How to Take Advantage of Google Vehicle Ads

Google vehicle ads are a performance-based, lower funnel ad format that helps auto advertisers promote their inventory of new and used vehicles to interested car shoppers. They show consumers an image of the vehicle with important information such as make, model, price, and dealership name.

What is a Google VLA?

Dealers who test and implement these ads typically see a 25% increase in conversions over their existing Search campaigns, Google reports. They also benefit from automated targeting, as Google uses audience signals to optimize the ads for specific goals that they identify.

The best way to take advantage of Vehicle Ads is to connect your inventory feed to Google Merchant Center and create Smart Shopping campaigns. To do this, you need to link your Google Ads account to a Merchant Center account and your dealership’s Google Business Profile.

Once you have the inventory feed set up, it’s time to configure your account and start running your campaigns. This can be tricky and requires a lot of work, so we highly recommend working with an experienced agency or partner that can help you navigate the process. This includes converting your merchant center to allow vehicle listing ads and creating a vehicle feed that is approved by Google. Once you’ve completed these tasks, your vehicle ads will begin to appear. During this phase, it’s critical to monitor your campaign performance so you can track which keywords and ads are driving the most relevant traffic to your site.