Let's Get Dynamic: Inventory Ads Done Right

Shopping campaigns are a go-to in Google Ads for ecommerce. Some e-comm advertisers actually use that campaign type exclusively; if the results are good, they don’t feel the need to show up anywhere else like in the traditional search results.

But Shopping campaigns don’t work for every retail advertiser simply because not all inventory types are eligible, as determined by Google. Passenger vehicles, for example, are not eligible for Shopping campaigns, for reasons such as legal requirements/disclosures, not to mention selling and shipping vehicles is more complicated than most retail items.

Automotive dealerships wanted in on Shopping ads for a long time, and understandably so - they have made great strides in treating vehicles as retail inventory like anything else, with photos and detailed merchandising, so they felt unfairly excluded from ad space only accessible through Shopping campaigns.

Then came great news that Google was offering Vehicle Listing Ads, a format which showed vehicles for sale with pictures and prices at the top of the search results page. This was similar to Shopping campaigns, just set up slightly differently through Google Merchant Center and treated with requirements specific to vehicles, but the effect was the same, allowing vehicles to show in the coveted ad space. As you can imagine, this was met with great enthusiasm in the automotive sector.

However, it wasn’t long before Google announced that Vehicle Listing Ads were going to be absorbed into Performance Max campaigns, their cross-network offering which has garnered criticism for its lack of control and transparency around where and how the ads show. Also known as PMax, it is largely AI-powered, which of course is framed as a good thing, staying on the cutting edge of progress.

Google promised it would be a simple transition, and you won’t have to do anything for existing campaigns, they’ll take care of it for you. Your vehicle campaigns will automatically be turned into Performance Max using the same settings and data feed, and you will continue to have your vehicles shown as Shopping-style ads.

Shopping campaigns weren’t going away, but vehicles were once again excluded.

“Wait a second... why?” we asked. If the ad product is the same, wouldn’t it make sense to absorb vehicles (or merge them, pardon the pun) into Shopping campaigns? We weren’t given an answer.

Whatever the reason, it became evident that the change to Performance Max meant your ads weren’t just showing as Shopping-style ads anymore, but being shown in other formats too, even as branded searches. Surprise! That was not what the advertisers had in mind.

Sure, your vehicles could be shown at the top of the search results as Shopping-style ads (a placement now called Vehicle Ads), but those weren’t the only ads you were now getting. People were finding ads they didn’t write showing up for searches they didn’t know they were targeting, and that is a downside of Performance Max campaigns; the system looks for opportunities to show your ads wherever and however it wants, and doesn’t consult you about it.

This frustrated advertisers, as it was essentially a forced adoption of Performance Max and all of its various formats/placements to get access to Vehicle Ads.

It was like being told if you want dessert, you have to eat your vegetables first.

Who’s calling the shots here? Nothing against the vegetables, so to speak, but if you’re paying, you’d like some say in what you’re buying.

So What?

Adopting Performance Max campaigns to get access to Vehicle Ads is absolutely an option, and some of our clients get great results doing so, but there are other ways to get your inventory featured in Google Search. One of the most effective methods, in our humble opinion, is IBA’s dynamic inventory ads.

Our system uses a database containing your current inventory with text customizers that get sent to Google Ads, automatically populating search ads according to each item you have in stock.

These can be extremely granular, which makes them highly relevant to searches for specific items, for example, "used 2018 Tacoma" could show an ad such as:

Want to group inventory by product type and show the lowest available price from what’s currently in stock? No problem, we can do that, here's what could show for a search of "2025 Mitsubishi Outlander":

These ads typically have very low CPC (cost-per-click) and high CTR (click-through-rate), meaning your products consistently and cost-effectively get in front of the people searching for them. By combining automation with customization, our dynamic inventory ads are one of our most popular Google Search tactics.

You get your inventory promoted how you want, without involuntarily opting in to irrelevant searches or lower-value ad placements.

Some of our clients run both, and the beauty of pay-per-click advertising is you only pay if the ad is clicked, so there's no downside as long as the overall return is positive.

This isn't limited to vehicles either - real estate, ecommerce, if you have inventory, we want to help sell it. Peruse our advertising packages and reach out with any questions!