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SEO tips for car rental companies: How to increase your visibility in Google searches

27.05.2025

In an increasingly digital world, a strong online presence is crucial – especially for companies in the mobility sector. Car rental companies that cannot be found on Google lose potential customers to the competition.

And everyone knows it: the first page of Google search results is crucial. Only a few users click on page 2 – anyone who ends up there simply doesn’t exist. This makes it all the more important to be represented on the first page for relevant search queries such as “car rental Berlin” or “van rental Cologne Ehrenfeld” with the right measures. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps to bring your website to the top of the search results – and thus generate more bookings in a targeted manner.

In this article, we show how car rental companies can use targeted SEO measures to improve their online presence and attract more inquiries.

What is SEO - and why is it so important for car rental companies?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. The aim is to place a website as high up as possible in Google’s organic – i.e. unpaid – search results.

For car rental companies, this means that those who are visible for relevant search terms such as “car rental + location” reach precisely those customers who are actively looking for rental cars – whether for a weekend trip, relocation or vacation.

SEO is a decisive competitive advantage, especially in a highly competitive market. This is because interested customers gather information online in advance – often mobile and location-based. If you don’t appear here, you will be overlooked.

Keyword research: The basis of every successful SEO strategy

Identifying the right search terms – so-called keywords – is the first and most important step in optimization. The aim is to understand what potential customers are actually searching for and to optimize the content for the keyword.

Numerous tools are available for this purpose, including

  • Google Keyword Planner
  • Ubersuggest
  • AnswerThePublic
  • Ahrefs

Our tips:

  • Use the “Others also searched for” section below the Google search results – a good source of additional ideas.
  • Pay attention to long-tail keywords with specific search intent, e.g. “cheap car rental at Frankfurt Airport”.
  • Avoid keyword stuffing – i.e. the excessive and unnatural repetition of a term in the text just to rank better on Google. This is not only annoying for readers, but is also rated negatively by search engines. Instead, integrate your keywords sensibly and naturally into the text flow.

Example: Keyword cluster for “car rental Frankfurt”

A well-structured keyword cluster ensures that a page is thematically broad but still has a clear focus.

Main keyword:

  • car rental frankfurt

Support keywords:

  • car hire frankfurt airport
  • van hire frankfurt
  • cheap car rental frankfurt

Long-tail keywords:

  • 7-seater rental frankfurt
  • sports car rental frankfurt city center

This structure helps to organize content in a meaningful way and to serve different user queries in a targeted manner – a clear advantage for visibility and relevance in search results.

On-page SEO: The website as a foundation

For Google to understand and evaluate your site correctly, the technical and content fundamentals must be right.  

We have put together a checklist for you:  

  • Optimize meta titles & meta descriptions: The meta title is the title that appears in Google search results. It should be short, precise and contain the most important keyword. The meta description is the short text under the title (max. 155 characters) – formulate it in such a way that users become curious and want to click.  
  • Structure headings sensibly: Use only one main heading (H1) per page – it should contain the main topic of the page. Subheadings (H2, H3, etc.) follow below this to structure content logically and make it easier to read – for users and Google.  
  • Optimize URL structures: The web address of your page (URL) should be short, understandable and search engine friendly. Avoid cryptic numbers or special characters. For example, use this URL:  
    www.ihredomain.de/autovermietung-muenchen instead of www.ihredomain.de/index.php?id=123. 
  • Add alt tags to images: The alt tag is an alternative text that is displayed if an image cannot be loaded – and helps search engines to understand what the image is about. Example: Instead of nothing or “Image123.jpg”, write alt= “SUV rental car Munich”.  
  • Mobile optimization: Your site should work perfectly on smartphones. 
  • Accessibility: An accessible website not only convinces users, but also search engines. This includes clear contrasts, understandable language, logical navigation structures and keyboard usability. All of this improves user-friendliness – regardless of possible limitations – and has a positive effect on your visibility on Google.  
    • Important: From June 28, 2025, digital accessibility will be required by law. The Accessibility Reinforcement Act also affects car dealerships and service providers in the mobility sector.  

