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Adoption of .Cars/.Car/.Auto domains has grown tremendously since launching in January. From Apple.Car to Zero.Auto, automotive businesses – as well as industry newcomers – have begun securing industry-specific domains to expand their online presence and enhance their digital marketing. With over 70% of manufacturers and many dealer groups already onboard, such as Porsche.Cars, Geely.Auto, Serra.Auto, and DCD.Auto, .Cars/.Car/.Auto has received international attention by news outlets like Jalopnik, Business Insider, Auto Remarketing, Driving Sales News, and The Banks Report.

Domains registrations haven’t been limited to just brand names, however. For example, BMW not only secured BMW.Cars, BMW.Car, and BMW.Auto, but the manufacturer also registered valuable keywords like Connected.Car and Hybrid.Cars. Google registered SelfDriving.Cars, and My.Car, and X.Auto, among many other domains. Brilliance Auto, a New Jersey-based dealership, rebranded to Brilliance.Auto, while also acquiring Insure.Cars, Safe.Car, and Shop.Auto. Why are businesses building out these automotive domains and investing in the future of automotive marketing? Sammy Quraan, GM of Brilliance Auto, explains:

“My new website already ranks #1 on Google for search terms that matter to us: ‘brilliance auto,’ ‘brilliantly certified,’ and ‘brilliance NJ.’

Brilliance.Auto (previously BrilianceAuto.com)

The Internet is such a huge and global place – it seems obvious that it will continue to segment into different ‘neighborhoods’ so consumers can easily find you. And, as third-party leads continue to decline, I really believe ‘search’ is going to be the only way people are going to find our dealership in the future – likely from their smartphone. I want to be sure I’m easy to find.”

There’s evidence to support Quraan. In early March, GlobeRunner, and independent SEO expert, published a 29-page case study analyzing a luxury dealership’s switch from STLMotorcars.com to STL.Cars. Results from the independent research included:

• STL.Cars search ranking improved in over 50% of keywords tested
• Conversions from organic search increased
• New sessions increased 7.51%
• Referral traffic increased 33.67%
• Social media traffic increased 20.09%

Read the full announcement and case study at www.go.cars/seo.

STL.Cars (previously STLMotorcars.com)

St. Louis Motorcars and Brilliance Auto aren’t the only dealerships who have upgraded their domains. Hubert Vester Auto Group rebranded from HubertVesterAuto.com to HV.Auto. Quadriga in Belgium took their Exclusive Cars division international by moving from ExclusiveCars.be to Exclusive.Cars. Scholfield Automotive expanded their presence by creating a new inventory portal on Wichita.Cars, which now outranks 14 year-old WichitaCars.com. View more featured websites at www.go.cars/live.

HV.Auto (previously HubertVesterAuto.com)

Exclusive.Cars (previously ExclusiveCars.be)

Regardless of purpose, .Cars/.Car/.Auto serve as tools for dealerships, manufacturers, and other automotive businesses to grow their brand and improve their SEO. Start your search for a shorter, more brandable domain, such as YourCity.Cars, YourKeyword.Car, or YourName.Auto, at www.go.cars or call us at 1-800-632-AUTO.

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