There are countless variables that SEOs must contend with in order to attain competitive rankings. Getting to number one in the search engine results pages (SERPs) doesn’t require one or two helpful tactics, but numerous tactics and a sound strategy that will help a site battle countless competitors that are actively trying to rank above you.

Start Off Right

Time and time again, SEO can easily become an afterthought and it’s often included only after a website’s design and structure has been finalized. When this happens, SEO and usability could suffer. If rankings and the user experience begins to suffer, so too will conversion rates.

Website design can often impair search engine rankings, and SEO and design should go hand in hand from the start of the development process. If titles, headings, content, navigation, and inner page linking structures are finalized before SEO comes into the process, then the design of the website becomes impaired from the start. These components are keys to SEO and usability, so they should not be discounted or considered last minute.

Don’t Rely Solely on Flash

Flash is another huge topic of debate. Flash content is often praised by clients for its ability to provide visually appealing content and animation. Unfortunately, content developed in Flash is generally not readable by search engine crawlers at this time. While too much flash could pose as a roadblock to search engine rankings, that doesn’t mean websites have to be void of flash completely. A successful website design is one that balances eye-grabbing visual components with search engine friendly HTML and text-based content. The trick is capturing the best of both worlds!

Keep It Structured

Another area that often is left to those designing the website is the URL structure. Once pages are created and named and navigation is in place, it often becomes difficult to overcome poor naming conventions. Again, it’s crucial that SEO is infused in URL structure from the beginning so that keywords can be included not only in high level pages, but also in deeper inner pages.

Embrace CSS Styling

Cascading style sheets or CSS can actually improve the SEO friendliness of a website’s design. If your website is done with tables, there’s no need to fret. But having external CSS can reduce the amount of unnecessary code on each web page of your site, thereby improving load times. This not only appeases users, but it also appeases search engine spiders since it allows spiders to crawl your website at a faster pace.

Give Images Some Attention

Images are always going to be used in some area of your website, and while search engines can’t understand the visual content within an image, that’s not to say images can’t be SEO friendly. Use ‘Alt’ tags to infuse images with textual information. By using a keyword-rich alt tag, search engines get a sense of what an image is about. In addition, other than a website’s logo, try to avoid placing text within images. Instead, use CSS to position text around an image. This will make image sizes smaller and easier to load, and it will also make that text crawlable by search engine spiders.

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Get your fix of automotive SEO information on this blog.

It wasn’t long ago when directory submissions were one of the most important tactics available to SEOs. But these days, link building has become more diverse, and directory submissions have lost their luster in response to emerging link building tactics that have involved blogging, bookmarking, and other social media marketing.

With the continuing popularity and diversity of various social media sites, directories have continued to become less popular and less relevant. In addition, since the heyday of directory submissions, Google has changed their algorithm to account for the spam that typically plagues popular free directories. Google has also warned against using paid links for link building, and this also includes directory links.

While directories may have become less influential as far as Google is concerned, this is not to say that directories should be ignored completely. As fewer SEOs are relying on directories, they may be the low-hanging fruit you need to give your website an edge. The key is to find the right directories to submit to, rather than submitting to just any directory. By exercising caution, you can avoid the low-quality, irrelevant directories and take advantage of those that can still boost page rank and referrals.

The important factor to consider with directory submissions is that your link building efforts should include other types of link building, not just those acquired through directories. If you’re able to attain that diversity, through blogging, social media, etc, then your website should remain in competitive shape in terms of off-site optimization.

Before blindly submitting to massive amounts of directories, you’ll want to first do a little bit of research. Ask yourself whether or not a directory in question will provide adequate SEO value. If you’re targeting a specific area or demographic, there may be a directory available that caters to that specific target. Once you find a directory you want to submit to, you’ll most likely have to decide which category within that directory that you would like to submit to. This seemingly obvious task of choosing a category could become quite confusing. While many categories are temping, it’s best to think of the specific services your dealership offers and who you would most like to reach.

