Of all the digital marketing concepts that one could teach to a dealer, that would impact his bottom line, POD Score™ would be in my top 10. The evolution of the “POD Score” has been a labor of love. I have assisted hundreds of dealers document and understand their visibility on the major search engines.

Over the past 5 years, the search results have produced alarming trends that most dealers are not aware of; their brand is under attack. A dealer’s POD Score™ is a measurement of how much of their brand equity is being diverted to competitors, lead collectors and uncontrolled commentary about their dealership.

Page One Defense – POD Score™

Based on feedback on numerous automotive forums regarding how a POD Score™ is calculated, I have created a revised formula for creating a POD Score™ that is designed to give dealers a quick measure of how well their name is being defended/protected online when consumers perform a “direct search” on their name in Google.

The elements in the revised POD Score™ are:

• Google Adwords Campaigns
• Google Maps
• Organic Listings

The revised formula also changes the weighted value of listings in the first five positions of Google organic results as compared to the last 5 listings on Page One.

A car dealer’s name is the number one keyword that drives traffic to their website in organic search. It can also be in the top five most clicked keywords if the dealership name is purchased in Adwords.

Consumers who search for a dealers name are most likely further along in the sales funnel than a consumer typing a broad search phrase. Consumers who search for a dealers name can be searching for a phone number, responding to an advertisement seen or heard offline, and an existing customer looking to service their car or ask a question.

Avoiding Disruptive Attacks

Since these consumers have set a search goal to connect with a dealer, it will take a disruptive event to divert a significant amount of traffic from a dealers website. I am suggesting that some of the more common disruptive events on Page One can be:

• A targeted PPC campaign showing by competitors or OEM.
• Strong negative reviews and low star ratings on Google Maps.
• Significantly higher stars on Google Maps for a competing dealer.
• A top five position for a complaint on aggressive websites like RipOffReport.com
• Targeted microsite attacking the dealers name like ww.abcdealersucks.com

Based on real life observations and data I have collected on multiple websites, I am convinced dealers should observe and take action for what appears on Page One for a search on their name. The degree of urgency will most likely depend on a dealer’s past experience with negative posts, employee attacks or aggressive competitors.

With that said, is just one element of their overall digital marketing strategy. Its beauty is that it clearly demonstrates the impact of digital marketing strategies, Automotive SEO and PPC, used to gain visibility for a car dealer’s name. Dealers will have to determine if their revised POD Score™ merits action.

What POD Scores Are Not Intended To Accomplish

• POD Score™ is not to be used to measure Page One results on random keywords. It is designed to measure the Page One results for a search on a business name.

• The POD Score™ (Page One Defense) is not designed to measure the exact financial impact of owning Page One.

• It is not a measure of the financial impact of PPC bidding or not bidding on a dealer name when no competing Adwords campaign are present.

• Most importantly, it is not meant to imply a measurement as to the net value of click traffic generated by PPC Ads vs. organic listings that show on Page One for a dealer’s name.

The Revised POD Score™ Formula

The revised formula is an acknowledgment that when a consumer types in a dealer’s name, there can be a number of things that can negatively or positively impact a dealer. The revised POD Score™ measures the dealer’s awareness of these attacks and their efforts and actions to stop brand leakage and attacks. There are three scoring elements in the revised formula, which are outlined in this document.

Special Thanks

I would like to thank the members of DrivingSales.com, DealerRefresh.com and AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com for providing feedback on the original formula and how it could be improved to relate to predictable click behavior and visual impact on Page One.

PPC Scoring Elements

In regards to PPC Ads, adding a scoring element can be tricky because budgets and schedule impact what is seen on Page One on any given moment. The dealer is in control of calculating their POD Score™ and that includes the scoring element for PPC.

Dealers can easily ask what keywords they are purchasing in Adwords.

For purposes of POD Score™, if a competitor’s ad or OEM ad is running at the top of organic search results for a dealer’s name, and if the dealer does not purchase their own name in Adwords as a defense, ten points will be taken off their score (-15). If a dealer recognizes their name is being targeted, and runs a competitive ad for their name, they will be rewarded five points (+15).

