Subaru Dealer Increases Performance Max Conversions 250% Through Paid Search Optimization

The Challenge

Paul Moak Subaru wanted to scale lead generation from paid search while improving cost efficiency. As competition intensified and impression share tightened across key conquest campaigns, the dealership needed to make its existing investment work harder and prioritize the campaigns delivering the strongest opportunities.  

Solution

Stream Companies took a performance-driven approach to optimizing Paul Moak Subaru’s paid search strategy, shifting budget away from broader inventory campaigns and toward channels demonstrating stronger conversion efficiency.

The strategy leaned into Performance Max while maintaining investment in high-converting Brand and Dealership Search campaigns. Stream also introduced Shopping campaigns for both new and used inventory, creating additional opportunities to reach lower-funnel shoppers actively exploring available vehicles.

Key optimizations included:

• Prioritizing Performance Max: Spend remained essentially flat quarter over quarter while the campaign dramatically increased its output. 
• Reallocating inventory campaign spend: New Vehicle Leads spend was reduced by 67%, while Used Vehicle Leads spend was reduced by 66%, allowing investment to shift toward stronger-performing channels. 
• Maintaining high-intent search campaigns: Brand and Dealership Search continued to play an important role in capturing shoppers, demonstrating strong intent. 
• Launching inventory Shopping campaigns: New Vehicle Shopping generated 760 clicks with more than 90% impression share, while Used Vehicle Shopping added 468 clicks with 64% impression share at low CPCs.