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Reaching Automotive Consumers Online A Dealer Web Site Builder Study

Seo Vendor Comparison Study

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Page 1: Seo Vendor Comparison Study

ReachingAutomotiveConsumersOnline‐ ADealerWebSiteBuilderStudy

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AboutSorgenfreiSorgenfrei,LLCisaconsulting,competitiveintelligence,andmarketresearchfirmbasedin New York. The firm’s principals come from the automotive, financial services andconsumer goods industries with experience in corporate strategy, marketing, marketresearch, finance, and investment banking. Our focus on client responsiveness andprecise data analysis has helped us generate a client list consisting of some of theworld’smostinfluentialcompanies,suchasToyota,Mazda,SonyandAmericanExpress.

NOTICE

ThecontentinthisdocumentrepresentsthecurrentviewofSorgenfreiasofthedateofpublication.BecauseSorgenfreirespondscontinually to changingmarket conditions, thisdocument shouldnotbe interpretedasa commitmenton thepartof Sorgenfrei.Sorgenfreicannotguaranteetheaccuracyofanyinformationpresentedafterthedateofpublication.

Copyright©2009,Sorgenfrei,LLCAllrightsreserved.

Sorgenfrei,LLC

320WashingtonAvenue

Brooklyn,NY11205

Phone:(646)696‐1701

Fax:(646)390‐7547

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www.sorgenfreillc.com

ContentsIntroduction........................................................................................................................4

SearchEngineOptimization–BestPractices .....................................................................4

AutomotiveOnlineResearch..............................................................................................5

WhoGetsBetterPlacement? .............................................................................................7

StudyMethodology ............................................................................................................7

StudyResults ......................................................................................................................8

AggregatedResultsacrossAllBrandsandMarkets............................................................8

PathtoBestPlacement ....................................................................................................10

Summary ..........................................................................................................................11

Appendix...........................................................................................................................12

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IntroductionThedaysofsearchingtheSundaynewspaperforanewcardealarebehindus.Internetsearch engines have changed the way consumers shop for everything; new vehiclesincluded.A consumer who is looking to buy a new vehicle will likely spend most of her timeresearchingontheinternet.Onceshehasnarroweddownthemakeandmodelshewillthenneedtofindadealerforatestdrive.ChancesareshewilluseGoogleandendupwithhundredsofresultsorganizedinpagesof10.Thoseresultsarenotnecessarilythedealerclosesttoherorthemostrelevanttoherquery.Rather,theyarethewebsitesthatarethebestdesignedtobefoundbyGoogle.What is the likelihood that she will click on the first listing, the tenth or go tosubsequentpages?Howdoesasiteownergettheirlinkstoappearinthemost‐clickedposition?ThispaperwillanswerthosequestionsandwillexaminewhichautomotivedealersitebuildersdothebestjobgettingtheirclientsinthefirsttoptensearchresultsonGoogle.Wewilllookat12brandsin20marketsandcatalogatotalof148builders,2,400sites,and670,733pages.But first, letus lookat some fundamentals.TheprocessofdesigningandmodifyingawebsitetobebestfoundbysearchenginesiscalledSearchEngineOptimization(SEO).SearchEngineOptimization–BestPracticesSearch Engine Optimization (SEO) is more art than science. The search engines areconstantlymodifyingtheiralgorithmsandmostkeeptheirmethodologyasecret.Withthatsaid,therearesomefundamentalprinciplestofollowwhendesigningasitetobeeasilyfoundwhenaconsumerconductsasearch.Beyondprovidingclear,concise,relevantandregularlyupdatedcontentandprovidingconsumers with an easy to understand URL (www.atlantabmw.com is better thanwww.helmutsbayerischemotorenwerke.com)threedesignprinciplesstandout;makingyourcontenteasytofind,labelingitandprovideamap. Easytofindcontent:Searchenginesuseautomatedscriptstoscourtheinternetto

findandindexcontent.Thesescriptsarecalledspidersandifthespidercannotfindyour content, it cannot index it for the searchengine to serveup later. Themorestraightforward a site is designed the more “spider‐friendly” it is. For example;simplyusingHTMLinsteadofFlashincreasesasitesabilitytobeindexed.

