“What is Total Search ™ and Why is it Important?” Sean Stapleton, Co-Founder and CEO at Dealer Teamwork, was recently honored to present to Affinity Partner AIADA dealership members in its AutoTalk Webinar series. Here is a summary of that session.
TOTAL SEARCH ™
Total Search™. What is total search? Why is it important? How is the future of digital marketing changing through search? It starts by Integrating SEO and SEM, data, and data-tracking.
As we continue to cover this topic, keep in mind these points:
- The top position in Google is not always the most expensive.
- Google is still the number one conversion tool for all shopping for high-value items like cars.
Keeping that in mind, think of the last time you looked for a new or used car or a service appointment. Didn’t you use Google? How far in the search pages did you get? Now flip the roles. When thinking of lead generation, are you looking for more quality or quantity?
What do you call page two of Google? I have no idea. I’ve never been there.
That’s funny, right?! And also true.
That tweetable statement illustrates the point that customers can’t buy what they can’t find. So when we talk about Total Search, utilizing SEO and SEM in a unified strategy for maximum exposure across your search results just makes sense.
BACK TO THE BASICS
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. There are many ways to make your website and your ads more relevant to search engines. More relevance means being found with more clicks at a lower cost.
SEM, or Search Engine Marketing is paid search, meaning you pay to have your ads put in sponsored positions on Google.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Combining SEO and SEM with Total Search ™ has advantages. We’ll talk about the unpaid strategy first.
SEO is about preparing your website and contact information so that search engines can read it, identify it, rank it, and bring it all together for what’s called organic traffic. Organic traffic is relevant information that search engines look for to answer the question being sought. Remember, Google’s whole mission is connecting people searching for products and services to the best answers possible.
Organic traffic takes a little bit more time. It’s earned. By doing the right things the right way, you will gain organic listings for your dealership.
EXAMPLE
Let’s say you’re a Honda dealer and you want to sell a Honda Accord. You might type Honda Accord lease, finance, savings, near me, service, or something else, into the search browser. Those are keywords. You can check similar or desired keywords on your own dealership by simply typing keyword phrases and seeing which organically listed websites are served.
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
Sponsored, or paid search results, are listed first. If you’re not showing up and your store has been in business online for more than a year, that means your website isn’t set up properly for organic traffic.
Paid Search is a fast lane to the top. You pay money to bid on keywords and phrases so that when a shopper types in those keywords, your ad shows up. The more relevant and the higher the quality score, the higher on the search page your ad will be listed.
DOMINATE SEARCH
Again, using both SEO and SEM together to create as much traffic as possible.
Total Search ™ is really about deploying metrics that ensure your dealership gets found by using both organic and paid strategies together to get the most valuable screen content and ranking on the first page. In other words, utilizing both SEM and SEO together creates better organic traffic and more relevant paid search with keywords and findings from combining valuable insights to make your website better, your ads better, your landing page better, and ultimately return on ad spend higher and stronger.
THE ELEMENTS OF TOTAL SEARCH ™
The benefit of Total Search ™ is reaching the right customer at the exact moment they’re searching. Here are some of the key elements used in a total search approach.
Google Shopping Ads: Google Vehicle Ads are now integrated into Google Performance Max and are a big part of Total Search ™. This upgrade was made in September 2023 and according to Google Merchant Center Help, advertisers are required to upload their vehicle data feed to Merchant Center and include pertinent details about each vehicle including make, model, price, mileage, color, and more. Google uses these details to match a customer’s search to the most relevant cars. “You must also link your Google Ads account to a Merchant Center account and a Google Business Profile. A store feed alternative to Business Profile linking is available if you don’t own or manage the profiles for your dealer locations.
I recommend that every dealer runs them because:
- They’re extremely cost-effective.
- They’re located in an amazing spot, particularly on mobile
- It answers the exact question for which people looking
Vehicle ads target customers at the bottom of the funnel, closer to selecting a specific vehicle, configuration, and/or dealer. The format appears on queries with a high car shopping intent!
