Shoppers expect search to be simple: After entering a few terms, they want the most relevant results instantly. And that’s exactly what they’ll get on Autotrader. With our Relevant Search model, shoppers are 2x more likely to submit a lead when they see listings uniquely relevant to them. ? Watch the video below to see how you can rise to the top and make our Relevant Search model work for you.
How does Relevant Search work?
Similar to Best Match on Kelley Blue Book, Relevant Search takes several factors into consideration in order to provide shoppers with a sort option that presents the most relevant vehicles possible.
- Search results display based on shopper search criteria, previous shopping behavior, merchandising, price and distance of vehicle to the shopper
- Your inventory gets in front of more likely buyers
- Alpha ads also serve up relevant inventory for maximum engagement
How this helps drive shoppers to your VDPs
Relevant Search delivers on shoppers’ needs and expectations to better connect with you. They can view more listings and actively engage with content, making them more likely to convert to your VDPs.
- Intuitive, relevant results
- Minimizes the need to filter results ?
- Faster navigation
- Increased engagement ?
It guides shoppers quickly by serving them compatible inventory, simplifying their buying process.
Merchandising matters: Discover how to attract more attention and higher engagement for your vehicles.
Relevant Search Experience FAQs
Through testing, we found that search results sorted by Relevance received more shopper engagement and resulted in higher consumer satisfaction. Shoppers still have the ability to sort listings by Price, Distance, Mileage, and Year.
This change is designed to deliver a streamlined consumer experience and increase the quality of dealer value events. This means driving more SRP to VDP conversion and getting more shoppers viewing more VDPs.
We’ve analyzed behavioral data from our shoppers and paired these learnings with testing and insights to guide the four main categories of relevance:
- MERCHANDISING – Shoppers are more likely to engage with well merchandised vehicles. ?
- VALUE – The perception of a price is as important as the price itself.?
- DISTANCE – Distance factors into shopping decisions for many consumers ?
- SHOPPER HISTORY – Shoppers expect websites to remember their shopping history and use it to provide a personalized experience ?
Since launching our Relevance search results model, shoppers experience a more efficient search and spend less time filtering, which results in viewing and engaging with more vehicles than the previous default sort.?
Not at this time. Relevant search continues to apply within our listing tiers. Relevant search takes into account dealer package level, but it is not the defining factor in relevancy criteria.
The algorithm has a secondary sort order in place that is used as a tie-breaker in situations where the relevancy criteria is the same. As of today, the secondary sort order is price low to high.
We refined the relevance algorithm so that local dealers achieve more prominence than non-local dealers. We also limit the total number of non-local vehicles in each market and provide a filter so that users can include or exclude non-local inventory.
Interested in becoming a client
or ready to learn more?
Please call 1-877-627-9585 or complete the form below.
Required form fields