The value of a URL click on platforms

There are few URL clicks as valuable as those coming from a portal. It is therefore striking that only Marktplaats and AutoTrack offer visitors the option to click directly from the VDP page to the advertiser’s website. On AutoScout24, the option exists but is hidden on the business page. On ViaBOVAG, the click-through option is entirely missing (see ViaBOVAG’s response later in this article).

Of course, visitors can open a new window themselves and search for the dealer’s name via Google. However, it’s likely that this method will be recorded as ‘organic or direct traffic’ in the statistics. The only added value the portal then has is the visited VDP page on the portal itself. That page is certainly relevant, but in the end, I prefer to have the visitor on my own website.

Your own website as primary?

When a lead is created on my website, the chances of a sale are greater! The website has, on average, a higher conversion rate, both in percentage and volume, regardless of the source. The question remains: who provides that traffic? It is unlikely that the searcher will randomly find a car dealership in Doesburg, as is the case with us. The campaign, the referral, is therefore important. The website is not the source of the lead but the destination. And which source or campaign generates quality traffic?

Quality traffic: the importance of traffic via portals

What is quality traffic? Is it traffic that immediately results in a conversion, a lead you can follow up on? Or is it traffic where the user stays longer than average on your website and views multiple pages? Or is it someone who pays a lot of attention to the photos of the vehicles? There is no definitive answer, but a look into Google Analytics G4 — which I honestly still don’t fully understand — does provide insights. With the help of Remco Roos from InfoTrade Automotive Marketing, I arrive at the following facts.

When comparing traffic from Marktplaats with that from other sources, we see a clear difference: visitors coming to our site via Marktplaats in this example show significantly more engagement. They view an average of 3.89 pages per session, compared to 2.34 pages for visitors from other sources. Additionally, these visitors spend an average of 90 seconds on the site, while other visitors only stay for 70 seconds. What really stands out is the conversion rate for key events: it is 54% higher for these visitors than for those from other sources (non-portals). This also applies to visitors who come to our website via AutoTrack.

The numbers emphasize the higher quality of traffic that comes from a portal like Marktplaats. These visitors are more inclined to actively engage with the website’s content: they click through more, stay longer, and are therefore more valuable. When we talk about quality traffic, these figures clearly show that clicks from a portal are a valuable source.

ViaBOVAG and AutoScout

Both portals do not offer the active click-through on the VDP page for the same reasons. They want to keep the visitor on the platform to provide a uniform experience across all sellers, instead of separate dealer websites with different experiences and search options. ViaBOVAG explains it as follows:

“We did offer this in the past, but with the switch to a pay-per-lead model, we decided not to continue, partly because it could cause confusion about the origin of the lead. Additionally, we find it important to monitor consumer conversions and positively influence them. Once they leave our website, we no longer have insight or influence over this process (think click-to-lead and lead-to-sale conversions).”

This is true, and there is something to be said for it from the portal’s point of view. However, as an advertiser — and I am one with, among others, the “Experience Store Doesburg” — I would prefer to receive visitors directly from the portals because the data shows that this traffic is rich in terms of depth, engagement, and time on site. If they convert into a lead, my chances of a sale are highest!

Conclusion:

Visitors from portals like Marktplaats and AutoTrack show significantly more engagement than visitors from other sources. They view an average of 3.89 pages per session, while visitors from non-portal sources view an average of 2.34 pages per session. These visitors also spend an average of 90 seconds per session on the site, compared to 70 seconds for other visitors. The conversion rate for key events is 54% higher for portal traffic than for traffic from other sources. This highlights the higher quality of the traffic and the greater likelihood of active engagement with the website content. It would therefore be worth considering for AutoScout24 and ViaBOVAG to facilitate direct click-throughs on the VDP page.