With over 13.5 million visits a month and more than 3 million mobile app downloads, TRADER Corporation and its online destinations – including AutoTrader.ca – deliver best-in-class digital web and advertising solutions to help accelerate business performance of dealers across Canada. When it comes to merchandising inventory on AutoTrader.ca, we’re focused on giving dealers more options to clearly showcase the value of their vehicles, make their listings standout, and positively impact their conversion rates.

Here are 5 simple but highly effective tips dealers can use to optimize their listings and get more car shoppers looking at them:

#1   Use Real Photos of Actual Inventory.

Once shoppers have looked at OEM configuration pages, they want to know – and see – which dealership has the exact model they’re looking for. They want to see photos of the actual vehicle they’re interested in purchasing – not stock photos. To get even more click-throughs to their listings, dealers should include multiple, professional looking photos of both the interior and exterior from a variety of different viewpoints.

#2   Get Right to the Point, Right at the Beginning.

There’s no need to get overly creative with headlines. A simple headline that’s limited to year, make, model and trim works best – and it’s what consumers expect to see when searching for vehicles on AutoTrader.ca. Stay away from special characters such as *, !, /, |, etc. These won’t draw more attention to dealer ads – in fact, they’re a visual distraction!

#3   Make Sure you Include a Price. Period.

Today’s informed consumers are looking for transparent info upfront about the vehicles they’re interested in purchasing – including the price. To attract even more car shoppers to their inventory listings, dealers should provide a good price based on market demand of the vehicle. This helps build trust and encourages car shoppers to pick that dealer over their competitors.

#4   Be Descriptive, But Don’t Ramble On and On.

Length matters! The vehicle description is one of the most important elements of a listing, but keep in mind that too much text on the page can deter car shoppers – or they won’t read it. The description should be used to tell a great story about the vehicle, dealership and incentives, but the message should be succinct.

#5   Give Your Listings a Boost Up to the Very Top.

Listing Upgrades can push the dealer’s vehicles up to the very top of the search results page and drive more traffic to their listings. We can help them identify which specific pieces of inventory could use a boost and how dealers can get more of their inventory to appear at the top of consumer searches.

To learn more, please click here to contact us!