Google vehicle ads are a new program from Google that shows vehicles for sale nearby when users search for a particular model online. This is a great way for auto dealers to bring their best inventory in front of consumers and compete with other dealerships.

How does it work?

A vehicle ad shows a preview of a car, with a photo, information such as make/model, price, dealer name and mileage. This piques the interest of a potential customer and may drive them to a dealership’s website to fill out a lead form or inquire about the vehicle.

How to set up vehicle ads on Google?

The first step is to create a primary feed that contains your vehicle inventory details, including product category, VIN, photos, price details and discounts. This feed must be connected to Merchant Center and should be updated frequently so that you always have the latest information in your vehicle listings.

Signing up for vehicle ads on Google requires you to connect your primary feed and provide available vehicle data to Google’s Merchant Center, a single-point dashboard that allows auto dealers to manage their business on Google. The Merchant Center uses specifications to match available vehicle data with Google users’ search queries, and enables dealers to track inventory and performance metrics.

Once your inventory is listed on Google, you can then use the VLA (vehicle listing ads) to show a preview of your vehicles and drive customers to your dealership’s vehicle description page. This ad type also offers conversion tracking, allowing you to measure how many leads and store visits are generated by your ad campaign.