Google has new structured data markup for car dealerships, it is called vehicle structured data. You can use it to communicate to Google information about your new car listings for improved visibility within the Google Search results.
Google said this is only available right now for US and US territories but do show up both on mobile and desktop surfaces.
The technical details are over here which explains that there is now an additional way to submit this data to Google. The old way still works, it is through the vehicle listings partner portal. The new way is through basic structured data, where you add markup to your content on your site.
Google said the structured data method is “relatively easy to implement and maintain structured data markup on websites,” but it “could take longer for Google to detect changes on websites,” and there is no one-on-one support for those who use this method. While the file feed upload system through the partner portal website “may require system development to create and maintain feed files,” plus “all inventory data in feed files is recognized by Google,” there is also one-on-one support available to address any issues with feed uploads at the vehicle listings partner portal but “feeds support more detailed properties for vehicle inventory,” Google added.
Google said it “recommends using the markup for those who haven’t yet signed up for vehicle listings on Google and prefer a simpler setup via markup.”
The technical details on how to implement this is in the Google documentation.
Here are the guidelines for using this markup:
- The dealership must have a claimed and verified Business Profile on Google in the US or US territories.
- The Business Profile must have the Place type vehicle_dealer. See How to choose a category for your Business Profile.