EyeforTravel: Innovations in Travel Search

Presentations by the following executives…with a lot of good research data to follow:

  • Krista Pappas, Microsoft Bing Travel
  • Gary Jackson, Google Travel
  • Anne Payne, BeDynamic
  • Yen Lee, Uptake

Yen Lee of Uptake – “The Long, Fat Tail of Search”

Numbers that really matter

  • 73% of consumers search before they make a booking
  • They search an average of 10 times
  • 86% of leads are generated by organic search (there IS a free lunch)
  • Typical travel search is 3.1 keywords
    • It’s becoming more specific: was ‘chicago’…then ‘chicago hotels’…now it may be ‘chicago family hotels’
    • (this means they give us more context now)
    • Always tailor unique content to consumer preferences

Krista Pappas of Microsoft – “Maximizing SEM In a Tough Travel Economy”

  • Searchers want more than a URL – they want detailed information
  • 5% of search sessions are over 30 minutes…and they account for 50% of time spent on search engines
  • Bing is trying to become a ‘travel decision engine’ …experimenting with visual search
    • Marketing lessons
      • Test, test, test ad copy variations
      • 18-24 age demographic favors travel metasearch sites
      • Focus on targeting short trips & “staycations”
        • use keywords like “national” “state park” “monuments”
    • Keyword behavior is changing.
      • biggest increase in 7-term hotel-related searches
      • expand your keyword portfolios
    • Invest in landing pages to support SEO & SEM efforts

    Gary Jackson of Google – “Finding the Sophisticated Travel Buyer with Search”

    • Economy may be improving, but consumers are now more value-savvy
    • Consumers are clicking on more paid ads
    • Analysts say search is the fastest-growing segment in online marketing
    • Travel queries have increased 40% since 2008
    • Search clicks to travel sites are up 35%
    • Search funnel: Awareness, Interest, Consideration, Purchase
      • Purchase searches may include brand & a date (ex: royal caribbean europe cruise in 2010)
    • Continually learn: use data to optimize
    • They’re is a strong correlation between travelers and smart phone usage
    • 48% of consumers willing to buy a hotel room via mobile (eMarketer)
    • When doing SEO, tag every piece of content and make sure it’s current

    Anne Payne of BeDynamic – “Actionable Entertainment Content”

    • Aside from groceries, the first place consumers go to before buying a product is the internet
    • Is your story useful to your customers?
      • What type of behavior are you trying to achieve?
      • What metrics are important to you? (things need to be measurable)
    • Case studies
      • Victoria Inn, Core’s Landing, Rice Lake, Ontario
        • Challenge: no online reservation system, most bookings came from word of mouth
        • Solution: creating content centered around what their customers liked most
        • Results
          • Paid for campaign in 1-2 months
          • Quickly reached top of search results
      • Audley Travel (tour operator)
        • Challenge: most important key words ranked outside Google Top 100
        • Solution: content strategy targeted 1000′s of long tail keyword strings
        • Results: overall traffic increased 142% from search volume & rankings; 372 top-rankings for keywords
      • Radisson Edwardian Hotels (UK)
        • Challenge: PPC had only mediocre results; website lacked direction & was not able to communicate hotel benefits
        • Solution: create content that promoted the uniqueness of the property, local events & seasonal activities
        • Results: 2553% ROI in first month; 3x ROI in first seven months
    • Be the source
    • Be invaluable

    Q&A with Panel

    “We treat SEO and SEM very separately. It’s like there’s a wall between them.” – Google

    “You cannot have a ‘set it and forget it’ approach to SEO. Constantly create fresh content.” – Microsoft

    86% of travel leads come from SEO. 14% through PPC. Are you spending 5x the resources on SEO? – Yen Lee, Uptake

    “See SEO as a profit center, not a cost center” – Yen Lee, Uptake

    “The two huge things for 2010 will be mobile and local.” – Gary Jackson, Google

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    Article by Josiah Mackenzie // September 17, 2009 Josiah spends pretty much all day, every day looking for ways you can use new media and the social web to improve your business. To bring him on your team, you should look at our Insider's Circle program here.

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