Search Getting Less Time than Content & Community

The Internet Activity Index has been updated and shows that time spent on content and community is increasing and that time spent on search is going down. So what does this mean?

There are a couple of good takeaways that dealerships should pay attention to:

1. Community has finally rated it's own category - as of this January - so all those posts we've been writing about customer reviews have merit for consideration. People are now spending 7.5% of their time online on community websites where they're reading and posting reviews, comments and questions about things that are important to them - like buying the right car.
   
   Customer Reviews Impact Online Reputations
   Buyers Make Decisions Based on Customer Reviews


2. Content is still king, so think about how you can continuously work to make your content as relevant as possible. What can you do to make your content richer, more interactive and/or more informative?
   
   Up Engagement with Your Dealership's Website
   Increase Your Sphere of Influence


3. The fact that search is decreasing could mean a couple of things. The good interpretation is that people are finding what they need faster. The thing to check out here is how well your website is returning in searches. Are you getting the optimal amount of that 5% of time a prospective customer is spending on search? Are your links not only returning, but the ones they're clicking on?
   
   22.5% Opt Out Due to Search Fatigue
   SEM - Moving Target or Residual Value

Overall, the good news is that online attention is growing. The challenge is making sure that your dealership is getting an optimal share.

Comments

[Patrick]

Do you or any of your readers have success stories about how they are maximizing the community element of their online marketing strategies?

I know of a few dealers that are having success tagging their YouTube commercials and clips with keywords and phrases that search engines are finding relevant. With Google and Yahoo! embedding video in their search results, this is a great way to reach consumers from a community standpoint.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions, please share. Thanks!

[Ali Amirrezvani]

Other then what you have mentioned the only things that come to mind are dealers blogging and also being proactive with sites like dealerrater.com, askpatty.com, and hopefully soon carfolks.com.

If I hear about anything else, I will make sure to write a post about it for you.

Thanks for your comments.

[Ericq]

Wow I have to say that I'm having a hard time seeing the numbers the same way. It looks like search has remained a constant and community has just entered the scene.

The only thing that has changed at the end of the day is a designation of "Community". You can see that Community took the majority of its numbers from content and probably a few percent from commerce.