More people than ever before are using the web to search for car purchase options. And Google wants a piece of the trend. It has added new vehicle ads placement on Search. It will show nearby cars for sale, and will provide more direct connection from the search results.
As shown in the example above, Google’s new vehicle ads placement will allow auto sellers to occupy the valuable space on top of Search. It maximizes attention and response.
“For example, if someone searches for a 2019 SUV, they’ll see several vehicle options they can either purchase nearby or get delivered – along with pictures and inventory information like location, make, model, price and mileage. Once they select a car, the ad will direct them to the vehicle description page on your website where they can fill out a lead form or get your dealership’s contact information,” explains Google.
“The results from the pilot far exceeded our expectations. With vehicle ads, we can help customers by bringing them right to the car they’re interested in. This helps us maximize traffic and conversions to vehicle pages and increase efficiency,” says Miran Maric, CMO and SVP, Strategy and Innovation at Asbury Automotive Group.
“Our main goal is to drive customers to view our inventory. Vehicle ads allow us to get our inventory in front of customers with better efficiency. They also drove more store visits than other campaign types,” says Nathan Sato, Director of Digital Marketing at Ken Garff.
For you to use the new ads placement, you must create a data feed for your vehicle inventory. Then, you connect it via Google’s Merchant Center to fuel the list. It ensures that your list remain updated.
The idea is to maximize awareness among searchers. Of the 95% of vehicle buyers now using online sources to find vehicle information, twice as many as those start their research process at a dealer. This is a key factor to consider for auto sellers in this environment.
During beta testing, Google says advertisers who accompanied their current Search campaigns with the new vehicle ads placement had a 25% average increase in closing deals.
The new Google vehicle ad placement is now available in the US. And more countries will be added soon.
