With the increased number of people buying cars online, Google introduced a new feature to Google Ads to cater specifically to the vehicle sales market. The stats don’t lie; more than 89% of vehicle owners research their cards online before purchasing. Google Search is now making this easier.
Google will introduce a new vehicle ads format to the search engine to show all available cars for sale near you. The ads can appear when users search for car sales using terms like ‘2019 hatchbacks for sale’, or even more specific models such as ‘2017 used crossover’. When you use the appropriate search term, the results will appear in a vehicle ads carousel with an appropriate label in the top-left corner. You can either purchase the cars shown in the carousel nearby or you can arrange delivery to your location.
The cards in the carousel will feature important information on the cars available. You’ll be able to see the car’s make and model, image of the car, ‘Used’ status with mileage, dealership name, and city. There will also be other helpful information included, such as tax, title, and processing fees that may apply.
Using the new ‘vehicle ads’ feature, advertisers can select and track different metrics such as leads, store visits, etc. However, to activate this feature, advertisers will need a vehicle inventory data feed connected to the Google Merchant Center.
So far, this seems to be a practical approach. Google has reported that advertisers who complimented their search campaigns with vehicle ads saw a 24% increase in conversions during the beta testing phase.
We look forward to monitoring this new type of ad and seeing how it progresses over the next few weeks. In theory, it would appear that the vehicle ads system will make finding a new or used car much more convenient.
