Hey everyone, it’s Jay from Wikimotive and – as promised – we’re back to talk about some affordable and easy-to-use equipment that can help make it more convenient for you to create high-quality video content, all on your own. Now, before we start, I want to make one thing clear. There are two types of valuable multimedia content. The first […]

3 Important Things Your Dealership Should Be Doing Right Now

All right car dealers…I see you out there. We have been watching, and a lot of you are doing exactly what you should be doing right now. ***COVID-High5 right here*** But for the rest of you…those of you who need some help getting the right message out there, in the right way, well, we have “Just the Tip” for you. […]

Unleashing the Power of Your Social Media

In today’s world of social distancing, social media has become more important than ever. From the safety of our homes, it’s allowed each of us to interact with our family, friends and co-workers in a socially responsible way. It’s enabled teachers and students to continue their education plans. It’s changed the way that we support the brands, businesses and organizations […]

5 Actionable Tips for Car Dealers

On this week’s episode of ‘Just the Tip’ I had introduced some of the aspects of Technical SEO that we’ll be exploring in future episodes. But with so much going on in the world right now, we wanted to follow up with something a little more specific, and a little more helpful for our friends in the automotive space. So […]

Understanding the Reality of Technical SEO

Everyone wants to rank higher in Google search results. It’s why we created this series…to help you understand the various aspects of Search Engine Optimization. And when it comes to SEO – fair warning – Andrew, Aaron, Josh and I will be covering a lot of territory. Just think of each topic as a box you’ll need to “tick” in […]

Harnessing the Power of Data & Analytics

No matter what business vertical you’re in, data plays an important role. It’s generated by every facet of your operation, and can help to inform real-time decision-making, give shape to more effective strategies in both the short and long-term and streamline your operation as a whole. It’s also the most efficient means of assessing the success of your digital marketing […]

COVID-19 and Your Business

Just last week, we launched our revamped format for ‘Just the Tip’. And while our weekly series of SEO and Digital Marketing tips will continue in light of current world events, we felt it was important to take a step back, and offer some topical content useful to businesses across all verticals. In an effort to provide assurance to your […]

Your Business Needs More Video Content

Video content has been credited as having become the #1 catalyst for the online discovery of new products, services, and brands, as well as becoming a preferred resource for all sorts of do-it-yourselfers. And it’s really no surprise that video has proven so effective. A study of American consumers revealed that viewers retain up to 95% of a message when […]

The Importance of Link Building

From your website’s landing pages to your blog posts, your content plays an important role in establishing your authority. High-quality content empowers an authoritative source to share their expertise with anyone who may be in need of it. The best content is relevant, informative and serves a clear purpose; and (like any good advice) authoritative content stands a greater likelihood […]

The Increased Importance of Search Entities

We recently discussed keywords, one of the fundamental components of SEO. But SEO is ever-evolving, meaning that such components (and their respective roles) are bound to change as well. As such, intent-based algorithmic changes within Google have led to the prioritization of understanding entities over traditional keywords. But what are search entities, and why was this change necessary? What are […]

What is User Intent (& Why Is It So Important)?

In discussing the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) , you often see that it’s crucial to understand the importance of ’User Intent’ (also referred to as ‘Search Intent’). But what is User Intent and why is it so important? In recent years, Google has made it a priority to better understand (and anticipate) the meaning and intent behind search […]

Josh and Lisa of Wikimotive discuss the importance of understanding keywords.

Just the Tip – Understanding Keywords

In the same way we all have different needs online, not every online search is performed the same way. Some are phrased in the form of an informational query (using ‘who’,’where’, ‘when’ etc) to find out more about a subject. Some might be taking a navigational approach (seeking a specific URL) or performing a local search (using ‘near me’) to […]

Brandon and Kyle of Wikimotive are discussing the relationship between social media and SEO.

Just the Tip – The Relationship Between Social Media and SEO

The relationship between Social Media and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is complicated and often misunderstood, and in a perpetual stage of change. In reality, they are complimentary areas of focus that can drive their own results, and can help to amplify the results achievable by the other. Understanding the Roles The role of Social Media grows increasingly more important. It […]

Aaron and Brandon of Wikimotive are discussing the importance of review strategy.

Just the Tip – The Importance of Review Strategy

No-one likes receiving a negative review; but it’s been estimated that a negative experience is 21% more likely to inspire an online review than a positive experience. It’s a trend that has experienced some welcome reversal as of late but, as a business, you need to be conscious of the impact reviews can have. Today we’re going to explore the […]

Kelsea and Aaron of Wikimotive discuss local content.

Just the Tip – Local Content: Keeping Things Close to Home

“How Do We Stand Out?” Answering this question is one of the inherent challenges faced by any business or marketer. It inspires the quality of the products and/or services that we offer. It rests at the heart of our marketing efforts. And unlike major brands and larger corporate entities who enjoy a greater wealth of resources to help attract the […]

Josh and Kelsea of Wikimotive discuss why every business needs a blog.

Just the Tip – Every Business Needs a Blog

Every business or organization has a story to tell, as well as a unique set of services to offer, insights to contribute, and a desire to attract those in need of their goods, products and services. This is why blogs are so popular; they provide a means of telling our stories, conveying our authority, and making ourselves accessible to a […]

Jay and Josh of Wikimotive discussing conversational content.

Just the Tip – Conversational Content

Conversational content. Depending on the extent of your involvement with content creation and familiarity with certain principles of SEO, it’s a term you may have heard before. But it’s also a term that is commonly misunderstood. What is Conversational Content? At its heart, ’conversational content’ is about creating a personalized experience for the reader. Think of the difference between being […]

Lisa and Jay of Wikimotive discussing social sharing

Just the Tip – Social Sharing

In this series we’ll talk about the importance of content (in whatever form it may take). No matter whether we’re talking about blog posts, podcasts, videos (or something else entirely) your content is unlikely to find its audience unless you deliver it directly to them. And since most consumers are unlikely to visit your website (unless they have a specific […]

Kyle and Lisa of Wikimotive got over GMB Q&A

Just the Tip – GMB Questions & Answers

Google My Business is one of the most valuable marketing tools out there. When properly optimized, your GMB profile can help to attract, inform and convert prospective customers. Plus, from an investment standpoint, it certainly doesn’t hurt that GMB is free. But an investment of time and effort is necessary if you’re going to put your GMB to work for […]

Aaron and Kyle of Wikimotive for a just the tip episode on Alt text

Just the Tip – The Importance of ALT Text

When we refer to ‘optimization’ we’re usually talking about the steps anyone can take to refine their web presence, increase the visibility of their website in the eyes of Google, and improve both traffic and the potential of converting new customers. The manner in which you format the images used on your website plays an important role in this, while […]

Jay and Aaron discuss optimizing your GMB on Just the Tip at Wikimotive

Just the Tip – Optimize Your GMB Photos, Videos & GIFs

Previously, we’ve discussed the important role that your Google My Business profile plays; how it’s basically your new homepage, is where you share your business information with the world and is where people searching for your business will form their first impressions of it. But with that in mind, how does one go about making the best first impression? Well, […]

Kelsea and Jay of Wikimotive discuss local SEO for Just the Tip

Just the Tip – Local SEO

To grow your business, you need to attract new customers. And since most potential customers will search for your products or services on Google, you need to distinguish yourself by ranking higher than your competitors in Search Results. That said, it’s important to understand any obstacles that may be working against you. For example… – 75% of Google users won’t […]

Brandon and Kelsea on the Three Pillars of SEO Just the Tip episode.

Just the Tip – Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness – The Three Pillars of SEO

It’s estimated that 63,000 Google searches are performed every second. That’s 3.8 million searches every minute, 228 million searches every hour, and about 5.6 billions searches performed within a single day. And somewhere in the middle of that search maelstrom, is a prospective customer in need of your products or services. Google uses complex algorithms to determine the pages best […]

Lisa and Brandon for this weeks Just the Tip episode on GMB

Just The Tip – Google My Business

(commonly known as ‘GMB’) is one of the most valuable digital marketing assets available to businesses. Every day, millions of consumers use Google to research businesses, products and services. Most recent studies have shown that more than half of the searches conducted on mobile devices have local intent – that means people are looking for local businesses. Your GMB profile […]

Greg Gifford is holding a guitar at the SearchLove London event.

Great Scott! Greg Gifford’s Headed to SearchLove London

On October 14th and 15th, search marketers from around the globe will converge upon London to cover everything from content and optimization, to paid promotion and analytics at SearchLove London 2019. Not only does the two-day event provide digital marketers with an opportunity to meet their industry peers, gaining inspiration and actionable techniques designed to widen their field of knowledge […]

PubCon Las Vegas Presentation

With great power comes great responsibility. Which is why Wikimotive and Greg Gifford are back to share the latest SEO insights, straight from PubCon Las Vegas!

Wikimotive's Josh and Lisa explain SEO signals

Just the Tip – What Are “Signals”?

We’ve defined SEO as “the process of optimizing signals both on and off a website, influencing how successfully that site can be found when someone searches particular keywords on Google”. So, what do we mean by ‘signals’? We’re referring to ranking signals – characteristics or elements present on a website that a search engine recognizes – and then utilizes to […]

The Most Important Question to Ask

Welcome back to another Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki! In this week’s video, we’re sharing one simple tip – but it’s a tip that can literally improve your entire website. It will have a positive effect on everything that you do for SEO and help you stand out from competitors. I speak at a lot of conferences, so I’m lucky enough […]

Greg Gifford is standing in front of a Las Vegas building for Pubcon Las Vegas.

Gifford & Pubcon: Favorite of Vegas Oddsmakers

Las Vegas, NV – This week, the Las Vegas Convention Center will play host to the 2019 Pubcon Las Vegas conference, attracting some of the most influential names in SEO, Social Media, and Full Stack Developing. With well over 100 speakers scheduled, there’s no shortage of game-changing insights to be gained. And you guessed it, Pubcon Las Vegas is just […]

Wikimotive rock stars Josh and Kyle explaining SEO

Just The Tip – What is SEO?

