Why optimizing Google My Business can lead to high quality traffic

The average franchised car dealer in the U.S., service listing has less than 10 reviews.

On the latest episode of Auto Marketing Now, host Brian Pasch, Founder of PCG Companies, covers the latest updates to the dealer’s number one source of high-quality traffic, Google My Business.

Google My Business for dealers generates over half of the leads that visit your dealership. No other channel generates more phone calls or leads for the dealership.

Products were a way in which you could drive traffic into the website for people to shop for a specific model. Today, those products can be an inventory feed, so that on the mobile device, you have a search results page and a VDP for every vehicle that’s in your inventory feed. You can take that feed and work with Google to get the feed to show real inventory on Google My Business. Pasch says to put a UTM tag on the link in your feed that goes back to your website so that you can see those visitors came from Google My Business.

Related: Brian Pasch discusses surprising results from latest Google SEM Report

Pasch says 8 out of 10 dealers he inspects don’t have their service and parts Google My Business listing completed. Google wants you to have a GMB for sales, service, and parts. Each one of those is different departments with different products and services, with different operating hours.

Google My Business

Google My Business is the number one way in which local consumers find local businesses. Most franchised dealer service centers do not show up in generic searches for service in the local market, says Pasch.He says, dealers haven’t taken the time to make their business stand out. The average franchised car dealer in the U.S., service listing has less than 10 reviews.

Each Google My Business has 10 business categories that reflect to Google what the business is about. Each one of your business categories should have ample content on your website to support your claim that your business does that type of work.

The more great content you have on your website, the higher your website will rank and the more often your GMB will show. The rankings for GMB are ordered by SEO strength. Pasch says Google My Business is an organic ranking tool that’s a reflection of your website, each supporting the other.


Did you enjoy this episode of Auto Marketing Now with Brian Pasch? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic at newsroom@cbtnews.com.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date or catch-up on all of our podcasts on demand.

While you’re here, don’t forget to subscribe to our email newsletter for all the latest auto industry news from CBT News.