In the not-so-distant past, many dealerships neglected their own websites in favor of paying third-party sites like AutoTrader and Cars.com to promote their inventory. As dealers educated themselves on digital marketing, they realized the power that their own sites and strategies wield.

This created a conflict: Dealerships compete in paid search against those same third-party sites, who have responded by spending more aggressively for the same SERP real estate.

So what’s the best way to move forward?

The answer isn’t simple, but it works.

The Way You Can Beat Third-Party SEM Strategies

Let CarGurus and AutoTrader fight over broader terms like “2018 Toyota Camry.”

You should focus your budget on the lowest funnel search terms. Searches that include modifiers like “for sale” and “lease offers” should receive the largest portion of your paid search dollars. Once you dominate these search queries, you can pursue broader terms and adjust the budget accordingly.

Unless you’re located in a major metro, like New York City or Chicago, third-party sites aren’t in the local market and aren’t reviewing local search terms. If you focus on these queries and apply the right strategies, you’ll have a higher Quality Score and pay a lower cost per click.

To achieve this, look no further than Google Analytics and Google Ads to understand local car shopping search behaviors. Ask yourself:

• What searches bring in highly qualified traffic?

• Which Ads perform better?

• How do people behave on your site after they click through?

  • Do they bounce?

  • Do they view SRPs and VDPs?

  • Do they spend time on the site?

You can leverage this data to prioritize or remove keyword sets.

If your efforts reach the benchmarks you set, you can spend as much money as you want.

Content Is the Key

You need custom content built around your market’s search volume to make your paid search campaigns as effective as possible. The content should focus on new cars, used core series, service and parts, lease information, and finance offers — things that customers search for every day.

By routinely creating, updating, and refreshing your content, you can earn positions that rank above Cars.com and other third-party sites like AutoTrader and CarGurus. That’s because you’re giving customers reasons to visit the site, stay on the site, and come back.

Content is more than just landing pages. It includes the following:

Correct metadata

Easy navigation

Homepage to inventory

Comparison pages

MRPs, VDPs, SRPs

Full inventory

High-quality photos

If you make sure your content follows Google’s best practices, you can create remarkable results. Below are two dealerships that followed these simple guidelines.

What’s stopping your site from achieving results like these? Take some time to re-evaluate your approach to paid search and the content on your dealership’s website.