For those of you unfamiliar with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) it’s the process of optimizing signals both on and off a website, influencing how successfully that site can be found when someone searches particular keywords on Google. Regardless of the vertical you’re in, your ranking in Google Search Results should be one of your primary considerations. Failing to prioritize your […]

Advanced Search Summit Presentation

Straight from Advanced Search Summit, Greg Gifford is here to share the ‘Secret of Local Search Success in 2019 and Beyond’ on this week’s ‘Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki’.

Brighton SEO Presentation

What do SEO and Horror Movies have in common? Find out for yourself as we return to the UK, for Greg’s insightful look at Entities and the Future of SEO filmed LIVE at Brighton SEO.

Greg Gifford is in front of a cell phone filming at the Advanced Search Summit in DC.

Mr. Giff Goes to Washington

Washington, D.C. – Advanced Search Summit D.C. kicks off September 19th. It aims to do its part to ensure that digital marketers, SEM, and SEO professionals everywhere are able to expand their abilities and never stop learning. For two days, the W Hotel D.C. will play host to hundreds of such guests and dozens of the industry’s most coveted speakers aiming […]

Internet Battle Plan Presentation

Have you met Angus? Straight outta Internet Battle Plan XXVI, Wikimotive’s Chief Digital Officer is here to share his insights on holding your Digital Marketing and SEO Vendors accountable in terms of the return on YOUR investment.

Own Your Own Backyard

Welcome back to another episode of Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. I’m hanging out in the back yard for today’s tip, cause this week, we’re talking about ‘owning your own backyard’. I speak about Local SEO at conferences all over the world, and one of the most common questions I hear goes something like this: “we’re about 30 minutes outside of […]

Read Your Site Content Out Loud

Welcome back to another episode of Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. This week we’ve got what might be the most important SEO tip we can possibly share… and it’s all about helping your website content absolutely rock… You might notice I look a little different today – I’m recording this video while I’m on the way back from a conference. Isn’t […]

Dan Barker Named Wikimotive ‘Director of Operations’

The entire Wikimotive team is proud to share the news that our own Dan Barker has accepted a new role within our organization – that of ‘Director of Operations’. Having served diligently in his previous capacity as Content Manager, Dan’s commitment to consistency and continual betterment – combined with his penchant for ‘big picture thinking’ – has made him an […]

Recover Hidden Yelp Reviews

Welcome back to Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. This week, we’re talking about everyone’s favorite site – Yelp. In today’s video, I’m gonna tell you how to recover all of those awesome reviews you got that Yelp decided to filter out and hide. I’ll just come out and say it – Yelp sucks. We all hate it, but unfortunately, since it […]

‘Learn Inbound’ Presentation

Welcome back to Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. This week’s video is a long one again, because I’m sharing my presentation from the Learn Inbound conference… It’s about 38 minutes long, so make sure you’ve got time to watch and absorb all the awesomeness. If you don’t have time now, no worries – it’ll be here waiting for you whenever you’re […]

Greg Gifford is shown with 2 thumbs up while screaming, happy fans are in the background.

Learn Inbound is About to ‘Bend it Like Gifford’

Local Search Scores Big, Again! This week the Greg Gifford / Wikimotive World Tour touches down in legendary Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland. While normally home to tens-of-thousands of crazed soccer and rugby fans, on August 15th-16th the stadium will house a group of knowledge-thirsty, rowdy SEO and marketing fanatics. And by that, we mean a group of hundreds of […]

How Long Does SEO Take?

Welcome back to Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. This week, we’re talking about timelines for SEO – we’re gonna answer the most common question about SEO “how long does SEO take?” More than any other question, SEO agencies are always asked “why does SEO take so much time?” and “how long will it take to see results?” I get it – […]

Greg Gifford is behind a propane tank that says local SEO on a Corpus Christi highway on his way to Local U.

Greg Gifford and Local U Bring Explosive Results to Gas Industry

Blowing Minds With Local Search Strategy The Greg Gifford and Wikimotive world tour continues with a quick stop in Corpus Christi, Texas, for a special event hosted by Local University (Local U) and the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC). PERC, along with Local U, is hosting the event for industry professionals to highlight advanced SEO and marketing strategies specially […]

SEO ‘Simple Math’

Welcome back to another Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki! In this week’s video, we’re taking you back to school and doing some math to help prove why your business absolutely needs to be doing Local SEO. I speak at a lot of conferences, and I always hear that it’s hard for attendees to go back to work and get buy-in from […]

‘The Firm’ Case for Local SEO

Welcome back to Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. This week, we’re here to talk about pizza. For the noobs out there, pizza is a savory dish of Italian origin, consisting of a usually round, flattened base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and various other ingredients (anchovies, olives, meat, etc.) baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired […]

MOZCON 2019 Presentation

Did you miss Mozcon 2019 in Seattle this year? Well, today’s your lucky day, because here’s Greg Gifford to share the Mozcon presentation that almost broke Twitter.

The Shoes of Mozcon 2019

Here it is, the Mozcon recap post you’ve all been waiting for… The “Shoes of Mozcon”! I’m just back from my 10th Mozcon (13th, if you count Mozcon Locals), and one of my favorite parts about this always killer conference is all the little traditions that have popped up over the years. @GregGifford I love these #Mozcon micro traditions. @Mike_Arnesen […]

GMB is Your NEW Home Page

Welcome back to Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. This week we’re not talking about a specific tip or tactic, we’re trying to change your point of view. For years, business owners in every vertical have been told “your website is the first impression you make with customers” But I’m here today to tell you – that’s no longer true. Your Google […]

The Wizard of Moz(Con) 2019

Searching for answers and solutions for your SEO strategy? Trying to sneak a peek at those strategies hidden behind the SEO curtain? Looking for that yellow brick road to take your outdated or stagnant SEO approach out of the stone-age? Well, we’re not in 2006 anymore Toto, so let’s stop ‘easing down the road’ and start cranking SEO up to […]

GMB ‘Questions & Answers’ Feature

Welcome back to Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. This week we’re talking about a recent update to the Google My Business Questions and Answers feature. For the ‘noobs’, if you don’t know what the Questions and Answers feature is, it’s a new element that was added to the Google My Business profiles about a year ago. It’s a community discussion feature, […]

How Do You Know if You Need Local SEO?

Welcome back to ‘Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki’. One of our most common topics in this weekly video series will be Local SEO, and today we wanted to take a little time to explain what it is and how you know if you need it. (For the Noobs) Search Engine Optimization, commonly referred to as “SEO”, is the process of optimizing […]

Episode 2: New Blended SERP on Local Brand Searches

Welcome back to Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki. We’ve got an interesting update to share with you this week – Google has updated how Branded Search results are displayed on mobile. First seen in the wild last week, the new branded layout is a blend between the info that used to appear in the Google My Business knowledge panel and the […]

Become an SEO Expert with Greg Gifford's SEO Fundamentals Course

Gifford Hosts Web Series for SEMrush

In the weeks since our welcoming of Greg Gifford to the team, there has been no shortage of exciting developments and news stories worth sharing. For those of you who are unfamiliar with our newly-named Vice President of Search, Gifford is an experienced specialist in Local SEO, an educator, and honored speaker at SEO conferences around the globe. Known for […]

Announcing Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki

Welcome to Tactical Tuesdays with Wiki, our new weekly SEO video series featuring actionable SEO tips for any local business! We’ll be here every week with short, easy-to-digest video tips to help your business get more visibility in local searches (or to help you get a better handle on SEO so you can choose the right agency to work […]

Wikimotives new VP of search, Greg Gifford

Welcoming Greg Gifford – Vice President of Search

Riddle us this – Who is tattooed in a (nearly) complete leg sleeve of goonies tattoos, was the mascot for SMU in his younger days, and is obsessed (along with the rest of his family) with Disney World? Wikimotive’s new Vice President of Search, Greg Gifford, that’s who! We are most pleased to announce Greg Gifford as the newest member […]

A man in a suit with the text "Branding your business"

There Are No Apologies in Branding

As an automotive advertising company, we fall subject to a wide range of expectations regarding the wealth of services that we offer. Truth be told, we doubt you’d be surprised by the vast majority of them, seeing as you’re probably aware of the traditional role played by digital marketers. And yet, there are those expectations that are less-publicized…such as the […]

Be Fearless. Go Viral.

When we talk about Automotive Social Media Marketing, we’re surprised by just how many people fail to grasp the breadth of the topic. In fact, looking across any number of industries only serves to reinforce the shocking realization that many businesses are attempting to market themselves in a state of ignorant bliss. Of course, we mean ‘ignorant’ in the most […]

A man with a bow and arrow targeting lightbulbs

Shooting Holes in Your Strategy (To See What’s in Front of You)

This month, we’re spending a lot of time talking about the need to step outside of your intrinsic strategy. As a marketer, it’s all too easy for you to wear the blinders of branding, slaved to a singular way of thinking by the echo chamber which you operate within. By falling into this trap, you minimize your own effectiveness, limiting […]

A man with his echo chamber stressing him out

Stepping Outside the Echo Chamber

Now that we’re firmly implanted in 2019, susceptible to both the pitfalls and perils most-evident and well-hidden, we’d be spotlighting a lack of foresight if we failed to acknowledge one of the greatest threats to your automotive marketing strategy. More accurately, it’s one of the greatest threats to any marketing strategy, regardless of industry or intent (and arguably, to a […]

Dial up your marketing with a automotive advertising company

Reasons to Partner with an Automotive Advertising Agency

As a dealership, you might have struggled with the question of whether or not you should partner with an automotive advertising company or digital marketing partner. Unfortunately, the increasing importance of services that a digital marketer can provide emphasizes the crucial nature of making that change now (if you have yet to do so). Marketing has always been an ever-evolving […]

The building blocks to Automotive Social Media Marketing

Are You in Control of Your Online Image?

