Have you ever had to manage a fleet of vehicles for business? If you’re in fleet management, you already know it’s hard work for fleet managers.
We’ve never done it personally, but we’ve become increasingly familiar with the demands of running an entire fleet of company vehicles—cars, trucks, school buses, and other fleet vehicles and equipment. Daily fleet operations depend on fleet health, vehicle health, and keeping fleet assets in top condition, without letting operational costs or maintenance costs spiral.
Maintaining a fleet of vehicles effectively requires constant attention to inspections, warranties, fuel management, fuel costs, fuel expenses, repair costs, maintenance activities, and maintenance information—all while trying to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and protect fleet efficiency and fleet uptime. Unexpected breakdowns and vehicle downtime lead to costly repairs, unexpected repairs, and higher repair costs, so preventive maintenance and preventative maintenance matter.
A good fleet maintenance software platform can help in all these respects, but it can't help you unless you know it exists. Modern fleet management software and broader software platforms give fleet managers one system with full visibility into fleet data, real time data, and all the data they need for data driven decisions. With GPS tracking, fuel tracking, fuel cards, and fuel consumption dashboards, teams get real time visibility and fuel optimization that supports fuel efficiency. Inventory management features—parts inventory, parts management, manage inventory controls, and parts usage reports—show fleet inventory status and parts usage in house and in real time. This kind of maintenance management helps prevent unexpected breakdowns, reduce downtime, and keep vehicles and equipment reliable across an unlimited number of sites.
But even the right tools can’t help you unless buyers know you exist. That was part of the problem for the fleet maintenance software company that came to us with hopes of accelerating to the top rankings in relevant search engine results pages (SERPs) for fleet management software, fleet management platforms, and the broader fleet maintenance software category..
It was our pleasure to get behind the wheel and take the fast track to greater organic traffic.
Today, they’re one of the best fleet and most visible fleet maintenance software companies on the market, ranking for fleet maintenance, preventive maintenance, and fleet management software searches that actually drive leads.
So how did we get there?
Digital marketing is more accessible, yet harder than ever. With so many key competitors fighting for the top spots in SERPs and so many ranking factors to keep track of, it's not straightforward for a business owner to devise or implement an effective SEO strategy that speaks to fleet size, fleet assets, and maintenance management realities—especially when maintenance costs, inventory management, and fleet health are always on the line. Fleet brands need actionable insights, accurate insights, and better decision making based on real time performance.
Admittedly, it's not hard to reach rank 1 for a keyword, assuming you don't have preferences for what that keyword is. There are plenty of long-tail phrases that are unpopular and undesirable enough that even a modicum of SEO investment can put you in the top spot.
But this isn't good enough for a fleet maintenance software company that wants real leads and real sales from transportation and service decision making stakeholders.
If we were going to truly help this team of fleet maintenance professionals, we would need to adopt a much more strategic, targeted approach tied to fleet operations, preventive maintenance scheduling, and measurable maintenance management outcomes.
We had a need for speed – a genuine desire to see results as quickly as possible.
Of course, we were somewhat limited by the nature of SEO, which requires months, and sometimes years of effort to see meaningful results.
That's why we started an 18 month campaign, so we would have plenty of time to map key features, build comprehensive reports, and continuously refine based on detailed history from analytics and Search Console.
· Strategy and keyword analysis. In the SEO world, everything starts with a strategic analysis of the fleet maintenance niche. We took a look at the fleet maintenance industry, including competitors and prioritized keywords directly tied to fleet management software, fleet management, preventive maintenance tasks, maintenance requests, and maintenance scheduling. For this campaign, we wanted to focus heavily on keywords that were directly relevant to the brand and its customers—buyers searching for platforms to reduce downtime, control maintenance costs, and avoid costly repairs in an entire fleet. There was no reason to try and achieve rankings or traffic for audiences that weren't going to be interested in buying the product.
