Automotive Dealership SEO

Need dealership SEO services that put butts in seats?

Putting your dealership on the map is critical for local awareness and attracting new customers to your showroom rather than a competitor.

Our automotive dealership SEO services give you visibility on maps and the search results, and prioritize customer intent and experience to deliver leads.

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86%

of automotive shoppers conduct online research before visiting a dealership.

12,600

Average monthly views on dealers’ Google Business Profiles every month.

46%

of all Google searches have local intent, including those shopping for vehicles.

Dealership SEO is critical to stand out!

With search being such a pivotal part of the consumer’s journey to find a vehicle that suits them and a dealership with inventory to go on a test drive, it’s more important than ever to have a strategy to reach them and get them into the seat of their dream car!

On average, the typical shopper visits four websites during the purchase process to do research, check inventory, pricing, read reviews, and more. This journey typically takes them 14 hours.

The key to succeeding in search and converting visitors requires a solid SEO strategy that doesn’t just get you in front of customers in the search results but also ensures a good user experience that serves their needs and intent during their search.

Our dealership SEO gets you in front of customers at every point of their journey, and with strategies to deliver high-quality leads.

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Auto dealership SEO solutions

We help franchise dealerships maintain brand presence with consistent SEO, local listings, and optimized content.

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Bundle our SEO services with all your locations for a discounted rate, and maintain consistent SEO across all dealerships.

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Boost visibility for high-intent searches with SEO that strengthens your site, ranks inventory, and drives more leads.

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Target niche buyers with keyword-focused SEO that makes your classic car inventory easy to find in search results.

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Reach more riders with local SEO and content that highlights your bikes, financing, and services to convert online shoppers.

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Increase visibility for boat sales and services so local buyers find your dealership first.

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Our SEO services put your powersports dealership in front of riders looking for ATVs, UTVs, and bikes, driving more traffic and sales.

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Attract RV shoppers online with improved search presence and customer trust.

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Reach farmers and ag buyers by appearing higher in searches for equipment and services.

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Our SEO services

We offer various SEO services, tailored to your dealership’s SEO needs.

Local SEO

Our local SEO for car dealerships boosts visibility and expands your presence your local community through search results and maps rankings.

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National SEO

For dealerships looking to reach customers throughout the United States, we provide national SEO to expand your presence and be competitive everywhere.

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Franchise SEO

Our Franchise SEO services are tailored for franchisees needing SEO for their business, or franchisors seeking scalable SEO solutions for multiple locations.

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White Label SEO

If you’re an agency or marketing consultant looking to provide dealership SEO for a client, we can be your partner to deliver strategy and results.

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Technical SEO Audit

A website optimized for efficient crawling and indexing is crucial for rankings and SERP visibility. We check every box with our comprehensive audit.

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Our dealership SEO strategy

Here’s an overview of what a typical e-commerce SEO strategy may include!

Finding the right keywords and understanding the intent of who’s searching is crucial to driving SEO strategy and ensuring the consumers’ needs align with your goals.

Looking at your top online competitors lets us see the gap in keyword rankings and what optimizations are needed to be competitive in the search results.

A deep dive into the technical factors that play a role in website architecture, user experience, and more will lay a solid foundation for your SEO strategy.

An old cliche in SEO rings truer than ever, that “content is king”. Content is key to gaining visibility on Google, while also informing & converting users into paying customers.

With your Local SEO strategy in place, having on-page elements like titles, headings, content, links, image alt text, etc, optimized positions you for higher visibility on Google.

Claiming and optimizing your GBP puts your business on the map for the products and services your business provides, builds trust, and lets users know where to find you.

Citations from local directories with consistent business information are an important trust indicator, along with recent and frequent positive Google reviews.

Measuring success

How we report and communicate your SEO results.

We establish key performance indicators for your business, including keyword rankings, traffic, form submissions, calls, and more, based on your goals.

We create a reporting dashboard you can access 24/7 with your KPIs and other metrics, work completed, and upcoming initiatives.

After your kickoff call, we meet quarterly to review work completed, results, feedback, updates, and upcoming projects.

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About Hilltop SEO

Hilltop SEO is a boutique agency delivering result-driven SEO solutions for the automotive industry. Focused on ethical, data-backed strategies, Hilltop helps brands increase visibility, drive qualified traffic, and achieve sustainable growth through long-term search performance.

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Auto Dealership SEO FAQs

Automotive dealership SEO is the process of optizing a dealership’s website to rank higher in search results and make it easier for new customers to find you while car shopping.

Automotive dealership SEO is important because search is a large part of the consumer journey when they are looking to buy a car. If you want to reach these customers, you need a website strategy that positions you to be seen by customers in the search results.

Local SEO helps dealerships gain visibility on Google Maps, or the map pack, and traditional website listings for relevant keywords customers search for to do research on a car or find a dealership to check their inventory or visit.