Perception is reality. Arguably, the best piece of ‘big picture’ advice that I’ve ever been given. One would be hard-pressed to debate the fact that we form decisive conclusions based on our individual perception. From the worthiness of interpersonal relationships and evaluation of professional competence to the businesses we support and political candidates that we elect, our lives are driven […]

Answers to all your automotive SEO questions

SEO Resolutions (for Better Results) in the New Year

Is there any better opportunity to assess one’s goals than the beginning of a new year? Even when you step outside the norm of personal New Years Resolutions, it’s a perfect opportunity for the less-diligent to gain both perspective in hindsight while creating forward-thinking strategies. Then again, some might argue that you should have been on top of your new […]

Find the solution to your automotive marketing needs with the right information

Which Side of the Line are YOU on?

Now that we find ourselves firmly implanted inside of another new year, it becomes easier to separate ourselves from the imaginary line that we’ve just crossed over. Whether you think of it as a new beginning, the turn of a calendar page, or another journey around the sun, the significance of a ‘new year’ is largely sentimental. But it’s the […]

To Get Personal, You Need a Personal Touch

Imagine that you had an Ace-in-the-Hole, a hidden advantage over your competitors that positioned your dealership, products and services more favorably in the eyes of prospective customers. Imagine that you could gain insights into the needs and expectations of today’s car-buyers unique to your offerings in order to identify your strengths and weaknesses. What if it would make you the […]

Meeting the Expectations of Personalized Content

If your automotive social media marketing is on-point, you’ve spent the last year tailoring your company’s social media presence in a manner that reflected individuality while creating a truly personalized experience for the consumer. And if you haven’t, well, the increasing warmth that you’re currently feeling in your posterior region is the (metaphorical) fire that we’ve just lit under your […]

Man circles target audience for automotive marketing

Creating Your Personalized SEO Strategy for 2019

Happy New Year! We all know how it goes, “New Year, New You” but the simple truth is that all-too-many dealerships are making the same mistakes year-in and year-out by not evolving their automotive SEO to mirror changes within the industry. As digital marketers, we see it all the time; even if a dealership’s marketing team are reallocating sufficient budget […]

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Giving Your 2019 a Personal Touch

Since the earliest days of radio spots and television sponsorships, celebrity endorsements were considered the gold standard of commercial validation. The idea that a compensated actor or pop culture personality lends any credibility to a product or service might be ridiculous, and yet, the hapless consumer inside of each of us continues to fall for the tactic time-and-time-again. Few industries […]

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Thinking Small: an Automotive Marketing Mindset for 2019

There are certain expectations found all-too-commonly among those seeking the expertise of an automotive advertising company or 3rd party marketing professional. In many cases, such expectations come influenced by some sort of marketing myopia or an inability to see the proverbial forest for the trees. Granted, one might argue that such a lack of awareness explains why a dealership or […]

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Embracing the Social Side of Your Dealership

Before you get hung up the ins and outs of automotive social media marketing, it’s important to take a step back. Why? Because it’s entirely possible that you’re ‘too close’ to have any real perspective on the importance of social media to the continued success of your dealership. Granted, saying such a thing might come across as somewhat condescending, but […]

Perspective and Prioritization of Your SEO Strategy

When it comes to executing an automotive SEO strategy, where do you start? It’s a loaded question for sure, so…well…let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. SEO is crucial for any dealership, for the same reason that it’s crucial to the continued success of any business. It speaks to the marketing of your business using the tools that technology […]

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Is Digital Marketing Blurring the Lines Between Tiered Automotive Marketing?

According to a report by eMarketer, the estimated automotive marketing spend in 2017 fell in somewhere around $206 billion. Coming off a seven-year run of continual sales growth, it’s no surprise that the industry has shown such openness toward investment. The near-unparalleled level of innovation alone ensured that most messages were well-worth “getting out there” and, judging by the spend, […]

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The Why’s and How’s of Gaining Influence in 2019

When we think of auto advertising, it’s easy for us to default to the iconography that has proved successful since the infancy of televised automotive marketing back at the midpoint of the 20th century. Beauty shots of shiny new vehicles, handling impeccably around tight corners. All engine, road and wind noise removed in the editing process and replaced with hints […]

2019: Time to Get People Talking

2019 presents a unique challenge for marketers, regardless of the industry that they represent. For the sake of these articles, we’ll convey the ideas in the context of car dealerships, automotive advertising agencies and the automotive industry as a whole. But rest assured, the ideas are universal, relating to the evolving face of brand recognition, reinforcement and consumer valuation. They […]

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Marketing Fearlessly in 2019

Whether facilitated in-house by your own marketing team, or through a third party vendor, automotive advertising is not for the weak of heart. We live in transitional times, shifting with both the frequency and inherent dangers of cartoon quicksand. No longer can a dealership thrive (let alone survive) solely on the reapings yielded by traditional marketing efforts. Truth be told, […]

Legal Marketing 2019: Where You Need to Be

At its core, Law Firm Marketing is about differentiation: the ability to convey a firm or practice’s value proposition in more ways than reiterating “we are aggressive, and get results!” One might argue that the need for differentiation is universal among marketers, but legal marketing presents unique challenges since the ‘results’ are usually life-altering in nature. Failure of an attorney […]

Embracing the Healthcare Marketing of Tomorrow, Today.

If asked, how would you describe your healthcare marketing? In the blink of an eye, we find ourselves standing on the cusp of this: the third decade of what we (seemingly yesterday) referred to as the ‘new millennium.’ How time flies. The scary part? For every one of us, the passage of time will continue to pick up speed with […]

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Back to (Virtual) Life. Back to (Augmented) Reality

When you think of your real estate marketing strategy, what comes to mind? Word-of-Mouth referral? Print ads? Lawn signage with your visage (or that of an associate) emblazoned across it? Scaled up versions of the same in billboard form? Perhaps you’re focused on local television and radio spots? Or if you’re truly ahead of the curve, you probably steer your […]

Automotive Marketing Trends to Get Aboard

Going digital is no longer a thing of the present. At the risk of sounding elitist, or dismissive, if your automotive marketing hasn’t already gone digital (at least partially) you have placed your dealership at a significant disadvantage. To be clear, we’re not simply referring to whether or not you have a responsive website, with inventory configured to create an […]

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Putting Your Private Practice in the Public Eye

No matter what industry they exist in, today’s businesses need to implement digital marketing strategies in order to maintain, if not increase, their client relationships. Medical practices are no exception, and today’s private practice marketing strategies employ a number of components. Such steps allow a practice to gain a competitive edge over their local competitors, increasing visibility of their services […]

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Utilizing SEO to Set a New Precedent of Success

As practitioners operating within the legal system, you’re no stranger to binding changes in legal principle. As practitioners operating within the field of digital marketing, we’re no stranger to binding changes in SEO strategies. And while you might be unable to appreciate the breadth of commonality between those two fields, a quickly scribbled Venn Diagram would place your legal marketing […]

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Empowering Your Small Business (With Big Reach!)

If there’s one thing that we’ve learned over the last few years it’s that, thanks to technology, the potential of a small business marketing initiative is anything but…well, small. In the past, modestly-sized independently-owned businesses were bound to fall under the shadow of larger competitors. The combination of massive buying power and proportionally-sized marketing budgets proved difficult for any small […]

Prioritizing SEO in Your Automotive Marketing for 2019

While most people are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact that autumn is already upon us, automotive marketing professionals (and their counterparts in almost every industry) are already focused on forming their digital strategies for 2019. And, if recent years have taught us anything, each year that passes increases the importance of SEO to these strategies and the […]

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Meeting the Expectations of an Informed Generation

2017 was the year it all changed. It was the year when millennial consumers fulfilled their long-anticipated destiny of overtaking Baby Boomers as the single largest consumer demographic. With an estimated $200 billion in annual buying power, consumer trends would now be dictated by the younger members of our society, with little likelihood of it reversing anytime soon. And with […]

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Rep Matters (10 Tips for Addressing Negativity Towards Healthcare)

In the United States, there’s still a significant portion of our population debating the pros and cons of the affordable healthcare act. The political spectrum remains perpetually at odds over the idealistic entitlement for universal healthcare and the fiscal realities that stand in the way of such demands. But partisan politics aside, there’s little value in arguing the fact that […]

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What is the Precedent Set by Your Online Presence?

It’s widely believed that there are seven essential characteristics that people look for when seeking legal representation. Do you know what they are? Chances are that you’re already ticking all seven boxes if you can (honestly) look at yourself and feel that you’re achieving all of your goals. But let’s be honest. Regardless of the size of your firm or […]

4 Things to Keep in Mind With Your Social Media Marketing (and 4 Ways to Set Yourself Apart)

You don’t have to be a digital marketer to recognize the fact that social media, in all forms, presents an opportunity. Every social media user, regardless of platform used, opens themselves to the possibility of being marketed to. Then again, every social media user also gains the opportunity to become a marketer themselves. In terms of both images and text, […]

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The Symbiosis of Healthcare and Marketing

It’s hardly a well-kept secret that the healthcare industry exists within a perpetual state of precariousness. As a society, we look to the wide array of healthcare professionals for unbiased solutions to issues related to our personal well-being. However, as with members of any industry, those professionals offer a series of products and services that exist to be marketed for […]

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Is Your Online Presence Driving Customers TO You (or FROM You?)

