It is All About SEO!
It’s an ongoing weekly conversation in the digital marketing world of auto repair. Shop owners are always looking for answers and qualified technicians. With many master techs nearing retirement age, it’s becoming harder to attract qualified employees to your shop. With auto repair and body shops at the top of the list of employers searching the trade industry for qualified candidates, how do you find top talent and keep getting more customers in your shop? It is all about SEO!
What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
SEO is a process that maximizes the number of visitors to your website by ensuring that your site ranks as best as possible on search engines like Google. It’s making sure your shop is the one coming up on the first page of Google. The more often your shop shows up at the top, the more often you beat out competitors. A strong SEO campaign helps your shop build authority, get better rankings, and more business. Customers are going online to find a reputable shop near their home or office and a business with positive reviews.
Local SEO
Local SEO is unique because you’re not only optimizing for specific target keywords, but you’re also optimizing for a specific local area. There are three pillars of Local SEO:
- Relevance
- Relevance refers to how well a local business matches what someone is searching for. Does your business offer the service(s) the client is looking to find?
- Distance
- Distance considers how far each potential search result is from the location term used in a search. If the user doesn’t specify their location, search engines will calculate distance based on what they know about the user’s location, such as GPS or IP address.
- Prominence
- Prominence refers to how well-known your business is, which comes from the information search engines have. It includes what your website talks about, a review count, and a score from Google My Business.
Off-site and On-site SEO
On-site SEO is everything you do on your website to optimize for search engines and real-world users. Off-site SEO is everything you do off your website to build your brand and online presence. There are many options for shop owners to choose from when trying to improve off-site SEO.
- Citation Building and Management
- Your citations are in online directories known as “phone books,” and your entry in those directories is yours. They include all your pertinent business information like name, address, and phone number, known as your NAP. They also include business hours and your website.
- Social Media Platforms
- Get people engaged with your brand. Engagement enables you to build your brand not only on that platform, but that success will also translate to search engines. Social media is another place where users can learn more about who you are and your services. Potential employees looking to work for your shop will find you on social media. You can also include forums and other user groups in this category.
- Google My Business (GMB)
- Your GMB listing is essential to your online success as a local business, and it should be accurate. Ensure you’re building your review count and score there as it is the first thing people interact with when they engage with your brand. Work on acquiring positive reviews, and reward yourself with increased local visibility and a higher conversion rate.
- Community Engagement
- When involved in your community, your brand spreads by word-of-mouth, naturally translating into more online mentions. An example of community involvement may be an event a local news outlet covers that spreads throughout social media, on forums, or with other groups.
- Link building and backlinks
- The best link building occurs naturally. If another website was to talk about your event, discuss your brand, who and what you do, and then link back to your website—that’s an example of a backlink. The more of these you build to your website over time, the more backlinks you have or “referrals” from other places. When these come from other high-quality sites, search engines like Google reward you with more authority and visibility.
- Blogs
- You can use blogs to talk about anything people may be searching for, and people will be searching to find the answers to their questions. They will search for their luxury vehicle, certifications, or problems their car is experiencing. Educate them, and tell them why they should come to your shop.
Why does having an up-to-date website matter?
Your customers have expectations, and your website needs to be mobile responsive as many users search on their smartphones. Customers need to be able to schedule appointments online, find a phone number or address, review certifications, and read reviews.
Job seekers are looking for you online and searching for the best ranked shops. It’s important to show up, show up often, and have a positive online presence. Young technicians will judge your shop the same way they view your website. If it’s eye-catching, up-to-date, and utilizes the best technology, then chances are your shop is the same.
Many shops feature a Career page on their website and use testimonial videos to show what their shop is about. Utilize your employees to recruit top technicians and showcase your shop differentiators, such as training, tools and technology, what a career looks like at your shop, and how your employees like working for you.
The End Goal
Get more customers, and get those recruits. Utilize your SEO best practices to set yourself up for success and ahead of your competition. Having an up-to-date website, relevant content, online testimonials, and a correct Google business profile portrays your business and the brand you represent on and off the page. Interact with your community and show you’re an expert.
Autoshop Solutions is an automotive digital marketing agency specializing in websites and internet marketing solutions. Schedule a demo today or watch this blog in action here.