Labeling your content:Oncea spider finds your site, it needs tobeable toeasilyunderstandwhatyoursite isabout.The first step is touseuniqueanddescriptive

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titletagsoneachpage,andtosupportthetitletagcontentwithrelevanttextonthepageitself.Headingtagsandlinklabelsareadditionalexamplesofcluesthespidersuse to identify themes contained within your web pages. This content helps thesearchenginesinmatchingyourwebsitetorelevantsearchqueries.

Mapping your content: Anotherway to help the spider find its way around is to

provideitwithasitemap.Givingthespidera“cheatsheet”ofwhatiscontainedonthe site, makes its job easier and it will index the pages properly. Photographyshouldbeeasytoforspiderstofindaswell.Imagesshouldhavedescriptivenamesandtags.

Thegoalofbeingspider‐friendlyistoallowthesearchenginetofindandindexontheirservers as much about a site as possible; the more information that is indexed, thebetterthechanceofbeingservedupwhenaconsumersearchesforsimilarcontent.AutomotiveOnlineResearchNow that we have covered the fundamentals of site design, let us look at how theautomotiveconsumerusestheinternet.In theU.S., internetaccess is increasingandsearchengineuse isproliferating:73%ofconsumershaveaccesstotheinternet1and49%ofthoseconsumersusesearchenginesonadailybasis2.Thetop5categoriesaccessedonlineareHealthandMedical,Travel,OnlineVideo,ShoppingandClassifieds,Entertainment3.TheautomotiveconsumerfallsintotheShoppingandClassifiedscategoryandaquarterofthevisitorstothatcategoryusesearchenginestogetthere.Whatdoesthatmeanfortheautomotiveindustry,specificallythedealers?Researchshowsthat73%ofin‐marketconsumersusetheinternettoresearchtheirnextvehicle4.Theyarelookingfortheinformationyouwouldexpect:pricing,specifications,safetyinformationandphotos.Theyareatthetopoftheshoppingfunnel.Astheygetclosertopurchase,overathird(37%)arelookingfordealerlocations.

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Autoshoppers–informationsoughtonline Pricinginformation 53%Fueleconomy 48%Performanceinformation 43%Modelspecifications 40%Safetyinformation 39%Photos 39%Interiorfeatures 38%Dealerlocations 37%Vehiclecomparisons 35%Modelavailability 33%Consumersaremost likelyusingasearchenginetoconductthisresearchandtheonetheyaremostlikelytoturntoisGoogle.Itaccountsforover70%ofallsearchresults.Theclosestcompetitor,Yahoo,onlygarnered19%withMicrosoft falling intoadistantthirdplacewithonly6%ofthesearches.5Knowing themost‐used search engine is useful, but understanding the importanceofrankingoftheresultsbyGoogleiscritical.42%ofclicksonaGooglesearchresultspageareonthefirstlistedresult,whereasthesecond listing only gets 12% of the clicks on the first results page. The top 5 resultsreceive74%oftheclick‐throughsandthefirsttenresultsonresultspageaccountedfor90%oftheclick‐throughs.

