5 Questions to Ask Your Agency about SEO Strategy

By Betsy Sprenkle on 03/06/19
Updated on 08/31/23

Is your website lacking a presence on Google?

We hear auto dealers worry about their search engine optimization (SEO) all the time. And we understand why. It’s great to stay with the flock sometimes, but why blend in with your competition online?

Breaking out from all the other dealerships in your area can be difficult — especially when many automotive websites are cookie cutter. So why not make sure your website is the best it can be?

Not all digital marketing agencies provide the same level of service when it comes to SEO. That’s why we’re sharing the top five questions you should ask your future or current agency about your SEO strategy.

Why Your OEM Website Isn’t Getting Found Online (And How to Fix It)

Psst: When you’re done with this article, be sure to check out our other posts in this series:

5 Questions to Ask an Agency about SEO

1. What On-Site Optimizations Will You Do?

There are plenty of updates an agency can make to improve your website. From on-page SEO to off-page SEO, a knowledgeable SEO agency can work to differentiate your website from similar dealerships or brands.

Here are just a few optimizations a marketing agency should mention when you are interviewing them about SEO:

Keyword research: Knowing what your target audience is searching can make all the difference. Your agency should not only research relevant keywords but also flesh out the keywords that are not relevant for each page.
Mobile-friendliness: More than half of automotive Internet searches (53% to be exact) are now done on mobile devices. Is your website easy to navigate on phones and tablets? Your agency should work to optimize your website to ensure a great user experience on all devices.
User experience: Speaking of a great user experience, have you ever been to a site and couldn’t even read the copy? Or a button was too small for your thumb? If you’re like us, you leave immediately and try to find a new website for your answer. Don’t let this happen to your dealership! SEO agencies can update call-to-action buttons, increase text size, organize copy and navigation, quicken load time, and make a number of other fixes to ensure users stay on your site longer.
Site crawl: Another aspect of user experience is simply a working website. If a user ends up on a broken page, frustration can hit quickly. It’s important to know which pages are broken and then establish appropriate redirects — which any agency should know how to do.
Page titles, meta descriptions, and copy: This is an easy one. If the titles on your website are too generic or all the same, searchers on Google or Bing won’t know which page to click. And that’s if your pages even rank! Your agency should work with you (or at least update you on its progress) to optimize your page titles, meta descriptions, copy, and alt text as well.

2. Do You Offer Backlinking Opportunities?

There are plenty of ways to help your on-site optimizations get a little extra oomph. Backlinking, which means getting another relevant website to link back to your site (and vice versa), gives you an SEO boost. Your marketing agency should find ways to link to and from other popular websites, such as your original equipment manufacturer (OEM) site or group automotive site.

3. How Will You Report on My Progress (and How Often)?

The first thing to know about SEO is that you won’t see overnight success. When it comes to the “race” of ranking on Google, SEO is the tortoise, not the hare. A good SEO agency will usually report on your progress monthly or at least quarterly and will share key performance indicators (KPIs). Here are several metrics in Google Analytics that your agency should track.

4. Can You Get Me Ranked #1 or as a Featured Snippet?

Don’t get us wrong — this is our ultimate goal with SEO — but an agency should never tell you it will get you top-of-page rankings or featured snippets. Since nobody knows the exact algorithms used by search engines (and they’re changing all the time), agencies should not promise something over which they don’t have complete control.

5. Do You Work with Local SEO?

Local SEO is different from on and off-page SEO, but it can also help boost your website ranking! Local SEO focuses more on your business information (like its name, address, phone number, and relative location to searches).

There are a ton of places that list your dealership’s contact info, and some can easily be wrong — so it’s important to make sure these listings are all up to date. Your marketing agency should be able to help you with this, as it’s a basic practice in the SEO world.

If you’re wondering how your local SEO scores, check out this free audit from Birdeye.

Reach New Heights with Your SEO Strategy

Search engine optimization can be an overwhelming and time-consuming process. But in the end, it can give your company a huge advantage over the competition.

Finding an SEO agency that is right for your dealership is important since you want it to be a long-lasting partnership. At 9 Clouds, not only do we provide a comprehensive SEO service, we also like to educate our clients so they feel comfortable with our progress and understand what we’re doing.

These aren’t the only questions you should be asking your agency. To learn them all, download our complete Questions to Ask Your Agency eBook.

Download the Free eBook

Betsy Sprenkle

As Chief Technical Officer, Betsy loves breaking down barriers and finding creative solutions to problems. An out-of-the-box thinker, Betsy enjoys the opportunities marketing brings because it’s an ever-changing career. When she’s not at the office, you’ll find her in the garden. Learn more about Betsy.