Google Vehicle Ads: the complete technical guide for dealers

1. What Google Vehicle Ads are

A vehicle ad shows one car from your inventory: photo, year, make and model, price, mileage, your dealership name and location. A click goes to that car's page on your website, the vehicle detail page (VDP). Shoppers see them in the Sponsored vehicles row at the top of Google Search.

They are not keyword text ads. Google builds each ad from a vehicle data source (your inventory feed) in Merchant Center and decides which cars to show for each search. Three systems work together:

• Google Merchant Center holds your vehicle data source, with the Vehicle ads add-on turned on.
• Google Business Profile holds your dealership locations. Each car is tied to a lot through its store code, and Google targets the area around that lot automatically.
• Google Ads runs the campaign: Performance Max or, since May 2026, Standard Shopping.

Display network serving for vehicle ads is rolling out gradually and is currently available only to advertisers in the United States, Canada and Australia.

2. Who and what is eligible

Countries

• Fully released: United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. Dealers there turn on the add-on directly in Merchant Center.
• Open beta: United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands (a contact form first).
• Everywhere else: closed beta, through a Google sales representative.

Sellers

• New and used car dealers, retailers, aggregators and manufacturers can advertise. Aggregators and manufacturers may only list cars from dealerships with a valid license in that market.
• Not allowed: private sellers, individuals and auto brokers. Google only accepts direct sellers.
• You need a valid dealer license where your jurisdiction requires one (a state dealer license, sales license, permit or business registration). A driver's license or sales receipts do not count.
• You need a physical location where customers can see and buy the car, in the state where the car is listed.

Vehicles

• Allowed: non-commercial passenger vehicles such as cars, SUVs, pickups and vans, plus RVs, campers and non-motorized travel trailers. ATVs and UTVs are allowed in the US only.
• Excluded: motorcycles, boats, planes, farm vehicles, go-karts, race cars and vehicles that need a commercial license.
• Each car must also meet the rest of Google's vehicle advertising policies.
• Not supported: vehicle subscriptions, auctions and auction pricing, and parts, accessories, tires or service.

3. The account structure

Before any feed work, the accounts have to be built and linked correctly. This is where most do-it-yourself setups go wrong.

• Google Ads: in your dealership's name, so you own the data and the history. An agency works through a manager account.
• Merchant Center: Google requires "a separate Merchant Center account for each country and state or province being targeted." Dealer groups, or one website serving several lots, use an advanced account with one sub-account per state or province. Multi-state sellers in a single account are still a beta.
• Google Business Profile: one listing per lot, with a valid physical address, a store code that is unique within your business group, open status with accurate hours, and a category in the "Store and Shopping" group. The Business Profile account must be linked to Merchant Center before the add-on can be turned on. If you do not manage the profiles, a store data source can be submitted instead, and its details must match the profiles.
• Your website: verified and claimed in Merchant Center.

4. Activating vehicle ads in Merchant Center

Before you begin

1. Verify and claim your website.
2. Link your Google Ads account.
3. Link your Google Business Profile.
4. Add your business details.

Turn on the add-on

1. In Merchant Center, open Settings (the gear icon), then Add-ons.
2. Under the Discover tab, select the Vehicle ads card.
3. Select Add in [your country].

Then complete the three steps Google asks for

1. Add stores: link your Business Profile listings, or submit a store data source under Settings, Data sources, Point of sale sources, Add store data.
2. Add vehicles: create the vehicle data source (file, Google Sheet or Merchant API) with vehicle offers only, using Google's exact attribute headers.
3. Website review: Google runs a data quality review of your car pages. After your data and pages meet the requirements, you contact Merchant Center support to complete it.

Only after the review can you turn on vehicle ads in a campaign.

5. The vehicle data source (feed)

The feed is the heart of vehicle ads: every car, every price and every photo Google shows comes from it. It must contain only vehicle offers and use Google's exact attribute headers. These are the attributes that matter for dealers in the US and Canada.

Price rules by country

• United States: the price is "the amount a consumer can actually pay, excluding only required government charges and fees." vehicle_msrp is required for new cars; vehicle_price_type and vehicle_all_in_price are not used.
• Canada: new cars need vehicle_price_type set to all_in_price and a vehicle_all_in_price. For used cars those fields are not used, and the all-in price and MSRP are optional.

An example row

A used car at one lot, in a tab-separated file (example values):

id	VIN	store_code	google_product_category	vehicle_fulfillment	condition	brand	model	trim	year	mileage	color	price	link_template	image_link
STK4821	1HGCV1F30MA000001	lot01	916	in_store	Used	Honda	Accord	EX-L	2021	38210 Miles	Platinum White Pearl	24995.00 USD	https://www.example.com/inventory/STK4821?store={store_code}	https://www.example.com/photos/STK4821-1.jpg

The feed usually comes from your website provider or inventory system. Whoever produces it, the data has to match your car pages exactly: price, mileage, VIN and availability.

6. Car page (VDP) requirements

Google reviews your car pages before approving vehicle ads and keeps checking them afterwards. Each page must show, without extra clicks:

• Dealership name
• Location
• Price
• VIN
• Availability
• Mileage for used cars, MSRP for new cars

• Availability cannot read as sold, out of stock, reserved, unavailable or incoming.
• "The price in your data source and structured data must exactly match the price on your website landing page."
• The page must meet local disclosure rules for new and used vehicles.
• Each URL must work, be accessible and show the advertised car. Link templates must include the store code and land on that specific car's page.
• Mileage must use a supported unit and be accurate on the page and in the feed.

