8:29 am, September 12, 2013
GERMAN premium brands Audi and BMW dominate online car searches.
According to research from digital marketing agency Greenlight, the two German car makers dominated all consumer car queries in August.
Results found the terms ‘Audi’ and ‘BMW’ were each queried 450,000 times on Google in August, accounting for eight per cent of all automotive-related searches. Mercedes and Vauxhall followed with search volumes totalling 368,000 and 301,000, respectively.
Data shows that dealership websites did not receive as many visits as manufacturers’, achieving just 0.16 per cent of all made.
Auto Trader was the most visible car-related website, achieving a 75 per cent share of visibility in organic listings. Sunday Times Driving (driving.co.uk), was the most visible advertiser in the paid listings.
On the dealership front, Carpages.co.uk took top spot. Being visible to a volume of 10,803 searches saw it secure a 63 per cent share of voice in the organic listings. Evans Halshaw meanwhile was the most prominent dealer in the paid listings, attaining a 35 per cent share of voice.
‘It’s fair to say that so far both car makers and the public haven’t been able to capitalise on the transactional benefits the internet has offered other sectors,” said Joe Vaughan, research manager at GfK Automotive. ‘But we’re now at a tipping point where the auto industry is revisiting the principle of leveraging the web as a sales channel. The signs look a lot more promising this time.’
