Vehicle Listing Ads (VLA) are a new advertising program that lets dealers surface their inventory to shoppers searching for cars in their local area. Similar to Shopping Ads that revolutionized ecommerce, these ads provide dealers with a powerful and performance-focused lower funnel tool to attract highly qualified leads and improve customer experience.
What are Google vehicle Listing ads?
To get started with vehicle listing ads, dealerships must create and connect a vehicle data feed to Google Merchant Center. This feed contains details about a dealer’s inventory, including make, model, price, mileage and condition, which Google uses to match shoppers with the most relevant vehicles as they’re searching.
Optimization for the Vehicle Feed
Optimizing the vehicle data feed is critical to ensure that your vehicle ads are performing properly and reach potential customers. The feed should contain information on all of your cars, such as make, model, price, miles, and condition.
Image Quality is Crucial to Success
As with any ad campaign, it’s important to use high-quality images and optimize the ad image to ensure it looks great on all devices. In addition, it’s important to regularly monitor your Merchant Center product diagnostics and address any issues that may impact your ads’ performance.
How Vehicle Listing Ads Work
VLAs are carousel-style ads that appear at the top of search results when shoppers search for a vehicle that matches their specifications. These ads show the make, model, year, mileage, location and vehicle image, helping shoppers see the most important details before clicking on the ad to learn more. After clicking on the ad, shoppers are taken to the vehicle display page where they can see additional details about the car, or fill out a lead form to schedule an appointment with the dealership.