Structured data

Because Google compares the feed price with the structured data on the page, we recommend schema.org markup on every car page with the same values the feed sends. An example:

<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Car",
  "name": "2021 Honda Accord EX-L",
  "vehicleIdentificationNumber": "1HGCV1F30MA000001",
  "brand": { "@type": "Brand", "name": "Honda" },
  "model": "Accord",
  "vehicleModelDate": "2021",
  "itemCondition": "https://schema.org/UsedCondition",
  "mileageFromOdometer": { "@type": "QuantitativeValue", "value": 38210, "unitCode": "SMI" },
  "color": "Platinum White Pearl",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "24995.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD",
    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
    "seller": { "@type": "AutoDealer", "name": "Your Dealership" }
  }
}
</script>

7. Image requirements

• Formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP or TIFF, up to 16 MB and 64 megapixels.
• Size: at least 500 x 500 pixels; Google recommends 1500 x 1500 or larger and a 4:3 aspect ratio.
• Main image: a front-to-side angle (about 45 degrees) showing the whole car. A rear angle should not be the main image.
• Disapproved: watermarks, superimposed logos or text, placeholder images such as "No image" or "Coming soon", stock or generic images that are not the actual car, and cropped images that do not show the whole vehicle.
• Stock photos are only allowed for new cars, and only if they match the make, model and color.
• Discouraged but allowed: logos in the background, modified license plates and cluttered backgrounds.
• Google may blur backgrounds or crop images automatically. Automatic image improvements are not available for vehicle ads.

The banners many dealer websites add to photos (price, "financing available", phone number) are one of the most common reasons cars get rejected.

8. Campaigns: Performance Max and Standard Shopping

Performance Max

• Choose the Sales, Leads or Website traffic objective (or no goal guidance), then select Vehicle data source under "Use a data source".
• Set conversion goals such as contacts, qualified leads, store visits and lead form submissions. Google recommends including store visits.
• Google designs the campaign for Maximize conversion value bidding, with an optional target ROAS.
• Ads target the area around each car's store location; you can refine it with location targeting.
• Pick the cars with listing groups. A campaign with only the vehicle data source and no other assets shows vehicle ads only on Google Search.
• Expect about 2 weeks to ramp up and judge results after 4 to 6 weeks. Ads can take up to 48 hours to start.

Standard Shopping (since May 2026)

• Requires approved vehicle offers in Merchant Center.
• Gives more control: product groups by make, model, year or any feed attribute, fixed budgets, campaign priority and the option to exclude search partners.
• Bidding: manual CPC, target CPA, target ROAS, Maximize clicks or Maximize conversions.
• The campaign type and the linked Merchant Center account cannot be changed after publishing.

The two campaign types can run together. Which mix is right depends on inventory size, budget and how much control the dealer wants.

9. Measuring leads, calls and sales

Vehicle ads are only as good as the conversions they learn from. Page views and clicks are not results; leads, calls and sold cars are.

• Conversion actions: car page lead forms, calls from the website, chat leads and store visits, with each lead counted once.
• Enhanced conversions for leads: sends a hashed (one-way encoded) email and phone with each lead so Google can match it to the ad click.
• Offline conversions: importing which leads became sold cars teaches Google which clicks actually sell.
• Your website platform: many dealer website platforms limit which tracking scripts you can add. Check what yours allows before you launch.

10. Common disapprovals and how to fix them

After every fix, allow 24 to 48 hours for Google to sync and review again.

Repeated problems with data or car pages can lead to disapproved offers or a suspended Merchant Center account.

11. Keeping it running

Launching is the easy part. This is the routine Driviam follows for every dealer:

• Daily: the feed refreshes from the website, so sold cars drop out and price changes go through the same day.
• Weekly: Merchant Center diagnostics, disapproved cars fixed, and new arrivals checked for photos and pricing.
• Monthly: leads, calls, cost per lead and cost per sale, budget adjustments and a review call with the dealer.

12. The full checklist

25 things to get right before and after launch:

1. Confirm your country is fully released (US and Canada are)
2. Confirm the inventory is eligible under Google's vehicle policies: passenger vehicles, no auction units
3. Have your dealer license (or the registration your state or province requires) ready
4. Create or claim a Google Business Profile for every lot, with accurate hours and address
5. Give every lot a unique store code in Business Profile
6. Create one Merchant Center account per state or province (an advanced account for groups)
7. Verify and claim your website in Merchant Center
8. Add your business details in Merchant Center
9. Link Merchant Center to Google Ads and to Business Profile
10. Turn on the Vehicle ads add-on for your country
11. Build the vehicle data source with Google's exact headers
12. Send every required attribute: id, VIN, category, fulfillment, store code, link template, image, price, condition, brand, model, year, mileage with unit, color
13. Add the country price fields: MSRP for new cars in the US, all-in price for new cars in Canada
14. Make sure every VIN appears only once
15. Use a link_template with the literal {store_code}, opening the exact car page
16. Show dealership name, location, price, VIN, availability and mileage on every car page, without extra clicks
17. Match the price on the page, in the structured data and in the feed, to the cent
18. Replace watermarked, bannered and placeholder photos on the main image
19. Remove sold cars from the feed and keep incoming units out
20. Request the website (data quality) review from Google support
21. Create a Performance Max or Standard Shopping campaign with the vehicle data source
22. Set conversion goals: leads, calls and store visits, not page views
23. Set up enhanced conversions for leads and plan offline imports of sold cars
24. Check Merchant Center diagnostics every week and fix disapprovals within 24 to 48 hours
25. Review cost per lead and cost per sale every month