Google Shopping Ads include a picture, your URL, and your pricing. The pictures are high-quality images that link directly to your website. Dealer Teamwork sees ad prices as low as $.40 to $.90 cost per click, making it an extremely good way to get your inventory out on the search engines quickly and affordably.
But Google needs more than just helpful content. Things that will help drive better clicks in your quality score are pricing, offers, OEM discounts, unique content about your store, and inventory.
Google Business Profile: We want to make sure that every one of your stores has both claimed and verified your GBP. Google Business Profile displays 70% to 75% per search, making it an integral part of your Total Search strategy.
MAKE A NOTE: Make sure to have your Google Business Profile claimed and verified and that it’s set up properly and tagged for tracking. We’ll be happy to walk you through and help if needed!
Google Ads and Quality Score: Why does it matter? Remember when I said, the top ad is not always the paid the most? Let me say it again.
“The top ad in Google is not always the ad that pays the most!”
The top ad is a combination of things like ad rank, cost per click, quality score, and the landing page experience. The more relevant your ad is to the keywords being searched, the higher the ad relevance or rank.
It then looks at what’s called the expected click-through rate (ECTR), or how many people are going to click on that ad and where are you going to land them on your website, so your landing page experience is critical.
EXAMPLE
If I type “Ford F-150 for sale”, that’s a low ad relevance. If I search “Ford F-150 for sale” and it says “ABC Ford great deals happening”, that’s not relevant to the sale.
If we shift our SEO search strategy to include keyword phrases like how many Ford F-150s I have available or what’s the finance rate on a Honda Accord or a BMW M3 and include it in the ads, it will change the position.
The difference between the two keyword strategies is significant:
- Page 2 Position 4 Results: The first ad example had low ad relevance, and landed on page two position four.
- Page 1 Position 1 Results: The second ad example that included the number of availability, the finance payment, the start from, and more ends up on the first search rank position!
So yes, you can pay your way to the top, or you can do the right thing right and get ranked higher without spending more money.
How?
- Closely match your ads to the users’ intent.
- Make sure your ad relevant matches the targeted keywords.
- Make sure where you’re landing this traffic on your website has a highly relevant landing page that has the same penny-perfect payments.
How do you increase ad relevance? Make sure you’re adding specific content like Make, Model, Payments, OEM Incentives, and more. Use your transactional data. And make sure your ad answers the exact question your users’ are seeking when shopping for a vehicle.
TIPS
- Content that is low relevance would include things that are more generic or that anyone would say like ‘family-owned, ‘we offer great deals, etc.
- In today’s market of production limitations and post-COVID inventory levels, how much inventory you have on your lot matters as well!
EXAMPLE
If I were looking for a Honda Accord and you had 14 in stock, that would be better for me than the store that had two. Starting pricing is important to me, too – so a very highly relevant ad example might include Make, Model, Availability, Starting Prices, Ad Extensions, Hours, Directions, Trade and inventory, and a Phone Number. All of those items make it a highly relevant ad, which gives it a high Quality Score, which means that Google identifies it as having a higher likelihood of being clicked and converted because it matches consumer intent.
TIP
Make sure this works on mobile, too. Most of the conversions we see are mobile users!
Landing Page Experience: If your ad said Ford F-150 for $675 a month or Finance for $652 for 72 months or buy for $50,720, your landing page should be dynamic and match the ad down to the penny. It shouldn’t simply reference the MSRP or Call for Price. Use your pricing or transactional data to pique interest then continue the experience through a highly dynamic landing page that changes regularly and is searchable.
“This is how you can dominate page one. This is how you can increase your click-through rate. This is how you can increase your organic traffic.”
TIP
Make sure your load speed on your website is fast. Slow load speeds on mobile will be considered a negative. How do we maximize visibility? By delivering the right content at the right time.
- Optimized pages
- High-intent content
- Links
- Dynamic content
- Optimized on and off website properties
- Efficiency Meets Quality
In summary, you’ll want to make sure your website is optimized with high quality dynamic landing pages that highlight details about the vehicle; from different trim levels, pricing, discounts, special packages, how it compares to previous year models, and more. Things are important in the goal of helping people answer the questions for which they are searching; like make, model, comparisons, mileage, safety features, towing capacities, drivetrain options, transmission options, miles per gallon….and more. Think of it this way – what is the information that a consumer might ask you if they were in front of your face on the showroom floor? Make that available on your virtual floor!
