Putting up your car listing online might seem easy. However, the challenge begins with attracting buyers and getting them to click on your listing. As competition for car listings increases across marketplaces and dealership websites, many car listings often get scrolled past without a proper look.
This raises the question of how to increase clicks on car listings.
Increasing the click-through rate on car listings won’t happen overnight. It requires consistent effort, starting with improving the titles and descriptions with proper keywords. Also, you have to improve the image quality, utilise backlinks, offer strategic pricing, enhance mobile experience, and more.
Stay with us as we break down different strategies that are guaranteed to increase the clicks on your car listing. Let’s dive right into it!
Understanding Why Car Listings Don’t Get Clicks
A car listing click-through rate is a key indicator of how well organized and relevant the listing is. It tells dealerships whether they are successful in engaging with potential buyers.
Despite the importance of high click-through rates, many dealerships often struggle with improving them. That’s totally okay, we’ve got you covered.
So, before we tell you how to increase clicks on car listings, we want to explore why car listings don’t get clicks. This will tell you what not to do if you want to improve car listing CTR.
- Providing low-quality images or stock photos.
- Targeting a broad yet irrelevant audience.
- Offering pricing that doesn’t match market expectations.
- Providing no indicator of trust, such as reviews, on the dealership’s platforms.
- Writing weak descriptions that don’t answer buyer questions.
- Using repetitive concepts and keywords for ads.
- Not updating sold or outdated listings.
How To Increase Clicks On Car Listings? – 8 Proven Strategies
Now, let’s dive into how to increase clicks on car listings. There are various ways to enhance click-through rates. However, we have cherry-picked the ones that will not only boost CTR but also drive overall sales.
1. Optimize Car Listing Titles
Always remember that increasing clicks will be no big deal if you can successfully optimize vehicle listings. So, let’s start strong by optimizing car listing titles.
Include the model, year, trim, and mileage as well. Adding any sort of highlighting features, such as a sunroof, will definitely earn you brownie points. However, that’s pretty much it. Keep the title concise. Remember to be informative yet intentional and specific.
Moreover, while trying to be compelling, don’t add any clickbait measures. Avoid generic phrases and try to add keywords naturally. Going overboard with the keywords will hurt your SEO performance, disconnecting you from potential buyers.
2. Use High-Quality Photos
This next method is also a part of car listing optimization. In addition to improving the titles, you also have to work on your vehicle photos.
Focus on the location, lighting, angles, and most importantly, the features. This means you have to include both the exterior and interior of the car. Moreover, edit wisely. Don’t go in with a heavy hand while editing. Keep it natural.
We recommend using photography apps that were specifically designed for car dealerships. C-AR is an AI-driven mobile app that will take care of your capturing and editing needs. So, you wouldn’t have to worry too much about optimising your listing.
Also, you have to optimize the images for SEO and specific platforms. Take care of the image size, naming, loading speed, and Alt Text.
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3. Write Car Eye-Catching Descriptions
Once you’ve got the title and photos covered, it’s time for the descriptions. The description is where you can go all in! Don’t just dwell on the features here, write about the condition, benefits, engine capacity, upgrades, and more.
If there is any downside, include that as well. This ensures proper transparency. If you’re selling pre-owned cars, add the reason for selling and the previous maintenance history.
However, you can’t just hastily write the description and be done with it. Pay attention to the format to make it easily readable. Try to go for bullet points. If you have to include paragraphs, make them short and precise.
4. Price Your Cars Strategically
Next, focus on the pricing as well. This is a key factor in deciding whether the buyer will click through or not. Offer competitive ranges to attract more buyers.
If possible, slightly decrease the prices for the high-demand vehicles. You don’t have to reduce it drastically, just price it right below what your competitors are offering.
However, it is important to rely on data-driven analysis using real-time data tools. Pricing decisions can’t be made on a whim. You must be strategic and factor in all the costs before setting up the price.
5. Leverage Local Backlinks
Reach out to your local community for backlinks. This is a great way to increase your visibility and CTR. Moreover, it gives you the opportunity to build a stronger online presence.
