How to Read GVA Data Without a Marketing Degree
How many times have you used a marketing agency for your dealership, only to hear a bunch of terms you have no clue what they mean, and marketers showing you graphs while telling you that everything is working as it should?
How many times have you come out of these calls hoping that they are correct because you have no idea what to look for when analysing marketing data?
As marketers, we know this is sadly a common reality for many dealers, which is why we do things differently at WeAdvertiseAnyCar. We want you to know what data we’re looking at, what patterns we watch for, and ultimately, that with or without a marketing degree, your numbers can be good or bad.
This article covers exactly that: how to analyse your Google Vehicle Ads (GVA) data, so you can be confident when looking at numbers.
Impressions
Impressions are the total number of times your ad showed up in someone’s search. They count how many times the ad appeared in search results, not whether someone saw it.
Impressions are the building block that tells you whether the ad is working in the first place. Low impressions may point to a feed issue or an eligibility issue.
Tracking impressions over time shows you valuable information, such as which vehicles, makes, or search terms buyers are seeing.
Impression share
GVA uses an auction model to decide whose ads appear in the search results.
The impression share is the relative number that tells you what percentage of the total available auctions your ads appeared in, out of every auction you were eligible for.
One of the reasons why you want to track impression share is because it separates “no demand” from “missed opportunity”. For example, if your total impressions look fine but your impression share is only 40%, that means over half of the eligible auctions went to someone else.
A low impression share is usually caused by a capped budget, which results in Google rationing your visibility, or by feed quality. A poorly optimised feed results in fewer auctions won.
Click Share
The click share tells you what portion of all the clicks going to GVA listings for a search term ended up on your dealership’s ad. It tells you whether your ad is catching the buyer’s attention.
A low click share means you’re either being outbid or outranked in the auction, or simply your feed isn’t compelling enough. Click share alone might not be enough to spot the issue, but it does show whether something is working.
The interaction rate is the percentage of people who saw your vehicle ad and engaged with it, whether that’s a click-through to your site or an expanded listing.
A low interaction rate usually points to an ad with weak images, a noncompetitive price, and a listing that simply doesn’t stand out against the vehicle next to it.
Cost Per Click
This little number acts as a warning system, which is why it’s important to track it and keep an eye on it. Cost per click tells you what you’re paying, on average, for someone to engage with your listing. It tracks whether your ads are being efficient before your leads carry the consequences.
If cost per interaction steadily rises, it more often than not means you’re paying more for fewer results, and your budget is working harder than it should.
However, you shouldn't make decisions based on this number alone, as it’s only a diagnostic, not a verdict. Always look at how the numbers work together.
Conversions
This is the number that clearly matters the most to you as a dealer. A conversion might be a form fill, a click-to-call, or a click-through to book a test drive, depending on what you're tracking. For this reason, it’s always good to check what you’re counting as a conversion in your report, as this will then help you measure accurate numbers.
If the other metrics look fine but your conversions are low, something isn’t going to plan after the buyer clicks your ad. Usually, this results from a landing page that takes too long to load or a messy vehicle page where information is hard to find.
However, conversion volume isn't the only thing that matters; lead quality is even more important. Two leads that turn into two sales are more effective than 50 leads that turn into zero sales. That is why tracking what happens after the lead lands matters; we’ve covered how to track a lead offline in our Measuring PPC Success article.
What Does a Good GVA Campaign Look Like?
There's no single benchmark that applies to every dealer, because your stock, location and competition all shape what good means. For example, a specialist EV dealer in a city and a rural van dealership will have completely different "normal" numbers, and neither one is wrong.
You know a campaign is doing well when the numbers are moving in the right direction month on month.
The chain of events that you want to check every month is impressions leading to interactions, interactions leading to clicks, clicks leading to leads.
Obviously numbers won’t continually increase month over month and you should expect some natural movement. Plate change months, end-of-financial-year pushes, and even school holidays will shift your numbers regardless of how well the campaign's running.
Always look at the overall trendline, not just one month in isolation. One dip doesn't mean disaster, and one great month doesn't mean you can coast either. Three or four months of consistent movement, up or down, tells you something real is happening.
Questions to Ask Your Marketing Agency
Now that you understand the data better, next time a report lands in your inbox, ask what's driving any change in impression share. Ask why interaction rate has moved. Ask how cost per interaction compares to last month and why.
A good agency should be able to answer all of that without hiding behind jargon.
If your current reports leave you more confused than informed, that's on the agency, not on you.
If you’re looking for an agency that runs GVA and doesn’t hide behind complicated jargon, we do exactly that. We want you to understand what we’re saying; we explain everything in plain English, and we’re transparent when things don’t work.
Get in contact with us today to find the best GVA package for you!