Evidence shows that the more descriptive the SEO phrase you use, the more likely you are to reach and convert your intended audience (Search Illustrated: B2B Long Tail SEO).

Longer, more descriptive, phrases have long been thought to be the driving force behind long tail SEO (a long-term traffic building strategy), but research indicates that more specific SEO phrases can also have a higher conversion rate. The higher conversion rate is due to reaching a more targeted group. This means that using longer phrases can meet both your short-term goals of getting customers quickly and your long-term goals of driving traffic to your dealership’s site and building your business image.

What does this mean for your dealership?

If you’re a Ford dealer and you optimize your dealership blog for the short key word phrase “Ford SUV” or “new Ford SUV,” then you may experience an immediate increase of traffic to your dealership site as the search engines send everyone who searches on that popular phrase to your blog.

However, you will experience a lower number of customer conversions from those hits since not everyone who types the words “new Ford SUV” into the search engine is really a potential customer. They may not be looking for a Ford at all, but for some other model of SUV. Or, they may simply be curious about Ford SUVs.

On the other hand, if you optimize your dealership blog posts with a longer, more descriptive, keyword phrase, such as “2008 Ford Escape Hybrid,” then the group that you reach with your blog post may be smaller. However, the members of the group are more likely to be potential customers who are specifically looking for a 2008 Ford Escape. Your conversion rate from this targeted group is likely to be much higher than if you had used the shorter phrase.

How can your car dealership benefit from this information?

It’s simple. Don’t be afraid to optimize your site’s articles and blog posts using longer, more specific keyword phrases. Try to think like your customer would. If you were going to buy a specific model of Ford, what specific description would you type into a search engine? That’s the keyword phrase that you should use to optimize your articles and blog posts.

You can also enlist the aid of a search engine marketing specialist to help you find the right phrases.

The bottom line is that long tail SEO can help your car dealership meet both long and short-term marketing goals.