Monthly Archives: September 2014

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about how Google AdWords was forcing all advertisers to use close variants on exact matches by removing the opt out option. As is usually the case, BingAds is following AdWords leads. BingAds announced that they are making close variants on exact matches a permanent feature on BingAds — they had been testing the feature earlier in the month.

If you didn’t read my earlier post, here’s a refresher on close variants. Close variants include search queries that are close to, but not exact matches to the keywords. This includes misspellings, plurals and abbreviations. Here are some examples.

Google’s controversial decision to remove any ability to opt out of close variants in AdWords rubbed some advertisers thee wrong way. BingAds took notice and is maintaining the advertisers choice to opt out of close variants on exact match keywords. You can make that change at the campaign level by going to Advanced Settings > Keyword Matching Options.

I came across an interesting article the other day that pointed out a really interesting statistic from the Bureau of Labor Statistics American Time Use Survey. According to the survey, Americans now spend more time on Facebook than they do on their pets. It seems Facebook has replaced Lassie as man’s best friend. If it’s any condolence Facebook just barely beat out pets in regards to time spent — 39 versus 40 minutes a day.

This stat really highlights how Facebook has fully integrated itself into our daily lives and how important it is for your dealership to be seen on Facebook by potential customers. With the amount of time your potential customers are spending on Facebook, shouldn’t you be as well?

There are multiple ways for you to engage with your customers on Facebook. You could engage with customers who are already ‘like’ your Facebook page with daily and relevant Facebook posts. However, not all of your potential customers have ‘liked’ your dealership Facebook page. A great way to engage these potential customers on Facebook is through a Facebook retargeting campaign. A Facebook retargeting campaign targets people who have visited your site, and shows them your Facebook ad the next time they’re ignoring their pets while on Facebook.

Source: Business Week

Earlier in the month Google announced the roll out of Callouts, a new ad extension in Adwords that allows you to highlight unique benefits and offers of your dealership with an additional line of text. The Callout extension joins Sitelink extensions, Call extensions, and Location extensions to Adwords ad extension family.

Car dealerships can use Callout extensions to promote special offers, price matching guarantees, award-winning customer service, and more. You can easily add Callout extensions at the campaign and ad group level and even schedule the dates that they’ll run. On the campaign level you can add general Callout extensions that highlight your award-winning sales staff or your no hassle sales policy. On the ad group level you can get more specific and highlight special promotion and offers for specific vehicles. Is your dealership running a 0.9% APR on 2014 car models until the end of the month? If so, that’s a perfect opportunity to use Callout extensions.

Callouts appear below the standard ad copy and, most importantly, they can be displayed along with other ad extensions. You can feature up to four Callouts in your ad, each limited to 25 characters each. This means that your ad can utilize even more real estate on search results page if they’re utilizing numerous ad extensions.

If you’re not using Callout extensions in your ads then you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to increase your CTR and highlight what makes your dealership unique. Is your dealership PPC campaign using Callout extensions.