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Figure1:Percentshareofclick‐throughsbyposition

Inotherwords, like realestate, location is theonly thing thatmatters in theworldofsearchengines.Gettingorganic(free)trafficfromGoogle,meansbeingatthetopofthesearchresults,andideallythenumberonereturnedresult.WhoGetsBetterPlacement?Wehaveidentifiedthefundamentalbestpracticesfordesigningawebsitethatiseasilyfoundbysearchengines.Wethenshedlightonthefactthatasignificantpercentageofautomotive shoppers use the internet and more specifically, Google, during theirshoppingprocess.The next question is how can auto dealers use this information to better reachcustomers?Iftheyuseathird‐partyvendortobuildtheirwebpresence,whichvendorbest utilizes the fundamentals of SEO and site design to get their clients high on theGooglesearchresultspage?Weconductedananalysisofsearchengineresultsfromaroundthecountrytofindout.StudyMethodologyForthepurposeofthisstudywepicked12brandsthatrepresentacrosssectionofthebrandsofferedontheAmericanmarket.Thebrandsincludethetop5brandsbyvolume,domesticandinternationalbrands,andluxuryandmassmarketbrands.Thebrandsare:Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Jeep, Honda, Hyundai,Mazda,Mercedes‐Benz,NissanandToyota.

42.3%

11.9%

8.4%6.0% 4.9% 3.9% 3.4% 3.0% 2.8% 3.0%

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Wethenchose20majormarketsgeographicallydispersedthroughoutthecountry.Themarketswe researched areAtlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland,Columbus, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York City,Philadelphia,SaltLakeCity,SanDiego,SanFrancisco,SeattleandWashingtonD.C.Inordertoduplicateusers’experiencesearchingGooglefromaroundthecountry,weusedGoogle’sAdwordstargetedadpreviewtool6.ThisallowedustoseeGoogleresultsas if we were in all the cities above despite being at our offices in New York. ThesearchestookplaceduringthelastweeksofDecember2008.Usingthetool,weenteredbrand,“dealer”,andcity(e.g.:BMWdealerLosAngeles)forthe12brandsineachofthe20markets.The resulting listings included dealer web sites, third‐party sites and vehiclemanufacturer(OEMs)sites–excludingpaidsearchlistings.Weexamined2,400searchresultswithatotalof670,733 indexedpagesfrom148differentwebsitebuilders.Thesearchresultswerecatalogedby:

Positiononthesearchengineresultspage Thenumberofpagesindexedpersite Thewebsitevendorthatbuiltthesite

StudyResultsInitialanalysisoftheresultsshowedthattherearesomeclearleadersamongthemanyvendorsofferingautomotivedealerssitedesign,implementationandSEOservices.Thetop10builderswiththemostsuccessfultrackrecordatgettingtheirclients’sitesinthetoptensearchresultsonGoogleare,inalphabeticalorder:AutoTrader.com,BZResults,Cars.com, Dealer.com, Dealerskins, LotPro.com, Reynolds Web Solutions, SourceInterlinkMedia,TheCobaltGroup,andTKCarsites.While companies like AutoTrader.com and Cars.com are technically not independentsite builders (rather they are aggregators of vehicle information and dealer web sitelinks) we included them in the study and rankings as AutoTrader.com and Cars.comcompetewiththedealersitesfortheconsumers’attentionandclicktraffic.Therearemultiplewaystolookatthestudydata.Wecansortthedatabybrandorbymarket(seeappendixforbrieftables).Forthispapertonotbeatome,wedecidedtolookatthetop5buildersacrossallbrandsandallmarketsandfocusontheirabilitytogettheirclientsrankedhighlyonGoogle’sfirstresultspage.AggregatedResultsacrossAllBrandsandMarketsRanked by number of sites in the top ten listings across all brands and markets,Dealer.comwasaclearleaderwith251sitesor10.5%ofthetotalsitescataloged.The

