Top Hotel PPC Myths Exposed

Advertising in search engine results – or pay-per-click (PPC) – has the potential to give you an excellent return on investment. (For those new to this, you can see why here: 10 Reasons Hotels Should Invest in PPC Advertising)

I have helped dozens of businesses use PPC for the past 7 years, am a Google-certified specialist, and personally manage over $1,000,000 in annual ad spend. From this experience, I’ve observed a few common misconceptions.

Myth: High natural search positions make PPC ads redundant

Reality: Paying for clicks when it’s likely a person would click your natural search listing may not seem logical. However, it’s important to do it for branding reasons. Ever wonder why huge corporations advertise for their own names?

They have a ‘lock’ on the top spot in organic rankings, but often purchase ads to increase the certainty that a person ends up on their site…not a competitor’s. Redundancy is good in this situation. It also gives them the ability to quickly distribute new special offers.

Myth: Set it and forget it – You’ll see the best results immediately

Reality: The best results come through continual optimization. There needs to be ongoing split-testing to determine the most effective ad copy, keywords, and bidding strategies. I have seen results improve each week for 6+ months in many cases: you don’t want to settle for sub-par performance.

Myth: Every search engine’s PPC program is the same

Reality: There are obvious similarities between the search platforms offered by Google, Yahoo, MSN, and others – but each has unique nuances. It’s important to learn even the subtle differences to get the best results.

Myth: Only Google matters

Reality: Google currently dominates between 75-80% of the entire paid search market. However, it’s often very competitive. You may get even more visitors by running a campaign on Yahoo or a less popular search engine.

Myth: Click bids are the only factor in ad rankings

Reality: There are many factors involved. Google uses quality score – a mix of ad relevance and clickthrough rates – to determine where to position ads. Bidding more may increase your ranking to a certain extent, but cash-rich companies cannot just buy their way in with a weak campaign.

Myth: The content network should always be avoided

Reality: The content network is where search engines allow other websites to display PPC ads for additional revenue. Sometimes, the click quality is slightly lower than search – but not always. Clicks are often cheaper to obtain here, and the overall cost per conversion (sale) may be lower. You need to test to find what is true in your market.

Myth: Position #1 is the most effective

Reality: It may feel good to win the auction and be on top, but that doesn’t always mean you’ll get best ROI. Research shows that positions 2-5 often have much better conversion rates. My experience confirms this.

Myth: Click fraud is too large a risk

Reality: The risk does exist, but its presence should not stop you from starting a campaign. Since their revenue is dependent on getting advertisers to use their networks, search engines have gotten smarter about detecting and preventing fraud. More importantly, there are several steps you can take to minimize your exposure to risk. Geo-targeting, analytics checking, and testing all help to prevent fraud.

Myth: A good PPC campaign will always give good ROI

Reality: Even a brilliant ad campaign will fail if your website isn’t properly optimized. A good ad campaign will only bring more people to your website – it cannot guarantee sales. I suggest you take a few lessons from ecommerce websites, and give your web booking system a makeover to turn more clicks into reservations.