Automotive Marketing, Automotive SEO, Social Media Marketing, and Reputation Management
People ask me all the time, “Dave, what’s the number one mistake people make when working on SEO?” And I’m like, “You want me to pick just one?” Oh, you do? Alright. Well, there’s a lot to pick from but, if I’m pressed, I would say that the leading mistake isn’t found within their actual SEO, it’s caused by their […]
So if you’re paying any attention to the internet whatsoever, you’ve probably read some headlines about Google updates, and might be wondering, “How does it affect my website? And do I need to worry about this?” And the answer is, “hopefully not”. If your website and SEO practices haven’t been adhering to Google’s guidelines and best practices (which means that […]
Due to popular demand, SEO Climb with Dave Estey is back. In series one, Dave talked about everything from what SEO (search engine optimization) is to how you can identify your online competitors. Now, back for a second series, he is getting more in-depth and going over more important SEO topics. In July, he touched on how much time you […]
Last week, we talked about how you should wait roughly six months before you judge the efficacy of your SEO strategy. Now, this naturally leads into the follow-up question, “Hey, it’s been six months since I did this SEO work. I’m not seeing any real increase in my performance. Should I change something up or should I just stop?” Well, […]
In case you or your marketing team have missed the countless notifications, emails, and articles about it, Universal Analytics officially became a thing of the past on July 1, 2023, giving way to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the latest data measurement tool offered by Google. Whether you just made the switch at the end of the month or you created […]
Is it time to update your SEO strategy yet? What about now? No? How about now? Still no? Well, what about now? How often should I update my SEO strategy? This is fairly straight forward. You see, Search Engine Optimization is a slow roll and takes time to reach its full effect. For this reason, you’ll hear myself and all their professionals say, “you should wait six months to judge whether something is effective or not”. […]
Well, folks, the time has officially come. After over ten years of Universal Analytics (UA), it is time to move over to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Technically, you or your digital marketing vendor should have set you up on GA4 a long while ago, allowing you to capture historical data, but if not––it’s important to get on it now. As […]
How much time should you be spending on SEO? And how should that time be broken out? This is actually a pretty complex question. So we’re gonna get into the weeds a little bit here but (luckily) we brought the weed whacker with us. First, how much time you should spend on SEO is really dependent on doing a full […]
“So, basically…ChatGPT is the equivalent of a 10-year-old with access to the internet.” The summation was a simple one, made during a workshop focused on the promise, prompts, and perils of the AI platform as it relates to automotive marketing. But once uttered, the silently-attentive room of dealer marketers, sales managers, GMs, and dealer principles stirred in unison, sharing in […]
The June episodes of High Performance wrapped up series two. Zach talked about Performance Max ads, along with other paid advertising opportunities, how to increase fixed ops leads, and even some common reasons you may see an increase in direct traffic to your website. This information allows you to not only learn how to best manage your dealership’s online marketing […]
Hey dealers, Josh from Wikimotive here…with a reminder that Independence Day is right around the corner. So, before you fire up that grill and set off those fireworks, let’s make sure your dealership’s Google Business Profile is updated to reflect your holiday hours. Okay, so there’s two things you’re going to want to do (i) set your holiday hours, and […]
Cumulative layout shift (CLS) is one of the most frustrating––and common––issues found on websites. Have you ever been online, gone to click a button, and it suddenly shifts, causing you to click on something else? That is CLS, an issue that occurs while the page is loading. And based on the number of dealership websites I have analyzed and found […]
So your direct traffic has been climbing, climbing, climbing, and you’re not sure why? First of all, let’s define ‘Direct Traffic’. At its core, direct traffic most frequently indicates that somebody navigated directly to your website URL without (i) performing a search, or (ii) clicking a paid ad, or referral link. It’s a bucket of traffic in your analytics that […]
When our team at Wikimotive starts working on a new website, one of the first things we look at is its overall user experience and functionality. To assess this, we reference a Core Web Vitals report, which is a set of metrics defined by Google. Introduced in May 2020, these metrics quantify how users actually experience a website and are […]
So you need to increase your fixed ops business, but how do you optimize for service in search? Well, there are two ways, there’s organic search and there’s paid search but the Google search landscape is filled with misnomers and confusion. Time and time again, we see vendors focusing very heavily on fixed ops specific keywords. Of course this makes […]
What’s the difference between a vehicle listing ad (or ‘VLA’) and paid search? It used to be that you bid on a keyword (something like ‘Ford dealer’, ‘Toyota dealer’, ‘dealerships near me’, ‘used cars for sale’). In contrast, VLA’s bear more similarities to dynamic used paid search in that (rather than being keyword based) they’re based on the inventory you […]
Did you miss DMSC 2023 last week? If so, don’t worry! We asked attendees, workshop leaders, and sponsors what THEY felt the big takeaways were…and here’s what they had to say!
As featured on the May 2023 cover of AutoSuccess Magazine Sales are down. Leads are down. Foot traffic is down. We have the wrong cars, and rates aren’t helping, but boy, does it feel like something just isn’t working right. Is it the website? Are the chat and digital retailing tools set up right? Do we need to switch third-party […]
Performance Max (or ‘P-Max’) ads are an ad type within paid search that has become very popular in 2022 and 2023. Think of them as a bucket that Google holds out and says, “Pour some money in and we’ll get you performance!” and then try to maximize that performance per dollar in terms of traffic. Hopefully, that traffic generated is […]
A few months ago, VP of Performance and Sales here at Wikimotive, Zach Billings, went in-depth on a number of automotive SEO topics in his High Performance video series. Now, he’s back again to talk about even more. Kicking off the second series, Zach discussed something everyone’s wondering about: how dealerships in other parts of the country outrank you on […]