The Best Ad Position for Your Dealership
When Adpearance selects the optimal ad position for each of our automotive clients, whether on desktop or mobile devices, there are three main components we consider: visibility, likelihood of clicks, and return on investment.
Where are your ads showing up in search results?
There are multiple aspects that contribute to the position in which your ad is shown:
- Bid level
- Quality Score
- Advertising competition
- Keyword relevancy
We optimize for each element to ensure your ads are in the best position possible, across all devices.
Advertisement Visibility
First, let’s first chat about mobile. As of 2014, mobile media time has exceeded time on desktop and all other media platforms. Mobile ad real estate is much more limited than what is available on desktop, therefore Adpearance has adapted our digital strategy to maximize our client’s ad visibility within the available space.
In many cases, there are only 1 to 2 total advertisements shown on the Google mobile interface.
- Our objective is to hold our client’s ads in the top 2 positions on mobile ALWAYS.
- If not in the top two positions, your ads are at risk to show at the very bottom of the page. Users scroll from top to bottom…and likely will not even make it to the very bottom before clicking on a listing and navigating away from the search engine results page.
How do we maintain your ads positioning in the top spots on mobile?
Our #Nerdherd has developed strategic methods to keep you on top:
- Using highly optimized ad copy
- Making daily bid adjustments to provide the most profitable CPC
- Utilize DLAs (Dealer Listing Ads) for dealer-specific search terms
DLAs are mobile ads shown when a search query involves dealer-specific interest. The DLAs:
- Include clear, direct links to either call or receive directions to the dealership
- Are only offered to dealers with an SEM provider who has a direct sync with Google’s software (Adpearance!)
- Can increase impression share lost to dealers who do not have ability to run them
Now, let’s take a look at desktop. Advertisers have more ad space to utilize on a desktop than on a mobile device. As long as the search is relevant, Google will serve 3 – 4 ads at the very top of search results. The most beneficial part? These ads are ALL served within same screen view – no scrolling necessary!
Although advertisers are less restricted in terms of visibility via desktop, they must also consider where searchers are most likely to click.
Likelihood of Click
Google states that ads which appear in the top positions of the first search engine results page (above organic search results) on average receive substantially more clicks than advertisements that appear on other results pages.
We ultimately aim to hold your ads in the top three ad positions because:
- A user’s eyes hit here very first
- It's where users are proven to click first
Now that we know where ads are most visible per device, as well as where users most commonly click, there is one component left to consider.
Return on Your Investment
Adpearance clients receive the highest quality and most relevant landing pages, the most granular campaign structures, and their best unique offers featured in ad text; however, without a desktop and mobile ad position strategy in place, there would not be as much success in digital advertising performance that Adpearance clients experience.
IMPORTANT: Position #1 in search results is not always the best position for your dealership’s advertisements.
In many cases, our objective is to hold your advertisements in position #2.
- Competing with OEMs for position #1 will drive up bids, and ultimately CPC, in some instances.
- Exception: Quality Score can offer discounts based on relevance.
- We may bid down on the more general search terms so we are not competing as heavily with OEMs, keeping the highest ROI in mind for individual dealers.
When would we compete for position #1?
When a geoqualifier is present (i.e. “Jeep Cherokee Portland”) within a search query, your ads are competing with surrounding dealerships – not necessarily OEMs.
- Our strategy does not include competing on general Make terms (which the OEMs bid on) such as “Chrysler” or “Jeep”
- Our clients typically have very strong Quality Scores, allowing us to compete directly with their competitors for the top positions at a lower cost
- Again, we will make the necessary bid adjustments for your dealership and market to bring you the most bang for your buck
Above all, it is important for you to be the first dealer shown in search results – whether that be in position one, or two, just behind the OEM ad. No matter how great the offers in your ad text may be in comparison to your dealer competition, the highest converting ads are going to be those that rank in the top ad positions.
The Adpearance team is constantly staying ahead of the curve on the ways digital buying behavior is evolving. In the fast-paced world of automotive advertising, we take strategic steps to keep our clients coming out on top. Want to learn more about working with Adpearance for your dealership? Get in touch with one of our Digital Marketing Consultants today!
About the Author
Adpearance is the digital marketing company obsessed with generating quality leads. Our solutions combine cutting-edge technology, premium tracking, and an expert team to transform business results.
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