Essentially, what you will be doing is relying on partnership. Connect with local businesses, repair shops, and car accessories shops. And, approach them with a backlinking proposal.
Alternatively, you can sponsor local events and charities. In return, ask them if they link your dealership’s website to theirs.
6. Build a deep site architecture
Try to invest in a deep site architecture for more CTR. While they might require more maintenance, they will prove to be extremely beneficial in the long run.
Invest in creating a well-structured and organized site that improves the user experience. There should be proper internal links that maintain the hierarchy as well as relevance.
The goal here is to ensure that users can easily browse through your website. Make the homepage neat with clean categories so users know where to check features and how to reach out.
7. Improve Clicks with Promotions And Paid Ads
A popular method to attract buyers is through flashy promotions. Whenever you’re offering any discounts, highlight them with visual enhancements to grab attention. Do the same with EMI and trade-in options.
Moreover, try your hand at paid Ads. Reach out to public personas on social media. Try to cut out a deal that benefits both parties involved.
Moreover, try to get your listing in Google Ads. Google’s Vehicle Listing Ads (VLAs) format can help your dealership to be at the top of any automotive-related Google search. Thus, it directly connects you to interested buyers.
8. Use Urgency to Drive More Clicks
Buyers gravitate towards you when you create a sense of urgency or scarcity. Limited-time offers and seasonal demands often show an increased attraction from buyers.
Sending messages, emails, or pop-up notifications about these offers can drastically increase clicks on your car listing. Just remember to be efficient with the messages, don’t make it too informal.
9. Prioritize Mobile Experience
Lastly, you must ensure that your dealership is mobile-optimized. It is no surprise that a huge chunk of buyers look up your website on their phones. So, you must offer them a proper mobile experience.
A strong mobile-optimized website attracts more clients, improves SEO performance, and increases CTR. So, make the most out of your online presence just by adapting to mobile-based needs.
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A/B Testing Car Listings To Increase Click-Through Rate
A/B is a foolproof digital marketing strategy that will undoubtedly increase your clicks on car listings. To put it simply, A/B testing can help you compare two different versions of a listing.
So that you can know which one attracts more clicks and engagement, instead of having to guess.
To begin with, we recommend doing this test on your titles. This is the first thing your buyers see on search results or marketplaces.
So, test titles with different features. Also, compare different price incentives or benefits that you’re offering.
Moreover, for each of them, change only one element at a time, like words, order, or emphasis, to clearly understand what improves CTR.
Once you’re done with the titles, repeat the same with your listing photos. Test different lighting, background, and close-up shots as well.
Again, always test which image works best as the thumbnail. The thumbnail sets the first impression, and therefore, directly impacts CTR.
Most importantly, make sure to conduct the tests routinely and update the listing accordingly. Try to review and update every 2-4weeks for the best results. However, if you’re offering seasonal or promotional offers, make sure to conduct the A/B test before making any changes.
FAQ
Q. Do lower prices always get more clicks?
No, the price isn’t the only factor that impacts CTR. Many factors such as model, demand, and even the use of proper keywords in the title, contribute to how many clicks you will get.
Q. What is the average CTR for car listings?
The average CTR for a car listing looks different on each platform. For Google Search ads, the average CTR should be 2-4% whereas roughly 3-6% for car marketplaces.
Q. Do paid car listings have better CTR?
While paid car listings might feel more elevated, organic listings tend to do better in the long run. Users often find paid listings to be less genuine due to their advertisement-like nature.
Conclusion
So, how to increase clicks on car listings? The key to increasing clicks on car listings is making consistent improvements. This may look like enhancing the titles, descriptions, and image quality or investing in real-time pricing analysis tools.
Moreover, at every step, you must remember to prioritize the buyers. They will only click on precise listings that can connect with them, answer all their queries precisely, and match their pricing needs. After all, listings that offer clarity and relevance will naturally attract more buyers and increase sales!
