Sign up for vehicle listings on Google

Millions of people search for vehicles on Google every day. You can surface your vehicle inventory to these potential customers directly on Google.

Vehicle listings appear on Google Search when buyers search for vehicles for sale nearby.

Decide how to provide inventory data to Google

There are two methods for car dealerships to provide their car inventory data to Google. One is through feed files uploaded to the vehicle listings partner portal, which is the main focus of this document, and the other is through structured data markup on their websites. Both methods enable car inventory data to be displayed on Google surfaces.

Here are some characteristics of the two methods:

Structured Data Markup:

  • It's easier to implement and maintain structured data markup on websites
  • It could take longer for Google to detect changes on websites
  • No 1:1 support

Learn how to add vehicle listing structured data.

Feed File Uploads:

  • It may require system development to create and maintain feed files
  • All inventory data in feed files is recognized by Google
  • 1:1 support is available to address any issues with feed uploads at the vehicle listings partner portal
  • Feeds support more detailed properties for vehicle inventory

Feed files is a suitable option if you are comfortable with creating and maintaining them technically. Structured web markup is a suitable option if you prioritize ease of implementation. If you choose to use both methods, make sure the data is consistent between feeds and markup. If there are any discrepancies, the feed data will override the conflicting markup data

Before you begin

You need a Google Account to sign up for vehicle listings. All Gmail accounts are also Google Accounts, or you can link an existing email address to a Google Account. If you don't have a Google Account, follow the instructions at Create your Google Account.

If you use a Google Workspace (GSuite) account, contact your domain admin to make sure the Partner Dash service is enabled for all users within your Google Workspace domain. For more details, see Turn a service on or off for Google Workspace users.

When you're ready, go to the vehicle listing partner portal and sign in with your Google Account.

Go to vehicle listings partner portal

Set up vehicle listings

After you have access to the vehicle listings partner portal, you can begin to share your data with Google. Finish the steps on this page to start showing vehicles for sale on Google.

Prepare and upload your feed

A feed is a file that contains a list of vehicles that you want to show on Google. We support feeds in the CSV format. To format your inventory information for the vehicle listings service, use the feed specification and refer to our example feed. Be sure to include the following details so that we can accurately match vehicles with car dealerships on Google:

  • Store code (required)
  • Dealership name and postal address (required)
  • Google Place ID, Google Maps URL, or both (strongly recommended)
    • These uniquely identify the dealership's Business Profile on Google and avoid any ambiguity when we match the name and postal address.

Recommendation: Start with a few test vehicles and use the validation tool to quickly validate your CSV file's feed format. You can later scale to include all of your inventory on Google.

Learn how to set up your feed.

Review your inventory

After you submit the inventory feed, you can review the results of processing. The Feed page on the partner portal shows the status of each feed upload. This only checks for basic file and data issues. To see all issues, go to the Diagnostics page.

After a feed successfully uploads, the inventory takes a few hours to fully process. When processing completes, a status is assigned to the dealerships and vehicles, which is shown on the Diagnostics page. The status lets you know whether your content is eligible to appear on Google. You can review the number of dealerships and vehicles found in your feed, as well as see a list of detected issues to understand how many vehicles in your feed these issues affect. As you review the status of your feed, keep the following in mind:

  • If your feed has error issues, then your vehicles won't appear on Google. Resolve all errors as soon as possible so that your vehicles become eligible to appear in results again.
  • Other types of issues can cause vehicles to show up less frequently. To prevent future errors, resolve any issues that arise.

Launch the integration

When you're ready to show your vehicles on Google, navigate to the Account page and enable the vehicle listings integration.

Make sure that you follow the vehicle listings guidelines:

  • Only upload vehicles that are available for sale.
  • Adhere to the relevant policies and restrictions:
    • Only include vehicles with a valid Vehicle Identification Number.
    • If vehicles aren't located at the dealership, mark the vehicles as IN_TRANSIT or SHIP_TO_STORE.
    • Upload high-quality images without watermarks, promotional content, or other branding information.
  • Make sure that the data meets all of the requirements in the feed specification.