5 Local Listings Strategies to Increase Your Dealership’s Website Traffic and Marketing

For car dealerships, managing your local online listings carefully and accurately is extremely important as it helps to create a strong online presence that can attract new customers.  Having quality local listings on platforms such as Google My Business, Facebook, and Yelp, ensures that your dealership is accurately represented online and can be easily found by potential car buyers.

Here are five strategies car dealerships can take to manage local listings, which will drive website traffic and, ultimately, customers into your retail store:

1. Have Consistent Information Across All Platforms

Local online listings management ensures that your dealership’s most important information (such as your address, phone number, and hours of operation) is consistent across all online platforms, channels and directories.

For example, if your dealership’s address is listed as 123 Main Street on your website, it should also be listed as 123 Main Street on your Google My Business listing, your Facebook page, and any other online channels. This is important because if customers see inconsistent information in different places, they will become confused and  unsure which is  the correct information. The consistency of your dealer information online, across all channels, helps to establish trust and credibility with potential customers.

2. Ensure Accurate Dealership Information

In addition to consistency, it’s important to make sure that all of the information on your local online listings is accurate. For example, if your dealership is open from 9 am to 6 pm on weekdays, but your  Facebook page says you are open from 9 am to 9 pm, customers may arrive at your dealership outside of your hours operations. And, they will surely become frustrated.

Having accurate information online is par for the course in regards to attracting and retaining customers.

3. Drive Customer Reviews

Local online listings often include customer reviews, which are a powerful tool for attracting new car buyers  and establishing credibility. If an automobile shopper sees that your dealership has a high rating and positive reviews on Facebook, they’ll be more likely to visit your dealership and purchase a car. On the other hand, if they see negative reviews about your dealership, they’ll often look elsewhere for a car. Local online listings management involves monitoring and responding to customer reviews in order to maintain a positive reputation.

You can create simple programs to encourage customer reviews after a sale, purchase or service. One way is to ask customers to rate you via a survey. For customers who say positive things about the dealership experience, ask them for a review. Or you can send an automated email to customers after a sale or service with a link to your Google or Facebook page for reviews.

4. Showcase Your  Content Via Google My Business

Google My Business is a powerful tool for all local businesses, especially car dealerships. It allows you to create a listing for your dealership on Google, which appear in search results and on Google Maps.

Local online listings management involves optimizing your Google My Business listing with accurate information and engaging content, such as photos, descriptions of your dealership and your vehicle inventory.

For example, if you have a new car model that you want to promote, add high-quality photos of the car to your Google My Business listing to drive new customers to your website and showroom.

5. Maintain Your Dealer Social Media Profiles

In addition to your dealership’s website and Google My Business listing, it’s important to have a strong presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

This involves creating and maintaining social media profiles for your dealership and regularly posting engaging content.

Post updates, photos, and new videos on a regular schedule. This could mean a few times a week or even daily if your dealership can manage that much content. You can post about new car models, promotions, local community events and sponsorships, as well as events at your dealership.  All of these post types can attract new car buyers  and engage past customers, while building a community around your dealership.

Three Benefits of a 3rd Party Listings Strategy

When new and existing customers find your dealership online through 3rd party listings online, it leads to increased traffic on your dealership’s website. This increased traffic has many positive effects on your dealership’s online presence, including:

1. Increased Dealership Website Traffic

3rd Party Listings will increase your website’s organic traffic. Organic traffic refers to the traffic that comes to your website from search engines like Google, rather than traffic from paid ads or other paid online channels.

If your dealer website receives more organic traffic via search engines like Google, it is one of the best ways to improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find your dealership when they search for related keywords.

2. Increased Domain Authority

Increased website traffic will also help improve your website’s domain authority. Domain authority measures how well a website is likely to rank on search engines like Google or Bing. The higher your domain authority, the more likely your website will rank higher in the search results for keywords related to your business. Increased website traffic through local listings will help improve your domain authority by showing search engines that your website is popular, established, and trustworthy.

3. Higher Rank on Google

Finally, increased website traffic can also increase trust amongst search engines like Google. When search engines see that a website is popular and receives a lot of traffic, they are more likely to trust that website and consider it a valuable resource. This can improve search engine rankings and make it easier for potential customers to find your dealership online.

Local online listings management is essential for car dealerships in order to attract and retain customers. By ensuring consistency and accuracy across all platforms, responding to customer reviews, optimizing your Google My Business listing, and maintaining a strong presence on social media, you can increase traffic to your dealership and ultimately drive more car sales.

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Space Auto Digital Marketing includes local listing management across 80+ platforms, specifically created for car dealerships. Learn more.