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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a repair shop in possession of a website must be in want of good keywords.
That’s right, gang. Even in our brave new world, which might possibly be run almost entirely by AIs, good old-fashioned keywords are still one of the best ways to attract the right kind of visitors to your operation’s internet shopfront. That’s why today we’re going to zero in on what kind of keywords you should use and, y’know, why you should use them.
But Dieselmatic, you might be saying, you make websites and stuff…isn’t this going to hurt your business?
Nah. We actually really like sharing knowledge.
Digital marketing is interesting—it’s always changing, and we love seeing repair shop owners keeping up with said changes. An informed partner is a happy partner and all that. With that said, there’s a big difference between knowing your stuff and putting that stuff to work. Can you master the art of keyword research? Sure. Do you want to actually do said keyword research and build those keywords into your site…? Eh, you might have better things to do.
To help us get our point across, we sat down with the marvelous Aki Garg, a Dieselmatic SEO Specialist Team Lead. Here’s what he had to say.
FIRST, A WORD ABOUT KEYWORD USAGE
Before anything else, we want to make one thing abundantly clear: You can’t just jam a bunch of diesel-related keywords onto a page and wait for visitors.
Well…you can. We just wouldn’t advise it.
Google and other search engines are getting pretty savvy about discerning intent. That means they can tell when you’re providing something useful to your audience (for example, a rundown of your services, or a blog about common problems associated with a particular type of engine) or when you’re just making a grab for passing traffic. If they determine your goals involve the latter…they ain’t gonna rank you highly.
So all the keywords you choose need to actually serve a purpose.
WHY “NEAR ME” MATTERS
Some shops are still disregarding the power of “near me.” This phrase is often added by searchers who are ready to commit to service or purchases now. They are ready to go out (or, in the case of a stranded truck driver, ready to be rescued).
Let’s say a driver is searching for “Cummins truck repair near me.” Google uses their location and shows them the top-ranked repair shops that handle Cummins vehicles in the vicinity. Cool, right?
So you definitely want your repair shop to pop up under the “near me.” Happily, you don’t have to weirdly shoehorn that keyword into your copy (we’ve all seen “If you’re looking for a ‘repair shop near me,’ look no further!). I mean…you can, and more power to you if you can make that keyword fit even semi-naturally. But the most efficient way to get your shop to rank in another person’s “near me” search is to keep your Google Business details current and make sure your contact information (including address and local number) are all over your site.
There’s other things you can do, but we’re saving that for another post.
GET AS DETAILED AS YOU CAN
Keywords that describe what you do are almost always winners: think heavy-duty repair shop and semi truck repair shop. But, Aki told us, “We’ve found that people also search for very specific keywords, like Kenworth truck repair near me.”
Consider all the services you offer and any brands you may specialize in and build your keywords out from there. If you’ve got a tech who specializes in Cummins engines, well, keywords like Cummins engine rebuild and Cummins repair might be good starting places.
Aki cautions all those considering keywords not to stop with the obvious, though. He’s seen search traffic for “18-wheeler truck repair shop,” which is not something you might immediately plug in as a keyword.
Think about what kind of questions a potential visitor might ask, or what information they’re looking for. “As we go specific, the keyword difficulty comes down, and the website ranking goes up,” Aki explained.
Again, the ranking hinges on your website using those keywords in a way that serves visitors—no crowding them onto your page. Use the keywords to describe what you do, or to convey information. One of our favorite examples of well-used keywords is Adrenaline Diesel’s blog—take a look at some of their headers:
Aki described the ideal funnel this way: Someone lands on your website knowing they’re having trouble with their Freightliner. If you’ve got an article or service page detailing the problems a Freightliner can experience—and know how to fix said problems—that builds credibility. “Aha,” the reader thinks, “this person knows what they’re doing.”
Boom! They schedule service.
OR GET DIESELMATIC TO DO IT
There’s a lot more to keyword research and deciding which to use and how to use them. Sure, you can work it out on your own, or you can let the Dieselmatic team do the heavy lifting (and all that analysis). We’ll do what we do best—broaden your digital footprint—and you can do what you do best: wrenching!
Interested? Check out our free demo. We can’t wait to get you more traffic.
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