Google has introduced new vehicle listing structured data for car dealerships aimed at helping them increase visibility for their inventory. The new markup allows dealerships to provide more detailed information about their vehicles, such as the make, model, year, mileage, condition, and price. Google can then use this information to display richer search results and help potential buyers find the vehicles they are looking for.
Today we’re starting to support vehicle listing markup, a new way to appear in vehicle listings on Google. It now has its own Search Console Rich result report and is supported in the testing tool. Read more in our blog https://t.co/thAj8MERWs pic.twitter.com/WI4BHYfidn
— Google Search Central (@googlesearchc) October 16, 2023
The new structured data includes support for a wider range of vehicle attributes, such as:
- Vehicle type (car, truck, SUV, etc.)
- Make and model
- Year
- Mileage
- Price
- Engine type
- Transmission type
- Fuel type
- Exterior color
- Interior color
- Features
- VIN number
Dealerships can add the new structured data to their websites using either JSON-LD or Microdata. Google has also provided a tool to help dealerships generate the structured data markup for their inventory.
Once the structured data has been added to a dealership’s website, Google can better understand the dealership’s inventory and display it more prominently in Google Search results. This can help dealerships attract more website visitors and generate more leads.
Benefits for car dealerships
There are several benefits for car dealerships that implement the new vehicle listing structured data:
- Increased visibility in Google Search results: Google will be able to understand the dealership’s inventory better and display it more prominently in Google Search results. This can help the dealership to attract more visitors to its website.
- Richer snippets: Google may display richer snippets for the dealership’s inventory in Google Search results. This can include information such as the vehicle type, make and model, year, mileage, and price.
- Enhanced Google Maps experience: The dealership’s inventory may also be displayed more prominently on Google Maps. This can help potential customers to find the dealership and its vehicles more easily.
- Improved user experience: The new structured data can help to improve the user experience on the dealership’s website. For example, Google may use structured data to display a filterable list of vehicles on the dealership’s website.
How to implement vehicle listing structured data
To implement vehicle listing structured data, dealerships must add the markup to their website. This can be done using either JSON-LD or Microdata. Google has provided a tool to help dealerships generate the structured data markup for their inventory.
Once the structured data has been added to the dealership’s website, Google may take some time to crawl and index the pages. Once the pages have been indexed, the dealership’s inventory may start to appear more prominently in Google Search results and other Google surfaces.
There are two ways to use the new vehicle listing structured data:
Structured data markup: You can add structured data markup to your website to provide Google with more information about your vehicles. You must add JSON-LD code to your website’s HTML to do this. Several tools and resources are available to help you with this, such as the Google Structured Data Testing Tool.
Feed files: You can also submit a feed file to the Google Merchant Center. This is a CSV file that contains information about your vehicles. To create a feed file, you will need to follow the Google Merchant Center guidelines.
Once you have added the structured data markup to your website or submitted a feed file to the Google Merchant Center, it may take a few days for Google to process the information and display richer search results for your vehicle listings.
Search Console Rich Result Report
It now has its own Search Console Rich result report and is supported in the testing tool.
The Search Console Rich result report shows you how many of your pages are eligible for rich results and any errors or warnings that Google has found in your structured data. This can help you identify and fix any problems preventing your vehicles from appearing in rich snippets and other featured results in Google Search.
The Rich Result testing tool allows you to test your structured data to make sure it is implemented correctly. This can be helpful before you submit your inventory to Google through the Google Merchant Center.
Having its own Search Console Rich result report and being supported in the testing tool means that the new vehicle listing structured data is now a fully supported rich result type. This means that Google is actively looking for this structured data on car dealership websites, and is using it to improve the presentation of vehicle listings in Google Search and other Google surfaces.
Overall, the fact that the new vehicle listing structured data has its own Search Console Rich result report and is supported in the testing tool is a good sign for car dealerships. It means that Google is taking this type of structured data seriously and that it is being used to improve the visibility of vehicle listings on Google Search.
Conclusion
The new vehicle listing structured data from Google is a valuable tool for car dealerships. By implementing the structured data, dealerships can increase their visibility in Google Search results, attract more visitors to their websites, and generate more leads.