Automotive group dealerships face a local search problem. Solving issues with multi-location car dealer SEO can be tricky, but rewarding when done right.
Running SEO for one dealership is hard enough. Add three, five, or ten more locations, and things get messy fast. Each store needs its own Google Business Profile set up correctly, with consistent Name, Address, and Phone details that match across every platform. Location-specific landing pages help capture shoppers searching near each dealership, while schema markup tells search engines what inventory and services you offer at every spot.
Your multi-rooftop SEO strategy faces real challenges
The real challenge? Managing reviews across all locations, building local backlinks that actually help your rankings, and creating geo-targeted content that speaks to each community. You’ll also need to cluster local keywords smartly and handle reputation management so one store’s problems don’t drag down the others. Done right, every dealership shows up when car buyers search nearby, and your sister stores don’t end up fighting each other for the same clicks.
Get the most out of local SEO with your multi-location car dealer SEO strategy
You want online users searching for key terms like “car dealerships near me” to find all of your locations, which means you need to have NAP consistency to push your automotive group near the top. It’s important these locations aren’t competing for the same clicks, but this general term might cause that issue. Your geo-targeted dealership content should be spread across various brands, models, and specific location information. An example of this would be using the area name of a dealership when its address is a bit different from other locations in your dealership group, such as Midlothian, Powhatan, and Richmond, to differentiate dealerships in the Richmond, VA area.
Dealership Google Business Profile optimization is a must
The NAP information gets things started, but you need to consistently use the differentiating name of a dealership across all pages, images, and links to help that dealership stand out from the rest and avoid competing for the same web traffic. Ensure the profile images of each dealership in your group are different from the others and unique to that dealership location. Generally, a dealership group offers several different vehicle brands at various locations, which should be part of the name differentiation and targeting of your audience. Ensuring your GBP is optimized should improve your car dealer’s local rankings for each store.
Multi-location car dealer SEO requires hyper-local backlinks
It’s important to use backlinks that connect to local businesses in the area to build reliability with search engines. If you have several dealership locations in the same general area, you’ll need to hyper-focus your local backlinks. This means paring down the list of businesses in the area of each dealership to ensure there isn’t any overlap from one store to another. Allow each dealership to partner with businesses that are more convenient and local to them, including car repair services, auto parts retailers, and other local businesses. Ask them to backlink your dealership to their content as well, which is good for both businesses.
Reviews can get tricky
If you have a few different dealership locations with similar names, it can be extremely tricky to ensure the right reviews go to the correct dealership. Help your team promote reviews and allow your potential customers to get to know the team at each dealership with content that introduces the dealership team online. This should be part of your multi-location car dealer SEO strategy, and it should be extremely clear that each dealership is different, despite being part of one large group. Ensure each review has responses, whether positive or negative, giving your customers valuable feedback and showing future customers that you care enough to follow up with previous shoppers.
Long-tail keywords are important for your multi-location car dealer SEO
Keywords are supposed to be longer than ever because more users than ever before are searching using natural language and longer, more specific terms. This means using keywords that include year, make, model, and location for users to search. You can do this with general terms as well, such as SUVs or trucks, with the age and location. Some keywords might work using the number of miles on the vehicle, but all of them require the location in order to drive local traffic to your dealerships.
How will you implement an effective multi-location car dealer SEO strategy to ensure you drive local traffic to the right dealership team without your locations competing for the same shoppers?
