Just got a confirmation that this has happened. Should be seeing some sort of press release soon.

Timothy...Timothy...Timothy...V-Auto doesn't tell you to slash your prices. Unless of course you are not very good at buying your inventory. V-Auto is helping you succeed in today's ultra competitive market. If you aren't making money, it's because you aren't acquiring the right inventory for the right price. As a matter of fact, it sounds like you need V-Auto.

Vauto is a joke. Nothing like paying to have someone tell me to slash my pricing, sell more cars but make no money, but yet they are guaranteed their subscription, all because they "keep an eye" on my competition. Crazy thing is, everyone feels he is the best salesman around with a great idea! At the end of the day. Vauto wins no matter what anyones numbers are.

There are many more acquisitions to come. Nearly every company selling online marketing products to auto dealers is for sale. This was the exit strategy for vAuto and nearly everyone else. ADP, Google, eBay, and Microsoft are the most obvious exceptions.

On its own, this is neither good nor bad for dealers. The leading questions for dealers will always be how to measure value and hold vendors accountable.

Very few dealers know their total cost per Vehicle Details Page (VDP) or Search Results Page (SRP) for the various listing products they buy. Some of the worst values are from local websites carrying listings.

I can look at a handful of numbers on an AutoTrader.com or Cars.com report and get a very accurate reading on the value received and what can be done to improve that value. This is not rocket science. I created a free tool for dealers to download for exactly this purpose. http://revenueguru.com/content/revenueguru-toolbo...

None of the acquisition news, now or in the future, changes the way value is measured and vendors are held accountable. It is interesting but not actionable. Dale works hard to help dealers understand how to get full value from listing products. Whether or not a listings company buys vAuto has no impact on his logic or the need to put it to work.

The question is - do vAuto buy Autotrader?

Kelley Blue Book for sale, sources say

...Kelley Blue Book, the family-owned automotive information provider, has hired a bank for a sale, two bankers claiming knowledge of the situation told mergermarket.

JP Morgan was retained within the past few weeks for the sale process, one of the bankers said.

A spokesperson for the Irvine, California-based company declined comment. Kelley Blue Book was founded by Les Kelley in 1926 and its online arm, kbb.com, was launched in 1995.

The second banker said Kelley Blue Book is likely to be valued between USD 500m and USD 1bn.

AutoTrader.com, which recently sold a 25% stake to Providence Equity Partners, is said to be the lead bidder, the first banker said, adding that both financial and strategic suitors are involved in the process. He mentioned KKR as a likely bidder. EBay and Googlealso would be logical bidders for this asset, he said.

If this is true then Auto Trader will completely eff up vAuto! AT has been a joke for years and have messed over dealers with the crap they dole out. They have been eaten alive on this site forever. I hope and expect that Pollock is smarter then to sell his jewel to a black hole company like AT. It would be a total sell out if he does and a damn dirty shame! vAuto is one of the only dealer tools out there that is credible. AT buying vAuto is like a super model getting mated with Frankenstein!

BT,

You can bet that AT and Cars.com has a butt load of data that they KEEP from the retail side of the biz... They don't need aVuto for that.

V-auto has always said they wouldn't use the data for retail customer research and so on but I haven't heard the same thing from autotrader.com??? I hope this doesn't have anything to do with the acquisition....

Joe,
As someone who's been following your predictions for a while.....I'd love for this one to come true. Couldn't ask for a greater partnership IMO.

If vAuto is for sale, my suitor's prediction is below.

I have been blessed over the years to have some intense and exciting discussions with Dale. We have had many a chat about what vAuto does and what it COULD do. I felt that on top of what vAuto does already, its just a few steps from becoming an engine to power all sorts of internet marketing opportunities.

Back in the day, I would lobby to Dale that we all know vAuto deeply analyzes classified site traffic, but with a little creativity and some vAuto capital they could expand the vAuto scope greatly.

One idea was to expand the platform to where vAuto could build an Internet Command Center where all the internet stats from ALL internet points all come together. I mentiioned it would be easy to grab stats from a dealers site via an Embed of a snippet of code. It would open a door into the vAUto platform for a FULL analysis. This "window" into vAuto would allow me to ask questions like:

Is my inventory balanced?
vAuto could tell me the VDP traffic of SUV's for my home site is 26% of all VDPs, BUT, your SUV inventory is only 11% of your inventory.
vAuto could tell me that 60% of the VDP traffic of SUV's for my home site is between 10,000 and 16,000, yet only 3% of my inventory matches this profile.

Not good.

AutoTrader.com is not an ideal match, no, IMO the perfect would be a digital marketing player that has a large portfolio of digital marketing offerings and vAuto would fit nicely in that portfolio.

Not only would the suitor acquire several thousand dealers (with a butt load of new sales opportunities) but the vAuto platform expansion opportunities are off the charts.

IMO, there is only ONE high energy match to vAuto with the cash, the resources and the VIBE to match vAuto.

That would be Dealer.com.

Add vAuto into the Dealer.com portfolio and now you've got SYNERGY.

...game...set...match.

