How Third-Party Listing Sites Impact Dealership & Inventory Visibility Online
Having inventory visible online is critical for reaching in-market shoppers. Third-party listing sites like AutoTrader, Cars.com, and CarGurus play a major role in this.
To understand their impact, we need to look at where they fit into the typical car buyer’s journey from an organic search perspective:
Top of Funnel: When shoppers begin exploring vehicle options, they visit sites like Edmunds, U.S. News, and automaker sites for reviews and comparisons. Third-party listings have minimal visibility and strength here.
Middle of Funnel: As shoppers become more specific when researching makes, models, years, and pricing, third-party listing sites increase in value. Results displaying inventory with links to model SRPs from these sites, along with some dealer sites are great next steps for consumers.
Bottom of Funnel: For local “dealership near me” type searches, individual dealer sites get more visibility if they have strong local SEO.
The middle of the funnel is key. Most active buyers visit third-party sites during this phase when researching inventory specifics. Based on personal preferences or brand awareness, they may visit AutoTrader but not Cars.com or vice versa.
This creates a challenge for dealers – it’s hard to pinpoint which third parties are “mandatory” since their audiences don’t fully overlap. Pulling listings could mean losing visibility with certain shopper segments.
The wise approach is to regularly analyze your third-party sources to identify the top performers for your specific inventory. Look at metrics like total traffic volume, lead costs, close rates, and grosses. Reduce spending on underperforming sites, but don’t cut off third parties entirely.
For the sites you list on, take advantage of every merchandising tool they offer—pricing badges, photos, descriptions, and more. This increases the visibility of your inventory to interested shoppers.
While third parties are crucial for broad inventory visibility, you don’t want to rely on them entirely. Having an SEO-optimized website and engaging vehicle descriptions pays off for those lower funnel “where to buy” searches. A comprehensive strategy incorporates third parties alongside your own optimized presence.