Google recently announced a new update to their search engine algorithm that puts a greater emphasis on recently published, fresh content. "This change...promotes fresher results...so that we provide users the most relevant answers to their queries," according to a Google spokesperson.

Regularly updated content has always been a positive ranking factor in SEO, but this announcement from Google makes it that much more important.

So how can your dealership use this change to help your dealer site rank better?

Individual Inventory Pages: Your inventory changes often, so why not use that to your advantage.  Having an inventory page for each vehicle not only gives your dealership more pages for Google to rank, but having new pages with relevant content will help your entire site rank higher.

Blog: Blogs have always been great for SEO purposes because of their optimized content and regular updates.  This update to Google's algorithm just makes them that much more important.  Make sure your auto dealer website has a blog within the dealership domain.  Update it regularly with posts about dealership news, the cars you sell, and driving tips in general.

Create Custom Pages:  Ideally your dealership’s website provider has a flexible enough platform that you can create as many pages that specifically target your geographic markets, your inventory, and the relevant offers available from your manufacturer.  When you create custom pages, you want to be able to customize the title tags, the URL of the page, meta descriptions, meta keywords, and actual verbiage on the page.  Your goal should be to make sure that the words and phrases relevant to one of your target customers (like 2012 Nissan Leaf sale) are reflected throughout each of these areas of the page.  If you’re not sure exactly how to do this, reach out to the company that provides your dealership website, and have them help you.  If you’re not able to get help there, you can reach out to our team at DealerOn—we’re always interested in helping dealers improve their online presence.

Keeping your dealership website up to date will help ensure your dealer customers find the information they are looking for, as well as help your site rank well in Google's search engine results pages.