· Technical onsite optimization. Good campaigns also rely on technical onsite optimization. We improved site speed, structured data, and mobile experience so fleet managers on a mobile app or desktop applications could easily view content with easy access, and a mobile app could support field teams. Clean architecture also ensured one platform experience for every persona, with quick access to maintenance information, work orders, and fleet data.
· Onsite content development. Strong onsite content is still an ideal foundation for any SEO campaign, as it lends itself to higher website authority, more relevant keyword optimization, and better opportunities for inbound linking. We built a robust knowledge hub around fleet maintenance, preventive maintenance, preventative maintenance, fleet inventory, inventory management, and maintenance scheduling. This made maintenance information easily accessible for prospects comparing management software for fleet vehicles while trying to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
· Offsite content and link building. Much of our work focused on establishing a more powerful superhighway leading to this client's website. We developed content featured in a wide range of different offsite publishers for this client, building links throughout the process. Those links supported better performance, saving time for the sales team, and higher rankings for fleet management software and fleet maintenance topics.
No SEO campaign is without its minor hiccups and deviations. In fact, this is a critical part of the process. As we closely analyzed our own methods and our client’s performance, we were able to learn more about this unique SEO niche – and eventually deploy the tactics necessary to help this fleet maintenance software company dominate their top competitors. By monitoring what resonated with fleet managers, we found that content emphasizing real time visibility, fleet data, and maintenance management workflows performed best. We leaned into those strengths to help stakeholders stay on the same page and make better decision making a habit.
Some of the most impressive results of our efforts include:
· Exclusively relevant keywords. Some brands can afford to target general audiences. But most people aren't business owners, and most business owners don't have a fleet of vehicles to maintain and manage. Accordingly, we knew we needed to be as specific and highly relevant as possible in our optimization campaign. We targeted relevant keywords tied to fleet management almost exclusively, prioritizing and highlighting only the keywords most likely to result in sales. We aligned content so stakeholders were on the same page about ROI, maintenance costs, inventory management, and maintenance scheduling.
· 2.5x increase in organic traffic. As a result of our combined SEO tuning efforts, we were able to provide this client with a 2.5-fold increase in organic traffic. In other words, this client is now seeing two and a half times as much traffic from search engines as they were before this campaign started. And because we exclusively targeted relevant fleet maintenance and preventive maintenance keywords, we can be reasonably assured that this traffic is chock full of qualified leads and potential buyers.
· 3x increase in total ranking keywords. We were able to multiply the number of total ranking keywords for this client by a factor of three. They're now appearing in searches for three times as many keywords and phrases, covering everything from preventive maintenance to fuel tracking, fuel consumption, and fuel optimization. Almost any relevant search for this type of product will feature this brand.
· 4x increase in ranking keywords in positions 1-4. Visibility can be a tricky thing in SEO, as high rankings are disproportionately valuable. For this fleet maintenance software company, we were able to achieve a four-fold increase in ranking keywords in positions 1-4. Positions 1-4 represent roughly the top half of the first page – and websites in these positions receive the lion’s share of the traffic for a given query. We achieved a four-fold surge in top placements for high-intent fleet management software and fleet maintenance software terms. Those rankings drove more work orders requests, more work orders demos, more work orders-related feature exploration, and more work orders tied to maintenance management needs.
Along the way we showcased how the product supports work orders, track work orders, work order management, a work order system, and automated maintenance. We highlighted how work orders reduce downtime by surfacing potential issues early—before small issues become expensive problems. Prospects could easily view work orders, maintenance tasks, and preventive maintenance tasks in real time, with data entry kept simple and data entry workflows streamlined. That clarity helps fleet managers make data driven choices with actionable insights, provide insights to leadership, and keep fleet assets healthier for longer—without runaway maintenance costs or unexpected repairs.
Are you ready to hit the road and leave your competitors in the dust?
Are you looking for only the best results for only the most relevant target keywords in your industry?
We’re ready to copilot.
If you’re ready to start the conversation or searching for a digital marketing agency, reach out for a free consultation today!
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