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Cobalt Group had 216 and came in second, with Cars.com, AutoTrader.com andReynoldsWebSolutionsroundingoutthetop5.Builder Rank #oftop10placements %oftotalDealer.com 1 251 10.5%TheCobaltGroup 2 216 9.0%Cars.com 3 204 8.5%AutoTrader.com 4 147 6.1%ReynoldsWebSolutions 5 139 5.8%Beingonthefirstpageofsearchresults isanimportantfirststepingettingcustomersintoyourdealership.However,asmentioned,thetop5placementsaccountfor74%oftheclick‐throughsonagivenresultspage,andsowecatalogedthebuildersinthestudybythenumberofsitestheindividualbuildershadinthetop5listingsacrossallbrandsandallmarkets.Dealer.comalsohadthemostclientsinthetop5acrossthemarketsandbrandsthatwetested. The Cobalt Group and Cars.com were number two and three respectively.ReynoldsWebSolutionsandBZResultsroundedoutthelist.Builder Rank #oftop5placements %oftotalDealer.com 1 170 14.2%TheCobaltGroup 2 133 11.1%Cars.com 3 114 9.5%ReynoldsWebSolutions 4 77 6.4%BZResults 5 70 5.8%ButwhatreallymattersisthetopspotontheGooglesearchresults;asafull42%ofallclicksaremadeonthelistinginthisposition.Dealer.comwastheleaderwith47sitesinthetopspotacrossallmarketsandbrands.Inotherwords,almostafifthor19.6%ofthetopsearchresultswhenlookingforadealergivenourcriteriawasaDealer.comsite.TheCobaltGroupfollowedupin2ndplacewith35 sites and Reynolds Web Solutions, BZ Results and Cars.com were 3rd, 4th and 5threspectively.Builder Rank #oftop1placements %oftotalDealer.com 1 47 19.6%TheCobaltGroup 2 35 14.6%ReynoldsWebSolutions 3 18 7.5%BZResults 4 15 6.3%Cars.com 5 14 5.8%

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PathtoBestPlacementWe have established that placement on the Google’s search results page is vital toincreasethechanceofaconsumerclickingthroughtoawebsite.What isnotentirelyclear ishowsitesachievehighplacement.Followingthe fundamentalsoutlinedat thebeginningof thispaper isagoodstart,but in reality,mostof the factors involvedarenebulous and are subject of much debate.7 Most SEO experts agree that a highernumberofpages indexedinGoogle’sdatabaseimproveasite’schancesofmatchingasearchqueryandthatthequalityofback‐linkstothewebsiteareimportantforGoogle’salgorithmandcanleadtohigherplacement.In order to ascertain a correlation between the top performing builders in theplacementanalysisandthenumberofindexedpagestheygenerate,werantheGoogle“site:”testthatindicatesthenumberofindexedpagesrelatedtoaURL.Intheexamplebelow,whenwe typed in “site:universalcitynissan.com” in theGoogle searchbox, thesite:testindicatedthatuniversalcitynissan.comhas551pagesindexedthatarerelatedtothesite

Dealer.comdominatedtheresults,beingresponsiblefor35.7%ofalltheindexedpagesin the study. ADP,which ranked 11th in terms of sites in the top ten results, jumpedahead in ranks to the number two spotwhenwe looked at indexed pages. ReynoldsWebSolutions,TheCobaltGroupandeBizAutosroundedoutthetopfive.Builder Rank Share IndexedpagesDealer.com 1 35.7% 239,417ADP 2 7.2% 48,268ReynoldsWebSolutions 3 6.7% 44,749TheCobaltGroup 4 6.2% 41,318eBizAutos 5 4.1% 27,467The variance in rank and the introduction of other builders in the top five could beattributed to the “quality” of the indexed pages as defined byGoogle. Simply havingpagesindexeddoesnotguaranteethatGooglewilldeemthemimportant.Theymustbe

