[Auto Repair Shop] Nested Case Study: Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers

Introduction

Simply by nesting its internal departments on Google, Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers added +478 driving directions in the first full month, and saw an increase of +1763 over the first three months. By giving each department its own optimized profile, the shop expanded visibility for high-intent searches — without reducing engagement on the main listing.

Client Background

Express Oil Change is a five-location, full-service auto repair shop located in Florida, offering specialized services including air conditioning repair, brake repair, tire services, transmission repair, and more. With multiple departments competing for attention online, the shop wanted a solution that ensured each department was easily discoverable in niche searches (e.g., “brake shop near me,” “transmission repair,” or “air conditioning repair” ), while maintaining strong performance on the main profile.

Objectives

• Increase high-intent search visibility for each department.
  
  
• Drive more in-store visits, as indicated by driving direction requests.
  
  
• Maintain engagement and traffic on the main shop profile.
  
  
• Provide measurable, repeatable results for future campaigns.
  
  

Timeline

Baseline

Prior to implementing nested departments, the shop’s driving directions came solely from the main and only listing.

Driving Directions Metrics (Main Listing Only):

• Monthly Average: 881 driving directions

• Total Requests: 2,643 (from Oct 1 to Dec 31)

  


 *The deep blue portion of the graph represents the Apple driving directions - please disregard.

The Experiment

1. Nested Departments Setup – Separate Google Business Profiles were created for the Brake Shop, Tire Shop, Transmission Shop, Air Conditioning Repair, Oil Change, and Service Department, and were connected under the main Express Oil Change & Tire Engineers listing.
   
   
2. Profile Optimization – Each department was created with optimized categories, business description, attributes/services, and more.
   
   
3. Content Updates – New photos and posts were added for each department to improve engagement and freshness.
   
   
4. Review Engagement – Responses to customer reviews enhanced trust signals and local search relevance.
   
   

The full setup was completed in just one week per shop, making implementation fast and efficient.

Methodology

To measure the impact, we compared pre- and post-nesting metrics using:

• Driving direction requests as the primary KPI, indicating the most important metric, customers’ intent to visit.
  
  
• Foot Traffic Report data to visualize trends and total engagement.
  
  
• Department-level breakdowns ensured no interference to the main profile’s traffic.

Results

In the first full month after implementing nested departments, driving directions increased significantly: building on the 880 directions from the existing main profile, we observed:

Number of Driving Directions from New GBPs:

• Brake Shop: +146 driving directions
  
  
• Tire Shop: +48 driving directions
  
  
• Oil Change: +61 driving directions
  
  
• Transmission Shop: +62 driving directions
  
  
• Air Conditioning Repair: +70 driving directions
  
  
• Service Department: +70 driving directions
  
  
  
  
  
• Overall: +478 driving directions across all newly created and nested departments
  
  • That is a 54% increase in just the first full month.

First Three Months of Driving Directions After Nested Listings Implementation: 

 *The deep blue portion of the graph represents the Apple driving directions - please disregard.

Continuous Growth:

• Expanded Driving Directions: Express Oil Change saw an additional +1763 driving directions between 2/1/26 and 4/30/26 from their new listings alone.
  
  
• Average Foot Traffic Increase: +76% across all locations, not including any growth found on the original main list. 

Each department captured additional searches, demonstrating that nested listings can expand visibility and engagement without affecting the main shop profile.

Key Takeaways

• Nested departments significantly improve visibility for department-specific searches.
  
  
• Driving directions serve as a strong signal for potential in-store visits.
  
  
• Setup is fast, simple, and repeatable across multiple locations and industries.
  
  
• Main profile traffic remains intact while each department captures incremental reach.
  
  
• This enhanced performance will be retained, month after month.

Next Steps

• Want your locations nested? Our team can implement this across multiple industries.
  
  
  

Over the past decade, dbaPlatform has supported more than 200,000 locations worldwide. Recently, we’ve observed a potential disconnect between Google’s product and policy teams regarding what is permitted when it comes to nested departments. As a result, there is always a risk of suspended profiles and re-verifications, both with and without nested listings, as we’ve seen play out recently in the automotive industry.