In the example above, Circle BMW get 15 points for creating a PPC campaign to mitigate the brand leakage created by BMW USA. If they did not create a PPC campaign, many leads would be siphoned off to BMW USA.

If there are no competitor PPC ads running for a search on a dealer’s name then there is no “top of page” attack and no POD need to direct funds at an Adwords campaign. That money can be spent to increase control of organic listings on Page One. Some Adwords experts have stated that buying a dealers name when no attack is present is great for lead generation. However, for the purpose of POD Score there is no reward.

Google Maps Elements

In regards to Google Maps, we firmly believe that dealers should edit and verify their own Google Maps listing. If the dealer’s Google Maps listing shows unverified, it can have incorrect data, phone numbers and website addresses. This is not a desirable event and an unverified listing will result in 10 points taken off their score (-10).

Reviews are an important element in Google Maps and highly visible when a consumer searches for a car dealer’s name. Bad reviews can be a disruptive event and can derail a consumer who was intending on doing business with the dealer.

Dealers should be defending their name by asking customers to post positive reviews. If a dealer ignores this element of Google Maps, most likely only negative reviews will show. Dealers should have dozens of positive reviews posted directly on Google Maps.

If a car dealer has at least five positive reviews directly posted into Google Maps and their average is over 3 stars in Google, they can add 15 points to their POD Score™ (+15). If a dealer has less than five positive reviews, or an average Google score under 3 stars, they will subtract 15 points (-15).

In the example above, Brickell Honda has numerous Google positive reviews so their scoring for the Map component of POD Score would be +15 points.

Dealers With Cities In Their Name

For some dealers, their dealership name includes a city like “Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills.” A search can trigger Google Maps to show multiple dealerships if a consumer types “Mercedes-Benz Beverly Hills” and leaves out the word “of.”

In this case, dealers should be aware of the relative scores presented if other Mercedes-Benz dealers appear. A dealer who has significantly less reviews and stars than their direct competitors, they are inviting the consumer to click and compare.

We understand that for some dealers, Google may not show all their ratings on third party websites. In any case, dealers should be balancing where reviews are placed and since Google controls the maps listing, posting directly to Google must be part of your Internet Reputation Management strategy and the POD Score™ reflects that need.

Organic Search Listings

Members of the automotive community suggested that all organic listings do not have the same click through rates and thus should not be viewed equally for scoring. Additional feedback included that all organic listings are not shown above the fold so unless consumers scroll through the page, some listings may not influence customers at all.

It is our conviction that all listings on Page One are important but we agree that weighting is needed to reflect the energy needed to control the most important listing positions.

Negative Review Focused Sites

For example, a RipOffReport.com or ConsumerAffairs.com listing in position 3 (shown previously for Bay Ridge Nissan) will be a more disruptive event than in position 10. This is simply because for many browsers, the listings in positions 6-10 need the user to scroll down to see them.

However, on my new Mac workstation, I can see all 10 without scrolling for most searches. The work needed to push this listing off Page One from position 3 will also require more work than if in position 10.

For POD scoring, a direct negative post, like RipOffReport.com or ConsumerAffairs.com, with the dealership name in the title that appears in the first five listing is considered disruptive event and will result in a deduction of 10 points (-10). If the review is in positions 6-10, deduct five points (-5). This can include direct attacks like www.abcbmwsucks.com which we have seen many times.

So when a dealer calculates their scores for organic listings that they have full control of, they will be weighted as follows:

• Position 1 15
• Position 2 15
• Position 3 10
• Position 4 10
• Position 5 10
• Position 6 5
• Position 7 5
• Position 8 5
• Position 9 5
• Position10 5

Total points awarded for a dealer owning all 10 organic listings on Page One is 75 points. In order to achieve a POD Score™ of 100 or higher, a dealer must gain points from their Google Maps positive reviews or their PPC defense strategy.