Have not heard back as to whether or not this is true. As a happy vAuto partner and Autotrader customer.......I hope it's just rumor.

I haven't heard anything from the horse's mouth yet, but there are quite a few people in positions to know this sort of thing saying it is true.

True or not, I'm very curious to hear what the dealer body has to say.

I spoke with my contact at vAuto directly, on the condition of anonymity, and they simply said that this isn't the case.

Alex - Old guys rule! You make some good points on Google instant and SEO. I do not think it will affect our niche industry much though. If it catches on, I see SEO being more important.

Richard - I am starting to see a difference in generations when it comes to opinions on Google Instant. The older folks don't like it while the younger people do.

Yes, I'm calling you an old guy - lol.

Maybe it is just the reluctance to appreciate change? But anyway, if you want to read why I think Google Instant threw a curve ball at traditional SEO, read on: http://www.dealerrefresh.com/google-instant-troub...

Richard, I think that the RIP websites concept is vastly overstated. After all Facebook IS a website (So this would be a rather strange paradox). However, I do believe in the concept that social media in general could greatly impact the significance of ranking individual webpages vis a vis google.

What happens when Facebook begins to rank idea'a and opinions about companies based on likes and the actual sentiment as written by their users?

BTW - While I don't care for popcorn nor am I a regular watcher of Jimmy Kimmel, I can say for sure that even if I was, it is unlikely that I would leave a good party with free booze and food for that!

By the way, Google Instant is exremely slow on my wireless connection. It can't keep up with the keystrokes. Anyone else seeing this?

Alex - I am wondering why you believe instant search will change this conversation. According to Google, it will not affect rankings. On the surface, it appears to be very annoying. Google took something simple and turned it into a nightmare even the most ADHD kid would throw up on. I wonder how many people will shut the thing off and be done with it. Maybe I will think different once I have had to a chance to really use it but that's my first impression.

Timothy - Websites RIP? Now that's pushing it. By the way, I like Jimmy Kimmel and microwave popcorn.

You earn referrals because of what you do, and it's usually because you provide quality and helpful referrals.

People who pay money to get referrals usually have to because it's all about them, ie. they don't give referrals (PPC).

A real referral from a trusted friend (who's highly referred to) is worth 100 times more than a paid referral.

You eventually get quality referrals from people who you actually take the time to get to know, go out of your way to help without first asking them for anything, and with lots of work it will pay off.

Referrals = Links

Well, Google Instant sure changed this whole conversation....or at least threw a curve ball.

I know I am getting in on this conversation a little late, but are we forgetting that we are still in a down market? Do you think the economy could be part of the cause of the 16% decline in searches? I do think that the search engines and companies in general are teaching the consumer how to search better (e.g. Microsoft Bing commercials are the best example), which has made a difference and so has social media probably, but certainly the influence of a down economy could be part of it too.

Search engines will keep leading the way as Google and the other search engines are adapting their algorithms to put an emphasis on newer content (e.g. twitter), multimedia content and maybe even links from social media sites.

Joe's question about how you find information, I would answer in all cases with search, because it is simply easier to search quickly. Are you going to link and talk about every business you buy from on your Facebook page. I would think the answer is a resounding Hell No! I think it is more likely that social media is peaking than that search engines are peaking, because of concerns with privacy matters. Joe's example of the facebook photo being attached to a person's name is technology that is already available and being used by Apple (it recognizes faces after you teach it a little).

Great article! Certainly a thought provoker and has done well to generate a lot of response. I recently brought up another thought provoker following in parallel to this line of thinking which you can see on http://www.wikimotive.net/3-ways-facebook-is-kill... .

I think that one of most common... "themes" (I won't call it a mistake) that effect our paradigm when we discuss these topics is that many of us tend to look at these issues from a microscopic vs macroscopic level.

After all what is so special about SEO? How is a dealer that is proficient with SEO any different from the first dealers who adopted a 4 square selling process? (Not talking about the geo location social network - never thought I would have to qualify that!)

All of these "tools" are just that - tools we use to gain an edge over the competition. I've been in the business for 19 years and I've learned more acronyms and buzzwords in the last five years than I ever heard in the first fourteen.

While I appreciate the eye catching appeal of the title, even if it is true (which I am not conceding) it just means the beginning of what's next.

Wether its SEO or PPC or Social Media or whatever is next, there will always be someone out there gaming the system. This is simply the natural order of things. Wether its breaking the sound barrier or breaking the google algorithm - there will always be people pushing the envelope. THAT is the "True long-term ruler".

So bring on the death of SEO! I am batting 1,000 in being first to the party when it regards the latest greatest marketing technique. I'll be at the front of the line for the next great wave...

Not in the least bit Alex. Just trying to make a point that people have been saying this for years. I do agree that smart content is a winning approach. However, without a good link building strategy, you will not rank for highly competitive keywords.

Richard - seems like I offended you in some way with this article. You are taking it too literally. Read my other comment.

I want people to start talking more about content than the old SEO tricks. The right approach, that wins every time, is smart content mixed with the proper keywords. With the right content, it shouldn't matter whether Google is in the lead or facebook.