This is done through Google Business Profile optimizations, building off-page citations with relevant websites and directories, on-page and technical SEO, and high-quality content.

The best keywords will depend on the page and what point of the funnel the keyword represents in the customer’s journey.

Top of funnel keywords tend to be research-driven informational terms, showing early-stage interest in purchasing a vehicle. These can include terms like “best cars for families”, “are electric cars worth it?”, etc.

Middle of funnel keywords will represent a customer who is actively evaluating dealerships, vehicle specs, and more to help them make an informed purchase. This includes terms like “best car dealerships near me”, “Honda Accord vs Toyota Camry”, “VW Golf MK4 vs MK5”, etc.

Bottom of funnel keywords show intent that the customer is ready to purchase a vehicle, look for other related dealership services, or navigate to a specific dealership’s website. This includes terms like “Audi dealership near me”, “Chevy Silverado lease deals in [City, ST]”, “schedule oil change at [dealership name], etc.

It is best to target bottom-of-funnel keywords with the home page and related service pages to capture customers ready to make a purchase now. In a content and blog strategy, top and middle funnel keywords are best to help customers with their research, build your authority and awareness, and nurture customers toward a purchase.

This depends on the level of service your website needs and who you are working with.

Entry-level packages can range from $500-1,500 per month and cover the basics like Google Business Profile management, citations, and limited website work.

Mid-tier options can range from $1,500-3,000 per month, and cover more advanced SEO strategies, reporting, and time spent on the account.

High-end deals can cost $3,000 up to over $10,000 per month. These packages are the most comprehensive plans for dealerships in highly competitive markets, and auto groups paying for SEO for multiple locations.

The best price point for you will depend on your needs, but the middle tier is the most common price range for effective SEO for a single location.

One disadvantage of used car dealerships or other automotive businesses is that they aren’t backed by big brand names or auto groups with large marketing budgets.

There are some inherent disadvantages, though. Many dealerships have bloated corporate-driven CMS systems, poor SEO, and are not specifically targeting used car dealership keywords.

With the right SEO strategy, they can still compete and attract leads from Google by targeting niche used car keywords, having solid citations and NAP, and an excellent website SEO strategy.

There are specific strategies for vehicle listing pages and the vehicle detail pages, with some overlap.

Here are some best practices for a vehicle listing page:

  • A category structure within the listings to support the inventory. This can be listing pages based on the Make and Model or Type of vehicle.
  • Internal links from the main listing page to the categories and vehicle detail pages, and vice versa.
  • A faceted navigation where users can navigate categories and filters
  • Canonical tags used for duplicate or paginated listing pages
  • Breadcrumbs schema and other applicable structured data
  • And everything mentioned for VDPs below

The best way to increase visibility of your vehicle detail pages includes:

  • Unique, descriptive title and meta tags
  • Structured data, specifically breadcrumbs and Vehicle Listing Schema, to show in rich snippets (Update: as of June 2025, vehicle listings have been removed from Google; it is yet to be seen if this move is permanent)
  • High-quality, optimized images that are compressed and include descriptive alt text
  • Fast, mobile-friendly vehicle listings
  • Unique vehicle descriptions
  • Local signals, including the dealership’s location and contact information
  • Internal linking to category pages, finance pages, and other relevant pages
  • Inventory management with cache, removing sold items, and canonical tags for duplicate listings
  • Reviews and trust signals, including reviews, trust badges, warranties, CARFAX, and financing information.
  • Clear and concise CTAs so the customer can visit the showroom, schedule a test drive, or check financing options.

Auto dealership SEO is tailored to the unique challenges and priorities of their websites to increase traffic from search engines.

The main one is that the majority of dealerships have a local SEO strategy. Other factors that make dealership SEO different are their inventory-based content, managing expired pages from constantly changing inventory, high competition, structured data requirements, conversion goals, and reputation is more critical to success.

Yes, with local dealership SEO showing up on Google Maps, or the Map Pack, is a major strategic focus and signal for success with your campaign.

Showing on Google Maps for non-branded terms like “Chevy dealership near me” is crucial to reaching new customers for your business.

This will depend on the dealership and its specific needs.

The majority of auto dealerships only need local SEO to reach customers nearby.

Some niche stores, like classic car dealerships, performance dealerships, and luxury car dealerships, that reach a unique consumer base and commonly ship nationwide, will also look to reach customers outside of their immediate area.

We provide SEO for a variety of dealerships, including:

  • Franchise Car Dealerships
  • Multi-Location Dealerships and Auto Groups
  • Luxury Car Dealerships
  • Classic Car Dealerships
  • Used Car Dealerships
  • Motorcycle Dealerships
  • Boat Dealerships
  • ATV / Powersports Dealerships
  • RV Dealerships
  • Farm / AG Dealership

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Start the conversation to grow your business with Hilltop SEO!

Explore other Automotive SEO Services

See other SEO services for businesses in the automotive industry, including auto parts stores, auto detailers, and more.

Automotive SEO

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