The core of any successful business, regardless of its size or the industry it’s found within, comes in the patronage of its clientele. Some businesses thrive upon a large volume of one-time purchases, while others are reliant upon incremental repeat business. Years ago, the difference depended simply upon (i) the quality of product and/or service offered (ii) the demand for […]

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Take Two Minutes of Video & Call Me in the Morning

In today’s world, so many aspects of the Medical community draw the continual ire of the masses. From outrage over the profiteering practices of the Pharmaceutical industry to constant criticism of the costs associated with Health insurance providers, a large share of the general public has voiced a growing sense of detachment from the healthcare community, as a whole. Regardless […]

Making Your Automotive Marketing Worth a Million Words

If seeking a real-world example of ‘necessary evil’, one could argue that ‘Marketing’ is a near-perfect choice. A crucial component of any business’s continued success, a well-realized and multi-tiered marketing initiative should be designed to communicate any (and all) messages, to any (and all) demographics, using the most effective platform for each. Just last month, we were discussing some perspectives […]

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Marketing “Higher Education”: What You Need to Know

As an institution of higher learning, you are focused on the use of education to empower your students to find greater success in all fields of business. That said, you mustn’t lose sight of the need to empower your business to find greater success in all fields of education. Simply put, this requires an ability to attract a greater number […]

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Without a Multi-Platform Strategy Your Dealership Will Fail. Here’s Why

In the ever-changing automotive world, we are faced with the constant evolution of both expectations and demands in all forms of commerce. And while we can adapt accordingly, the expectation of any business to straddle the various generational gaps makes it necessary to adjust our business model and marketing initiatives to operate on a number of levels. And by diversifying […]

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Health Care Industry Marketing Has Changed

Of all service providers, the Healthcare industry is faced with some of the greatest expectations in terms of accessibility, credibility, and reliability. While such expectations are perfectly understandable, it emphasizes medical professionals’ need for a comprehensive online presence. And in this 24/7 world of transparency and constant connectivity, prospective patients demand far more than just a polished website. Wikimotive understands […]

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Automotive Marketing In Today’s Industry

Within today’s automotive industry, a dealership’s success is no longer solely dependent on a well-realized business model, or in the creation and maintenance of a customer-centric culture. While both remain crucial components, a dealership needs to embrace the important role that online marketing plays in ensuring its continued longevity. Website Design Successful online marketing is more than just a […]

Is Dealer.com Corrupting Your Data?

Sep 22, 8:24AM, UPDATE: James Grace has contacted Wikimotive and shared findings with us: “We’ve tracked down the source of this issue to a 3rd Party Integration with Edmunds.com that was active on approximately 16% of our sites. Edmunds pushed tracking code to these sites that was causing the Google session-ID to be overwritten with every “event” on the website, […]

Welcoming Josh Billing, Front-End Developer & QA Specialist

Wikimotive is pleased to introduce the newest member of our development team, Front-End Developer & QA Specialist, Josh Billings. Working closely with Wikimotive’s CTO and co-founder, Andrew Martin, Josh takes on the critical role of content publishing and front-end page development. After all, our writers can produce the best content on Earth, but someone with a sharp eye for detail […]

Employees Are Your Business’ Greatest Reputation Management Asset

Employees are hired based on their ability to perform and complete specific job functions. What is often overlooked is the significant role employees play in the business’ reputation. In the past, managing a business’ reputation was purely a matter of effectively handling public relations. This, alone, is no longer enough. In today’s world, technology has greatly altered the way businesses’ […]

You Have More in Common with Your Customer Than You Think

When a potential buyer walks through the door, calls you up on the phone, or chats with you online, your immediate reaction is to find ways to connect with them to provide quality customer service. You engage in small talk by chatting about the weather or current sport scores, hoping to uncover similar interests to aid you in providing great […]

Navigating SEO: 4 Problems Still Plaguing Dealer Websites

Your website is the most important part of your digital marketing strategy. Even with a large budget, you could fail to achieve results if you’re lacking the foundation necessary to convert visitors into leads and sales. In this week’s Navigating SEO column, I’ll detail a few of the problems that still plague dealer websites years after being pointed out and […]

Navigating SEO: 3 Ways to Improve Your Dealership’s Keyword Research

Do you feel like you’re getting nowhere with SEO? It’s tough to pinpoint the exact reason you’re not seeing results, but there are ways you can improve your process to push through and start seeing green numbers. Keyword research is one of the smallest things you can improve upon; however, it can make the difference between successful and unsuccessful car […]

Navigating SEO: 3 SEO Content Tips to Boost Traffic and Conversions

In 2016, every business wants to use content to get more traffic to their website. From there, they want to better convert those users to boost client sign-ups or sales. But none of that comes without understanding some fundamental facts about SEO and how to create better content. To give you a leg up on your competition, I’m going to […]

Navigating SEO: Best SEO Advice to Kick Off 2016

New Years is more than just a time for personal resolutions; for your business it’s a perfect time to commit and stick to resolutions to make 2016 your best year ever. If you’ve been procrastinating on your digital marketing, I won’t shame you. Instead, I’ll present you with some of the best advice that you can use to kick […]

Navigating SEO: How to Make the Most of Link Building in 2016

Link building isn’t dead, and it’s not likely to die in 2016. If you want to build authority for your website to increase organic traffic, link building is still a crucial component of SEO. The problem is, you may not be aligning your link building efforts with the standards that will lead to success in 2016. In this post, I’ll […]

Navigating SEO: How to Sell Your Boss on SEO

“I couldn’t sell my boss a pen if he was trying to cash a million-dollar check!” Selling your boss has very little to do with the fact that they’re tough or often balk at the idea of adding new expenses. Those are things you tell yourself to help soften the blow when you don’t get your way. To help you […]

Navigating SEO: How to Be Realistic with SEO Expectations

SEO and realistic expectations don’t go well together. On both sides of the aisle, there are issues that harm the digital marketing campaigns of businesses across the country and cause doubts about SEO as a viable and ROI-driven service. The problem starts with SEO vendors. For years now, the focus has been on achieving “#1 rankings” and “dominating” specific markets. […]

Wikimotive Gives Back to Selfless Colleague

As the season of giving and the 2015 Internet Sales 20 Group 8 sets to kick off next week in New Orleans, the team at Wikimotive is honored to lend their support to Jeff Cormier and his family.

Wikimotive Celebrated for Curiosity at Dealer Inspire Awards Ceremony

What fun is innovation without celebration? We wouldn’t know…

Navigating SEO: How to Focus Your Business Content Efforts

Content Marketing is one of the fastest growing forms of digital marketing employed by businesses in 2015. Where traditional advertising (even online) has its limits, content marketing’s only limit is your business’s creativity. But with all sorts of options out there for creating content, where do begin? In this post, I’ll give you a quick guide to help you focus […]

Navigating SEO: Beginner’s Guide to Search Intent

As Google releases more and more updates, the search engine becomes capable of understanding intent behind different search queries at an advanced level. This leads to an increased need for online marketers to review their SEO strategy to ensure it aligns with Google’s constant updates. The most important thing you can do right here and right now, however, is to […]

Navigating SEO: How to Create Content That Attracts Links

What do you want from SEO? If I had to guess, I’d say “more traffic” or “more leads” are at the top of your goals list. The problem is, those things don’t just happen on their own. One way to accomplish these goals is to pursue link building by creating amazing content. Links are one of the most important signals […]

Navigating SEO – Creating Value: It’s What SEO is All About

If you follow the SEO industry, you’ll know that there’s a constant debate about whether or not the practice is really “SEO” (search engine optimization) anymore. Because for the most part, it’s not. Sure we still do on-page optimization that helps create search-friendly pages, but that’s only one small part of what most SEO companies provide moving into 2016. Instead, most […]

Navigating SEO: What Fantasy Football Can Teach You About SEO

Navigating SEO is a syndicated blog series by Timothy Martell, CEO of Wikimotive. In this series, Tim breaks down ways car dealers and other local businesses can improve their SEO, offering insight into how it will benefit business. This week’s column was written by Wikimotive’s Mark Frost. Whether or not you like fantasy football, there’s no denying its hold on American […]

How to Audit Your Competitors’ SEO in 30 Minutes or Less

SEO is all about self-improvement. If you’ve ever delved into the world of self-improvement, then you know that the only person that can help or hurt you is yourself. That same principal applies to SEO, as you (site/business owner) are ultimately in charge of your own success and failure. You can choose to take action and better your site’s SEO, […]

Google RankBrain: 5 Facts SEOs Need to Know

As an SEO, I’ve grown accustomed to frequent news about updates and other changes made to Google’s algorithm. But today’s news from the world’s leading search engine took me for a loop. Here at Wikimotive, the idea of machine learning and AI as a part of future search results has been something we thought of as semi-futuristic. We knew Google was […]

The 5 Rules of Great Content for 2016

The web revolves around content. A lot of content. According to Internet Live Stats, there are currently around 200 million active websites. That’s not individual pages, but actual unique websites that can contain millions of pages of their own. Standing out from the crowd is a lot more difficult than it used to be, but not impossible. Using the information […]

4 Reasons Reddit Hates Your Content

Reddit is one of the largest and most expansive online communities ever created. It has the power to make videos go viral, create and cultivate memes, crash websites with massive amounts of traffic, and best of all: bring likeminded people together. Given its power, social media marketers want a piece of the pie. The only problem is, Reddit knows when it’s […]

Google Map Pack Update: 5 Thoughts on the New Design

Local SEO has become one of the most important focuses in the digital marketing community. This means it’s only natural for everyone to take notice and rethink strategy when Google makes an update to its local Map Pack results. In its latest update, which occurred around August 6, 2015, Google redesigned the Map Pack to fit with its mobile design […]

Viral Content: 5 Truths You Need to Know

Viral content has been the subject of constant attention. Business, marketers, and the media are fascinated by videos and other types of content that spread like wildfire and generate attention (and business) for the creators. And while viral content sounds great when thinking only about the success, you also need to understand the pitfalls. It’s easy to get caught up […]

Blogging for Business: How to Get Started

Blogging for business is by no means a new phenomenon. It’s been talked about for years now, and I’m sure most of you reading this have tried blogging, whether in your free time or for a business. But while the craze around blogging has died down as it becomes more acceptable, there are still plenty of people out there skeptical […]

4 Ways to Liven Up Your Business’s Digital Marketing

Digital marketing is a fickle beast. It can leave you feeling accomplished one second and demoralized the next. It’s exciting, but at the same time unnerving. There’s always a challenge to tackle. For businesses, though, the ups and downs of digital marketing are more nerve-wracking than exciting. So if you own a business, you don’t want to constantly be worrying. […]

