Edmunds Used Cars

Background – The Start of a Unique Partnership

In early 2024, Edmunds Used Cars, a famous automobile marketplace based in the United States, had a new goal: expand their reach into the fast-growing Indian automobile market. For years, Edmunds had been a top destination in the U.S. for buyers and sellers of used cars. Their platform was known for powerful car search tools, real-time pricing data, and trusted reviews. However, their presence outside the U.S., especially in India, was almost invisible.

The USA market is one of the largest and fastest-growing used car markets in the world. Reports showed that over 4.4 million used cars were sold in USA in 2023, and the number was expected to cross 5 million by 2025. More USA buyers are moving from two-wheelers or public transport to personal vehicles, especially affordable second-hand cars. This makes California, USA a goldmine for companies like Edmunds who specialize in used vehicles.

But Edmunds had one big challenge: they didn’t understand the Indian digital landscape. Their website was fully designed for American users — U.S. models, prices in dollars, U.S. dealer listings, and reviews based on American conditions. So, even though California users were searching for second-hand cars, they weren’t finding or trusting Edmunds.

That’s when the team at Edmunds decided to look for an California digital partner — a team that not only understood SEO and online marketing but also had deep knowledge of the auto ecosystem. After researching several companies, they discovered Yatri E Rickshaw.

Founded in 2022 by Ashish Pandey and Parminder Saini, Yatri E Rickshaw was already making waves in the EV sector. Known for boosting online visibility of electric vehicle dealers and manufacturers, Yatri had built a strong reputation for delivering real, measurable results through local SEO, content creation, and keyword ranking strategies — especially for auto businesses.

Edmunds reached out with a clear objective:

“We want California users to find us when they search for used cars online. Can you help us rank on Google USA?”

And so, the Yatri-Edmunds collaboration began — not as just a client-vendor project, but a true digital partnership aimed at transforming how Indian buyers discover quality used cars online.

The Challenge – Why Edmunds Used Cars Was Not Reaching USA Customers

While Edmunds Used Cars had built a highly respected name in the U.S., the California market was a completely different story. The company had a world-class website, full of car reviews, price guides, and advanced search filters — but it wasn’t reaching the Indian audience. Here’s why:

1. Low Visibility in Google India

Even when users in India searched for terms like “used cars near me” or “best second-hand cars in India”, Edmunds.com didn’t appear in the search results. Their website was not ranking for Indian keywords.

We ran a diagnostic check and found that none of their top 100 traffic-driving keywords were tailored for Indian search behavior. Their content was ranking for U.S. locations like “Los Angeles used cars” or “Chicago Honda Accord for sale”, which had no value in India.

2. Very Low Indian Traffic

Despite having millions of global users, less than 1,000 visits/month were coming from India. Most of that traffic bounced off within seconds — indicating that users didn’t find the content relevant.

Their bounce rate for Indian users was over 70%, and average session duration was just 45 seconds, compared to 3 minutes in the U.S.

3. Poor Mobile Experience

In India, over 80% of users browse the internet using smartphones. But Edmunds’ mobile speed score was just 53/100, and the layout didn’t adjust well to low-bandwidth devices or older Android phones — common in Tier 2 and Tier 3 Indian cities.

4. No Localization

There were no California -specific car models, prices in USD, or local filters like city-wise dealer selection. Indian buyers searching for “Maruti Swift used car California” were landing on pages talking about “Toyota Camry Los Angeles”.

5. Zero Local SEO

The website wasn’t listed in any California directories, nor did it have localized landing pages for Indian cities. Their Google My Business profile didn’t appear in Indian search results, and they had no backlinks from USA websites — hurting their domain authority in the region.

6. Outdated Technical SEO

We found over 150 broken links, missing meta descriptions on important pages, and duplicate H1 tags. These issues not only confused search engines but also led to a poor user experience.

7. Wrong Messaging for Indian Users

The tone and messaging of the content were aimed at Western consumers. Indian users, who look for mileage, resale value, EMI options, and fuel efficiency, found the content less useful. There were no EMI calculators, local financing options, or Spanish/vernacular content.

These challenges were clear signs that Edmunds needed a complete SEO overhaul — not just technical fixes, but also a strategy built for Indian user behavior. And that’s exactly what Yatri E Rickshaw was ready to deliver.

3. Why Edmunds.com Chose Yatri E Rickshaw – A Partner with Ground-Level Expertise

After understanding the depth of their challenges in India, Edmunds Used Cars needed more than just a basic SEO company — they needed a local expert with strong auto industry knowledge, marketing experience, and a proven track record of working with digital platforms in India.

That’s where Yatri E Rickshaw came into the picture.