Another factor that regularly comes up when submitting to directories is the question of the reciprocal link. Many directories allow websites to submit their directory for free in exchange for a reciprocal link from your website. At first it seems like a small and reasonable price to pay, but reciprocal linking schemes could be harmful to your website’s optimization. Avoid these schemes at all costs!

Many directories today do not count significantly towards a website’s organic performance simply because they don’t offer relevant or high-quality links. That being said, harmful traits are often obvious, and with a little bit of intuition and research, directories remain worth looking into.

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Get more automotive SEO tips and advice on this blog.

As the year comes to an end, we’ve witnessed one of the most turbulent economic periods in recent history, and it has crippled the automotive industry. The past year has seen a dearth in new car sales, changing buying preferences, and large automakers fall from grace. All automakers are not only conscious of what they’re spending when it comes to advertising and marketing, but they’re also increasingly conscious of how these channels can influence their brand image and consumer perception.

Top Dealer SEO recently had the pleasure of attending the 2009 LA Auto Show prior to its doors opening to the public. As a result we got to see firsthand the exciting new concepts and new cars of 2010 and 2011. But what was also exciting for us was the chance to see how automakers were marketing these new vehicles in light of recent economic challenges.

The Web seems to be playing an increasingly important role for automakers, despite the diffciulty larger companies have in maneuvering to address the most current tech trends. But preparing for a new car launch, in particular, is moving closer to becoming an online event. From expandable ads on high-traffic websites like Yahoo! and MSN to developing elaborate video webisodes, automakers are looking for innovative ways not just to be optimized for search engines or to have a mere presence online, they’re also looking for branding and increased engagement.

One aspect that was clearly under plenty of consideration by OEMs was social media. Keeping consumers engaged online isn’t easy, especially when the economy is keeping most consumers away from car dealerships. The best example of social media’s use at the LA Auto Show was from Ford as they used it to build anticipation for the launch of the 2011 Ford Fiesta. The success of their social media campaign, called the Fiesta Movement, was evident from the frenzy of excitement from automotive journalists upon the car’s unveiling. The wall of the Ford exhibit even displayed Twitter conversations about the new small car.

While mingling with the public relations and marketing personnel that were dispersed throughout the show, it was evident that not many automakers have come quite as far as Ford in regard to social media marketing. However, that’s not to say that social media was not on the minds of marketing executives.

For instance, companies such as Acura and Hyundai have activity in the social media landscape. But when asked who coordinates such efforts or who oversees social media strategy, the answer was not clear. It seems that such responsibility is often broken up and given to public relations, marketing, and/or outside agencies. Any activity in social media is better than none at all, but clearly it’s unlikely that such an approach would yield a successful grassroots campaign on the scale of the Fiesta Movement.

Some automakers can get away with minimal social media activity and participation. These are companies such as MINI that have passionate consumers building communities, Facebook fan pages, and other properties on their behalf to communicate and socialize with other MINI enthusiasts online. That being said, social media was still on the radar at the corporate level. MINI’s Yvonne Malmgren explained that a coordinated social media strategy was not currently in place at the brand. And while they may not be an active participant in social media, Malmgren did identify one important role that social media is currently playing at MINI – research. Companies large and small don’t need to create expansive friends lists on Facebook or send out a hundred tweets a day like Guy Kawasaki to benefit from social media. One benefit that often gets lost in the hype is that listening is just as important as talking, and gauging the pulse of conversation online is just as valuable as starting conversation.

By comparison to Ford, another one of the lesser active OEMs in social media is Mazda, which is something they certainly intend to change in the near future. David Harris, Group Manager of Digital Marketing at Mazda North America, alluded that Mazda has reached a bit of a turning point when it comes to social media, particularly amid the launch of the sporty 2011 Mazda2 compact.

For starters, Mazda is interested in reaching out to both automotive and non-automotive bloggers to foster different perspectives on Mazda vehicles. Ultimately, social media has the power to reach automotive journalists, car bloggers, enthusiasts, as well as existing Mazda owners, but one of Mazda’s important requirements with any type of marketing is that the Zoom-Zoom attitude and passion for the driving culture is clearly conveyed. “We don’t sell appliances. They sell appliances,” Harris says while pointing in the general direction of the Toyota exhibit, “We sell cars.”