Explaining ‘Quality Content’ Once and For All

The phrase “quality content” has become somewhat of a joke within the SEO and digital marketing community. It’s used so often when giving SEO advice–typically without further detail or actionable instructions–that there’s no way for a non-SEO to truly grasp the meaning behind it. But that all changes today! I want to give you my explanation of quality content to […]

The Link Building Secret Experts Won’t Tell You

Link building is one of the toughest aspects of SEO, and how to get ahead alludes a lot of new and advanced SEOs. However, there is a secret many of the world’s top SEOs and digital marketers keep to themselves. They’ll tip-toe around the issue all day long, but it is not something that they’ll just come out and say:

How to Create Engaging Content by Repurposing Boring Content

Boring content is typically the type of content created to strictly inform consumers about your product, explain a position, or simply sell. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with boring content. Its purpose is pretty simple: convert visitors into leads and provide quick/simple information. A couple of good examples would be landing pages and about pages. You can make these fun and […]

How to Create Better Content in Less Time

One of the problems most individuals and businesses face with content production is the amount of time it takes to create great content. Whether you’re a nutritionist trying to build an incredible blog, or a car dealer that wants to improve your automotive SEO, content takes a lot of time and it can oftentimes feel like there’s never enough of […]

How Job Seekers Should Be Utilizing Social Media

There’s a lot of hype around the ways job seekers can take advantage of social media marketing in order to stand out from the crowd, and for good reason. Sites like Twitter and LinkedIn can be utilized to help job seekers not only find jobs, but connections that can help grow a network, create new opportunities, and even help build […]

50+ Active SEO Influencers to Follow on Twitter

One of the struggles of starting out in SEO and digital marketing is immersing yourself in the industry. Most don’t know where to start, while others get information overload from trying to absorb too much at once. A great way to get active, inspired, and up to speed on the latest in the SEO world is to simply follow industry […]

Periodic Table of SEO: In-Depth Content Guide

While SEO is a simple practice once you learn the basics (and begin implementing strategies and techniques), it’s often intimidating to beginners and those who don’t specialize in digital marketing. In order to help more and more people learn about SEO in a simple and organized fashion, Search Engine Land created the “Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors.” At a […]

5-Step Guide to Generating Great Content Ideas

For many SEOs, content marketers, and writers, generating ideas for content is one of the most difficult tasks to perform, especially as a beginner. But whether you’re just getting started or simply struggling with a business SEO strategy, this five-step guide will help you shape how you generate ideas and help you focus on your goal of creating the absolute […]

5 Blogger Outreach Tips That Will Change the Way You Pitch (with Infographic)

Whether you’re in PR, linkbuilding, or other forms of digital marketing, one part of your job might be reaching out to bloggers with requests for coverage or links. As a veteran blogger, I’ve been sent thousands of pitches and replied to only a small percentage of them. Recently, I’ve begun reaching out to bloggers with requests of my own and […]

4 Powerful SEO Statistics That Prove the Value of Search Traffic

While SEO isn’t new to those of us in the digital marketing industry, there are plenty of small and local businesses that are only now being introduced to the power of organic search traffic. Whether you’re a salesperson for a marketing company who needs ammo to make the sale, or a local business owner looking for more reasons to invest […]

What Happened to ‘People Talking About This’ on Facebook?

Page administrators and automotive social media managers may be startled when they look for Facebook’s PTAT (People Talking About This) metric, as it is no longer located under “Page Likes” on individual Facebook pages. ‘ Is Facebook’s PTAT gone for good? No. Before we dig deeper, let’s discuss what “People Talking About This” truly means for Facebook Pages.

Facebook Marketing - Bad Advice from Mashable

Businesses: Do NOT Follow Mashable’s Advice on Posting to Facebook

Dearest Mashable Reader, Recently, you read a Mashable article titled “8 Ways to Beat Facebook’s Algorithm and Keep Your Consumers Engaged” that has caused me to reevaluate their article intentions and quality… and you should too. As a trusted social media news source, I cannot help but wonder what they were thinking posting an article that includes tips that will […]

4 Simple Ways to Future-Proof Your SEO

SEO as a service is built on the foundation that the effort put in now can still have an effect years down the road. So by default, the goal of SEO should be to grow for the long haul. Unlike online advertising, in which traffic stops as soon as you stop a campaign, SEO is capable of producing ROI unlike […]

How to Boost Twitter Engagement and Build a Real Audience

While Twitter never grew to truly rival Facebook, it has affected our communication and our culture in the same way. People use Twitter for marketing, to connect with like-minded individuals, network professionally, broadcast news, and discuss anything and everything going on in the world. The most powerful part of this is that everything is public. Meaning anyone has the potential […]

Facebook Ads Relevance Score Key Factors

Facebook is introducing a new way you can see how your potential Facebook Ad will perform with its new Facebook Ads Relevance Score. The Facebook Ad Relevance Score was announced by Facebook on Feb 11 and should slowly start rolling out in the coming days to weeks (so don’t freak out if you have yet to see it).

5 Simple Link Building Strategies for Small Businesses

When someone new to digital marketing reads about link building strategies, it’s likely a confusing and stressful experience. The reason is, most people try to complicate the process to sell services by convincing you there’s something proprietary about their methods. Now, most businesses should consider SEO or link building services if they want to get results, but the cost is […]

How to Turn Brand Mentions into Links in Less Than 15 Minutes

For SEO companies, unlinked mentions can be extremely annoying, hindering SEO efforts in the process. But the fact is, whether completely intentional or editorial preference, many sites simply don’t link out a lot. It’s not that they have anything against you, they just don’t have your SEO in mind when mentioning your brand on a page, blog post, or news […]

How to Create Compelling Content for ANY Topic

When it comes to content marketing, there are topics that are thought of as easy to promote and others that are harder to promote. Smartphones are an example of a topic that might be thought of as easy to promote while pest control is on the harder end of the spectrum. So if you’re forced to work on a topic […]

7 Online Tools Automotive Marketers Need to Use

Whether you work at a digital marketing company or in-house at a local dealership, the right tools make an automotive marketer‘s job much, much easier. From automating small, tedious content and social media tasks to organizing complicated SEO campaigns, these are the tools every digital marketer should have in their tool belt to save time and get better results.

Infographic: 10 Reasons You Need SEO to Gain More Business

Every business owner knows how important marketing is to success, but the focus has always been on reaching large audiences in hopes of finding people who are in need of what a business has to offer. With the internet and search engines, however, it became a lot easier for people to seek businesses out than ever before. But the internet […]

5 Foolproof Ways to Instantly Create Better Content

Whether you work as a copywriter, a blogger, an SEO, or a content marketer, we all want our content to be better. No one in this business should ever be satisfied with their work, and if you think you’ll be the first then you’re dead wrong. So with a healthy dose of respect for the fact that perfection is unobtainable, […]

5 Digital Marketing Flaws You Can Easily Fix in 2015

To be completely honest, not much changes for digital marketing in the New Year. Businesses that are on top of their game make valuable changes throughout the year, and those that don’t tend to always be left behind. This year is no different. If you happen to be one of the businesses left behind by an everchanging digital marketing landscape, […]

Your Content Will Suck at First, and That’s OK

Creating amazing content sounds so simple if you listen to all of the experts. “Quality over quantity,” they say. “Create value,” they say. And the don’t forget the always-popular “Content is king!” Here at Wikimotive, we’ve been guilty of giving this broad advice on occasion. It’s easy for us to say that as an automotive SEO company, but what about […]

5 Ways Car Dealers Can Stand Out on Facebook

One of the most difficult things businesses seem to struggle with in the their online marketing efforts is social media. While it’s not new by the web’s standards, businesses have only just begun to tap into its true potential over the last couple of years. In the automotive industry, car dealers who previously questioned the value of automotive social media […]

Interactive Debate: Which Facebook Page Call-to-Action Button is Best?

Facebook recently announced there will be new call-to-action buttons coming to U.S. pages by the end of the year and worldwide in 2015. These call-to-action buttons will display on the cover photo of a Facebook page conveniently located next to the “Like” button. The purpose of call-to-action buttons on Facebook Pages is to bring the business objective to the forefront […]

Why Your Business Should Focus More on Long Tail Keywords

When business owners think of SEO, they most likely think of ranking #1 for the most obvious search terms in their area. And while those are arguably the most high-value single targets for your SEO efforts, these terms, such as “[SERVICE] in [CITY],” are also the most competitive. Because of this, businesses should explore options for long tail keywords when […]

4 Bad SEO Practices Your Business Needs to Destroy by 2015

One of the most amazing things about SEO is that it’s always changing. Not only does that keep digital marketing companies like Wikimotive on our toes, it ensures those who are doing the best work achieve bigger and better results as time goes on. Now, your average small business does not have the time or resources to dedicate to SEO […]

Why You Should Never Delete or Ignore Negative Online Reviews

As a business owner it is hard to fathom that anyone would say anything negative about your business. Yet negative online reviews still occur, and in most cases they cannot be prevented. These instances can make it difficult to control our natural impulse to feel hurt or angered, as we are all passionate about what we do and in the service […]

What Third-Party Listing Sites Think of Dealerships

Third-party lead providers have built multi-billion dollar empires by providing valuable services to customers. These companies, including Cars.com, Car Fax, TrueCar, and Edmunds all provide tools that an individual dealership can’t possibly hope to provide consumers, for both technological and competitive reasons. But these services are also built on the backs of dealerships, on which they rely on for content […]

Getting to Know the Major Google Search Updates

Over the past few years, Google has updated its search algorithm with a few major updates to crack down on spam, black hat SEO techniques, and other forms of manipulation. These updates have been widely covered by search engine blogs and now each small update is covered in detail so SEO professionals can stay on top of the latest changes […]