To clarify what counts for POD Score™ points in the organic listings we have created this table:

ADD POINTS FOR:	NO POINTS ADDED FOR:
Dealership Main Website(s)	Third party lead car websites
Dealership Microsites	Third party automotive sales websites
Dealership Press Releases	Yelp, InsiderPages, CitySearch, etc.
Dealership Blogs	Business Directory Websites
Dealership Videos	YellowPages Type Websites
Dealership Color Brochures	Automotive Forums
Dealership Facebook & Twitter	News Websites
Dealership NING Communities	Better Business Bureau
DealerRater Certified Dealers
PrestoReviews.com Dealer Pages

We would like to clearly state that third party lead collection websites or advertising websites are a vital part of the automotive community and provide valuable services to car dealers. We however, do not feel that they should be appearing on Google Page One for a search on a dealers name.

POD Score™ Point Scoring Summarized

How to Get to 100 Points

A dealer that owned all 10 organic listings, had no one attacking them using Adwords, and had good reviews would receive a score Maps (15) + Pos1-5(60) + Pos6-10(25) = 100.

A dealer can also get to 100 points by defending their name with Adwords, if attacked by someone using Adwords, and not have all the organic listings under their control.

The following pages list a few examples of how the new POD Score is calculated on car dealers that are local to our office where Adwords campaigns would be expected to show.

Red Bank Volvo POD Score

Red Bank Volvo has a POD Score of 10 because of the following three section scores:

1. Adwords - A competitor is running a Google Adwords campaign on their name and they are not running a campaign the two days we tested this local dealer. (-15)
2. Maps - They do not have five positive reviews on their Google Maps listing and the last two reviews at the top of the list were damaging. (-15)
3. Organic – They control only positions 1, 2 and 3 in the organic listings.

Gold Coast Cadillac POD Score

Gold Coast Cadillac has a POD Score of 40 because of the following three section scores:

1. Adwords - Multiple competitors are running a Google Adwords campaign on their name and they are running a defensive campaign at the top of search listings . (+15)
2. Maps - They do not have a three star average rating on their reviews on their Google Maps listing and they have only 1 direct Google review. (-15)
3. Organic – They control only positions 1, 2 and 4 in the organic listings. (+40)

I have some good news for you today. Car dealers can now respond positive and negative reviews on Google Maps! The feature that many dealers have been waiting for is finally here. If you have verified your Google Maps listing proving that you are the owner, you can now respond to any comments, positive or negative, when you are logged in to your account.

This is great news for dealers who have an Automotive Internet Reputation Management (IRM) process setup and who have been monitoring reviews on sites like Google Maps, Yelp, CitySearch, InsiderPages and Dealerrater. I also like the strategy of thanking people who place positive comments!

Here is the official notice from Google:

Whether you’re looking for a great lounge to hang out with your friends or a trusty shop to repair your bicycle, the web is a great place to discover and learn about local businesses and services. Some of the listings on Google Maps showcase reviews to help prospective customers make informed decisions and find the places that are just right for them. Reviews on Google Maps are assembled from a variety of sources on the web to give you the best possible overview of what people are saying about a specific place. We also encourage users to share their opinions by writing reviews directly on the Place Page of any place they’ve visited, be it a local business, tourist attraction or the like.

Starting today, if you’re a verified Google Places business owner, you can publicly respond to reviews written by Google Maps users on the Place Page for your business. Engaging with the people who have shared their thoughts about your business is a great way to get to know your customers and find out more. Both positive and negative feedback can be good for your business and help it grow (even though it’s sometimes hard to hear).

By responding, you can build stronger relationships with existing and prospective customers. For example, a thoughtful response acknowledging a problem and offering a solution can often turn a customer who had an initially negative experience into a raving supporter. A simple thank you or a personal message can further reinforce a positive experience. Ultimately, business owner responses give you the opportunity to learn what you do well, what you can do better, and show your customers that you’re listening.

This new feature will make some serious competition for Yelp…but for now, it’s time for car dealers to take charge and come up with an review response policy and be careful how your comment on a negative review.

Demo of Comments

What is your reaction to this news?

I’m very excited to see that negative comments or characterizations can be challenged by car dealers who have been unfairly judged.  This of course reminds me to say that dealers must have an IRM policy in place with guidelines on who should respond, if at all.  Responding the wrong way to an angry customer or a negative review could compound the problem.