Agency Resource Guide
A complete Google Ads playbook for franchised and independent dealerships — covering OEM co-op, Vehicle Ads, VDP campaigns, conquest targeting, service scheduling, and real attribution.
Most franchised dealerships are entitled to significant OEM co-op advertising dollars every month — and a surprising number leave substantial reimbursements unclaimed, either because their agency does not understand the compliance requirements or because the documentation process is too cumbersome to manage without a structured workflow.
OEM co-op programs reimburse dealers for a percentage of qualifying advertising spend — typically 50% to 100% up to a monthly or quarterly cap — as long as the advertising complies with the manufacturer's brand standards. For Google Ads, this means approved ad copy, approved imagery (usually sourced from the OEM asset library), specific disclaimers, and campaigns that meet the OEM's approved channel and format requirements. The specific requirements vary significantly by manufacturer, and they change — often annually — so staying current on your OEM's co-op guidelines is not optional.
Co-op compliance typically requires that new vehicle campaigns use OEM-approved ad copy language, include required legal disclaimers, feature OEM-supplied creative assets where applicable, and are structured around the OEM's approved vehicle categories and naming conventions. This does not mean your campaigns have to be generic or low-performing — it means you need to build compliance into the campaign structure from the start, not retrofit it after the fact.
Maintain separate campaigns for co-op-eligible new vehicle advertising and non-co-op eligible spending (used vehicles, service, conquest). This separation makes co-op documentation clean and auditable. Your agency should be able to produce a monthly co-op claim package with spend reports, ad screenshots, and traffic data in a format your OEM's co-op portal accepts. If this process is manual and painful every month, the system is not set up correctly.
Many OEM co-op programs have tiered reimbursement structures — spending more unlocks a higher reimbursement percentage or access to match-funding bonuses. Understanding your OEM's tier structure and planning your monthly Google Ads budget to reach the next tier threshold is basic financial optimization. If spending an additional $2,000 per month unlocks a 75% reimbursement rate instead of 50%, your effective out-of-pocket cost actually decreases while your total ad spend increases. This calculation should be built into your annual planning conversation with your agency.
A dealership running a single Google Ads campaign for all departments is leaving enormous optimization potential on the table. New vehicle buyers, used vehicle shoppers, and service customers have fundamentally different search behavior, different conversion timelines, and different profit profiles. Treating them identically in one campaign means your bidding, messaging, and landing pages will be wrong for all three audiences simultaneously.
Co-op eligible. Target make/model/year intent searches. VDP traffic is the primary goal. Smart Bidding optimized for VDP views and lead form submissions. OEM asset integration required.
No OEM restrictions. Target cross-make shoppers, certified pre-owned searches, and price-comparison queries. Dynamic Search Ads work well for larger used lots with high inventory turnover.
Highest margin per dollar spent. Target service appointment keywords: oil change, brake service, tire rotation near me. Call extensions for immediate scheduling. Time-sensitive offer messaging.
VDP campaigns are one of the most powerful tools in dealership Google Ads. These campaigns drive traffic directly to individual vehicle listing pages rather than to a general inventory page or homepage. A shopper searching "2024 Honda CR-V EX AWD near me" who lands on the specific listing for that vehicle on your site is far more likely to convert to a lead than a shopper who lands on a general Honda inventory page and has to search again.
Building VDP campaigns requires integration with your inventory management system or DMS to ensure that campaigns reflect your actual in-stock inventory in near real-time. Running ads for vehicles that are no longer on your lot is a common and damaging experience for shoppers — and it inflates your cost per quality lead. VDP campaign management should include automated rules or scripts that pause ad groups when inventory sells and activate them when new vehicles arrive.
For used vehicle inventory — especially lots with 100+ vehicles across multiple makes and models — Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs) can surface long-tail inventory searches that would be impossible to manually keyword-target at scale. DSAs crawl your website and automatically generate ads based on content that matches what searchers are looking for. For a used lot with a 2019 Ram 1500 on the lot, a DSA can serve that specific vehicle to someone searching "used Ram 1500 near me" without you manually building a keyword or ad for every VIN. Pair DSAs with a robust negative keyword list to prevent irrelevant matches.
Google Vehicle Ads are a specialized inventory-driven ad format that displays individual vehicles from your lot directly within Google search results — similar to how Google Shopping ads show products for retail searches. Each Vehicle Ad shows a photo of the vehicle, the year, make, model, price, mileage, and your dealership name, and links directly to the VDP for that specific unit.
Vehicle Ads require a vehicle inventory data feed — similar in structure to a Google Shopping product feed — that is uploaded to Google Merchant Center and linked to your Google Ads account. The feed must include required fields: VIN, make, model, year, price, mileage, condition, image URL, and VDP URL. Most dealer website platforms (DealerSocket, CDK, DealerInspire, and others) can generate a compliant feed automatically, though the integration setup requires configuration.