Why Women are So Important for Social Media Marketing

Why Marketing to Women is So Important on Social Media

For the longest time, young people, specifically young men ages 12-21, were the coveted demographic for major brands. A lot of this stemmed from television and viewership, but brands also look to online services to target young men. But more recently, women have become the most important demographic for social media marketing and all forms of digital marketing, as new data shows […]

Automotive Social Media Marketing - Facebook Tips

The 4 Most Important Facebook Marketing Tips for Beginners

Social media has taken over the web and changed the way many of us think about communication and marketing. But if you’re new to social media marketing, understanding how to implement strategies, gain followers, and help your business is a lot more difficult than simply interacting with friends and family. The following tips will give you a quick perspective on […]

5 Mistakes to Avoid When You’re New to Digital Marketing

There are many mistakes companies and marketers alike make when breaking into digital marketing. Whether we’re talking about automotive SEO, PPC, or social media, you have to understand the fundamentals of each type of marketing strategy before you can truly create successful campaigns. If your business is looking to invest time and money into a new digital marketing strategy, in […]

What You Need to Know About Google’s E-A-T Evaluation System

In the latest addition of Google’s human search rater guidebook, the company introduced a new page rating concept used to manually rate the quality of a website and its pages. The practice of using human search raters is a crucial part of the way Google updates its search algorithm. Because as with any experiment, you want to test your theory. […]

Why Leadership is Important for Car Dealers

Leadership is a word we hear often, and at times it can be over used and therefore misunderstood. But leadership is not just a word, it is an action. It is a role many struggle to uphold because it is not one that can be mastered. Instead, it is a commitment to life-long learning about oneself and the roles that come […]

5 Types of Content Your Dealership Needs to Create

One of the most popular sayings amongst internet marketers is “Content is king.” We all know this is true, but make sure you’re not just talking the talk and writing exclusively for search engines. Because while that used to be a worthwhile strategy, the key to outranking your competition now isn’t through optimization, it’s through content marketing. In 2014, people […]

5 Things Your Employees Want More Than Money

Today’s work culture has shifted drastically from what used to be expected. Talented job candidates and skilled employees are viewed as a finite resource by many companies, which are working harder and harder to make the turn the traditional workplace on its head. Game rooms, full gourmet kitchens, nap stations, and designated free time are typical perks at today’s innovating top technology […]

6 Things Great Leaders Do

Oftentimes, great leaders are thought of as perfect people with the inability to make the same mistakes that plague common businesspeople. Contrary to that belief, however, is the fact that great leaders understand their mistakes and weaknesses better than anyone, and have worked hard to learn from them. To help you change your mindset to realize that great leaders are […]

Website Providers are Destroying Dealerships and No One Seems to Care

Dealers, there’s something fishy going on with the major automotive website providers. Problems that affect search results are popping up left and right, but no one is willing to accept responsibility and fix the issues. Instead, there’s a brick wall of “Aw shucks, that’s the way things are. Guess you’ll have to deal with it.” And I know what you’re […]

Why #CarPeeps Rock!

When you think about it, the Automotive Industry really isn’t all about cars, but instead, it is all about the people. Yes, the amazing people who happen to love cars are the ones who know how to make working in the Auto Industry rock. A shining example of this happened on Monday April 28th 2014, when I decided to post […]

Wikimotive’s Erin Ryan Talks Automotive Social Media Campaigns on MarketPunch Podcast

After getting word of an incredible social media campaign called #CatMode, run by Jason Stum of LaFontaine Automotive Group, Wikimotive’s Erin Ryan jumped into action and sparked up conversation with Jason around automotive social media. One thing led to another and she ended up being honored with a guest spot on Stum’s automotive marketing podcast, MarketPunch.

Facebook Pages Now Display Total Post Likes Under Notifications

Facebook is always evolving. As it’s being developed (by hundreds of developers across the world), not every change is publicly announced. Instead, most changes simply abruptly appear on Facebook. One of the most recent changes that may have gone unnoticed is the newly added “total likes” for posts, now displayed under the notifications tab. Facebook Page owners have become accustomed […]

11 Facts About Pinterest and the Power of Social Sales

Pinterest has been grabbing the attention of your customers since it first launched in March 2010. Since that time, its growth has continued, reaching 70 million users in July 2013. This visual discovery tool is a force to be reckoned with, and your customers are the ones using this site. This begs the question: Is your business pinning to Pinterest? Pinterest […]

#CatMode: LaFontaine Automotive Group Turns Cars into Adoptable Cats for April Fools’ Day

While the entire Internet is buzzing today with April Fools jokes and gags, there is one dealership that is putting today’s fun to good use. The LaFontaine Automotive Group decided to take part in the day by turning their inventory images into pictures of cats. Not only is this a great idea since the Internet LOVES cats, but they too […]

Why View Counts Should Mean Nothing to Most Businesses on Social Media

We got word late last week that Twitter was mulling over the idea of publicly displaying the number of views each tweet on the site receives. There was a lot of skepticism surrounding this news, and there’s good reason for it. Advertisers need that data to gauge the overall effectiveness of ad campaigns. If you’ve ever run an ad on […]

Say Farewell to Automatically Promoting New Page Posts on Facebook

In recent days, Facebook has made a drastic change to its Page Post Engagement Ads. This latest update to Facebook Promoted Posts (Page Post Engagement Ads) has axed the featured that allows page admins to promote new posts automatically. This will likely affect many marketers and vendors. Facebook originally simplified promoted post ads by allowing marketers to check off a […]

An Introduction to Facebook’s New ‘Business Manager’ Tool

Marketers have been waiting for the day when Facebook would create a tool that could ease the ability to access client Facebook Pages. Now, that day is finally coming. Business Manager is a platform intended for brands and agencies to access data and allows marketers to apply information from one location.

Wikimotive’s Erin Ryan Talks Social Media on Auto Dealer Live

Part of being a great digital marketing company is participating in the various communities based around online business and social media. For Wikimotive, our favorite community is automotive marketing, and we’re always excited to talk with other industry professionals about the latest news, and give insight into how we add value to car dealers across the country. Our own Director […]

Businesses Can Now Schedule Promoted Posts

There are many different ways a business can use Facebook Ads, from multiple automated ads to boosting individual posts. But the newest form of post page engagement is by scheduling them in advance. If you use Facebook pages, you may have noticed that some of your posts that were scheduled seemed to have not gone out in the past few […]

Don’t Panic: Facebook’s 2014 Newsfeed Redesign is Subtle

Yet again, we are looking at new changes to the Facebook Newsfeed. This time last year, Facebook showed off a concept redesign and overhaul of its look to users. This time around, however, there won’t be too much of a noticeable difference. Yet with every change to social networks, especially Facebook, as a digital marketing company or Facebook user, you […]

3 Important Tips on Writing for the Web

As an editor, I often deal with new writers who have little to no experience writing outside of school essays, email, and social media updates. I get a lot of tightly-worded paragraphs and over-the-top word choices in many of the examples from these writers. It’s great to know they’ll take the job seriously enough to put in essay-quality effort, but […]

How to Use Guest Blogging in 2014

In January, we told you that guest blogging is a bad idea, and for the most part that is very true. The practice has evolved into a tactic used by spammers to gain links for specific keywords and becomes less and less associated with relevant blogger-to-blogger relations. This information was recently passed down by Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam […]

5 Ideas for Your New Business’s Facebook Page

Starting a Facebook page for your business seems like a simple enough task, but if you want to take social media seriously, you’ll need to realize that it’s an investment. You won’t develop an audience overnight, and you’ll have to put a little cash down to expose your business to users; however, a small amount of your time and money […]

How to Get Your Local Business Online

If you’ve recently started a business in your community, you’re probably thinking of traditional marketing strategies to help get the word out and develop a customer base. This could include emailing the local paper for coverage, buying billboard space, sponsoring events, or simply networking with other businesses and local professionals. But the most important factor you’re likely overlooking is your […]

The Best Way to Learn SEO

One of the most common questions we get asked is “What is the best way to learn SEO?” There are a few obvious places to start, I would in particular recommend the Moz blog (especially the community posts), Matt Cutt’s Google Webmaster Help videos, and (of course) the Wikimotive blog we write here daily. If you really want to get […]

Google Page Layout Algorithm Refresh

Have your rankings been a little tumultuous lately? We here at Wikimotive pay very close attention to the minute fluctuations rankings can take on even a day to day timeline, and this past week has been especially puzzling. Well, it was puzzling anyway, until an announcement from Matt Cutts today shed some light on the search engine optimization roller coaster.

Why the Facebook Fraud Video is Not Completely Accurate

The Facebook Fraud video has gone viral. If you haven’t had the chance to see it for yourself, be sure to check it out: I have been asked my opinion on the topic and thought it would be best to share my opinions on the Facebook Fraud video through a blog post. As a person who supports Facebook Advertising and […]

Grammar in Comments

It’s time for another riveting installment of Google Webmaster Help Videos featuring the always friendly and rarely illuminating Matt Cutts. In this weeks episode of the popular Google series for webmasters and SEOs, Matt Answers the following question: Should I correct the grammar on comments to my WordPress blog? Should I not approve comments with poor grammar? Will approving comments […]

Local SEO Checklist

Today I want to talk to you about an interesting local SEO checklist I found this weekend. Sure, there are lots of them out there, but this one struck me for a couple reasons, and hard enough that I felt compelled to write about it. What makes it so special? First, check it out for yourself.

Small Business Marketing for 2014 (Infographic)

2014 is going to be one of the biggest years for small business digital marketing yet. I like to think of it like the music industry. Once upon a time, only people with huge studio backing could record and album, and only the most popular artists in the world could have their music distributed. Over the past ten years, the […]

Secure Your Google Places Now!

