October 2023 SEO Product Update: Vehicle Listing Stuctured Data, Media Mentions
Another month, another set of algo updates, more ways to add data to your vehicle marketplace & listings (lol).
Feels like a little bit of a hamster wheel with Google updates lately, and clearly Core and Helpful Content systems are being automated. But at least it’s surfacing some new appearance features with its new documentation on Vehicle Listings.
Not to be confused with “Product” markup that “vehicle” can be defined in and where data like transmission, color, mileage, accident history and VIN can be added to, this one apparently goes out to the vehicle dealerships of the world with a brick and mortar storefront/parking lot.
Sorry all you brokers and lead-gen marketplaces. At least G clarified that adding the markup without a Google Business Profile and real-world inventory can catch you a manual action—should be interesting to see who tries to subvert this best practice guidance and how they do it, but it’s probably too high stakes for marketplaces like CARFAX and Edmunds/KBB to want to mess with.
That said in idly dealing with a few dealerships lately this model really has got to go. Car salesmen be slimy always, even the upsale brands—turn them all into service centers and let the people have what they want in D2C/the Tesla/Rivian model.
MEDIA MENTIONs
Do you have a digital PR team? No? Google that and get on it.
Digital PR can check so many EEAT boxes of Google’s algorithm I’m honestly amazed bigger firms and companies straight up just don’t pay attention to this as a team, discipline, skillset (or budget it).
In the automotive context when you’re often dealing in highly technical terminologies and data points it’s a fantastic (or the only) way to get high quality links and build the “expertise” = the spokesperson/brand go-to and “trust” = links in EEAT aspects of the equation.
To not understate it, you should ID your expert (an OG at the company if it has been around for a minute) or probably the startup’s founder, CEO, or leader in its data group, depending on the phase a startup is in, its size, etc. who is comfortable interviewing and can respond to an interview request as they come in.
The team at LTV is fantastic on so many levels, but one thing I appreciate that’s maybe more of an intangible is their deep SEO savvy and how they’ve built an internal rolodex of experts to pair to any inquiry. If a small firm can be this scrappy I really don’t feel like bigger companies have any excuse—and I’m a big supporter of PR and SEO being under one roof within an org.
They totally teed one up for me in The Daily Mail; fun to do when they come up but I think as a standard any product manager should be able to talk about their industry's trends and try to bring the topic back home to their brand—but shout out the digital PR teams that SME it up on their own or pass the rock around their org in smart and savvy ways.
We finally got some much postponed, needed travel in. Funny thing about having a kid—these opportunities somehow go out the window for a period of months/years. Saw this absolutely dope Land Rover Defender on Bond Street in London pictured up top—another casualty of import rules, safety & emissions standards, idk. Would be all over this.