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relevant to thecontentand if therearepages linkedto thesite, theymustbe fromahigh‐qualitysite.ThedatasetaboveindicatesthatDealer.comhasbothqualityandquantityofindexedpagesfortheirclients.ADPhasahighquantityofindexedpages,butthedearthoftheirclients achieving high placement on Google indicates a possibly lack of quality ofindexedpages.SummaryIt isveryclearthattheautomotiveconsumer isusingthe internet,specificallyGoogle,during the purchase process. There is also little doubt that in order to reach thoseconsumers during their search activity, it is imperative to be on the first page ofGoogle’s search results and ideally in the top spot. The confusion lies in how to bestachievethegoalofoptimizingawebsitetoachievepremiumplacementonGoogle.FollowingGoogle’sWebmasterGuidelinesisanexcellentstartingpointandiswhereallcapable vendors should begin. There is, however, an art to working with the ever‐changingGooglealgorithmand the resultsof thedataanalysis for thispaper indicatethatsomevendorsaremoreadeptthanothers.AutomotivedealersitesbuiltbyDealer.comandTheCobaltGroupcomeinthefirstandsecondplacepositionsrespectivelywhenanalyzingthetopplacementsinthedominantsearchengine,Google.Whileitcouldbearguedthataslargeentities,theysimplyhaveavolume advantage over the smaller competitors, the site: test analysis indicates acorrelationbetweentheGoogleplacementresultsandstrongsitedesignprinciples.Lookingat thecorrelationbetween topplacement resultsand thenumberof indexedpages suggests that Dealer.com is more adept at achieving premium organic listingplacementsforitsclientsandthattheirmethodologyforbuildingthesitesisresponsiblefortheirsuccess.

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AppendixGooglesearchresultpagewithPaidvs.Organicsearchresults

BuilderrankbybrandBrand #1builder #2builder #3builderBMW AutoTrader.com Cars.com Dealer.comChevrolet TheCobaltGroup Cars.com Dealer.comHonda Dealer.com ReynoldsWebSolutions TheCobaltGroupJeep Dealer.com Cars.com AutoTrader.comToyota ReynoldsWebSolutions Dealer.com gsMarketingChrysler Dealer.com Cars.com AutoTrader.comFord BZResults Dealer.com Cars.comHyundai Dealer.com Cars.com TheCobaltGroupAudi TheCobaltGroup Dealer.com Cars.comNissan Dealer.com ReynoldsWebSolutions TheCobaltGroupMazda Cars.com Dealer.com SourceInterlinkMediaMercedes Cars.com Dealer.com MercedesBenz

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Mostsitesintopspot,top5andtop10bymarket Top1 Top5 Top10

NewYorkCity Cars.com Cars.com TheCobaltGroupLosAngeles Dealer.com Dealer.com Dealer.comChicago WencelWorldwide TheCobaltGroup ReynoldsWebSolutionsHouston Dealer.com ReynoldsWebSolutions TheCobaltGroupPhiladelphia Dealer.com Dealer.com Dealer.comSanDiego SearchOptics Dealer.com Dealer.comSanFrancisco Dealer.com Dealer.com Dealer.comColumbus Dealer.com Dealer.com Dealer.comBaltimore AutoONEMedia Cars.com XIGroupCharlotte Dealer.com Dealer.com Dealer.comWashingtonD.C. Cars.com Cars.com Dealer.comAtlanta Dealer.com ReynoldsWebSolutions ReynoldsWebSolutionsMiami TheCobaltGroup Cars.com SourceInterlinkMediaDenver TheCobaltGroup Dealer.com Dealer.comNashville Dealer.com Dealer.com Cars.comCleveland BZResults BZResults DealerskinsDallas ADP TheCobaltGroup TheCobaltGroupBoston BZResults BZResults BZResultsSaltLakeCity Dealer.com Dealer.com Dealer.comSeattle MotorWebs MotorWebs MotorWebs

1InternetWorldStats.comandNielsen/NetRatings:http://www.internetworldstats.com/am/us.htm2PewInternetResearch,August2008:http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Search_Aug08.pdf3HitWise:http://www.hitwise.com/4BurstMediaResearch,April2007:http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/14970.asp5HitWise:http://www.hitwise.com

6GoogleAdwordsTargetedpreviewtoolallowsusertoenterkeywordsandalocationtoreplicatebeinginthatgeographiclocationduringsearch:https://adwords.google.com/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool7Seomoz.org,April2,2007:http://www.seomoz.org/article/search‐ranking‐factors