Car dealerships
Local SEO for car dealerships.
A branded click converts at about sixty dollars a sale. A generic one costs twelve hundred. Everything worth doing in dealership search is about producing more of the first kind.
- $250 to $350
- industry cost per vehicle sold
- $500 to $700
- marketing spend per new vehicle retailed
- $60
- cost per sale from branded clicks, at a 12.5% close
- $1,200
- cost per sale from generic clicks
The twenty-fold difference nobody plans around
Published 2026 automotive benchmarks. The gap between the last two rows is the largest published efficiency difference on this site.
| Industry cost per vehicle sold | $250 to $350 | 100 units a month is $25,000 to $35,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per lead entering 2026 | about $46 to $50 | |
| Branded click | about $60 a sale | at a 12.5% close rate |
| Generic click | about $1,200 a sale |
Branded demand is twenty times more efficient, and almost nothing in dealership marketing is designed to create it.
Generic searches for a make and model are contested by manufacturers, aggregators and every dealer in the region, and the click prices reflect it. Branded searches, where somebody types your dealership's name, convert at a fraction of the cost. The question worth asking is what actually makes a person in your region know your name, and the answer is almost never the sales department.
Figures are 2026 US automotive marketing benchmarks. Close rates and channel mix vary enormously by dealership.
The service department is your best marketing asset
A customer buys a car from you every five to eight years. They come to the service department two or three times a year, which means service is where the relationship actually lives, and it is where almost all of your reviews come from.
It is also where local search works most naturally. Nobody types a dealership name when they want a new car; they type the make and model and compare. But somebody who needs a logbook service, a warranty repair or a recall check on a specific make searches locally, and the map pack has only a handful of legitimate answers in any region.
So the service searches are cheap to win, they produce reviews, and a steady flow of reviews and familiarity produce the branded searches that convert at sixty dollars a sale rather than twelve hundred. Most dealership marketing budgets are structured the other way round, with almost everything on the sales side and the service department treated as an operational department rather than a demand engine.
Four search families, at wildly different prices
| Search type | What they type | Where their head is at | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service and parts | [make] service centre [city], logbook service near me, [make] recall check, genuine parts [make] | Few legitimate local answers. Cheap to win and it produces the reviews. | Highest |
| Branded | [dealership name], [dealership] reviews, [dealership] opening hours | Already decided to consider you. Converts at a fraction of the cost of anything else. | Highest |
| Used stock, specific | used [model] under $20,000 [city], low km [make] for sale near me, demo [model] [city] | Specific enough to be winnable, unlike the generic model searches. | High |
| Generic new | new [make] [city], [model] price, best deal on a [model] | Contested by manufacturers, aggregators and every dealer. About $1,200 a sale. | Low |
Published spend against published efficiency
- Generic paid search
- Largest spend, $1,200 a sale
- Aggregator listings
- Necessary, and they own the customer
- Branded search and reputation
- $60 a sale
- Service department search
- Cheapest visibility in the business
Six months, starting where the reviews come from
Weeks 1 to 4
Separate the service listing properly
Where the guidelines allow a distinct service department listing, set it up with its own hours, its own reviews and its own services. It is the cheapest visibility available to a dealership and most groups have never done it.
Weeks 4 to 10
Service and parts content, by make
Logbook servicing, recalls, warranty work, genuine parts. There are very few legitimate local answers for a specific make, which makes these among the easiest rankings in automotive.
Months 2 to 4
Reviews, collected at the service desk
Service produces two or three visits a year against one sale every five to eight. That is where the review volume is, and reviews are what turn a name into branded demand.
Months 4 to 6
Used stock pages that are specific
By model, price band and condition rather than a general inventory feed. Specific used searches are winnable where generic new model searches are not.
What dealerships ask us
Why focus on service when sales pays the bills?
Because branded clicks convert at about $60 a sale against $1,200 for generic ones, and branded demand comes from familiarity and reviews. Service produces two or three visits a year per customer against one sale every five to eight, so it generates almost all of both.
Should service have its own listing?
Where the guidelines permit a separate department listing, yes. It has its own hours, its own reviews and its own category, and setting it up is one of the cheapest visibility gains available to a dealership.
Can we win generic new model searches?
Rarely, and the published cost per sale of about $1,200 explains why chasing them is expensive. Specific used stock searches and service searches are winnable and cost a fraction as much.
How much of our budget should be digital?
Published guidance for 2026 puts digital at 85 to 95% for leading dealers, with at least 72% as a floor. The more useful question is the split between ads and search within digital, where branded and service work is consistently underfunded.
What about the aggregator listings?
They are necessary and they own the customer relationship. The point of your own search presence is not to replace them but to reduce how much of your volume arrives through a channel that can raise its prices at will.
Local SEO for nearby trades
What a customer is worth, and which searches actually convert, change by trade. These are the closest neighbours to this one.
See where your branded and service searches actually stand.
The free audit separates your branded, service and inventory visibility, shows how your review volume compares with competing dealerships, and identifies which service searches are open in your region.