Automotive Digital Marketing

Car Dealer Internet Reputation Management

Since Google Maps and other directory websites like SuperPages.com and MerchantCircle.com are integrating consumer reviews as part of their basic business listing, I highly recommend that car dealers check ALL consumer review websites.

My top seven websites that dealers must check include:

There are dozens of consumer review websites but the websites that appear on Google Page One for dealer name searches is where you need to focus your attention and budget. You also need to see which websites appear in the "Reviews" section of Google Maps. If a website shows on Google Page 1 or 2 for your dealership name, it is important to manage. Dealerrater.com is one of the most visible websites that car dealers must address as part of their Internet Reputation Management policy.

Heads in the Sand

I am discouraged at times by the higher number of general managers who do not visit these websites and search their own dealership name to inspect when people are saying about their staff and service. In the past week I have spoken with three large car dealers that did not know just how bad the reviews were about their company.

Some General Managers were just flat out shocked. All three of these dealers did not have a proactive system in place to coordinate getting their customers to post their positive experiences.

That being said, I have to take my hat off to www.dealerrater.com since their website almost always is on page one when you search a car dealer name. The fact that have such a highly optimized website for automotive dealers makes it difficult to ignore. They are a great example of how powerful Automotive SEO strategies and website content that include dealer names can be.

I also like the fact that dealers can buy advertising space on their page to direct consumers to their current specials. I like the fact that they can respond to any negative criticism. I like the fact that they offer dealers the ability to buy advertising on a competitors listing page. Aggressive but I like it.

Overall, Dealerrater's package for Internet Reputation Management and Inventory Distribution Marketing is worth a serious look. The feedback I get from my customers who use the full package is very positive.

Testing The Importance of Internet Reputation Management

Type "Circle BMW" into Google and you will see Dealerrater and InsiderPages on the first page of search results and MerchantCircle on the second page. If you search Google Maps for "Circle BMW" you will see that Google has summarized 7 reviews from these various websites. Dealerrater is the first review in the list and you will see reviews from CitySearch, InsiderPages and SuperPages. All are summarized so all should not be ignored.

How are the reviews that are showing up on your Google Maps listing?

If you have bad reviews on the top 7 websites I listed, you need to start an effort to balance the reviews with positive ones. Do not post them from your dealership. DealerRater has a system in place to monitor IP address spam and could have your website banned for 6 months or more. Take the time to write a phone script and email script to solicit the time of your customers to post positive reviews.

Need Help with Internet Reputation Management?

If you need help setting up an Internet Reputation Management system, give us a call. You can outsource the communications with your customers and have us make sure that you have a balanced set of positive reviews on all popular consumer reporting websites. If you ignore this, there will most likely only be negative posts about your company on the Internet.