Pay Per Click vs SEO for Auto Dealers
Everyone has an opinion. Which is better, SEO or SEM? Some say search engine optimization is the way to go, getting great rankings on the natural listings of searches. Others say being at the very top through the paid search sponsored results will get more leads.
The real answer is, “Yes”.
In today’s extremely competitive automotive internet marketing world, it pays to invest in both SEO and SEM. The ever-so-important factor is in finding the right company who understands the car business, understands the car buyers, understands the dealer’s website, and knows how to position both SEO and SEM properly.
They are not competing disciplines and should work in conjunction with each other. SEO takes time, so if a website isn’t optimized already, it is imperative with any launch to have some sort of search engine presence. PPC marketing is the best and fastest way to achieve this.
Once the website is found on the search engines, a lower budget for search marketing may be in order. Some dealers choose to never pull the SEM plug, as a lead through PPC marketing often costs under $10. Compared to 3rd party lead providers, this is dirt cheap, even less than half of what dealers pay for their 3rd party leads.
Just look at the lead providers themselves. How do they do it? They create sponsored ads, micro-sites, and portals to draw the customer in. Then, they start a PPC campaign. If they are paying $6-$10 per lead, it makes sense for them to charge the dealer over $20. Why? Because so many dealers will pay it.
So where does that leave SEO? If SEM will get cheap leads, what can SEO do? Optimizing a website to place at the top of the search engine results pages under the natural listings will get more leads for cheaper.
On average, 60% of internet shoppers and researchers will click on the natural listings if they are not looking for a specific website. While it takes longer to get ranked on the organic search, it can be more rewarding. Also, the investment is normally lower in the long run.
Many firms operate under the assumption that SEO and SEM are competing markets. It’s the few who do both (and do them well) that truly understand what making the most out of search engines really means.
UPDATE
There has been a disagreement recently between dealer.com and Paul Rushing over whether or not search engine optimization can be used for quick rankings. As a proof of concept, Rushing posted an article about Dealer.com Search Engine Optimization vs SEO. That was this morning. Within two hours, it was ranked #1 on Google for "Dealer.com Search Engine Marketing" as well as being ranked on the front page of Google for several other searches. While we respect both Dealer.com and Paul Rushing, this is one that can definitely be chalked up as a victory for Rushing.