In addition to fostering a driving culture within online communities, Harris points out that, “Social media is about listening and conversations, not shouting and selling.”  Interestingly, during an earlier discussion with Scott Monty of Ford, that same lesson was also highlighted. Unfortunately, this is what many car dealers sometimes fail to realize, but that’s quickly changing.

Amid the poor economy and rampant job losses, Harris also pointed out some of the added benefits to social media for car dealers. By getting dealer employees to participate online, it has the potential to curb turnover, improve moral, and it can boost the productivity of the sales staff during slow periods.

When buying a car, the relationship between the customer and the dealer ultimately revolves around price. But as Harris added, social media gives dealers an opportunity to create a relationship that’s about more than just a dollar amount.

Social media in the automotive industry is truly a natural fit. Evidence of that is the highly successful debut of the 2011 Ford Fiesta. When it comes to promoting new products and driving consumers to trade shows, activity on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc., is highly cost effective. But as we’ve discussed previously, there really are also endless opportunities. After visiting with automotive executives from the LA Auto Show, one thing is certain – social media activity in the auto industry is soon going to go into high gear.

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Top Dealer SEO will be profiling more automotive advertising initiatives here shortly.

One of the most exciting programs at the LA Auto Show is the Los Angeles Design Challenge. This competition has become an important fixture of the show, and gives Southern California-based design studios a chance to flex their creative muscles.

Audi is one of many entrants in this competition, and they have used social media to give them the slight edge. Rather than simply running with their own creative direction, Audi has turned to Facebook and other outlets to gauge what direction their design should take.

This year’s Los Angeles Design Challenge revolves around communication and technology in the car as the theme is “YouthMobile 2030.” As such, communication tools are the focus of all the competing designs. It’s therefore no surprise that Audi prominently features social media messaging tools and mobile broadband within the car’s design.

The most exciting part of this competition is getting a glimpse into the future of automotive design. It’s doubtful that we’ll be seeing Audi’s eOra and eSpira concepts on the road anytime soon, but in 20 or 30 years it is certainly possible to see elements of these car’s design and technology in showrooms. In the meantime, check out the designs at the upcoming LA Auto Show or see more images below.

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As always read the latest in automotive social media on this blog.

URLs are crucial building blocks within any website. The URLs that your website uses enables users to move from one page to another, and helps to organize your site’s content into organized sections. URLs also remain important for on-site search engine optimization. Changes to URL structure can significantly impact your SEO performance, and URL content should not only mesh with information architecture and website organization, but they should also include important keywords that relate to specific pages. Whether you’re considering changing URL structure or considering a redesign, here are several areas to consider.

Length

Generally speaking, the shorter the URL the better. Not only does it become easier for the user if the URL remains somewhat memorable and understandable, but it also should feature helpful keywords that provide a relevant description of what’s on the page without extraneous syntax or words. Keeping URL structures shorter also prevents them from being cut off if a user tries to copy and paste the URL, for example if they want to email it to a friend.

Content

The URL structure should include descriptive keywords for several reasons. First, if the page is present in search engine result pages (SERPs) search engines often bold keywords that match a user’s query, thereby accentuating the search result and improving click-through. Additionally, concise keyword-rich URLs are also easier to work with since you can find specific pages easier, as opposed to pages that have URLs filled with unhelpful, irrelevant numbers or letters that don’t correlate to the content.

Case Consideration

URLs may include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, or both. As a result, mixing these elements together can create unnecessary confusion. The general good practice is to use lowercase letters throughout the URLs and stick with them. If old pages are discovered that use uppercase letters apply a 301 redirect to point old pages to the appropriate new page with lowercase letters.

Separating Words

While debate may continue, search engines do not officially have preferences for hyphens versus underscores when it comes to separating words in URLs. Generally speaking a hyphen is considered more user-friendly, and therefore seem to be preferred by most SEOs. Stick with either of these and avoid other characters that may hinder SEO.

