Car Dealership & Automotive Marketing Melbourne

Three levers: NAP consistency across Carsales, AutoTrader, CarsGuide, your dealer-group page (if franchised), and Google Business Profile; volume of recent reviews mentioning the suburb and the model bought; and on-page proximity signals like the suburb in title, H1, and inventory page URLs. PMGS audits the citation footprint, reconciles Carsales/CarsGuide listings to your GBP, and ships suburb-specific landing pages (e.g. /used-cars-epping/) with structured data so Google can connect inventory to location.

Both, not either. Carsales gets 70%+ of used-car search intent in AU and you can't out-rank it for generic 'used [make/model] [city]' queries. But Carsales takes a lead fee per enquiry and you don't own the relationship. Your own site wins on brand, service department, finance pages, and intent that's further down the funnel ('mazda cx-5 dealer epping', 'logbook service mazda Melbourne'). PMGS structures the strategy so Carsales captures cold demand and your own site captures warm + service-department demand — no cannibalisation.

For a Melbourne used-car dealer, expect $35–$120 per qualified enquiry on Google Ads, depending on inventory price band. Sub-$15k cars run cheaper ($35–$60), $30k+ used cars cost more ($90–$150) because intent is more researched. Service department ads ('logbook service melbourne', 'brake replacement [suburb]') run $20–$45 per enquiry — much cheaper than vehicle ads, and PMGS often recommends starting there to fund the more competitive vehicle campaigns.

Yes — different audience, different keywords, different funnel. Service department marketing targets existing car owners ('logbook service [suburb]', 'brake pads [model]'), runs on a 6–12 month maintenance cycle, and converts at higher rates than vehicle sales. New/used vehicle marketing targets active in-market buyers and converts on a 30–90 day window. PMGS runs them as separate campaign structures with separate landing pages and separate KPIs, so the service department isn't cross-subsidising vehicle sales (or vice versa).

Inventory pages need indexability and structured data (Vehicle / Product schema), but they shouldn't compete with the hub. Optimise the hub for category-level intent ('used cars epping', 'mazda dealer melbourne'), and let inventory pages capture long-tail VIN/stock-number searches. Use canonical tags carefully when stock comes from a feed. PMGS configures the inventory feed (typically AutoGate, Cox AutoTrader, or your DMS export) to populate Google Vehicle Listings and writes the hub copy to capture the head term.

Google Vehicle Listings (rolled out in AU 2024–2025) lets dealers surface inventory directly in Google Search and Maps via structured data — without paying Carsales a lead fee. To qualify, your inventory must be served via a feed (Manufacturer Center) or via Vehicle Listing structured data on each stock page. PMGS sets up the feed, validates each listing in Google's Rich Results Test, and monitors Vehicle Listings impressions in GSC so you can quantify the share of search you've reclaimed from third-party listings.

For a dealership with existing GBP and indexed inventory, expect first attributed test drives at week 6–10, growing through month 4–6. Service department ads convert faster (week 2–4) because intent is more immediate. SEO compounds slowly here because Google weights review volume and location tenure heavily — but the cost per acquired customer drops every quarter as the asset matures. PMGS reports test-drive attribution monthly with call tracking, GA4 events, and your DMS reconciliation.

Yes, with location pages and proximity-tuned content. A dealer in Epping can rank for 'used cars Mill Park', 'used cars Lalor', 'used cars Thomastown' — within ~7–10km — by building one suburb-specific landing page per target suburb (unique copy, suburb in H1/title/URL, real photos at the dealership, local trust signals). Beyond 10km, organic gets thin and paid search makes more sense. PMGS scoped the 20-suburb matrix around PMGS's office in Epping for exactly this reason.

Automotive marketing costs depend on dealership size, inventory volume and competitive intensity. Most dealerships invest $3,000–$8,000/month. PMGS provides transparent pricing with clear deliverables.

Yes. PMGS implements vehicle-specific SEO with structured data (Vehicle schema) for each listing, optimised titles, descriptions and image alt text to rank individual vehicles in Google search results.

By building your dealership's own digital presence — a website with strong SEO, Google Ads capturing model-specific searches, social media showcasing inventory and Google Business Profile optimisation. Over time, direct enquiries grow while platform dependency decreases.

The highest-performing campaigns target model-specific searches ('Toyota HiLux Melbourne'), dealer searches ('car dealer northern suburbs'), used vehicle searches and service-specific queries. Each has dedicated landing pages.

Yes. Service department marketing is often overlooked but represents significant recurring revenue. PMGS creates dedicated campaigns targeting service, parts and accessories searches for your brands.

New vehicles benefit from brand and model campaigns. Used vehicles need inventory-specific SEO with detailed listings. PMGS builds separate strategies for each — often with different budgets and targeting approaches.

Facebook and Instagram are primary for inventory showcasing, new arrivals and dealership culture. Video walkarounds perform exceptionally well. YouTube is effective for detailed vehicle reviews and virtual tours.

Google Ads generates enquiries within the first 1–2 weeks. Organic vehicle visibility builds over 3–6 months. Most dealerships see measurable enquiry growth within 60 days of a coordinated strategy.