Google rolls out carousel ads in search results, starting with car shopping

Story by

Natt Garun

US Editor

Natt Garun is the former US Editor at The Next Web, managing the North American team on content, events, features and reviews coverage. She (show all) Natt Garun is the former US Editor at The Next Web, managing the North American team on content, events, features and reviews coverage. She previously wrote for Digital Trends, Business Insider, and Gizmodo. Facebook | Twitter | Google+

Today Google is introducing a new mobile ad format that most may be familiar with, particularly if they’re big Facebook and Instagram users.

Called “Model Automotive Ads,” the concept is basically like Facebook’s carousel ad that lets you swipe through and see more images. Google is rolling out this ad format starting with the automotive industry to help customers see more photos of the vehicle they’re potentially interested in buying.

“Model Automotive ads recreates that showroom experience by featuring images of your cars along with additional information about each of them, like estimated MPG or advanced features, right within mobile search results,” Google writes in a blog post.

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The company says it will also provide more insights to advertisers on a buyer’s journey to purchasing a car, such as how often they make automative-related searches, how many brands they considered via Google searches, and if they watch any video to help make the decision.

The ad format will be available for US advertisers first, so you’ll only see the gallery if the car maker has partnered with Google to make the images available natively in search results. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the same format added soon for other types of search results, such as searches for famous people, recipes, or other shopping queries.