Proudly serving the industry for which it was named for more than 50 years, Outdoor Power Equipment provides dealers who sell and service outdoor power equipment with valuable information to succeed in a competitive market.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/775380
22 FEBRUARY 2017 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com and it can help ensure that you don't lose out on sales due to a wrong digit in your address or phone number. The first step in keeping your information up to date is rounding up all of the places your dealership information lives online. Doing a search for your dealership name on Google is a good way to dig up any listings that may have popped up without your knowledge. Make a list of the websites that your dealership is present on, and claim any unclaimed listings — this puts control of the listing in your hands. One platform that you should make sure you're listed on is Google My Business; it sends strong signals to Google and displays a wealth of information about your business right on the search results page. If you're not already listed on Google My Business, be sure to set up a listing there. Once you have a handle on your online presence, audit all of your listings to make sure that they contain the correct information. Make any necessary updates, then mark your calendar a month out to return and check them all again. If any of your contact information changes, be sure to update all of the locations where your information lives to ensure that shoppers are always able to get ahold of you! If keeping all of your information up to date across the Internet seems like a daunting task, tools like ARI's Premium Directory Management can help you manage your listings without adding extra time to your day. FEATURE STORY | Website Solutions Keeping Up With Google 4 tactics to stay ahead of your competition in search results ■ BY COLLEEN MALLOY The face of search has changed drastically over the past year, and we can expect to see it change even more over the course of 2017. Google is putting more emphasis than ever on providing the best results for searchers looking for local products and businesses. The search engine giant is looking for specific signals from your dealership's online presence to decide when to show shoppers your website, and if you're not living up to its standards, the chances are slim that shoppers will find your dealership when they search for outdoor power equipment in your area. Today, Google decides where your website should appear in search results based on its trust that your dealership is the best resource for shoppers looking for outdoor power equipment. It looks at overall customer experience, not just onsite search engine optimization (SEO). Google looks at a wide variety of signals from your online presence to determine if your business provides the best possible answer to the searcher's query. You can stay ahead of the competition by using the following four tactics to optimize your local search presence. #1 Keep your business information up to date Google looks for your name, address and phone number across the Internet, and having inconsistent information can have a negative impact on your dealership. Not only does having inconsistent information hurt your local search rank, but it also increases the chance that you lose out on a sale because a shopper couldn't get in touch with you. Making sure that your dealership information is accurate on your website and any third-party directory listings only takes a small amount of time each month, Google is looking for specific signals from your dealership's online presence to decide when to show shoppers your website, and if you're not living up to its standards, the chances are slim that shoppers will find your dealership when they search for outdoor power equipment in your area. IMAGE ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/BOMBUSCREATIVE