5 Local Listings Strategies to Increase Your Dealership’s Website Traffic

For trailer dealerships, managing your local online listings carefully and accurately is crucial in establishing a strong online presence that attracts new customers. Having high-quality local listings on platforms such as Google My Business, Facebook, and Yelp ensures your dealership is accurately represented online and can be easily found by potential buyers.

Here are five strategies trailer dealerships can implement to manage local listings, drive website traffic, and ultimately bring customers into your store:

1. Maintain Consistent Information Across All Platforms

Local online listings management ensures your dealership's most critical information—such as address, phone number, and hours of operation—is consistent across all online platforms, channels, and directories.

For example, if your dealership’s address is listed as 456 Trailer Lane on your website, it should also be listed as 456 Trailer Lane on your Google My Business listing, Facebook page, and any other online channels. Inconsistent information can confuse customers, causing them to doubt which details are correct. Consistency across all channels helps establish trust and credibility with potential customers.

2. Ensure Accurate Dealership Information

Beyond consistency, it’s essential to ensure all information on your local online listings is accurate. If your dealership operates from 8 am to 5 pm on weekdays but your Facebook page says you're open from 8 am to 7 pm, customers may arrive at your dealership outside of your operating hours, leading to frustration.

Having accurate information online is vital for attracting and retaining customers.

3. Encourage Customer Reviews

Local online listings often include customer reviews, which are a powerful tool for attracting new buyers and establishing credibility. If a potential customer sees that your dealership has high ratings and positive reviews on Facebook, they’re more likely to visit and make a purchase. Conversely, negative reviews can deter them. Managing local online listings involves monitoring and responding to customer reviews to maintain a positive reputation.

Create simple programs to encourage customer reviews after a sale, purchase, or service. One way is to ask customers to rate you via a survey. For those who provide positive feedback, request a review. Alternatively, send an automated email to customers after a sale or service with a link to your Google or Facebook page for reviews.

4. Showcase Your Content via Google My Business

Google My Business is a powerful tool for all local businesses, especially trailer dealerships. It allows you to create a listing for your dealership on Google, which appears in search results and on Google Maps.

Local online listings management involves optimizing your Google My Business listing with accurate information and engaging content, such as photos and descriptions of your dealership and inventory.

For instance, if you have a new trailer model to promote, add high-quality photos of the trailer to your Google My Business listing to drive new customers to your website and showroom.

5. Maintain Your Social Media Profiles

In addition to your dealership’s website and Google My Business listing, it’s important to have a strong presence on social media platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.

This involves creating and maintaining social media profiles for your dealership and regularly posting engaging content. Post updates, photos, and videos on a regular schedule—this could mean a few times a week or even daily, if manageable. You can post about new trailer models, promotions, local community events, and dealership events. These posts can attract new buyers, engage past customers, and build a community around your dealership.

Three Benefits of a Third-Party Listings Strategy

When new and existing customers find your dealership online through third-party listings, it leads to increased traffic on your dealership’s website. This increased traffic has many positive effects on your dealership’s online presence, including:

1. Increased Dealership Website Traffic

Third-party listings will increase your website’s organic traffic, which refers to traffic from search engines like Google, rather than paid ads or other paid online channels. More organic traffic via search engines is one of the best ways to improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find your dealership when searching for related keywords.

2. Increased Domain Authority

Increased website traffic will help improve your website’s domain authority, a measure of how well a website is likely to rank on search engines like Google or Bing. Higher domain authority increases the likelihood of your website ranking higher in search results for keywords related to your business. Increased traffic through local listings improves your domain authority by showing search engines that your website is popular, established, and trustworthy.

3. Higher Rank on Google

Increased website traffic can also increase trust among search engines like Google. When search engines see that a website is popular and receives a lot of traffic, they are more likely to trust that website and consider it a valuable resource. This can improve search engine rankings and make it easier for potential customers to find your dealership online.

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