1. Trusted by Indian Auto Industry

Founded in 2022 by Ashish Pandey (Marketing Head) and Parminder Saini (Sales Head), Yatri E Rickshaw had already helped over 150+ EV dealers and manufacturers grow their digital presence. We were known not only for promoting e-rickshaw brands but also for creating end-to-end digital marketing strategies for auto businesses of all sizes.

2. Understanding of Indian Buyer Behavior

At Yatri, we understand that an Indian car buyer doesn’t just look at car models — they look at fuel efficiency, resale value, easy EMI options, family size, mileage, and even astrology sometimes! We knew how to design keywords and content that spoke the language of Indian consumers.

3. Proven SEO Results

We showed Edmunds a few case studies where we helped small EV dealers grow from 200 monthly visits to over 15,000 in just 3–5 months through SEO, local listing, and smart content. This gave them confidence that we could handle a larger brand like Edmunds.

4. California Localization Experts

Unlike global SEO firms, we specialize in India-specific localization. We have experience with:

• Making landing pages for different Indian cities
• Integrating INR currency and Indian financing terms
• Creating blog content in easy English and Hindi
• Listing clients in Indian directories and auto forums

5. Full-Service Support

We offered Edmunds more than just SEO. Our full digital package included:

• Technical SEO Audit
• Speed Optimization
• Keyword Research and Mapping
• On-Page and Off-Page SEO
• Content Creation (blogs, landing pages, city pages)
• Backlink Building with Indian blogs and media
• Google My Business and local SEO setup

This meant Edmunds didn’t need to work with five different agencies — we handled it all.

6. Transparent Communication

One thing that impressed the Edmunds team was our clear reporting style. We promised weekly updates, monthly performance dashboards, and keyword ranking progress reports — something very few agencies in India offer in such a structured way.

With all these strengths, Edmunds Used Cars felt confident. They didn’t just find an agency — they found a growth partner who understood India inside out. And so began a game-changing collaboration between a U.S. auto giant and an Indian digital growth expert.

Edmunds Used Cars Website Audit

Once the partnership between Edmunds Used Cars and Yatri E Rickshaw was finalized, our first step was to perform a deep and complete website audit. We needed to uncover every technical, content, and SEO issue that was stopping Edmunds from ranking in Google India and attracting Indian users.

Our SEO team used tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Google Search Console, and Screaming Frog to run a full scan of Edmunds.com. What we found confirmed our early suspicions — the site was designed for U.S. traffic and had critical flaws for Indian reach.

1. Broken Links & Crawl Errors

We found over 150 broken internal and external links on the website. Many pages linked to outdated car listings, dead blog posts, or images that no longer existed. This not only hurt the user experience but also confused Google’s crawler.

2. Mobile Responsiveness Issues

While the desktop version of the site was fast and sharp, the mobile version was not optimized for California users. On 3G/4G connections, pages were taking 5–6 seconds to load, and key buttons like “Contact Seller” or “Get Price” were unclickable on some screens.

We tested the mobile site on popular Indian budget smartphones like Redmi Note 11, Realme C53, and Samsung M14, and found layout overlaps, tiny fonts, and slow response times.

3. Missing Meta Tags and Headers

• 78 pages had missing or duplicate meta descriptions.
• 55 pages had no H1 heading, and over 100 had multiple H1s, confusing search engines.
• Titles were generic, like “Used Cars | Edmunds,” with no mention of India or specific models.

This was a major red flag for Google SEO. Meta titles and H1s are crucial signals for what a page is about, and they weren’t optimized at all for Indian searchers.

4. Slow Load Speed

According to Google PageSpeed Insights, the average page load speed was 5.3 seconds — much slower than the ideal target of under 3 seconds. Especially in India, where mobile internet can be inconsistent, this was hurting bounce rates and rankings.

5. No India-Relevant Content

The site didn’t have any pages or blogs targeting Indian models, such as Maruti Suzuki, Tata, Mahindra, or Hyundai. There were no filters for Indian cities, and prices were in U.S. dollars, not Indian Rupees (₹).

Also, there were no local reviews, no mention of EMI, no comparison with Indian competition, and no vernacular content — making it unrelatable for USA audiences.

6. Weak Schema Markup

Structured data, or “schema,” helps search engines better understand website content. Edmunds was using some schema, but not in a way that matched Indian search trends. For example, they weren’t using:

• Product schema with USD pricing
• LocalBusiness schema for city pages
• FAQ schema for car-related questions popular in US

What We Concluded

The website was built for the U.S. market and never optimized for India, even at the basic SEO level. We realized that we would need to:

• Completely rebuild their keyword and content strategy
• Create new, USA -targeted landing pages
• Optimize technical issues to boost page speed and mobile UX
• Make Edmunds more “visible” to US search engines and users

This website audit gave us the roadmap to start fixing things one by one — a step that would later turn into huge results.