“Your website is your virtual showroom. If you don’t dominate your online store via search, both SEO and SEM, paid and organic, you’re losing opportunities.”
Retargeting: All of that shopper traffic you’ve now attracted by following the advice above should be directed to your website, not a third-party store. Once they hit your website we can begin retargeting and offer display advertising to those people in follow-up and find other prospects that look like them. Remarketing makes sure we’re placing the ads they’ve shown interest in front of them as they continue their shopping experience throughout the web.
Consult the Experts: Search is a highly competitive space and you can run out of patience, understanding, and budget quickly. Finding a Google Premier Partner, asking lots of questions, and reviewing your results often is paramount to your digital marketing success. A successful strategy does not take a set-it-and-forget approach. But when done correctly, your dealership can dominate the entire front page of search and eat up valuable SERP real estate! Synergistically playing between paid search and organic is vital. That’s the Total Search™ advantage.
Business Intelligence Reporting: Reporting results should clearly show what content is driving what conversions to not only make informed decisions about where to allocate marketing resources but to also detect trends and changes in consumer behaviors to pivot your strategy accordingly. You should always have transparency with your budget. Ask your vendor: What did it cost for a phone call? What did it cost for a form lead? How many store visits am I getting? What does it cost for a hard conversion?
Reporting can help determine the financial value of your leads. Here are some Key Reporting Metrics throughout the SEO Sales Funnel you should be measuring to drive ROI:
- First Stage
- Traffic and Visibility
- Content Ranking
- Engagement and Interactions
- Second Stage:
- Engagement Rates
- Return Users
- Non-purchase Conversions
- Email Open Rates
- Third Stage (and most profitable stage!)
- Conversions per Customer
- Profit per Lead
If you don’t know these stages, please reach out. We’ll show you how to do that!
Local SEO: Consistency in your local SEO (LSEO) presence helps search engines understand your business better and helps you connect with your ideal audience more often. Optimized tracking improves KPI measurement making performance evaluation easier and faster, too!
Keep directories like Siri in mind and make sure your GBP is being identified, managed and optimized, and tracked. Dealer Teamwork syndicates NAP (Name, Address, Phone) across 80+ directories. That’s the Total Search™ advantage.
IN CLOSING
The future of search is a unified approach. Total Search™ ensures you are adopting SEO and SEM together and ONE.
Click HERE to learn more about Total Search™
Watch the full AIADA AutoTalks Webinar presented by Sean Stapleton, Co-Founder and CEO at Dealer Teamwork titled “What is Total Search™ and Why is it Important?” HERE
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The following are questions received at the end of webinar. If you have more, please contact us directly – we’re happy to help!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: FAQ
Q: If I integrate SEO and SEM, can I reduce my paid search budget?
A: Depending on your goals and ROI, if you’re using search engine optimization and search engine marketing together, you should be able to reduce your reliance on paid search because ultimately you will begin to generate leads via organic traffic. Go one step further and incorporate social media as well. But always start by tracking, identifying, and understanding the best return on your ad spend (ROAS) to drive down that paid cost.
TIP: Organic traffic closes at the highest percentage and paid search delivers one of the strongest ROIs. Using them together will supercharge your SEO and SEM, driving a lower cost per lead or a lower cost per unit sold.
Q: I don’t know where to start with my Google Business Profile. How do I get started?
A: Just reach out. We have plenty of documentation to support you. Just make sure you’ve claimed and verified your GBP. We can help you with that, too.
TIP: If you want to know how well you are doing, go to Google Search right now and take your number one volume vehicle. Type in Make, Model and offer, deal, payment, lease, finance, savings, or service. Then see if your GBP shows up, if you have a paid search ad that’s relevant, and if you have an organic listing. If you don’t have any of those 3 things, we can help you get out from behind your competition.
