What's new about Google vehicle ads?

[Greg Spencer]

Here's a stupid question. Several news sites are reporting Google has launched "a new ad format, called 'vehicle ads', that shows Google search users nearby cars for sale." I believe this has been available for some time now. George Nenni shared a screen shot of vehicle ads in search back in January 2021. Perhaps the new element is that it's available on mobile now? Does anyone know?

 

[Greg Spencer]

Answering my own question, this is the public launch of a product that's been in a pilot phase since early last year. It's now available to all dealers in the U.S. with "other countries coming soon." The Google release: https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/introducing-vehicle-ads/

 

[Matt Kelley]

Thanks for sharing, this is interesting!
I also read it could be trying to compete with what Bing/MSN Autos has done (....who is competing with FB Marketplace haha )

 

[Greg Spencer]

I did an article about the new Google Vehicle Ads. It's temporarily for free public viewing, but will soon go back behind our paywall: https://aimgroup.com/2022/03/14/google-goes-wide-with-paid-vehicle-ads-in-search/

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Yup - it started hitting my area a few weeks ago. It's currently filled with listing from Cars.com, TrueCar, Cargurus, CarMax, etc.

 

[Greg_Gifford]

yep - just came into beta (so open to the public) the week of NADA - in most markets, you'll only see the big aggregate sites like Jeff mentioned, since they were in the limited alpha since last year... only a handful of dealers were able to participate. Now that it's in public beta, it's open, and we SHOULD see more dealers be in there... but you have to find a vendor that offers it...

 

[Ryan Everson]

#12 on my 2022 prediction list

12) Google Vehicle Listing Ads Will See Widespread Adoption / Coercion
Google Vehicle Listing Ads will be the hot new product for advertising agencies (and OEMs) to pitch in 2022. They are expected to come out of beta in Q1/Q2 and are currently producing great results. Be sure to jump on the bandwagon early, the longer you wait the less ROI there will be as CPC’s inevitably rise.

22 Retail Automotive Predictions for 2022

Happy New Year everyone! I threw together this quick list of some 2022 predictions for retail automotive dealers. What are your thoughts and what else did I miss? 1) More Lenders Will Enter the Digital Retailing Space Expect other lenders to jump on the bandwagon after Capital One managed to...

forum.dealerrefresh.com

 

[Greg Spencer]

It's been almost a month since Google announced the public launch of Vehicle Listings Ads, or VLAs. https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/11586690?hl=en

• Can anyone share whether their dealerships are participating and what their experience is so far?
• Is it good ROI? Better or worse than the alternatives (e.g. marketplaces, Facebook Ads, Bing)?
• Do you all think VLAs are destined to be a marketplace killer, as some predicted?

 

[Prentice Parton]

Anything that keeps that position in real estate is a loss if you aren’t taking advantage of it. Like any other ad unit, if your copy is jam up, and users have a why behind the click, you should perform well in comparison.

 

[Michael Hughes]

We are running these for several dealers with success. Here is a screenshot of the difference between the GMB cars for sale and the VLAs. The VLAs are a little stronger than regular VDP level ad copy, but they are also a bit pricier. Our current Google VDPs are coming in at about 1.25-1.30 per click and our VLAs are running closer to 2.00/VDP (depending on market). I am seeing 135-165 VDPs per unit sold- which is up a bit over the past couple of years when we were consistently running under 100 VDPs per unit sold.