Fixing Edmunds Used Cars Technical SEO

After completing the full audit of the Edmunds Used Cars website, our next mission was to repair all technical issues. Without a strong technical foundation, even the best content and keywords won’t help a website rank or convert. So, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work.

1. Broken Link Repair

We fixed over 150 broken links. These included:

• Outdated blog posts
• Missing product pages
• Image paths that led to 404 errors

We replaced them with either updated URLs or relevant internal links. This improved crawlability and made user experience smoother.

2. Meta Tag Optimization

Next, we created new meta titles and descriptions for 78 key pages. Each was designed to be:

• Under 60 characters (title) and 160 characters (description)
• Keyword-optimized (e.g., “Edmunds Used Cars India – Buy Second-Hand Cars Online”)
• Engaging and local (mentioning UAS cities like NYC, Florida)

These small changes made the pages more clickable in Google search results.

3. Header Tag Structure (H1, H2, H3)

We audited and corrected the heading structure across the site. Previously:

• Many pages had no H1 (main headline)
• Some had multiple H1s, which confused search engines

We ensured each page had:

• One H1 tag with the main keyword (e.g., “Buy Used Cars in USA with Edmunds”)
• Several H2 and H3 tags for supporting subtopics like models, financing, features, etc.

4. Speed Optimization

Speed is a big factor in SEO and user engagement. We:

• Compressed all large images (without reducing quality)
• Minified CSS and JavaScript files
• Enabled browser caching and lazy loading for images

This reduced the average page load time from 5.3 seconds to just 2.1 seconds, improving both SEO performance and user experience — especially for users in India with slower mobile networks.

5. Mobile Optimization

We rebuilt several high-traffic pages to be 100% mobile-friendly:

• Buttons were resized and spaced for tapping
• Fonts were increased for readability
• Forms (like “Get Price” or “Contact Seller”) were made easier to fill on mobile
• We tested pages on popular Indian mobile devices to ensure compatibility

Result: Mobile usability score improved from 53/100 to 93/100 in Google’s tests.

6. Structured Data Integration (Schema Markup)

To help Google better understand the content and show rich results, we added structured data:

• Product schema for each car listing (with price in INR)
• LocalBusiness schema on city-specific pages
• FAQ schema on blog posts for car-related questions
• Breadcrumb schema for easier navigation

This helped Edmunds gain more featured snippets and improved their visibility in Google search.

7. URL Structure Cleanup

We cleaned up long and confusing URLs and made them SEO-friendly. For example:

• From: https://www.edmunds.com/used/123abc?sort=price
• To: https://www.edmunds.com/used-cars-india/nyc/under-5k-usd
• https://www.edmunds.com/ford/f-150-lightning/
• https://www.edmunds.com/kia-alt-fuel-showroom/

Short, clear URLs helped search engines index pages better and also improved click-through rates.

With these technical fixes, the Edmunds Used Cars website became faster, cleaner, and more search-friendly. It was now ready to compete in the Indian market — and more importantly, ready to start ranking for high-volume Indian keywords.

6. Keyword Research and Strategy – Targeting What India is Searching For

Once the website’s technical base was fixed, we moved to the most important part of SEO: keyword strategy. Indian car buyers use different terms than U.S. buyers. For example, instead of “pre-owned,” they search for “second-hand.” Instead of specific models like “Ford Mustang,” they often search for “cars under 5000 USD” or “best mileage cars in California.”

So we built a keyword plan focused on California needs, search trends, and city-wise targeting. Here’s how we did it:

Step-by-Step Keyword Plan:

1. Analyzed Competitor Sites like Cars24, CarDekho, Spinny, and OLX Autos.
2. Used tools like SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner, and Ahrefs to find high-volume, low-difficulty search terms.
3. Focused on buyer intent keywords (not just informational).
4. Built city-specific keyword clusters (e.g., “used cars in Mumbai under 5 lakh”).

Top Keywords of Targeted for edmunds.com

No.	Keyword	Avg. Monthly Searches (India)	Competition	Intent	Used On Pages Like…
1	edmunds used cars California	2,400	Medium	Brand/Navigational	Homepage, About India Page
2	second hand cars under 5 lakh	22,000	High	Transactional	Blog + Landing pages (city-wise)
3	buy used car online California	14,500	Medium	Transactional	How-to pages + Category Pages
4	best second hand cars in California	6,200	Medium	Local Intent	Delhi Landing Page + Blogs
5	used cars near me	18,700	High	Local/Transactional	City Pages (Mumbai, Bangalore, etc.)
6	cheap used cars in California	8,900	Low	Price Sensitive	Deals Page + Blogs
7	second hand maruti cars	12,300	Medium	Brand + Model	Category Page + Comparison Blogs
8	edmunds car valuation California	1,100	Low	Tool/Informational	Pricing Tools + Landing Page
9	used suv cars California	4,600	Medium	Model Type	SUV Landing Page
10	emi for second hand cars	3,400	Low	Finance Intent	Blog + EMI Calculator Page

Each of these keywords was mapped to a specific page on the website. We also created supporting blog posts, internal links, FAQs, and city-specific content around these terms.