Consistency

One of the most important factors is also one of the easiest to diverge from. Consistency in your naming conversions will help to eliminate confusion between those working on the website, but most importantly consistency will help users understand how content on your website is organized.

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Read more about off-site SEO tactics soon.

Today is the first of many individual profiles we’ll be writing about here at Top Dealer SEO for specific car dealers and their marketing efforts. Practitioners of automotive SEO and car dealer marketing are more innovative than ever before and occasionally we’ll be highlighting specific dealers and their unique marketing tactics. After all, seeing creative online marketing tactics being implementing is always better than simply being told about them!

First up is a Boston Nissan dealer that has begun to strongly embrace social media. As we’ve discussed here on Top Dealer SEO in the past, video can play a monumental role in dealership marketing and specifically in SEO and online reputation management. This video from Marlboro Nissan shows just how easy it is to make an entertaining video, without high production costs and without simply rattling off specials. Show-off exciting new models or highlight the expertise of individual employees. This video also shows clever cross promotion which further shows the endless potential that lies within online video.

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For more car dealer SEO profiles subscribe to Top Dealer SEO now.

Wordpress is the leading platform that businesses and individuals use for blogging. One of the most common components of Wordpress blogs and other blogging platforms is RSS, or Really Simple Syndication. This feature enables users to subscribe to a blog, thereby allowing users to get notified whenever you update your blog. RSS also enables users to read your blog in their preferred RSS reader without even going to your blog.

Recently, an all-new generation of RSS was unveiled by Wordpress called RSS Cloud. While only two RSS readers support RSS Clound thus far, more are likely to follow. The difference between standard RSS2.0 and RSS Cloud is that the latter delivers content in real time. Instead of polling a server periodically, RSSCould will enable real time blog updates to available in RSS readers.

About half a million blogs are created each month on Wordpress, which is precisely why common feed readers, including Google Reader, are likely to support RSS Cloud. After all, if Google Reader users discover that their favorite RSS reader only updates every 15 to 60 minutes while others deliver updates in real time, users will quickly adopt other platforms.

Real-time communication is becoming a hot trend thanks to services like Twitter. When breaking news happens, conversations seem to erupt on Twitter even before they spread on major news outlets. Plus, RSS already makes blogs highly measurable, and when with a real-time component there could be an even greater opportunity for RSS in the near future.

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We’ll soon be featuring more Wordpress tips and tricks.

Many dealers have video content lying around and posting it online is one of the easiest and most cost efficient ways to increase the reach and views of that content. Naturally, YouTube is what we all think of when considering an outlet for publishing video content online. YouTube is free and it has extremely high amounts of traffic. But there are also other outlets below that you should be taking advantage of to maximize exposure and links to your website. Using analytics, you may discover which specific video outlet yields the best response.

Flickr – Flickr is known more as a photo sharing website, but fairly recently Flickr rolled out the ability to upload video content as well. Uploading videos is straightforward, and videos can be easily tagged, labeled, and even geotagged.  Creating an account is quick and easy, and there are ample opportunities to network and get social.

Viddler – Viddler is a video sharing site that provides three ways to publish video content; for personal use, professional video publishing, and optimized for business. While many of the features are unnecessary, these provide a variety of options including creating a branded video player, removing ads around your videos, and including RSS feeds. If you want the ultimate flexibility when it comes to publishing your videos, check out Viddler.

Blip.TV – Blip.TV features massive amounts of traffic and also allows ad sharing. The site publishes independent shows and reaches over 22 million people. If you have a truly creative marketing team and top not notch video production capabilities, your video content could go viral with the help of Blip.TV.

Yahoo! Video – Like other search engines, Yahoo enables searches to find new video content. But unlike some search engines, Yahoo Video also enables users to upload their own videos. With community-driven ratings and other features, Yahoo Video, like YouTube, is also social and could provide that elusive viral exposure – just remember to give your video a clever title!

Truveo – Truveo is a video search engine owned by AOL. With an AOL account, users can upload videos and get them indexed into various search engines and get them in front of users that subscribe to videos via RSS. With the ability to submit an unlimited amount of video content, and the flexibility of tagging and bookmarking content, Truveo has become one of the most prominent sources for video content on the Web.

