Mercedes-Benz USA — Coordinated Tier-3 SEM Program
MBUSA ran a 6-month, dealer-collaboration SEM pilot with Google to stop cross-account bid inflation and push auto-endemics down-page. Result: 27% lower CPC and $9M in projected annual efficiencies.
[ CHALLENGE ]
Mercedes-Benz was seeing paid-search inefficiencies from internal and external competition:
Internal competition: MBUSA and dealers were bidding against each other on branded keywords, inflating CPCs.
External competition: Third-party auto platforms (e.g., TrueCar, Edmunds) captured valuable leads and resold them at a premium above MBUSA’s CAC.
Limited cross-account visibility made it hard to govern territories and prevent overlap.
[ SOLUTION ]
Launched a coordinated Tier-3 SEM pilot with Google, agency partners, and local dealerships:
Unified visibility via APIs & dashboard
Connected participating dealer Google Ads accounts; centralized reporting for MBUSA + dealers.Territory governance & proximity logic
Removed rigid AOI restrictions and assigned SERP PageRank based on proximity to the searcher, reducing cannibalization.Keyword & bidding framework
Eliminated overlap on branded terms, normalized max CPCs, and applied best-practice structures across accounts.Consultative cadence
Mercedes-Benz Digital Consultant reviewed dashboards with dealers, sharing playbooks and optimization insights.
Dealer-facing data insights (examples):
“These specific keywords are driving the most conversions for MB dealers.”
“This is how the most effective dealers structure their Google Ads campaigns.”
“Your max CPC for <Keyword> is X% above market average.”
“Dealers using this ad unit get X% more conversions.”
“This radius of ZIP codes is outside your territory; target position 2 at the lowest cost by adjusting max CPC by X%.”
[ RESULTS ]
27%
CPC reduction during pilot
$9M
Forecast annual cost efficiencies
0
Brand-keyword overlap across MBUSA & dealer campaigns
