Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick, powered by CBT News

How Dealerships Get Found When Shoppers Ask AI

• Jim Fitzpatrick • Season 1 • Episode 42

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We break down GEO and why AI-driven search now decides which dealers get recommended, even down to naming a salesperson. We share practical steps to build real credibility across reviews, forums, and content so shoppers see and trust you when they ask AI where to buy.

• what GEO is and how it differs from SEO
• where AI pulls proof beyond Google and Facebook
• why authentic, human replies beat AI-sounding templates
• how to run prompt-based audits for your store
• what fundamentals to fix first in content and service
• how to think about measurement while tools mature
• why agentic AI raises the stakes for reputation
• pitfalls of shiny solutions without foundations


Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick is powered by CBT News, your go-to source for the latest news, trends, and insights in retail automotive. Subscribe for more interviews with top industry leaders, dealership innovators, and experts shaping the future of automotive.

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Jim Fitzpatrick:

Welcome to Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick. Hey everyone, Jim Fitzpatrick. Thanks so much for joining me on another edition of Inside Automotive right here at cbtnews.com. Today's shoppers are asking AI for answers. So, how do you make sure your dealership still gets found? I know I use ChatGPT for everything. Joining us to break down GEO is April Simmons, who's corporate internet and marketing director at Horn Auto Group. Thank you, April, so much for joining us on the show today.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, thank you for having me. I love spending time with you and the crew. I'm so excited to dig into it.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Great. So now we have a no whole nother term here. GEO for people hearing this for the first time. What exactly is GEO?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, it's so interesting. I think we should come up with better acronyms that can't mean multiple things because, you know, traditionally when we say GEO and automotive, we think geography, we think zip codes, you know, especially in marketing. Um, so the new GEO is basically the SEO of the AI. So Chat GPT, Gronk, Perplexy, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It's really how do we make sure that we're showing up in those searches? Yeah. Um, so that's that's what we're gonna dig into today. And it's really, really different and interesting and evolving very quickly. Yeah. Um per usual, uh, I'm here to talk about how can dealers you know start working on the foundation today so that they're not left behind, you know, six months, a year from now, two years from now.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah. So now every dealer out there is like, wait, wait a minute, we just figured out a strategy to be, you know, SEO to make sure that we come up when there's a Google search. Now we've got to deal with GEO. Um, does it require a whole new content strategy, or can dealerships still adapt what they already have?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, it's a little of both. Um really, really strong SEO strategy is if you've been doing it for a long period of time, is actually gonna help you and the GEO hugely. Okay. Um, I think the one thing that was surprising to me in digging into the GEO that is well, two things significantly different. One, GEO is very much one-to-one. So there's not like these best practices that you can just say, hey, okay, uh, you know, this area people are searching these search terms, so I just need to build content to speak to that specific search term. Yeah. And if I do that, then I'll show up. It makes it very uh strategic, right? Like check mark box, check mark box, check mark box. Yeah, radio is almost impossible in that sense because everybody's experience is different. Okay. If you and I look up sitting here in the exact same room and we look at the exact same thing on ChatGPT, we're gonna get a completely different, and I mean completely different response. So you can't just build content like we have in the past to basically, you know, stuff our websites and do these different things to speak specifically to a thing to then drive the business. So what are some fundamental things that we can start doing today, though, that do matter?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I hate to say this because it's some of the stuff that we all, you know, in dealership land don't really like to pay that much attention to, and it's it's reviews, it's testimonials, but it's going even further than that. Okay. They are they're using uh be uh Better Business Bureau. They're using oh yes.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Better Business Bureau, that there's a term you don't hear a lot of these days.

SPEAKER_00:

I know, but they are they are they're absolutely using that. They're using Reddit, they're using forums, they're using Yelp, you know, the dealer's best friend. Yeah, yeah. They're using all of the platforms that are out there. So it's not just the review sites that we all do pay attention to and have paid attention to for the last few years. It's more than Google and Facebook. Yeah, it's actually that whole big picture. Okay. They will quote a review on one of these sites from three years ago when you ask, Hey, is it is Hornkey a good place to buy a car? It will actually quote different things, it will quote down to the sales rep. Who should you go see?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00:

Um very, very specifically. And so we have to pay attention and start making sure that we look good in all of the places. It can't just be um one place. The scary part is I think for the first time ever, you know, you can't fake it anymore.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that's gonna be one of the biggest things that's gonna come out of this, the GEO uh sector is that there will be no faking it. There won't be enough good reviews that can, you know, completely take away all of the negative stuff. Um, so we just have to really, really hone in on making sure that every positive interaction is is everywhere and that we're paying attention. Well, there's a full-time job, Jim. Of course, and a dealer trying to take care of Google. How am I gonna take care of all this other stuff?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And a dealer doesn't have the option of opting out of something like this and going, oh yeah, I don't, I don't, I'll just give that business up. I don't really care about that. No, no, no, no, no. That that that AI tool is gonna be delivering that information, whether you like it or not, to that consumer that's searching uh you know your brand in your particular market. So there's no there's no getting away from it.