Vehicle Ads appear at the top of search results for high-intent queries like "2023 Ford F-150 near me," "used Toyota Camry [city]," and "certified pre-owned Chevy Silverado." They also appear on the Google Display Network and YouTube for users who have shown in-market automotive intent signals. The visual format — with vehicle photos and pricing — provides significantly higher click-through rates than text-only search ads for in-market shoppers comparing specific models.
The highest-converting keywords for dealership search campaigns follow a clear pattern: make + model + year + location intent. Examples: "2024 Toyota RAV4 near me," "new Chevy Silverado [city]," "Ford F-150 dealer [city]," "used Honda Accord near me." These queries combine brand intent, model specificity, and local purchase intent — making them the most valuable searches in your category.
Financing keywords — "no credit check car dealer," "buy here pay here," "bad credit auto loans near me," "0% financing [brand]" — are a distinct and often high-converting segment. If your dealership promotes financing offers, these deserve their own ad group with financing-focused ad copy and a landing page centered on the financing offer rather than the inventory.
Service and parts keywords represent a completely separate intent category: "oil change near me," "brake repair [city]," "Toyota service center near me," "car AC repair [city]." These searches are immediate-need and respond extremely well to call extensions and offer-based ad copy (first oil change $29.99, free multi-point inspection with any service).
Conquest campaigns target searchers who are actively researching your competitors' brands — either competitor dealerships or competing vehicle makes. A Honda dealer, for example, might run a conquest campaign targeting Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima searches, showing ads that compare favorably or offer test drive incentives for the Honda Accord. A Ford dealer might target searches for "Chevy Silverado dealer near me" with messaging about the F-150's towing capacity or current Ford financing offers.
Conquest campaigns are legal and common in automotive advertising. They work because a significant percentage of in-market vehicle shoppers are still undecided on make or model — they are comparison shopping and will consider alternatives if presented with a compelling reason to look. The key is ensuring your conquest ads lead to a landing page that provides a genuine reason to consider your brand, not just a generic inventory page.
Targeting competitor dealership name searches — "Toyota of [City]," "[Competitor name] dealer" — is a more aggressive conquest tactic. Someone searching for a specific competing dealer is likely already in-market and close to a decision. Showing your dealership as an alternative with a clear differentiator (better reviews, current promotion, closer location, better financing) can intercept this buyer before they commit. Keep in mind that Google's trademark policies apply — you cannot use a competitor's brand name in your ad copy or display URL, only in keyword targeting.
Local Inventory Ads (LIAs) are a Google Shopping format that shows your in-stock inventory to nearby searchers and highlights that the vehicle is "in store" rather than needing to be ordered. For dealerships, LIAs bridge the gap between online research and showroom visit — they communicate availability and immediacy in a way text ads cannot. LIAs require a verified business profile, a local product inventory feed, and setup through Google Merchant Center. When a shopper taps a Local Inventory Ad on mobile, they can see a "local storefront" page on Google showing your dealership hours, directions, and the specific vehicle before even clicking to your website.
The service department is consistently underutilized in dealership Google Ads strategies. Most dealers focus the majority of ad spend on new and used vehicle campaigns while ignoring the fact that service and parts often generate higher gross profit per dollar of ad spend. A customer scheduling a major repair or a set of tires represents $500–$2,000 in immediate, predictable revenue — with no trade-in negotiation, financing contingency, or months-long purchase cycle involved.
Service campaigns should be structured around high-intent, immediate-need keywords: "oil change near me," "tire rotation service," "brake service [city]," "transmission repair near me," "car AC not working," "[Brand] service center [city]." These searchers are in decision mode and respond immediately to clear offers, availability signals, and easy scheduling paths.
Call extensions on service campaigns are essential. A service customer wants to talk to someone immediately — they have a problem with their vehicle and want to know if you can see them today. Call extensions show your phone number directly in the ad, allowing mobile users to tap and call without clicking to a website. Schedule call extensions to run only during service department hours when the phone will be answered. A missed call from a paid ad is a direct loss — no voicemail converts at the same rate as a live answer.
Pair call extensions with call tracking. Knowing that your brake service ad generated 47 calls last month, 38 of which became booked appointments at an average of $420 each, is the kind of data that justifies service campaign spend to any manager or dealer principal. Without call tracking, you have clicks and impressions — not revenue attribution.
Service ad copy that outperforms consistently follows a simple formula: specific service + specific offer + proximity signal + clear CTA. Example: "Toyota Oil Change — $49.95 Synthetic | [City] Toyota Service | Book Online Today." This headline includes the make (relevant to Toyota owners), the service (oil change), the price (removes the main objection), the location (local relevance), and the CTA (book online). Every element is doing work. Compare this to "Dealership Service Center | Quality You Can Trust" — which communicates nothing specific and converts at a fraction of the rate.