Today’s post is less about educating, and more about being a digital marketing public service announcement. You need to log in to your Google Places account and make sure everything is up do date and submitted to Google. In case you haven’t heard about this yet, here’s the reason why it’s vitally important:

Google Promises to Reduce Fake YouTube Views

We have spoken of YouTube videos on this blog a few times in the past week, and today will be another link in the chain. Google is really focusing on their video platform these days, and it’s clear they want to drive more advertisers (and more advertiser dollars) there. They’ve expanded the offering, changed the comments to Google+ where people […]

Google Brings Big Video Results

Google is always changing, we say that darn near every day on this blog. The thing is, usually those changes are so small, or so buried on the backend of the whole shebang that the world at large doesn’t notice. It’s not often they bust out the big, forward facing guns (the carousel being the last example I can think […]

20 Marketing Stats for 2014

When I was a younger man I used to dismiss statistics in the marketing world. It’s easy to have an arrogance when you are young, isn’t it? I would find myself resenting the experts and thinking that I knew best, even when I had very little to base that off of. As I grew older and more experienced in the […]

Keeping Your Old Site Google-Fresh

A lot of people wonder how long it takes to get a new site indexed and ranked, but people do not often consider the flip side. Namely, how do you keep an old site fresh in Google’s eyes. Of course, lots of old sites rank just fine. In fact, some old sites are low quality and still rank well through […]

3 Valuable Things I Learned About Automotive Social Media in 3 Days

Last week, I started working for Wikimotive as a social media rep. It’s my job to maintain a dealer’s social media presence by creating great content that gets users interacting, and maintain that interaction in order to build a connection. The automotive industry is new to me; my social media experience up to this point has been general content marketing, […]

Rand Fishkin Answering Questions on Reddit

Rand Fishkin is one of those weird guys, you know what I mean? He’s not a celebrity except in one very specific niche, but within that niche he is immediately recognizable, due mainly to his patented Whiteboard Fridays. Some people love him, other people hate him (though I suspect they must just be jealous) but pretty much everyone listens to […]

2014 SEO Industry Survey

Do you love search engine optimization? How about data? Maybe even surveys? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are in luck. This week, Moz has released the results of their 2014 SEO Industry Survey. The survey covers everything from search engine optimization and search engine marketing to social media and even average salaries. This year, […]

Google Buys DeepMind

Sometimes it feels like Google is omnipotent, doesn’t it? With their huge percentage of the search engine share, they ARE omnipotent in a way. They scan the entire web, handing out rewards and brutal punishments alike, but they have always had a weakness: limited man power and an always imperfect algorithm. Sure, the algorithms get better every year, but the […]

Brilliant Ajax Social Wipes

When you think social media genius, what’s the first brand that comes to mind? A lot of people praise Taco Bell for their snarky Twitter comments, others laud the versatility and lifestyle branding of the energy drink company Red Bull. Very few people, if any, think of the cleaning solution company Ajax when they think of social success, but that’s […]

Yahoo Goes Secure—Why You Should Hate It

Yahoo is apparently sick and tired of ruling the search engine world (little sarcasm there), and who can blame them? It must be exhausting slipping in the search engines, clawing for purchase and continuing to slide year after year. To speed things along, they are now taking steps to ensure that people who run websites all over the world will […]

Beginners Social Media Checklist (Infographic)

Happy Saturday everyone! Today, I want to take a little time for all you beginners out there in the great big social world. There are a lot of places you can turn to for advice when you’re starting your digital marketing careers, and it can get a bit overwhelming at times. We appreciate you coming to our blog here at […]

Three Big Pinterest Expansions

Guess who is already back in the headlines making waves in the social media marketing world? It’s Pinterest! (You don’t get any credit if you read the title, that’s cheating.) That’s right, the social pinboard site is expanding again, this time bringing three pretty interesting user experience offers to the table. Let’s take a look at what they are and what […]

Guest Blogging Now Officially a Bad Idea

Earlier this year I made some bold marketing predictions for 2014, and one of those was that Guest Posting would move from so so technique to absolutely terrible idea. Some of you called me crazy, some of you called me a visionary. All of you were right, but those of you who called me a visionary were especially right, which […]

Facebook Adds Trending

Facebook is on the bleeding edge, the hippest of the hip and the newest of the new, that’s why this week they decided to officially roll out a new feature that has only been on Twitter for oh, about…forever? We are, of course, talking about the new trending function. Some of you may have seen this phase in and out […]

Not Every Holiday Needs a Special Message

Everyone advocates having special messages for the holidays. Heck, we even suggest it here at Wikimotive. The key though, as with most things in life, is knowing when and where to draw the line. Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a celebrated and much loved holiday in the USA, but the spirit of the day doesn’t lend itself to […]

Google Fights Bad Ads

Google is constantly battling back the tide of shoddy ads and outright scams being posted as ads on their network every hour of every day. According to Google itself, they pulled over 350 million bad ads from their service in 2013, a significant amount more than the 224 million they pulled down in 2012. Are more bad ads being uploaded? […]

ComScores for December 2013

We’re halfway through the month so you know what means, the ComScore data for the previous month is finally available! What search engines finished out 2013 strong and who continued their inevitable but tragic clown car skip into obscurity? Let’s take a look and find out.

The Future of Shopping in 2014 (Infographic)

Now that we’re firmly into 2014, it’s time to take a step back and reflect a bit. If you are anything like me, your December 2013 was a whirlwind of shopping, both online and in stores. I try hard to pay attention to how each store I buy from is run, as a digital marketer that’s just my nature. My […]

Find Images by Usage Rights

Using the right image on the web can be tricky sometimes, and not just when it comes to SEO. We all try and find stuff that is public domain or at least has the Creative Commons license, but it’s not always so simple to sort out. We often find people giving away an image as “royalty free” only to […]

The Assassination of the Car Dealer by the Cowardly Website Vendor

I’m writing today because a serious fraud is being perpetrated on virtually all car dealers, the scope of which seems to be far greater than any I’ve encountered before. What seemed at first to be merely a bad SEO practice, now seems to amount to copyright infringement, a willful attempt to harm dealers while profiting from them, and perhaps even […]

Awesome Interactive Map Shows OS Usage by State

Here’s an interesting little tool for you research junkies. It’s an interactive map that breaks down the usage of operating systems by percentage by state. For you SEO fanatics (all of us here!) it also shows you the percentage of people in each state that rock Google as their primary search engine.

New App from Twitter Cofounder

Twitter is one of the most popular social networks in the world, and now Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is trying to make lightning strike twice. Mr. Stone left the Twitter corporation a little while back, and he’s been working on a new top secret social project. There wasn’t a lot of news about his work, but now he’s finished and […]

5 Bold Digital Marketing Predictions for 2014 (Using the Doritos Locos Tacos Boldness Index)

2014 is here, and I wanted to join in with the leagues of digital marketing writers offering their predictions for the new year. To give things a little perspective, I’m ranking my bold predictions using the Doritos Locos Tacos Boldness Index (Doritos Locos Tacos being known for their bold flavor). Bold Prediction 1: Google Analytics Data will move to 99% […]

Pinterest Strengthens Search

Pinterest has been growing in popularity month over month, but that hasn’t stopped them from expanding their product. Much like Facebook, the pin-board social network keeps making changes large and small as it grows, trying to deliver the best product possible to both its users and advertisers. Today, they have made a large step forward by acquiring the search-focused company […]

Is Your Social Media Focused on the Right Numbers?

I’ve been talking to a lot of people about social media, and I’ve come to realize that some people have lost sight of the real goal of social media marketing. That is to say, they have completely forgotten about the “marketing” part. Yes, the social part is important, and of course you want to grow your fan base across Facebook, […]

How Your Eyes Move on Websites (Infographic)

Have you ever thought about the way people might view your website? I’m not talking about how they’ll feel about it, but how they will physically view it, like how their eyes will move from place to place as it loads. It’s an area of real interest for a lot of the digital marketing world, and it should be something […]

Pew Internet Life Survey Numbers for Social Networks

Last week the Pew Internet and American Life Project released some new data, and today we want to share a little bit of that data with you, specifically the data pertaining to the way Americans are using social networks. It’s no surprise that Facebook is still dominating the social scene overall (despite all the people claiming they’re sick of the […]

Great Facebook Photo Size Guide

How is your business page set up on Facebook? If you are like a lot of other businesses out there, you probably set up your page initially and haven’t paid much attention to the imagery you used since then. It’s kind of like the paintings in your own house, right? You see them all the time, day in and day […]

Rap Genius Fallout

Yesterday we wrote about Rap Genius and the penalty they incurred by trying to game Google’s system with questionable SEO. Essentially, they were trying (and succeeding) to bribe people to give them links with very specific, very rich anchor text and Google brought down the penalty hammer on their entire domain. Now, they don’t even rank for their own name, […]

The Rap Genius Situation Simplified

So, this past week I have been asked by a lot of people who Rap Genius is and why they’re suddenly showing up all over the traditional digital marketing news sites. They’ve been written about quite a few times now, but I thought I would take the time to give you all the simple explanation as to who Rap Genius […]

The Noob Guide to Online Marketing (Infographic)

We share a lot of infographics here at Wikimotive, but the one we have today is one of our favorites ever. It’s not especially pretty, but infographics aren’t just about being flashy. In fact, that’s a big problem with a lot of the infographics I see these days. They use up all of their energy trying to be fancy and […]

Exact Match Domains Still Work: an Anecdotal Look

If you’ve been paying attention to the world of search engine optimization this past year, you know that Google brought the hammer down on exact match domains. No longer can someone trying to rank for dog toys simply buy “dogtoys.com” and enjoy front page results…or at least that’s what people are saying. I hear it from people all the time […]

Yoast for SEO

I’ve written before about the benefits of using a plugin to boost your SEO on WordPress. It’s simply a game changer as far as SEO is concerned. It can take a decent blogger with a modicum of SEO knowledge and bring them to the next level. It is one of the first things we here at Wikimotive install when we’re […]

Merry Christmas 2013!

