Cargurus SEM Product

[johnbarilla]

Is anyone using this? They are basicallynoffering to manage your google adwords account for a fee of $695 a month claiming thy know what works best?

 

[Marc Lavoie]

You can't argue CG's experience in PPC. They have basically built their traffic on it.

The question is: Would they do as good of a job with a website they don't control, also buying for new car.

Buying PPC for new car is much different from P/O.

You have to make sure it's tracked correctly and objectives are set clear before starting.

Can you provide more info on your end (website, brand, approx market)?

 

[johnbarilla]

Marc, Large independent in Maryland using Dealer Inspire.

 

[Marc Lavoie]

Ok thank you. What I suggest is to ask them for comparables on their end & references you can call.

Buying PPC for used only will depend on your inventory (I'm sure you already know that)

Depending on your budget, you should concentrate on the 20% of your inventory in which:

1) You have most stock
2) You have most comparables models

Example:

Do: Buy CRVs (6 in stock) /Rav4 (4 in stock) /Tucson (8 in stock)
Don't: Buy BMW X3 (1 in stock)

You have to make sure every click has the most choice.

The more you'll veer off this strategy, the more your overall CPA is likely to rise, making your operation ROI negative.

 

[Michael Warwick]

They've been managing accounts for over a year and I haven't seen any results that lead me to believe they have any secret sauce when it comes to SEM.

 

[Collin Pedersen]

Is anyone using this? They are basicallynoffering to manage your google adwords account for a fee of $695 a month claiming thy know what works best?

I beta tested CarGurus SEM before it was released and also became a paid user for about 6 months after pivoting from PureCars. Both are decent services however the biggest perk of this product is their "library" of negative keywords and targetted keywords. Their CPC came in very comparable to PureCars which does kind of show that there isn't any "secret sauce" as referenced earlier. If you don't have the time to build out your campaigns on the vehicles you have in inventory all the time, then it's a solid solution. But if you always have a revolving inventory of very similar products, it may be worth building out the campaigns or hiring a freelancer to do so for you. FOCUS ON COPY if you do it yourself, otherwise, go the automated route with the SEM product.