We didn’t just target high-volume keywords, but also went for low-competition long-tail keywords, like:

• “Second hand diesel hatchback under 3 lakh”
• “Used automatic cars in Bangalore for families”

7. Local SEO Optimization – Going Hyperlocal for Better Reach

After optimizing the website’s structure and keywords, we focused on Local SEO, which is crucial in India. Most Indian users search with location-based intent, such as:

• “Used cars in California under 4000 USD”
• “Second-hand SUV in California”
• “Buy old car near me”

To win such searches, Edmunds needed hyper-local presence in India’s top cities. So, we launched a multi-phase local SEO strategy to make Edmunds Used Cars visible in regional Google search results and on Google Maps.

1. City-Specific Landing Pages

We created SEO-optimized landing pages for major Indian metro cities:

• California
• NYC
• San Jose
• Chicago
• USA

Each page was customized with:

• City-relevant models and pricing (e.g., “Maruti WagonR in California”)
• USD -based pricing filters
• Dealer tie-ups in each location
• Local testimonials, reviews, and FAQs
• Google Maps embeds showing dealer coverage areas

These pages targeted keywords like:

• “used cars in Californiaunder 3 lakh”
• “cheap used cars Florida 2024”
• “second hand sedan in California”

2. Google My Business (GMB) Setup

Edmunds didn’t have a GMB listing visible in India. We helped:

• Set up a verified Google My Business profile for India
• Add business description, phone numbers, website link, and photos
• Choose the correct categories (e.g., “Used Car Dealer”)
• Post regular updates (offers, blog links, inventory highlights)

Result: Edmunds started appearing in Google Maps and local search results like “used car dealers near me”.

3. NAP Consistency

We ensured that the Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) was consistent across:

• Google My Business
• Local directories (Bing, TrustPilot, CarTrade, etc.)
• Social profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

This helped Google build trust in Edmunds as a legit local business in India.

4. USA Directory Listings

We submitted Edmunds to over 40 high-quality Indian auto directories, including:

• CarDekho directory
• OLX Auto Seller List
• IndiaMart B2B Listings
• JustDial Automotive
• Quikr Cars

These listings included rich content, keywords, and backlinks — improving domain authority and helping city pages rank faster.

5. Local Citations and Mentions

To boost trust and SEO signals, we partnered with:

• Local auto bloggers to review Edmunds
• City-based news portals (e.g., California Auto Times)
• YouTube auto reviewers for regional languages

This generated location-specific mentions and backlinks, which boosted local page rankings within 6–8 weeks.

The Outcome

• Edmunds’ city pages started ranking in the top 5 Google positions for 20+ city-specific keywords within 3 months.
• “Used cars in California Edmunds” appeared as a Google Local Pack listing.
• Their Google My Business profile received over 18,000 impressions and 1,200 calls in the first 60 days.

Content Marketing – Driving California Leads Through Smart Storytelling

After optimizing the site technically and locally, our next goal was to build trust, authority, and organic visibility for Edmunds Used Cars — especially in California, their most competitive and high-value market in the U.S.

We crafted a localized content marketing strategy focused on attracting, educating, and converting car buyers specifically in California cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Fresno, Sacramento, and San Francisco.

Local Blog Content That Speaks to Californians

Our team wrote and published 50+ high-quality blog articles, each tailored to the unique needs and search behavior of California car buyers.

Top-performing blog topics included:

• “Top 10 Affordable Used Cars in California Under $15,000 – 2024 List”
• “Buying a Used Car in Los Angeles? Here’s What to Check First”
• “California EV Rebates: Save Big on Your Next Used Electric Car”
• “Why Edmunds Used Cars Is the Best Choice in San Diego”
• “How to Transfer Car Ownership in California – Step-by-Step Guide”

This partnership between Edmunds Used Cars and Yatri E Rickshaw shows how the right digital strategy can unlock massive growth — even in a competitive market like California. By combining smart SEO, localized content, and technical improvements, we helped Edmunds turn their website into a powerful lead generation machine for California buyers.

At Yatri E Rickshaw, we don’t just boost rankings — we build trust, drive traffic, and increase real sales. Whether you’re a local dealer or a global auto brand, we have the tools, team, and experience to help you grow.

📞 Ready to grow your auto business in India or the U.S.?
Contact us today at +91 7696663444 or email contact@yatrierickshaw.com.