Dealership advertising attribution has historically been difficult because the purchase journey spans multiple touchpoints over days or weeks and often ends in a physical showroom visit. A car buyer might click a Google ad on Monday, return to the website directly on Wednesday, and walk into your showroom on Saturday. Standard last-click attribution gives Google Ads zero credit for that sale — which is one reason many dealer principals underestimate the impact of their Google Ads campaigns.
Google Ads Store Visit Conversions use aggregated, anonymized location data from signed-in Google users who have Location History enabled to estimate how many people who clicked your ads later visited your dealership. To enable this feature, your dealership needs a verified Google Business Profile, active location extensions in your campaigns, and sufficient traffic volume to pass Google's minimum thresholds. Store Visit data is modeled and approximate — it is not a precise count — but it provides a directionally accurate signal of in-person impact that is otherwise invisible in standard conversion reporting.
Phone calls are a major conversion path for dealerships, particularly for service scheduling and used vehicle inquiries. Google Ads automatically tracks calls made through call extensions using forwarding numbers. For calls made directly from your website after an ad click, Google Ads website call conversion tracking can be configured to track calls that begin on your site. For a more complete picture, third-party call tracking platforms (CallRail, Invoca, or dealer-specific solutions) can attribute calls to specific campaigns, ad groups, and keywords and integrate call recording for sales coaching purposes.
Most dealerships are optimizing toward cost per lead — a form fill, a call, a chat inquiry. That is a reasonable proxy metric, but it is not your business metric. Your business metric is cost per vehicle sold or cost per service appointment booked. Getting from cost per lead to cost per sale requires connecting your Google Ads conversion data to your DMS (Dealer Management System). Platforms like VinSolutions, DealerSocket, and CDK can surface which leads converted to sales. Even a manual monthly reconciliation — comparing Google Ads leads to closed deals in your CRM — gives you data that makes every future budget conversation evidence-based rather than opinion-based.
Our dealership campaign framework separates every revenue stream, coordinates OEM co-op compliance, and tracks attribution from click to showroom floor.
Dealership Campaign FrameworkNew inventory, used inventory, and service campaigns are built as separate entities with independent budgets, bidding strategies, and landing pages — never consolidated into a single catch-all campaign.
OEM Co-Op CoordinationWe build campaigns to meet your OEM brand standards from day one, produce co-op claim documentation monthly, and track your co-op accrual against available balance to ensure maximum reimbursement.
Vehicle Ads and Feed ManagementWe configure your vehicle inventory feed, connect it to Google Merchant Center, and manage Vehicle Ads alongside standard search campaigns — ensuring VDP traffic is always matched to in-stock inventory.
Conquest StrategyWe identify your highest-opportunity competitor makes and build conquest campaigns that intercept in-market shoppers with differentiated messaging before they commit to a competing brand or dealer.
Call Tracking IntegrationEvery campaign includes call tracking configured to your service department and sales floor hours, with monthly call data reconciled against booked appointments and sold units.
Store Visit and DMS AttributionWe enable Store Visit Conversions and work with your DMS data to build a monthly attribution report that shows true cost per vehicle sold and cost per service appointment — not just cost per click.
STEP 01
We review your existing Google Ads account, your DMS data, OEM co-op accrual history, competitor landscape, and inventory mix to understand where the biggest opportunities and inefficiencies exist before making any changes.
STEP 02
We design a campaign structure that separates new, used, service, and conquest into distinct campaigns — each with dedicated ad groups, keyword themes, bidding strategies, and conversion goals that reflect each department's actual business metrics.
STEP 03
We connect your inventory management platform to Google Merchant Center, configure your vehicle feed, and launch Vehicle Ads campaigns — with automated rules to pause ads for sold units and activate ads for new arrivals.
STEP 04
We review your OEM co-op guidelines, configure new vehicle campaigns to meet all compliance requirements, and establish the monthly documentation workflow for your co-op claim submissions.
STEP 05
We implement Google Ads conversion tracking for form leads, phone calls, and VDP views — enable Store Visit Conversions — and configure the reporting framework that connects Google Ads activity to your DMS sales data.
STEP 06
Monthly strategy calls with your GSM or marketing director. Performance dashboards showing cost per lead, cost per sale, co-op utilization, and store visit estimates — with clear recommendations for the next 30 days in every report.
We audit your current dealership Google Ads setup, identify where co-op dollars are being left unclaimed, and show you exactly how to structure campaigns across new, used, service, and conquest to maximize every dollar you spend.
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