SPEAKER_00:

No, the last dat I saw was that 65% of everyone is already using some form of AI exclusively for their search tool.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Exclusively.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So and you look at how quickly we went from you know basic LLMs a year ago to Walmart is now selling products on Chat GPT.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

There's another stat that says that in three to five years and maybe sooner, depending on the acceleration, websites may cease to exist. There may not be websites anymore, which is mind-blowing to think about, right?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's just it's moving so fast. So the the hardest part about it all is for dealers, we can't we don't have the time to chase every new shiny penny. Yeah. Right? We just don't. We don't have the time.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's changing so fast that if I go and say, I'm gonna do all these awesome things today, tomorrow they're gonna be obsolete. And and literally, quite literally, tomorrow they will be obsolete.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

So what dealers really need to hyper focus in on, in my opinion, is these fundamentals. Okay. Looking at how can we make sure that we have the right content, we're really focused in on providing good experiences, that we're buttoning up all these little holes that are out there that that potentially will tell customers not to come to us to really, really dig into that SEO content to ensure that you are the authority in every place you can possibly be.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and that's really the best you can do today, in my opinion.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, I I agree. And also answering negative responses or negative reviews, I should say, and responding to them, because now uh the consumers know this as well. They know that chat and the other tools out there are going to bring in everything. So if they've got a problem in your service aisle or in your showroom or in your body shop, guess what they're gonna be doing, folks? It's right there. It's it's so easy, as as all reviews have been easy, but now they realize the impact that they can make on all the AI tools, which is a whole nother level, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly, exactly. And and the one thing I'll say to be careful of though, too, because we all use AI now in our day-to-day, is when you're answering those reviews, be careful not to overly use AI. So the other side to this is that AI itself doesn't necessarily love AI, meaning that it will look at it as, well, you're fake, you're not actually an authority. You know, you we covered up our gray hair. You know, you're just fake news. So it's also important to make sure that the human piece is put onto all aspects of content that you actually put out there. You cannot just click and send AI or it knows it's AI and they're like, ah, they're making it out. Don't trust them. Wow, don't trust that. So it's very interesting that even AI will police the AI out of the situation.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

But it's it's it's unbelievable. How do you measure whether whether uh whether GEO is working?

SPEAKER_00:

You know, ultimately, I don't think there's a really good way right now to do it. Um, in fact, it's I did this really fun experiment with my whole team. I said, okay, everybody, you know, grab your phone, go to your whatever your preferred uh, you know, LLM is, right? Whether it's Chat GPT or Gronk Perplexity, whatever it is, yeah, and put in there um where is the best place to buy a Hyundai near me. Okay. Right? Who has the best price on the vehicle? Right. Just go through some some simple, what would you do as a consumer to search for a vehicle? Okay. And then we talked about what came up. Um and I think one of the best places to start is to just look at those things and say, okay, what is coming up when we're searching? Okay. What sites are they are they, you know, sources are they uh coming up with?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's where it started to, you know, slap me in the face that I had to pay attention to Better Business Bureau and I had to pay attention to some of these other things because it's quoting it. Um, even testimonials on our own website, it was it was pulling that data um out from there. So it's all these little things that I think right now we can do. Um, there's a lot of people working on this. I will tell you, there are some some vendors out there in the space that are working on how to come up with ways to rate where you're at.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

Um do I think that today it's perfect? No, because it's changing too fast. So, so it's really, really difficult. But there are a couple of really good vendors out there in the space right now, and you'll be seeing, I think, a lot from them in the next little bit where they are really working on some some really uh awesome stuff.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Driven driven driven by AI. Can't we get AI to help the AI with the dealers' AI situation?

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly, exactly. Well, and that's and that's exactly what it's gonna be, which is hilarious. It is actually really funny to think about that we are we are so quickly actually moving away from the LLMs, right? Like LLMs now is last year's news. Oh, I know, I know. Everyone is now focusing. I just got home from MRC and the whole conversation is already shifted to agentic AI. So we're not even we're like LLMs are too much work, let's not do that. We need to focus in on agentic AI. And so now this transition is happening already where we're saying we just need to focus on making the you know, the the agent, the agent be able to do all these things that's right to be able to converse through it. So it's very, very fast moving.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

At the end of the day, what are some of the high points or the or the good points about this? Or or aren't there any? I mean, can it only hurt? It's got to be able to help us too, though, right? I mean, if if we win in this space.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think I think just like SEO, I think that I think people didn't understand, you know, SEO for so so long. Nobody wanted to put money into it, nobody wanted to spend time on it. Dealers, we like our instant gratification, right? I spend, you know, ten thousand dollars on mailer, I sell 20 cars, I'm good with that. If they can't quantify it, then they don't want to do it.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

There's one of those things that if you if you understand now that you missed the boat if you did not put your time and energy into SEO, yeah, I'm gonna tell you right now, do not make the mistake of of saying, hey, well, if I can't quantify it, I'm not gonna do it, because I promise you you can quickly, quickly quantify it. I was sitting in one of my dealerships with four people inside the dealership and asked, where should I buy uh you know a vehicle near me? And it did not quote my dealership. Oh we're sitting in the dealership.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

