Caveat: This is not an endorsement of CDK sites. This simply reports our findings. We recommend platforms to dealerships based on myriad variables. 

August 28th, 2018 - We noted that CDK websites saw a significant increase in organic traffic that directly coincides with the Google "Medic" algorithm update. 

During our regular audits, our team found a pattern of increases in organic website traffic throughout the month of August as compared to July. This prompted us to run a network-wide audit to substantiate this finding. 

91.7% of CDK sites in our network were affected. They saw an average 45% increase in organic traffic. Mobile and tablet devices experienced a more significant share, with the top 20% of dealers achieving 209% and 145% increases respectively. 

These increases began on the same day as Google's "broad core algorithm update" they called Medic, on August 1, 2018. According to an official statement, Google intended for the update to reward previously undervalued sites, with a focus on boosting medical sites. It is clear, though, that automotive sites were also affected.

CDK was not the only platform to have a jolt in traffic. Dealer.com and DealerOn, among others, had a few dealerships increase from around 10-50%; however, the number of dealerships affected on these platforms was not nearly as high and not outside the range of typical monthly results. We did not find that any major automotive CMS went through an overall loss in traffic.

Conversions were also positively impacted, so the benefits influenced dealerships on multiple fronts. Here are a few screenshots of the increase: 1-3 are three different dealerships with general goal increases; 4-5 are one dealership with goals broken out by calls and form submissions.

Images 1-3

Images 4-5