Advertising Car Dealerships

Dealer Ads / Automotive Ads for Dealers

Advertising car dealers is kind of a different world than most other digital marketing strategies. Changing up the strategy mid-month often becomes the norm, based on directive from the OEMs, and getting leads tends to be the main key performance indicator (KPI) that we can track. Well, you may have seen over the past few months that Google has recently come out with a new dealership-specific mobile ad layout, called Dealer Ads, or Automotive Ads for Dealers – formerly Dealership Listing Ads (or DLAs).

Some of the keyword examples will be as follows (with the bolded, italicized words switched out for their respective search queries):

• “make/model dealer”
• “make/model dealers”
• “make/model dealerships”
• “make/model geo”
• “make/model dealer geo”
• “make/model dealers geo”
• “make/model dealerships geo”

These Dealer Ads will be automatically taking dealer-specific keywords (such as those options listed above), and presenting the ads similar to the Google organic local search results, allowing customers to see your dealership name, city, and immediately have access to either directions or click to call. The ad copy within the ads will no longer be relevant, offering more dealers the option for the real estate above the fold.

These ads are for U.S. based dealers only (for now). In order to get these campaigns properly set up to be running, you really only need three distinct aspects within your already-running paid search ads:

1. Call Extensions
2. Location Extensions
3. Trademark Approval (This is typically given by the OEM team directly; contact yours to ensure your accounts are authorized.)

This Google initiative is still in beta, so there have been several wrinkles that need to still be ironed out (as we’re still not yet seeing our Braman Motorcars: including BMW West Palm, BMW Jupiter, Porsche of West Palm Beach, or MINI of Palm Beach, ads show up in the new format). We will be sure to keep you updated on any updates regarding these new ad formats! – After much awaited anticipation (and through all of the ad formatting changes), we can’t wait to see them in action, either!

As always, for all of your digital advertising news, stay tuned for THAT Agency’s latest updates! Should you need assistance setting up these “Dealer Ads”, or (“Automotive Ads for Dealers”), contact THAT Agency today for your free paid search advertising quote!