Autobytel's Search Engine Strategy Revs Into High Gear
06 Juin 2005 - 3:02PM
PR Newswire (US)
Autobytel's Search Engine Strategy Revs Into High Gear Autobytel
Page Views and Purchase Requests Through Search Engines Soar,
Generating Steady Stream of High-Quality Customers for Dealers and
Advertisers IRVINE, Calif., June 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Autobytel Inc. (NASDAQ:ABTLE) reports that the number of customers
who came onto Autobytel sites through search engines and then
submitted a new vehicle Purchase Request soared 79% from 2003 to
2004. During the same time period the percentage of Autobytel
website page views generated through search engines rose 67%. These
critical site traffic metrics underscore the effectiveness of the
company's pioneering Search Engine Optimization (SEO) initiatives,
powered by cutting-edge proprietary software. Autobytel's
increasing search engine traffic is good news for the company --
which saw overall site traffic rise almost 20% in April, one of the
biggest gains on the Internet* -- as well as for the company's
nationwide network of member dealers. According to Autobytel data,
customers who come into the company's sites through a keyword
search, and then submit an online request to buy a new vehicle from
a local Autobytel member dealer, are exceptionally motivated,
high-quality buyers. "These are self-selecting, serious shoppers,"
said Autobytel Senior Vice President of Marketing and Media Service
Michael Rosenberg. "They're also confident that they're getting to
the best possible auto information sources through a fair, unbiased
search process. It all adds up to a steady stream of high-quality
car buyers for our member dealers. That's why Autobytel has made
SEO a top priority." According to Rosenberg, the stakes of
Autobytel's SEO mission are high. While fifty-six percent of all
Americans use search engines daily, 90% use only the top-10 search
engines and 80% don't click past the first page search results so a
targeted SEO strategy is key. "A lot of companies are beginning to
recognize the make-or-break importance of effective SEO, but it's
not necessarily something you can just throw money at. Autobytel
has worked for years, really since our inception in 1995, on
marketing search strategies." Part of Autobytel's search engine
success is the result of its industry leadership and 10 years of
mainstream brand recognition. As the first online car-buying web
site, and still one of the premier automotive Internet brands,
Autobytel is consistently one of the most visited automotive
destinations on the Web, and attracts a significant percentage of
its traffic through web links from hundreds of the top
automotive-related sites. That success leads to even more success
in the democratic process of search engine rankings, which are
determined largely by a site's popularity and incoming link count.
Other aspects of Autobytel's SEO strategy require continuous
monitoring of the business impact of specific keywords. To this
end, Autobytel has developed proprietary software that monitors up
to 200,000 popular automotive search terms (like 'used cars,'
'Honda,' etc.) every day to measure not only how much search engine
traffic they generate, but also how much revenue they create. The
software then automatically makes "intelligent" bids on keywords
based on their value to the business. "It's like a stock market for
words," adds Rosenberg. "If we can determine that a certain word
can generate a visit for our targeted cost, then that's our bidding
cap. Our software is a major competitive advantage in what has
become a heated competition to maximize keyword effectiveness and
ROI." Using that same "keyword intelligence," Autobytel's site
content is also continuously updated to optimize exposure on the
major search engines. Search engines regularly index relevant web
pages based on popular search criteria, and those pages then become
part of the engine's "search universe" -- the more indexed pages
that correlate to a particular keyword, the higher the ranking,
making indexed page count a major determinant of SEO success. On
that front, Autobytel easily tops its competitors with more than 10
million page listings currently indexed at the major search
engines. Of course, driving search engine traffic to the Autobytel
sites is only the first step in the company's larger mission to
channel online automotive shoppers into member dealerships. To that
end, the company automatically presents dealership branding and
marketing messages to local shoppers based on their zip code and
brand selections. This "local dealer search" function, in effect,
mirrors, or refines, the search engine process, presenting relevant
dealership listings based on buyers' online search parameters.
"Search engines and the automotive Internet are now seamlessly
intertwined," concluded Rosenberg. "Millions of people are
researching their next vehicle purchase on the Internet every day.
Our job is to usher these shoppers from a general research stage
into an information-rich environment where they can be confident
about what they're going to buy, and where they're going to buy
it." * According to comScore Media Metrix Autobytel was the 8th
biggest gainer in unique visitors on the Internet in April.
(comScore Media Metrix press release May 18th, 2005) About
Autobytel Inc. Autobytel Inc. (NASDAQ:ABTLE) a leading Internet
automotive marketing services company, helps retailers sell cars
and manufacturers build brands through marketing, advertising, data
and CRM (customer relationship management) products and programs.
The Company owns and operates the automotive websites
Autobytel.com, Autoweb.com, Carsmart.com, Car.com, AutoSite.com,
Autoahorros.com, and CarTV.com, as well as AIC (Automotive
Information Center), a trusted industry source of automotive
marketing data and technology for over 20 years. Autobytel is also
a leader in dealership lead management and CRM solutions and owns
and operates AVV, Inc., a top provider of dealership CRM and sales
management products, and Retention Performance Marketing, Inc.,
(RPM(R)), which powers dealerships with cutting-edge customer
loyalty and retention marketing programs. Autobytel was the most
visited new car buying and research destination in 2004, reaching
millions of car shoppers as they made their vehicle buying
decisions. Autobytel's car-selling sites and lead management
products are used by more of the nation's top-100 e-dealers than
any other program. DATASOURCE: Autobytel Inc. CONTACT: Media
Relations, Melanie Webber of Autobytel Inc., +1-949-862-3023, ; or
Betsy Isroelit, ext. 17, , or Joe Foster, ext. 13, , both of RBI
Communications, +1-323-960-1360, for Autobytel Inc. Web site:
http://www.autobytel.com/
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