AutoNation Case Study
LSG used market research and SEO strategy to help AutoNation tap into local search intent and features to outperform well-established listings websites and gain local market share.
About AutoNation
AutoNation is an American automotive retailer operating across the United States. The company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but has over 270 wholly-owned dealerships in different regions, each with its own website.
Why they hired us
AutoNation had a number of hurdles to overcome in its pursuit of visibility and engagement in key markets. AutoNation needed to tap into local search intent and features to outperform well-established listings websites and gain local market share. For legal compliance, they also needed to have laser-targeted promotions as AutoNation dealerships are contractually obligated to market only within their own designated region.
On top of those challenges, they also lacked an in-house SEO team to help them prioritize tasks and make the most of metadata, copy, internal links, and other on-page optimizations across their 270 websites.
When it came time to drive new business at the local level, AutoNation turned to Local SEO Guide to strategize and execute at scale.
We’ve been partnered with Local SEO Guide for the better part of a decade, and truly seen significant impact to our search visibility with their assistance. LSG has enabled us to deploy content at scale across hundreds of websites, and pull-in meaningful local organic data to continue refining and growing.”
Mark McMahon, SEO Manager, AutoNation
What we did
We developed and executed a plan to optimizing for their pages for local search make a custom solution to take advantage of the many revenue-generating opportunities they were missing at the local level.
Local SEO Guide provided a data-backed strategy and the resources to implement across four key areas.
Market Research
Local SEO Guide operationalized machine learning with keywords grouped by category/buckets over large data sets, taking a series of queries from Google Search Console and using ML to tie them to a high-level category (e.g., cars).
This meant taking all of the URLs for all keywords in those categories and structuring them so that AutoNation could more clearly identify interrelated keywords. Additionally, it allowed AutoNation to track lead volume to page templates and discover what templates drive the most leads for various keywords.
SEO Strategy
Local SEO Guide also provided expert SEO practitioners to serve as AutoNation’s SEO arm, enabling the brand to scale without the investment required to develop an in-house SEO team.
Reporting
Lighthouse reporting for 270 locations also gave the brand a comprehensive overview of local SEO performance. Local SEO Guide built a single dashboard to aggregate data from 270 dealership websites, enabling the client to see performance reporting by brand and filter keyword clicks and impressions by query category including the level of intent, brand names, topical categories, vehicle type and model, etc., using machine learning.
Content at Scale
Local SEO Guide built an auto-posting system to distribute optimized content across all of AutoNation’s websites. This involved developing an internal feed to automatically populate Google Posts with offers such as new vehicles, oil change and tire specials, etc. AutoNation had the option to segment between service and new vehicle offers.
AutoNation also received editorial support and SEO content services, as Local SEO Guide’s team outlined and produced hundreds of pages with a team of experienced writers. LSG’s in-house editors ensured each page was tailored for the dealer’s location while keeping pertinent page information and keyword use consistent.
Measurable Business Results
Local SEO Guide helps Autonation target high-conversion queries for pages including new models, financing, service, and more while accounting for seasonality and trends in their sales cycles.
Dealer Sites Optimized Regularly
300+
300+
Pages of Content Published
10000+
10000+
Organic Clicks To Dealer Sites - Past Two Years
+164%
+164%