Overview

Makes & Models is a luxury car dealership and service center in Salt Lake City, Utah, specializing in German marques and exotics (Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren). The legacy Squarespace site limited SEO, content depth, and inventory UX. We delivered a custom WordPress build with a full design system, an on-site inventory (with schema), deep service pages by make, and a fast, photo-forward experience designed for growth.

Client quick facts

  • Client: Makes & Models — Luxury auto sales & service (Salt Lake City, UT)
  • Platform / Stack: WordPress (custom theme), Figma (design), performance pipeline (image/video optimization, caching/CDN)
  • Services Delivered: UX & IA, custom UI design, WordPress development, custom post types (Vehicles), faceted filters, on-page & technical SEO, schema implementation, blog enablement

Client Goals & Pain Points

Context

Squarespace constrained SEO and business workflows. Inventory lived in an external portal (separate URL) with poor UX and no organic visibility.

Goals

  • Migrate to WordPress for deeper indexing and flexible content architecture
  • Bring inventory on-site with filters and structured data for search visibility
  • Create service pages by make to capture high-intent service queries
  • Improve speed and media handling for a photo-heavy catalog

Pain Points

  • Slow, media-heavy pages; limited control over performance
  • Off-site inventory broke journeys and delivered no SEO value
  • No blog; thin site architecture for long-tail topics
  • Difficult to inquire, consign, or discover related vehicles/models

Success Criteria

  • Sub-second desktop load on key templates (achieved ~0.75s)
  • On-site vehicle listings with filters + schema
  • Deep, indexable service content by make/model
  • Clear inquiry/consignment flows that notify sales immediately

Approach & Strategy

Discovery & UX

  • Audited inventory UX and search journeys; mapped priority paths for Shop, Service, and Consign
  • Defined information architecture: Vehicles (available/sold), Service by make, Blog, Consignment

Design System

  • Figma-led redesign aligned to high-end brand cues (bold imagery, disciplined typography, dark accents)
  • Components for vehicle cards, spec tables, image galleries, and quick-inquiry modules

Development

  • Custom WordPress build with Vehicle CPT, taxonomy for make/model/body type, and faceted filters (brand, mileage, type)
  • Vehicle detail template with specs, gallery, and express-interest form (auto-notifies sales)
  • “Sold” state automatically moves vehicles to a Sold Inventory section (discoverable archive) and preserves SEO value

Lead Capture & Flows

  • Inquiry CTAs on every vehicle detail page, plus “Find a Similar Vehicle” route on sold items
  • Consign-your-car entry points in inventory and service areas to capture sellers

SEO Foundation

  • On-page optimization, internal linking between inventory, sold archive, service pages, and blog
  • Schema across templates: Vehicle/Car with Offer/AggregateOffer for listings, Organization, WebSite, BreadcrumbList, Article (blog)
  • Media pipeline: next-gen images, compression, lazy-loading, proper dimensions; defer non-critical scripts

Key Features (Technology & UX)

  • On-Site Inventory System — Vehicle CPT with filters by brand/mileage/type; SEO-addressable URLs for each vehicle
  • Sold Inventory Archive — Keeps “SoldOut” vehicles searchable for intent capture and sourcing requests
  • Service Pages by Make — Deep, indexable content for Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Porsche, etc., to grow service rankings
  • High-Performance Media — Photo-intense layouts that still deliver sub-second desktop loads
  • Blog Enablement — Content hub for service tips, track/ tune content, buyer guides, and model spotlights

Performance & SEO Highlights

  • Load time (desktop): ~0.75s fully loaded after image/video optimization and asset minimization
  • Markup & Structure: Semantic hierarchy, descriptive alt text, internal links between inventory, sold, service, and blog
  • Inventory Schema: Vehicle/Car with Offer (availability, price, mileage, brand/model); AggregateOffer on list pages
  • Indexability: From a constrained Squarespace site to a fully indexable architecture with blog and service hubs

Results

  • Migrated from Squarespace to a scalable, SEO-ready WordPress platform
  • On-site inventory with filtering and schema drove deeper indexing and higher discovery of vehicle pages
  • Service pages by make expanded keyword coverage and supported local service demand
  • ~0.75s desktop load on key templates improved user experience and supported crawl efficiency
  • Preserved demand via Sold Inventory: users can request similar cars → sales team alerted automatically