Paid Search Tactics for Travel Advertisers

PAID SEARCH IN THE TRAVEL SECTOR

JIM BANKS

GLOBAL HEAD OF BIDDABLE MEDIA

CHEAPFLIGHTS

”

“3 Golden Rules for travel paid search

@jimbanks #FOS16

IF YOU RISK NOTHING..

• Always be testing hypothesis• Always seek out new betas• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes

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BE A NINJA

• Don’t be obvious – Don’t name your Campaigns – “Top 10 keywords” unless you are throwing your competition a curve ball• Use the human factor – Man will win over machine,

every time.

@jimbanks #FOS16

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ZIG VS. ZAG

• Don’t do something just because Google or Bing says so (NSS)• Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) can be great… or

horrible• Use dedicated PPC landing pages – Strip it down• Don’t just import Google to Bing and think you are done

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THE ANOMALIES OF PAID SEARCH FOR TRAVEL• The biggest competitor for travel advertisers is Google• Typical best practise techniques for paid search don’t apply• The value of the “head” terms is huge• Most advertisers lose money – so having strong SEO is vital• Brand bidding is a pandemic• The halo effect of organic and paid together is greater in travel

than other sectors

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Ethan Marcotte

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Jerry Dischler Google

HOW TRAVEL SEARCH USED TO BE…..

I want to go somewhere

Book tickets

TRAVEL SEARCH IN 2016….

Desire

Research

BookExperience

Depression

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SO WHICH OF THOSE 419 ARE THE MOMENTS THAT MATTER ?

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B2C OR B2B

• B2C typically 2-3 vacations a year• B2B typically 2-3 vacations a year & a number of

business trips• Both increasingly involve mobile as facilitators in

the decision making process

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NUMBER 1 AIM OF ALL TRAVEL ADVERTISERS

Reduce dependency on Google

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WHAT WORKS• Cross promotion – Flights to hotels, flights to car rental• App promotion – Universal App campaigns• Day-parting – 168 hours a week• Weather• Device modifiers• Location targeting• Form Factors – iPhone 4 vs. iPhone 6S• Value Track Parameters• Labels

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WHAT DOESN’T WORK

• Review extensions• Bid management tools• Extensions generally

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WHAT MIGHT WORK

• Comprehensive sitelinks• The human factor• Local knowledge• Campaign based activity

THE TROJAN HORSE

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MOBILE / APP STRATEGY

• More than average number of visits via mobile• Less friction to get to search results• Personalisation• Track activity cross-device - UID• NO dependency on search

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COOL THINGS• Ad customizers• DSA• Facebook to Google & Google to Facebook• Bing• Remarketing• Custom Audiences from List• Behavioral segmentation

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AD CUSTOMISERS

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DSA (DYNAMIC SEARCH ADS)

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CUSTOM LOOKALIKE AUDIENCES (TIERED OF COURSE)

SUMMARY

• Paid search in travel turns best practice on it’s head• It’s almost entirely moving towards apps and

mobile web• It’s becoming almost entirely pay to play

@jimbanks #FOS16

THANKS

JIM.BANKS@SPADESMEDIA.COM+1 347 674 5789@JIMBANKSHTTP://WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/JIMBANKS