Off-Road Parts & Accessories Market Research: Total Search up 16%, Mobile up 41%

This 2016 Google Ads research is about consumers who are searching online for off-road parts and accessories for their Jeep®, trucks, UTVs, off-highway motorcycles and 4×4 vehicles. Online search queries for off-road search terms grew 16% from 2014 in the third quarter, according to a Google search metrics report. One eye-opening statistic is while searches done on a desktop PC actually dropped 9% from the third quarter 2014, searches performed on a mobile device jumped 41%. Clearly, mobile devices are garnering more market share of off-road search at the expense of desktop PCs.

These are search terms for parts typically sold by members of trade associations such as SEMA, ORBA, CORVA or ROHVA.

Google Ads Research: Off-Road Parts eCommerce Is Increasingly Mobile

If you’re selling off-road parts online, and your website isn’t mobile-friendly, this should be a warning to get it converted to a responsive design website as soon as you can.

Google Search Terms vs. Impressions: Off-Road Parts Shoppers Are Selective Clickers

This Google Ads report covers online search terms on Google for parts and accessories used for off-road vehicles, in the United States. Drilling down into off-road searches, overall queries grew 16% while impressions grew 26%. The average click through rate (CTR) seen in auto parts PPC actually dropped 19% from 2014. Off-road shoppers may be seeing more options on the search engine results page (SERP), or they may be more selective about what they click on are are interested in. Since the off-road online shopper may be harder to grab, you or your agency should be actively testing new keywords, audiences and ads to maximize CTR and ROI.

If we drill down into Google’s reported CTR, the average off-road CTR for desktop searches dropped 13% while mobile and tablet CTR dropped 28% and 29%, respectively. Overall cost per click in the off-road parts and accessories category was $0.46, with desktop at $0.63.

Cost Per Click Rising From 2014

The third quarter saw an increase in overall Cost Per Click (CPC) of 18% from 2014, driven mostly by mobile and tablet CPC, which increased 30% or more from 2014.

Why Advertise on Google: Increase Parts and Accessory Sales

Google is simply the largest off-road audience in the world, larger than any magazine. A marketer is able to reach off-road enthusiasts at the exact point when they’re making buying or brand decisions. It’s more cost-effective that print and 100% measurable, too.