And you're sitting in the dealership. That's not good. Okay, that's not good. It's not good. In fact, for every every dealer that's listening to us right now, if you haven't figured it out already, you need to do that right now, or at least right after this show, because that that would be a very good exercise that I think would be a real eye-opener. Now, if it shows up that you come up, great, then you know you're halfway there, you're halfway home. But uh, but you got to maintain that, you got to work on it, you know, to to April's point. This isn't something that you kind of brush under the carpet. It's here to stay, folks. I mean, this is something you really have to pay pay attention to, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yep, absolutely. And I think that one of the easiest things to do what first of all is to like go through those normal search terms and just see what pops up, but then also ask it, you know, is this is my dealership, is Horn Kia, is Horn Hyundai, is this a good place to buy a vehicle and see what it says? Yeah, because once a person decides that they might consider you, what's the very next question they're gonna ask? Should they, you know, am I making the right decision? Yeah, so that's the second question. So then what shows up? All right, now appeals the next layer.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right. You know, what's the what should I pay for this car? What what is my what's my trade worth? Here's the trade. Correct. Here's the information in my particular market. What kind of money should I expect to get? I mean, it it you're you're exactly right. It's it's one of those things that even if you don't take it and say, okay, I'm gonna do what chat just told me to do or any of these other things, it's good to know. It's good to kind of know, well, what's what's what's chat or or AI's um you know take on this, you know, and and maybe there's a maybe there's a question in there I'm not asking that I should, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Correct. I know that AI is more conversational than like SEO and traditional searches. So traditional search, I put in a search term, it says, okay, here's here's some relevant websites for you. Right. Then you go to the website and and think about this. You go to the website, you're like, okay, I'm gonna look at value my trade because that's what I'm interested in, or I'm gonna try to find a price and maybe I'll go to two or three websites. Well, when you're in AI, here's what happens: you say, Hey, what's a great price on this vehicle? And it says, Well, here's a great price. Would you like me to, you know, look at other dealers? Would you like to me to look at incentives? Are you interested in the trade? You know, make sure you ask for the out the door. Like it literally will say, Would you like me to help you with the next step?

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And then you say yes, and now it's going to give you this whole next, this whole next piece. Um, so it's really training customers on where to buy, what to buy, how to buy, and who to buy it from, down to the sales rep in your store.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yep. I'm sure that there's companies out there right now in the AI space for automotive that are working diligently on this very topic so that they can help dealers rate high and look good on all of the different AI platforms out there. But boy, they got their work cut out for them because the the intelligence is just unbelievable. I mean, it's it's to your point, they're gonna find a way around it and get other types of information. And but, you know, this it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the biggest, the biggest thing is start now, you know, and and don't um don't worry, don't think it's one of those things you can just write a check to somebody and you can, you know, uh be successful. I think that's one of the big uh misses right now for dealers is there's so much, you know, it's kind of like dot-com days of our of our generation now, right? And they're coming in with all these new solutions and these shiny pennies and they all look great and wonderful, but ultimately, if you're building all that stuff on quicksand, it ain't gonna work.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

That's right, that's right. And dealers don't know this this the this area that well, obviously. We you know, they're uh busy selling cars or running dealerships. So I'm sure there's gonna be, you know, those those people out there that go, oh well, you know, write us a check, we'll take care of it. You don't have anything to worry about. We've built a program, we've done this, we've done that. But they're there, you know, these deals are gonna be vulnerable out there to to people that come in and companies that come in to go, yeah, we have an answer for that. Just check and recheck because this is one of those areas that you know it's it's to your point, it's changing as we speak. It'll it'll change by the time this of the this conversation's over.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, exactly. And that's and that's the hardest part, isn't it? It's changed it's changing. I don't think in my this is my 30th year in this business, and I don't think I've ever seen something evolving this fast.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Yeah, yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

So it's bananas.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

It's crazy. April Sims Simmons, I should say. Why do I keep calling you Sims? April Simmons, who started in the business.

SPEAKER_00:

Maybe we're thinking like Sim City today.

Jim Fitzpatrick:

Maybe maybe April Simmons, who started in the business, folks, when she was five years old. She's been in it 30 years. So she's the corporate internet and marketing director at Horn Auto Group, a great group. So thank you so much, April, for joining us on the show. This this is an eye-opener for a lot of dealers that are listening. And uh, I'm sure Brian Pash, you just mentioned that you uh were out at his his event, which is a great event for dealers to go to the modern retailing conference, and uh, I'm sure he's already writing papers on it and coming up with some help for dealers out there, as there will be so many other companies doing the same. So uh it should be very interested in NADA this year, which is just now less than 90 days away. So that's kind of scary, right? Crazy, it's crazy. Well, thank you so much, April. Really appreciate it. Thank you again.

SPEAKER_00:

Really appreciate it, Jenny. Thanks for watching.