3. Josh Colbeck, Head of Biddable - Blueclaw
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This document summarizes best practices for using paid search in the travel industry. It discusses data available from Google, trends in the UK travel market, defining key performance indicators, attribution modeling, channel crossover opportunities, retargeting audiences, bid model testing, and call tracking. The document provides tactical recommendations in these areas and notes future developments like monetized search results, image search ads, and AI optimization.
3. Josh Colbeck, Head of Biddable - Blueclaw
- 1. How To Get The Most Out Of Paid Search For Travel Josh Colbeck
- 2. Google Travel- Vertical Insights Best Practice Tactics Strategic Considerations ➢ What data is available ➢ UK travel vertical insights Future Developments Agenda ➢ Google betas ➢ Industry trends ➢ Defining KPIs ➢ Attribution ➢ Channel crossover ➢ Retargeting & audiences ➢ Bid model testing ➢ Call tracking 2
- 4. 4 What data Is available Google travel-vertical insights Queries: Searches by users on Google Search (indexed to 100) Impressions: Ads shown against search queries on Google Search (indexed to 100) Clicks: Clicks on ads shown against search queries on Google Search (indexed to 100) CPC: Cost per Click (Cost ÷ Clicks) in USD Ad CTR: Click-through Rate (Clicks ÷ Impressions) in percent Ad Depth: No. of ads shown whenever a search showed ads (Impressions ÷ Queries with ads)
- 5. 5 UK travel vertical insights Google travel-vertical insights Queries are up from previous years with impressions down slightly versus 2017 peak. This suggests top of funnel and customer service searches may have driven query growth.
- 6. 6 UK travel vertical insights Google travel-vertical insights Ad clicks are on the up with CPC remaining static.
- 7. 7 UK travel vertical insights Google travel-vertical insights Ad depth continues to increase showing more competitors are using paid search vs. previous years.
- 8. 8 UK travel vertical insights Google travel-vertical insights Mobile accounts for 59% of searches and continues to provide the vertical growth while other devices decline.
- 9. 9 UK travel vertical insights Google travel-vertical insights Despite this, mobile is still providing the growth for the travel vertical. Queries Impr. Clicks Ad CTR CPC Ad Depth Mobile 21% 28% 16% -9% 1% 12% Tablet -5% -8% -10% -2% 1% 2% Computer -8% -8% -4% 4% 2% 8% As a result mobile is becoming increasingly competitive.
- 11. Defining KPIs Strategic considerations 11 A primary KPI should be agreed. You should then track any action on your website which increases the likelihood of a user converting to your primary KPI metric. In this example there are 5 touchpoints that should be tracked. Bookings and revenue can also be tracked and tied back to the touchpoint.
- 12. Travel vertical often feature complex research intensive user journeys. This is due to travel being a high consideration purchase. Current tracking capability shortfalls means the true user journey is likely to be even longer and complex. Attribution Strategic considerations 12 c c
- 13. Attribution Strategic considerations This often results in a significant conversion time lag. A conversion time lag report will show you the number of days from the first tracked session to the eventual conversion completion. 38% of our travel client’s non brand bookings took 12+ days to convert. 13 c c
- 14. 14 Last Click First Click Second Click 14
- 15. 15 Attribution Strategic considerations There isn’t a right or a wrong answer to attribution but just using last or first click will skew what is deemed as a success. We recommend you utilise the position based model if you are using a default model.
- 16. 16 Attribution Strategic considerations It is relatively easy to setup a custom attribution model. Before you commit to a model, you should examine how this model compares to your existing models Your end goal should always be to drive greater overall returns. Use this to judge the success of your attribution model.
- 17. 17 Channel Overlap Strategic considerations We’ve already seen there is a lot of channel overlap in the user journey. Your strategy should consider how other channels overlap with paid search to produce synergies.
- 18. 18 Channel Overlap Strategic considerations Spot matching and bidding on branded CTAs can have sizeable impacts on paid search performance. Offline Media
- 19. 19 Channel Overlap Strategic considerations Brand bidding scripts, paid & organic reports and A/B landing pages can be used to maximise visibility and conversion rate for both channels. Organic Search
- 20. 20 Channel Overlap Strategic considerations Email shots and CRM data can be used for retargeting. CRM Activity
- 22. 22 Retargeting & Audiences Best practice tactics Retargeting is critical to travel paid search. With significant conversion lags, it’s vital you remain visible to potential customers who you’ve paid to arrive to your site at the start of their user journey. “holiday inspiration” £1.50 CPC “European holidays” £2 CPC “holiday to Italy” £2.75 CPC “Amalfi cost holiday” £3 CPC “Sorrento holiday” £3.25 CPC “Sorrento all inclusive holiday” £3.75 CPC “TUI all inclusive Sorrento” Booking completed Non brand keyword cost = £16.25
- 23. 23 Retargeting & Audiences Best practice tactics Retargeting should target any audience who has shown an increased likelihood to convert. Your bid adjustments should be set based on the level of the increased conversion rate. Google Analytics advanced segments is the best way of calculating the increase in conversion rate and the appropriate bid adjustment to set.
- 24. 24 Retargeting & Audiences Best practice tactics Retargeting settings can be set to “target” to allow for specific ad copy and landing pages to tailor the user journey and CTA based on the user’s intent and likelihood to convert. This greatly improves conversion rates and CTRs but there needs to be a minimum of 1k cookies per retargeting audience.
- 25. Retargeting & Audiences Best practice tactics In this example, the brand ad directs the user to the homepage when the user has a specific interest in a product. 25
- 26. 26 Retargeting & Audiences Best practice tactics Serving an ad and directing the user would be the ideal user journey. This is because the user will be familiar with landing page content and removes the need for them to navigate to the content.
- 27. 27 Bid Model Testing Best practice tactics Google Ads offer bid models which use hundreds of signals to optimise max CPC bids to achieve the desired goal. There are a variety of bid models which can optimise towards clicks, conversion value, CPA and more.
- 28. 28 Bid Model Testing Best Practice Tactics Performance varies significantly and despite what Google say, they often don’t outperform manual bidding! To test if Smart Bidding is the right tactic for your paid search, use one of the below testing methodologies: Drafts & Experiments Pre/Post Metric Analysis Target Metric Comparison Recommended Not RecommendedIntermediate
- 29. 29 Call Tracking Best Practice Tactics Although consumers are increasingly converting through online channels, phone calls continue to form an important part of the user journey. Paid search is hugely effective in driving phone calls. Tracking calls and including them in your attribution model is vital. 65% 35% James Villa Revenue % By Channel Website Inbound Contact Centre
- 30. 30 Call Tracking Best Practice Tactics We recommend Responsetap as a call tracking solution. However, there are free call tracking solutions which you can use to understand whether investment in a full tracking solution is needed: Google Ads Website Call Tracking Google Analytics Event Tracking
- 32. Betas & Trends Future developments Increasingly Monetised SERPs Branded Inspiration Through Image Search Ads AI Optimisation 32
- 33. Thank You! Any Questions? SEO . Content Marketing . PR & Outreach . Paid Search . Data Insights & CRO