The European auto repair/service business is highly competitive. You need a way to gain an edge over the competition that will help position you as the go-to German auto repair/service to gain more customers and help grow your business. A blog is one of the most affordable ways to gain customer share. However, unless you understand how to optimize your European auto shop’s blog for SEO, chances are you won’t be able to make it to the top of the rankings. Here we offer five tips to help you outrank the competition with optimized blog posts.
1. Focus on Auto/Driving Topics
Although this might seem obvious to you, there is a chance you might not be doing as good a job in this area as you think. You might be inclined to write blogs packed with SEO, but little substance. This can make search engines suspicious you aren’t providing high-quality content. High-quality content is the number one thing Google looks for. By choosing the most relevant and helpful topics regarding cars, driving and even information on the models you specialize in, you will improve your visibility and indexing with search engines. Keep in mind your topic is more important than keywords, and you will find your keywords still shine organically.
2. Develop a List of Keywords
We did say keywords weren’t as important as your topics, but you still need them. You can develop a list of keywords that can help provide inspiration for your topics. An important aspect of keywords for European auto repair/services is to include your location. Be specific right down to the town, so those doing “near me” searches find you right away.
You also want to use key phrases in a longer form that will be logical choices people will use in their searches. This helps meet the needs of user intent, such as fix a flat tire in Munich, or engine trouble in Essen. You can even drill down to your neighborhood.
Tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner can help you research using your list. This will provide insight into the frequency people search with these terms, as well as offer some other ideas to add to your keyword list.
3. Improve Keyword Density
Using your topics and keywords together creates improved SEO. It is a bit of an art to learn how often you use your keywords, where they are placed and how to make them appear naturally in your text.
You should use primary keywords that are the main focus of your blog, in hand with secondary keywords and phrases that are attractive to your audience. Your primary keywords require 1 to 3% density and should be used when possible in:
- Your first sentence or paragraph
- Your main title
- Your subheadings
- Throughout your blog in the top, middle and bottom paragraphs
Blog platforms like WordPress have SEO density tools to alert you when you are under or over the recommended usage. Your secondary keywords can cover quite a wide selection of auto-related terms. These should only be used where they make sense and can be added naturally. Otherwise, your blog will become awkward to read. This is a red flag to search engines.
4. Add Images of Cars and Driving
High-quality images of cars and people driving on attractive roadways add to your SEO. Not only do they make your blogs more scrollable, so people are intrigued when they land on your page, but they also include keywords. Images can be tagged with titles, alt text and descriptions that are searched and indexed along with your copy.
5. Don’t Forget to Add Links
High-quality blogs never forget the importance of links. You might avoid adding links out of fear it will lead people away from your blog, but they serve a very important purpose. Links help build value.
External links with reputable, trusted industry sources not only supplement your information but also support the relevance of your blog in relation to the subject matter. Internal links to your own information also offer supplemental information about your services and knowledge. Both work together to improve SEO. Just be careful with the external links you add.
First, they have to be highly reputable and non-competitive. Second, you have to pay attention to make sure they don’t become out of date and lead to pages that no longer exist. Dead links frustrate visitors and are a turn off for search engines.
Finding the Right Local SEO Experts for Your German Auto Service
Now that you understand some SEO basics, you might still feel you could use some help from the experts at a reputable SEO company. Our online marketing professionals at Outreach Digital Marketing understand all the intricate details that affect SEO. We can help improve your SEO efforts.
Get a complete overview of your Local SEO performance in minutes by contacting Outreach Digital Marketing today.