Arnold Clark and Lookers top online authority study
04 May 2022
Only four of 12 major UK auto retailers had an online organic visibility Domain Rating of ‘excellent’ in research by an internet marketing agency: Arnold Clark, Lookers, Jardine and Sytner. Even then, no retailer breached 70.
Five retailers were considered ‘average’, scoring between 40 and 50: Inchcape, Vertu, JCT600, Group 1 Automotive and Listers. ClickThrough, which works with Renault Retail Group and Carzam, said the Domain Rating score expresses how ‘authoritative’ websites are perceived to be by search engines.
Domains are scored from 1 to 100.
The company said it was surprised by Marshall, which scored a “very low” 28. “Though they may excel in other areas of digital and offline marketing, any weakness in digital performance can become a significant problem for the brand.”
However, ClickThrough actually analysed Marshall’s corporate site, Marshall Motor Holdings PLC. In independent research by Auto Retail Agenda, its main retailer site scored a much more acceptable Domain Rating of 52.
Bristol St Motors has a Domain Rating of 55, Halfords is 75 – and Auto Trader tops the auto retail rankings with a DR of 80.