2 posts tagged “auto dealer website design”
Car dealer websites often miss one of the most obvious parts of their website that can help them in Google rankings. The funny part is, it isn't even part of their website.
Google sitemaps are one of the easiest ways to get pages within a website indexed. By indexed, I mean that Google goes through the page and puts it in its listings based upon where it thinks the page belongs. Without indexing, a page will never be found on the Google search engine ranking pages.
Keep one important thing in mind -- if your automotive SEO is really good, then submitting a sitemap to Google will not be necessary. The on-page sitemap should get indexed and should include everything that the SEO wants indexed. Links can also get a page indexed, especially ones from an authority site. Still, the majority of automotive SEOs and car dealer website design firms are not really good, so having them make and submit a proper sitemap is one way to ensure that it works.
Click Here to read the article with instructions on creating a Google sitemap.
After sitting in on several Content Gathering Sessions where auto dealers discuss what they want on their website as it is being created, I have come to a few conclusions.
Flashy
So far, only a handful of dealers care about what their website says. Bottom line, as most car dealers are "bottom liners", is that they really want the best looking websites in their market, while content is pretty much irrelevant.
There have been a handful of dealers who take complete control of their content, word for word, but generally, I would be surprised if they actually read any of the content. If the homepage is eye-catching, that's all that really matters. From a designer and an automotive search engine optimization point of view, this is ideal.
A great looking site the is considered cutting edge in the area of flash is Hollywood Honda Dealers. Having their inventory pop up immediately is a nice feature that many dealers are utilizing.
2005
Most dealers are trying to put content on their site that would have optimized it in 2004 or 2005. This is not their fault. Most automotive web design firms use antiquated methods to optimize their websites. SEO is such a dynamic artform that it takes too much research for car dealers and their designers to keep up to date.
Leads
Car dealers don't care what it takes, as long as they are getting leads. From an SEO and design point of view, this is also an ideal stance. Just as many dealership lots are poorly designed, so too would their websites be if they ha complete control of their websites. This isn't a knock against dealers -- they are in the business of selling cars, not architecture and website design.
Most research shows two different kinds of website viewers. There are the Z viewers who look at the top left, move their perspective to the right, then cut diagonally down to the bottom left and back over to the right. See Toledo Pontiac Dealers to see how this looks.
The other kind of standard viewer uses the F style. Top left to top right, then top left down to bottom left, then middle left to middle right. Albuquerque used cars is a perfect example of F-style format.
Either way, dealers will try to show as much as possible in the middle, but for true lead building, it is best to put the lead generating buttons to fit one of the two design structures.
Conclusions
Designing automotive websites is not rocket science. Dealers who go after a good look and feel but who utilize the expertise of their designers (assuming they have a good designer) is their best bet.