All of us here at Wikimotive would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! It’s been a busy year for us here, but we’ve been graced with the gifts of great clients, supportive families, and jobs we’re proud to do. Our office is closed today and tomorrow, but if you need anything, we’re still […]

How Social Media Helps Small Business Grow (Infographic)

Social media isn’t just for established businesses. I want to be very clear about this because it is a misconception that I run into all the time. People start a social media page, and that big fat ZERO in the fans/followers/whatever spot just feels insurmountable. Small business owners need to understand that the zero IS surmountable, but more than that, […]

Authority Boost by Niche

There’s an interesting development brewing in the world of SEO. Of course by this point you’ve heard about Authorship (that’s with a capital A thank you very much) and exactly what it means to Google, but it turns out it is going to go deeper than just slapping your name onto posts. Authorship is going to tie in with PageRank […]

How Good are Infographics for Links?

Infographics are what’s hot on the streets for SEO these days…at least thats what the kids are all saying. In theory, they’re the perfect way to garner a lot of backlinks with very little effort. You take some of the data you already have, organize it in a halfway pleasing way (a lot of companies skip this step), publish it, […]

Social Media and the Christmas Break

Today I’d like to write a little public service announcement to all of you social media marketers out there in the world. Christmas is nearly here, which of course you know, but a lot of people aren’t considering that the holiday falls in the middle of the week this year. That means that for a lot of people (maybe including […]

Matt Cutts Wants to Break Spammers’ Spirits

All of us in the SEO industry have always had the feeling that Matt Cutts took offense to spam on a personal level. Sure, he always comes across as a cool and level headed sort of guy, but you just know that deep down in his heart of hearts, there burns a not-so-secret hatred for all of the SEO spam […]

The On Page SEO Infographic for all SEO Beginners

You hear search engine optimization being described as an iceberg sometimes, with the on page elements as the tip and then the rest of the business underneath the surface. Honestly, it’s a good way to illustrate the trade, because there is so much more to it than you see on the surface, but it’s also easy too get too caught […]

Duplicate Content Normal…What This Means and Doesn’t Mean

Duplicate content is bad, right? We’ve preached that here at Wikimotive for years now and pretty much every search engine optimization company in existence has been saying the same thing. Well, this week Matt Cutts has released a new video in the Google Webmaster series that addresses duplicate content in a new way, and it’s actually a pretty interesting take. According […]

Facebook Unleashes Combo Like-Share Button

Last month, Facebook announced a new like share button, a strategy for the social network to help facilitate the spread of content through the web…even more than they already do. The strategy revolved around the new Like-Share combo button, a button that is literally just the Like and Share buttons merged together in one easy to use snippet. It was […]

Speculation Saturday: Authorship or Die

Today I wanted to introduce a new feature here at Wikimotive. It may not stick, but we’re going to try it out. It’s called Speculation Saturday (yes, you have to capitalize it) and basically, we’re going to be talking about feelings we have about the industry. Some may be mired by cumbersome facts, others will be the result of pure […]

When to Use NoFollow

We’ve talked about nofollow links before, and anyone practicing SEO should at least understand the basics of what they’re for. Essentially, they let you tell search engines not to count a certain outbound link as a vote, or endorsement, of the linked content. What this does in practice is limits the amount of effectiveness your link will have in making […]

Repeat Offenders Get Hard Time

At this point, everyone understands that Google will penalize sites that are using spammy techniques. If you’re buying links, creating strange and unnatural link profiles, or gaming the system in other ways, you’ll get the mighty Google hammer brought down upon you. In most of these cases, it’s possible to reverse the damage. With a lot of hard work and […]

What Hurts Your Social Posts? Turns Out, Spelling Matters

What determines social media success? There are a lot of factors, and every single one is important. Of course we always talk about what kind of content your audience is expecting and the best ways to deliver that content across all platforms, but sometimes we have to delve a little deeper than that to succeed. That is why today we’re […]

Goldilocks and SEO

SEO is a game of increments. If you take any one technique to the extreme, you can ruin the effectiveness. Not just the effectiveness of that one technique either, but your entire campaign. You need to play it smart and move slowly, accepting that—while their are certain aspects of SEO you can move fast and loud on—the majority of quality […]

Google Christmas Present: PageRank Update!

It seemed that Google had all but given up on keeping PageRank up to date. In the past year, it had only been updated a single time, back in February of 2013. Well, the long PageRank drought it now over, because as an early Christmas present, Google has updated PageRank across the web. Let’s take a look at how the […]

Facebook Pay to Play?

For years now, advertisers have been spoiled by Facebook. Maybe that’s not how we thought of it, but it’s the truth. We used to spend time and money trying to figure out who our audience was and how to reach them, then Facebook came along and our customers kindly gave all of their information and sorted themselves into easily searchable […]

Webmaster Tools Finds Smartphone Crawl Errors

Anyone who has ever tried to make a site work understands how frustrating it can be to get it to function the same way across all releases of all browsers on all operating systems. These days, it’s even worse. Not only do you have to worry about all of the different ways a person can view your site on the […]

The Dangers of Content Stitching

Today we have another interesting bit of content news from the immortal Matt Cutts (may Google bless his name). In the latest installment of the Google Webmaster Video series, Matt talks about content stitching. If you’ve never heard of that, don’t worry, because you’ve definitely seen it. Content stitching is the practice of taking snippets of content from other websites […]

The Future of Link Building (Infographic)

Have you ever heard of Nostradamus? He’s a crazy guy who wrote a bunch of super vague poems and know he gets credit for predicting all kinds of major world events. Was he clairvoyant? We have to say no, because if he was, he probably would have written something that’s actually useful, like the sports almanac from Back to the […]

Microsoft and Bing Moving to Keyword (Not Provided)

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the keyword (not provided) ordeal that has been increasingly plaguing users of Google Analytics. Pretty much every single blog that talks about digital marketing (including this one) has had multiple articles about not provided and what it may mean. Of all the suggested workarounds, one of the more popular was to start […]

Top 4 Classic SEO Mistakes

Today I want to share with you another list from the SEO GOAT, Matt Cutts. In a classic webmaster help video on Google’s channel, he tackles a very interesting question: “what are the top 5 mistakes that SEOs make?” If you read this blog every day, chances are you aren’t making these mistakes, but if you’re new to the SEO […]

Maximize the Impact of Facebook Ads by Knowing the Facts [Infographic]

Facebook Ads have become a valuable asset to incorporate into your Facebook marketing strategies. Although, you can still be seen on Facebook without using Ads on your Facebook Page, you are leaving it to chance that people will find you, better yet; that the RIGHT people will find you. A Facebook Pages’ best bet is to utilize Facebook Ads […]

Want Google to Manage Social Media for You?

At this point, I’m sure you know that social media best practice entails being active. That doesn’t mean just posting though, it means replying to everyone who interacts with your post. Sometimes you can get away with just a like or a Retweet, but sometimes you need to do a bit more. It can be pretty daunting to try and […]

Happy Thanksgiving 2013!

This year, all of us here at Wikimotive would just like to say thanks. Thanks to all the readers of this blog who inspire us to get up daily and write about the industry. Thanks to everyone who calls and emails us just to talk about the digital marketing game in all of its aspects. Thanks to our customers who […]

Google Changes AdWords Bidding

Today we’re delving back into the dark and stormy world of Google AdWords. We’re predominantly an SEO company, so it pains us a bit to say it, but Google AdWords has it’s place in the digital marketing spectrum, and you should always be looking for that edge. Today, we have such an edge for you, in the form of an […]

Google Removes 100 Link Per Page Limit — Time to Party!

It’s here, it’s finally here! After years of waiting, counting each and every link like a search engine optimization teetotaler, the chains of Google have been broken and we can finally spread our wings and link to our hearts content! Right? Right…? Well, not exactly.

Mobile Commerce Stats (Infographic)

We recently talked about responsive design and what it means for your business moving forwards. The fact is that people are using traditional computers less and smartphones and tablets more often. Now, this is definitely turning into a gray area. What separates a tablet like the Microsoft Surface from a full fledged computer? Not much, really. This gray area will […]

History of a Hashtag (Infographic)

Have you ever wondered where the noble hashtag came from? Those of you who weren’t born with a cell phone surgically grafted to your fore-limbs may remember when it was called the pound sign on the old-fashioned Graham Bell talkies. Then, the quiet and unassuming four lines were taken by the Internet and have now become the worldwide sign for […]

Faster Site Equals More Conversions

We’ve talked about site speed is an important factor in SEO, and we’re going to reiterate it now. Are you ready? SITE SPEED IS IMPORTANT! Anyone who tells you otherwise is either selling you something you don’t need or just flat out wrong. Google and other search engines measure how fast you load, and if you’re slow, you won’t rank […]

The Value of a Pin

Pinterest is a strange egg, there’s no doubt about it. I know a lot of businesses who are tearing their hair out trying to understand how certain brands are killing it making a profit on the social pinning site where all you do is virtually stick virtual images on virtual boards. To these people I say that you don’t have […]

LinkedIn Showcase Pages

LinkedIn has been in a strange position for awhile now. They’re trying to be the Facebook of the professional world, but they’ve been constantly stymied by the fact that Facebook is also trying to be the Facebook of the professional world. Luckily for LinkedIn, they managed to firmly entrench themselves in the professional profile niche, and Facebook has had no […]

Surviving the Not Provided Apocalypse (Infographic)

We’ve written here a few times recently about the [not provided] epidemic at Google and what it means for SEO, but the hits just keep on coming. We’re still getting emails to this day asking what the not provided (I’m not writing the stupid brackets every time) means for SEO and digital marketing, and our default response has sort of […]

Stop Over Complicating Social Media and Start Targeting Your Audience

It seems like targeting your audience has been designated to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) only, by utilizing keywords and tags that target people within their area or those searching for their products. In many instances businesses have unfortunately left target marketing to that part of Internet Marketing alone. Although SEO is important in its own right, your business can compound […]

Commenting Without Spamming

Commenting has been a big part of SEO for awhile now. That’s not to say it’s a good part (it’s not) but it’s very popular, far more popular than it should be. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of running a blog has gotten comments along the lines of, “wow great content, I feel very enlightened by what you […]