Google shopping ads are something that everyone is used to. Whether you’re looking for a couch or a pair of headphones, you’re automatically shown products for sale that match your search queries at the top of the results page. However, vehicles like cars, trucks and SUVs were one of the things that were exempt from this useful feature. To find a car for sale online, it took a little bit more work. Now, Google has released a new vehicle ads update that will change this.
With the new Google vehicle ads update, when prospective customers search for a particular type of vehicle, they will be shown a carousel of vehicles for sale nearby. This is an incredibly useful tool for car dealerships to begin using in their digital marketing strategy, and can become a great way to encourage customer conversion.
Here’s what you need to know about using the Google vehicle ads update to your advantage.
The Top of the Page
Getting to the top of the search engine results page is a pretty universal goal for all businesses with a digital marketing approach, but it’s much easier said than done. It used to be that you paid to rank high on the results page, but since Google began to prioritize ad quality and introduced an ad quality scoring system, getting to the top of the search page became more about the relevance of the search as well as paying for the top spot.
Google’s new vehicle ads are powerful because they provide another way to get to the top of the search page, above even the paid-search text ads underneath the vehicle ads results.
Although you aren’t able to choose or control your position in the ad carousel, getting a vehicle that you have for sale right in front of the eyes of your potential customers is still one of the most important things you can do to create a pipeline toward conversion. This new update provides a simpler and more effective way for you to do that.
Getting Granular
Another upside of the vehicle ads update is that the more specific a person’s search terms get, the easier it becomes to beat out your competition for the ad section. For example, if a potential customer is searching for “Ford Explorer,” there’s bound to be plenty of other dealerships nearby with vehicles matching that criteria for sale. But when someone searches for “2019 Ford Explorer,” the results narrow, and if they add more specifics, like searching for “white 2019 Ford Explorer,” the results narrow again.
The more granular the search terms get, the smaller the group of other vehicles for sale becomes, giving you less competition to beat out. The vehicle ads format includes things like year, color and trim, meaning that with this new format specifics become your friend in creating conversion.
This new Google update is providing a powerful tool for the automotive industry, and it’s one that you won’t want to miss out on using. If you’re interested in more information about Google vehicle ads, continue reading here to learn about why they’ve come about and what they’re going to look like in the future.
Matthew Finke has been with BitMoto for seven years. He worked in the automotive industry for 11 years prior to joining BitMoto. He’s worked in every aspect of marketing including account management, strategy, paid ads, SEO and more.
