Matt Smith, Senior Director of SEO at Edmunds

Google reported that "businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for driving directions and 35% more click-throughs to their websites."

Within Google My Business listings, photos take up significant real estate and present the first opportunity for a dealership to capture a visitor's attention and get a click to their website. However, many dealerships aren't taking full advantage of this space. In this blog post we are going to show you how to add photos to your Google my business profile and optimize to win.

Fortunately, Google offers some guidance on what pictures for a business they would like to see. They recommend that dealerships upload the following pictures to their Google My Business listing.

• At least three exterior photos, taken at different times of the day and showing the approach to the business from common angles
• A minimum of three interior photos
• Product photos for the most popular products and services that your dealership sells
• For example, if you are a Ford dealer you should have a picture of each Model you sell
• One image of any common areas your business may have, such as the reception
• A minimum of three management and team photos

Adding your own images is one of the easiest ways to improve your Google My Business presence because photos of your business are a great way to build trust with your customers and drive additional traffic to your website. We recommend following Google's guidelines when selecting and uploading photos. In addition to the Google recommended images, there's also an opportunity to post photos of relevant business changes or trends. For example, if you are hosting a big trade-in event you could upload a photo to promote the event. Or, if the brand new F-150 just arrived on your lot, you could upload a picture to showcase the vehicle. Get creative and think of photos that would capture a visitor's attention.

Photos submitted from customers can be very powerful and set you apart from your competition. However, customer submitted photos can be hard for most dealerships to obtain for their Google My Business profile. Here are a few ideas on how to get consistent images from customers.

• Offer to use your customer's cell phone to take their picture of the newly purchased vehicle.
• If your customer used your service desk to fix a major fender bender, take a before and after picture to show the change.

Photos are one of the first impressions a visitor might see about your business; you need to make sure that photo they see leaves a lasting impression. If you follow the steps above you will continue to optimize your Google My Business profile, which will improve organic traffic and leads for your business. We're here to help you succeed: please reach out to your rep or dealersupport@edmunds.com if you would like to learn more.