Chrysler, Ford, GM Win In Search

[Brad Kenney]

The results of a recent study by digital marketing firm iCrossing about online search visibility rankings for global automakers is pretty interesting, as Chrysler and GM sit atop this particular set of charts.

There's no doubt that Japan and other parts of the world are doing better jobs of building products that meet the needs of the market; however, the U.S. is still tops in the world for innovating and establishing online search best practices -- an important marketing channel for any product, much less one that so many consumers research online before buying.

In iCrossing's Vertical Visibility Index for the Automotive sector:

"...iCrossing found that Chrysler, GM and Nissan North America are doing the best job of taking a synergistic search engine marketing approach, with the highest scores for combined visibility.

--Ford leads for natural search visibility and Hyundai has the greatest paid search visibility for the keyword set analyzed.

--At the OEM level analysis, Ford Motor Company has the largest natural visibility share of market with 22%, followed by General Motors Corporation (17%), Chrysler LLC (15%), American Honda Motor Company (11%), and Mercedes-Benz USA (8%). Together, these top five companies make up more than 70% of the total natural search visibility share of market.

--At the brand level, Ford has the highest visibility for a brand with 18% of the natural search visibility market share, followed by Chrysler (12%), Honda (10%), Pontiac (8%), and GMC (6%).

--Ford Motor Company and Toyota Motor Sales USA are the only OEMs with visibility on the top volume keyword, "car".

--For the study keyword set, Hyundai Motor Company has the greatest paid search market share of Google paid search with 30%, followed by General Motors Corporation (22%), and Chrysler LLC (17%). Together, these 3 OEMs have almost 70% of the overall paid search market share on Google for
the automotive keyword set.

--Combining the information from natural and paid search analyses, Chrysler LLC, General Motors Corporation, and Nissan North America are doing the best job of approaching search.