The entry level SEO knowledge to sell affiliate products online is knowing to target the “longtail”.  Generally trying to rank for generic keywords does not help affiliate sales.  Most people searching for generic keywords are looking purely for information and realize that they need to refine their search.  In automobiles I see no difference.

There is a debate going on right now over at DealerRefresh.com about automotive SEO.  I did not wish to jump in the fray over there, because my automotive experience is minimal and I do not have “proof of concept” to back up my thoughts and opinion, yet.

To be quite frank I do not want to rank in the searches for “Chrysler Dealers” or “Hyundai Dealers” this is a waste of my time to interact with leads for new cars way out of my market area.  Any information they would garner from me they would use as a weapon to purchase a car from a dealer closer to them.  Point blank I don’t want leads from California and Texas.  I want leads from Jacksonville, FL, Savannah, GA or any town within 150 miles of me.  Then I can use my abilities as a salesperson to interact with that lead, build rapport and sell a car.

In my current situation getting authority to change the “company sites” to do this will almost be impossible at this point.  They are coming around but would be beating my head against the wall to try to make these changes at this point.  So instead I am working on blog networks to dominate these longtail type searches and attempting to sell myself first.  It is a work in progress and I will report back with “proof of concept”.

Also ranking for specific used car inventory in searches is tantamount to my efforts as well.  Sure there is not a large search volume for “2006 Preowned  Hyundai Sonata Savannah GA” but if I have several in inventory I want to rank for that search term and have the #1 Google Listing for that term and #2 for “2006 used Hyundai Sonata Savannah, GA”.  I know there is not much search volume for that term, but I’ll take what there is especially when you throw in other surrounding cities and other inventory items.  I know a surfer searching for that term is a very targeted customer.  It beats one that finds me searching for “buy a new Hyundai” or “buy a used Hyundai” that surfer may not even be in the USA.

If “Content is King” and “Traffic is Supreme” then the “Longtail is the Holy Grail”.  That is a more targeted lead generated from the longtail.  I don’t want 1,000,000 hits for “Buy a Hyundai” I would prefer 100 for “Buy a Used Hyundai in (city name within 150 miles)”.  That is targeted traffic!  I have some work to do to get there, it is coming though.

I am doing this work on my own.  I own all of the content and domains.  This will be transportable if my current situation changes.  I know beyond a doubt if I had three people on salary to help create this content I could dominate any market area for competitive dealers names, used car inventory and geographic new car searches within two weeks.  The only problem I see in the Automotive Industry is that dealers are not willing to make that commitment nor do they want to pay for the true value.  So I will keep quietly building SERP domination even if it is just a little bit at a time.

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