Search engine optimization becomes more and more important for auto dealerships wanting to increase online visibility and generate sales. Getting on that first page of search results requires a conscious effort to maximize your website copy’s SEO, but doing so also means going deeper than just keywords in the copy. You have to make the most of meta tags in every page of coding on your website. If you’re wondering what meta tags are, the easiest explanation is that they let search engines know what a web page is about. There are several types of meta tags, and we’re defining those in this DigiKnow.
Canonical tags
These types of tags tell Google that the source you’re including in your code is the version you want to show up on the search engine results page. Otherwise, duplicate versions of the same page (such as a mobile or desktop version) might not have as frequent checks from Google.
Meta content type
This tag helps you make sure your pages appear in the proper form on any browser by noting the type of media and character set for each page.
Robot meta tags
Unless specified, search engines will always follow the default “index,follow” command, but you can use robot meta tags to change that behavior. For example, “noindex” keeps Google from indexing a page while “nosnippet” keeps a text or video preview from showing up in the search results.
Title tags
These tags not only help the reader know what your page is about, but they also help search engines know. Make sure you’re composing an intriguing title that will encourage clicks and help Google rank your site as high as possible.
Meta descriptions
These 160-character snippets (the length of which can vary from time to time depending on accepted best practices) show up on a search results page under the page title. The best descriptions will encourage clicks and thereby help improve your ranking.
At Chumney & Associates we are constantly researching the best SEO practices to ensure our clients land as high as possible on that first page of search results. If you have a question about the SEO on your dealership’s website, contact us today for an analysis.