Get The Top Car Dealer Position In Google Map Results With Local Search Ad
One of the most powerful ways to attract local car buyers and people seeking to service their vehicles is by setting up automotive PPC ads to advertise on Google Maps. If you want to get your dealership in front of competitors, ads on Google Maps is the way to go. They make it easy for people to find your business location, get directions, call your dealership and and click through to your website.
Promote Your Dealership Above Local Map Pack Results
Local map pack results are the top 3 organic listings that show up when someone searches for a business using Google’s search engine or the Google Maps app. These are typically businesses that have their Google My Business listing well optimized by having all of the information fields filled out, post updates and pictures and have a rating based on reviews from clients.
Sometimes it can be difficult to knock your competitors from their map position by improving your listing so that is why the paid map results ad is worth paying for so your business displays above their website.
Benefits Of Using Local Search Ads To Promote Your Dealership
By using map result ads you will get more foot traffic to your dealership’s showroom and service center, more phone calls and you’ll also provide local consumers with more information about your dealership such as providing business hours, your location’s address, pictures and customer reviews.
Creating Local Dealer Ads In Google Map Results
What’s great about local search ads in map listings is you can set your ads to show up on mobile devices as well as desktop computers. This ensures your business listing is visible to everyone searching for a local dealership.
To setup your search ads to show up in Google Maps results, you’ll need to do the following:
- In your Google Ads account, you will need to enable location extensions. For more information about this, visit Google’s support doc “About Location Extensions”.
- When setting up campaigns in Google Ads, you will need to use location targeting and you will also need to bid by location. You’ll be able to target your designated marketing area (DMA).
- You will want to optimize your keywords for these ads to include more localized keywords than using standard campaign terms and phrases. Make sure that you use keywords that relate to your location and searches being done in the local area. This includes adding keywords like “Honda Dealership Near Me” or “BMW Dealership Gainesville” which are common phrases used by people searching for local car dealers.
Update Your Dealership’s Google My Business Page
If you haven’t already, claim your Google My Business listing. If you have, update your business information to be accurate and also improve it by filling in fields that do not contain information, rewriting your business description to be more relevant and add new pictures of your dealership. Access your “Google My Business” listing here.
Check Ad Performance By Viewing Google My Business Insights Data
The one thing to keep in mind when running ad campaigns that show up in Google Map results is the limited ability to track performance because most of the actions happen occur on your Google My Business listing rather than on your website. You will be able to look at actions that take place directly on your listing by looking at performance data shown on the main dashboard page as well as under the insights tab. You will be able to see how many users found your business, clicked through to your website, clicked to call (mobile devices) and also how many people pulled up directions to your dealership location.
Using UTM and Call Tracking For Additional Data
To increase data tracking you can set up a custom UTM to record traffic that comes to your website from your business listing. You can also set up a custom phone number for your listing to track calls from people using the click to call feature.