Imagine this scenario. Any person suddenly experiences the breakdown of the car. It can be as simple an issue as a flat tire or as serious as engine damage. What does one do under the circumstances? In case of bigger damages, the person might consider claiming insurance. But, in case of flat tires, the first thing he would do is to search for an auto repair shop. Where do you find them? Would you flip through the pages of the Yellow Pages? You can, but do you have the inclination and the time to do so? The answer is in the negative. The next best thing is to flip open the smartphone and search online. Within no time you get a list of auto repair shops in the area near you.

Now, that is a phenomenal search. To churn out more than 25 million results within 0.87 seconds is a marvel. This should be one great reason for you to have a website and list it on the search engine as well. Where do you think the person will search for and make a decision? We bet that he will not move to the second page of the Google Search results. Therefore, this makes it imperative for the auto repair shops to have a presence on the first page of the SERPs. This needs a strong local SEO strategy.

Normally, people have a favorite auto repair shop where they are very comfortable with the service provided by the mechanics. Does that mean that the customers would not try out other shops especially if that shop happened to be nearer to their house? This shows that there is always a great demand for auto repair shops. In fact, you can call them dispensaries for your vehicles with you as the doctor. Now, this should change your perspective.
Having a great local SEO campaign can provide the best results. At the same time, one should not forget the traditional methods of marketing as well. A combination of both these methods should increase your popularity. We shall look at the on-page and off-page SEO tactics to employ to acquire a top rank on the search engine results page.

It is a fact that you should have a compelling website in order to rank high on the local SERPs. However, there are many off-page SEO factors that play a vital role in this endeavor as well. Let us look at some of such factors before moving on to the on-page SEO aspects.

In the olden days, businesses used to be brick and mortar establishments alone. They used to wait for the customer to walk in for business. The days changes subsequently with the business enterprises making the first moves to get business. The customers had a choice. The customers still have a choice today. However, today, the metrics have changed a bit. Instead of directly searching and contacting a customer for business, the emphasis is on creating the perfect scene where the customer finds you among a host of other competitors. This requires you to be very consistent and accurate with your personal details and information. A simple spelling mistake can throw the search bots off guard whereby the customer would bark up the wrong tree. You can use Tribe Local’s listings to get your citations right. You could end up saving a huge sum by way of discounts and promotional offers.

The moment you have a flat tire, you remember only two things. One is naturally, the Almighty as you would be saying, “Oh God, Not me again.” The second one would be the auto repair shop. Now, you would not know where to find the best auto repair shop. Hence, the best thing you do is to flip open your smartphone and search for auto repair shops in the neighborhood. This is what you might just encounter on Google.
What does this graphic signify? It is nothing but the Google My Business (GMB) listing page. How would it feel to have a mention on this page? Your customer would be able to find you within no time. See the wealth of information available to you on this listing.
What can you find on the GMB listing page? This is what you get to see.
1. The name of your business
2. The address
3. Phone numbers
4. Directions to reach you
5. Website details
6. Customer reviews
7. Status whether open or closed
8. Names of competitors or you might call alternatives to the customer
Does the information seem enough for the customer to contact the auto repair shop and complete his repairs? Naturally, your answer should be a resounding YES. Would you like to have such a listing in your name? Your answer should be in the affirmative again.
All you have to do is to visit the official website of Google My Business and complete the details asked for. Once Google completes the verification, you get your listing. Optimize the listing and monitor it at regular intervals so that no one takes advantage of your listing

How do you expect the customer to find you unless you have a listing in all the local directories? You can go one step ahead and try to have a listing in some allied directories as well. One such directory could be the auto supplies stores, automobile dealers, and so on. This is where the customer would have to search for in case he wishes to buy his supplies. Having your name on this directory can save the customer the trouble of going through a separate directory to find an auto repair shop to carry out the repairs.

It is natural for people to connect to their friends on social media and seek guidance on the auto repair shop to approach. Remember that social media is a powerful tool. It does not take long for the message to travel to the other end of the world. Would it not be a great idea if you had a compelling social media presence in your business name? You would be able to cater to a larger clientele. It would have been easier for you to share information about the latest happenings in the industry. This is the age of social media marketing. The business that takes advantage of this fact goes far.

This should not be a difficult task for you at all. All you have to do is to provide great customer service. Satisfying the customer should be the endeavor in every business. This one is not different in any way. At the end of it, do not forget to ask the customer to drop in a good word or two about your services. Customers are usually very active when they have to pass negative comments. This makes it all the more imperative for you to seek positive customer reviews. They do matter in the long run.

There are many more off-page SEO tactics we can speak about. But, we shall restrict ourselves to the ones that are most relevant under the circumstances. We now move on to the on-page SEO aspects. They are equally important in helping you achieve a top rank on the SERPs.

A website is compulsory in today’s times. This is the only way you will be able to communicate with your clients. Having a compelling website enables you to grab the attention of your customer. The first thing that a customer notices in a website is the attractiveness. Secondly, he wants the website to be easy to navigate. It should not happen that your customer gets lost in a maze of windows. He should be able to find his way back easily. Otherwise, it does not take him much time to close all the windows in one shot.
When you have a compelling website, it becomes imperative to have relevant images in them. Remember that pictures can speak better than words. Having an attractive and appealing image is better than a 1000 words of content.
The speed of the loading plays a great role in the customer evincing an interest in the website. No one likes to wait until eternity for the webpages to load. Investing in a fast loading website can do wonders to your ranking on the SERPs.
Have the requisite pages like the Services page, FAQ page, Blogs page, and so on. Each page should have your contact details. Having social media links on each page allows you to post your blogs directly on the social media from your website itself. All these factors play an important part in the ranking of your website.

A mobile-friendly website was the need of the hour sometime in the recent past. The smartphones had now invaded every household. People are also very comfortable using the smartphones today. Research says that more than 75% of Americans search for businesses on their mobile internet. Looking into these aspects, Google has made it imperative for each website to have a dedicated mobile presence. Hence, having a separate website exclusively for mobiles should be the right thing to do. You can also invest in a mobile app.
Google gives preference to those websites that have a strong mobile presence. This can help you get a higher rank on the SERP. That is your objective.

All things being equal, good content is what can clinch you the deal. Invest in genuine content. The content should be informative to the client. There are clients who visit the website without having any business interests. They like to gather knowledge about the finer parts of auto repairs. Your content should be able to satisfy such people as well. Hence, it becomes imperative for you to invest in a strong keyword strategy.

Your content should have a generous sprinkling of internal and external links. The more the relevant internal links, the stronger is your reputation. Similarly, you should have external links to quality websites where the customer might be able to verify the content or information provided by you.
Have an excellent backlinking strategy. Never indulge in Black Hat SEO tactics as they can take your website down within no time. Seek authority links from .gov or .edu websites. You can also take the help of influencers to market your website. Write guest blogs on these websites with a subtle link to your website. Interested people will surely come back to your website to gain more information. This can improve website traffic and thereby the rankings as well.

You have just looked at some on-page and off-page SEO tactics that could enable auto repairs shops to rank high on the SERPs. Let us summarize the entire information in a snippet format.
1. Be consistent with your listings
2. Claim your GMB listing
3. Social media interaction can steal the show
4. Customer reviews are important
5. Have a great website
6. Invest in a strong mobile campaign
7. Great content is necessary
8. Have a strong linking strategy

This is how you chalk out an effective local SEO strategy for auto repairs. Reaching the top might be easy, but maintaining the position is tough. This requires continuous follow-up on your part. There is also a need to upgrade regularly and embrace new solutions whenever they come into the reckoning.