Tip: You can check for accessibility free of charge here: Check accessibility 

Our subsidiary inserteffect supports you in all questions concerning your barrier-free internet presence 

Local SEO: For search queries “nearby”

Many potential customers explicitly search for rental cars in their area. You should gear your content towards this.

What you should do:

  • Create a complete and well-maintained Google Business profile with address, telephone number, photos and opening hours.
  • Integrate locally relevant keywords into your texts (e.g. “van hire Cologne Ehrenfeld”).
  • Create city-specific subpages for each branch or region.
  • Build local backlinks: Backlinks are links from other websites to your own. They are considered a “recommendation” by Google and strengthen trust in your site. Links from regionally relevant sites are particularly valuable – for example from a local hotel that refers to your car rental or an event organizer that recommends your vehicles. Such collaborations not only increase your visibility in searches, but also bring targeted visitors from your region to your website.

Content marketing is a central component of any successful SEO strategy – especially for car rental companies. Google prefers websites that regularly publish high-quality, relevant and up-to-date content. “Content” means anything that your target group can read, see or hear – e.g. text, images, videos or infographics.

At the same time, good content is an effective means of building trust, demonstrating expertise and offering users real added value.

Why content pays off:

  • Strengthens your position as an expert in the region
  • Covers a wider range of keywords
  • Extends the time spent on the website
  • Increases the chance of natural backlinks
  • Supports customer loyalty

Possible topics for blog posts through which you can demonstrate your expertise:

  • Which rental car is suitable for the move?
  • What you need to bear in mind when returning a rental car
  • The 5 best excursion destinations around Cologne by rental car

Extra tip:

Link your blog posts to suitable landing pages, e.g. with a call-to-action (“Book a van in Frankfurt now”). A call-to-action (CTA for short) is a specific request for action – i.e. a short sentence or button that motivates users to take action. This can be a booking, a call or a download, for example.

By linking blog posts with CTAs and thematically relevant pages, you can guide interested parties through your website in a targeted manner. This not only creates more visibility, but also increases the likelihood that visitors will actually become customers.

Technical SEO: The invisible foundation

No matter how good a website’s content is, if it doesn’t work technically, it will hardly be visible in search results. Technical SEO ensures that search engines can efficiently search, index and correctly categorize your content. At the same time, it improves the user experience – an important ranking factor.

You should pay attention to this:

  • Fast loading times: A slow website leads to high bounce rates – and this is exactly what Google penalizes. Optimize the loading speed of your site by:
  • Image compression (e.g. WebP instead of JPEG/PNG)
  • Minimization of CSS and JavaScript files
  • HTTPS encryption (SSL):
    A secure connection is standard today and creates trust among users.
  • Structured data (Schema.org):
    Help Google to better understand content and display it as rich snippets – these are enhanced search results that display, for example, opening hours, ratings or locations directly in the Google results list, thereby generating more attention.
  • Clean URL structure & crawling hints:
    • Clear, descriptive URLs (e.g. www.domain.de/mietwagen-hamburg)
    • Correctly set up sitemap.xml and robots.txt file: Google and other search engines need two files to be able to search your website correctly:
      • The Sitemap.xml is like a table of contents. It shows search engines which pages are on your website and what is important.
      • The robots.txt defines which areas of your website Google is allowed to see – and which not.

Both files belong in the main directory of your website (e.g. www.ihredomain.de/sitemap.xml).
If you use a content management system such as WordPress, you can easily create these files with a plugin such as Yoast SEO.

  • No dead links or redirect chains
  • Keep an eye on Core Web Vitals:
    These metrics measure how fast and stable your website is from the user’s perspective. You can check and optimize them with Google Pagespeed Insights or the Google Search Console, for example.

Conclusion: Success in car rental with targeted SEO

SEO is not a sprint, but a marathon. Car rental companies that continuously work on their website, offer relevant content and can be found locally will secure a decisive advantage in the long term.

Start with the basics – keyword research and optimized landing pages – and develop your strategy step by step. The reward: more visibility, more bookings, more sales.