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For more on online video optimization check back soon.

What any dealer jumping into running their own Google AdWords campaign may find is that running ads on the Content Network is risky business. By default, AdWords serves ads on both search results and on the content network, but unfortunately, this can often increase costs and hamper conversion rates.

The Content Network is not without its value, however. One of the best methods to ensuring a successful content campaign is to separate search and content into their own campaigns, as opposed to running them together. Generally, content campaigns garner more impressions and lower conversion rates. Therefore, keeping the campaigns separate will prevent the content campaign from skewing search campaign data.

Advertising on the content network can take some getting used to, but the point is that search and content are two very different worlds, and it’s advised to treat them as such. Try to use different keywords, ad copy, and budgets when diving into a content campaign. Unlike search, content advertising is less targeted, meaning that lower conversion rates are almost inevitable. Although ROI can be a bit difficult to gauge at first, a few weeks of testing can yield beneficial results.

One piece of advice for advertising on the content network that is difficult to adhere to is that content typically requires a healthy budget. Sending $1,000 or more per month is an important factor for ensuring a campaign’s success. If that budget is not feasible, it’s certainly a good idea to restrict advertising to search only.

Although strong conversion rates on the Content Network can be elusive, Google does provide tools that will help ensure success. Tools such as the conversion optimizer as well as the site exclusion tool are both used to improve the targeting of your content campaigns. Advertisers can also set cost-per-acquisition goals to help keep costs under control.

Content network advertising has a notorious reputation for getting out of control when it comes to clicks and spending. But by using the free tools and settings that AdWords provides, and by separating these campaigns from search, advertisers can easily discover that the Content Network provides tremendous value by allowing your brand to reside on relevant websites, popular blogs, and high-traffic portals. There are also different pricing options that including CPC, CPM, and CPA that you may want to experiment with.

When setting up your ad campaign, try to limit ad groups to a couple dozen keywords and make sure you keep similar keywords together. One of the best ways to prevent untargeted impressions and clicks is by including as many negative keywords as possible. Try running custom reports to see how these campaigns are running. Again by separating content from search, you’ll be able to use your custom reports to more easily see what’s happening. Lastly, don’t stop testing! By experimenting with new keywords, ad copy, and campaign settings, you may hit that sweet spot that’s been eluding you until now.

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Learn more about advertising with Google AdWords on Top Dealer SEO.

Ford has certainly been a Big Three standout, especially as the only one of the three that has not gone through bankruptcy restructuring. But Ford is also very different in how they approach the Web and online communication. The way in which the company has embraced technology and social media has helped real people share their experiences with Ford products in an all-new way, paving the way for a real emotional connection to the brand.

One method for opening up communication with existing and potential customers is through blogging. Blogs such as The Ford Story have not only been a successful outlet for Ford news and unique stories about the company, but it has also been a forum where consumers can make their ideas and opinions be heard. The site also focuses on important areas that Ford wants to highlight, including the company’s overall plan and progress, quality, green initiatives, safety, and smart technology – all of which is also important to consumers as well.

Another important website for Ford is the Fiesta Movement. To build anticipation for the upcoming 2011 Ford Fiesta, 100 lucky people were selected to drive the cars for six months and share their experience via blogging and social media. Giving consumers the ability to promote what they really think about the car day after day is a bold step for Ford, and it also says plenty about the Fiesta’s quality and Ford’s confidence in the product ahead of its official release. It also doesn’t hurt that Jeremy Clarkson seemed to really enjoy the Fiesta either.

Ford can now be found everywhere online. From YouTube to Facebook to Twitter, Ford is not just present on prominent social media properties, Ford is an active participant. Ultimately, this reflects on their products as they’re giving consumers more opportunities to be heard, and obviously what people are saying isn’t always good and that’s not a bad thing. The company’s social media activity is a good model for other automakers and car dealers as well. Today’s auto market and today’s consumers are very different from just a few years ago, and connecting with consumers socially appears to be an increasingly important step to create trust and sell more cars.

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See the benefits to sound automotive internet marketing here.