NB: This is a guest article by Lina Patel, travel account director at FusePump.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is one of mainstays in digital advertising of almost every industry vertical, but especially travel.
For travel agents, suppliers, other intermediaries that to sell or engage online, paid search is still arguably the most important tool at their disposal.
In the most simple terms, SEM is about producing compelling advertising that makes an online consumer click on the link within the advert.
The more relevant an advert is to the search terms used, the more likely this is to elicit a click-through.
If an advertiser can successfully match the holiday a customer is looking for at the price and dates they want, this usually results in a stronger lead to a sale.
Still sounds easy, right? It is, unfortunately, still one of the hardest nuts to crack.
Where product data feeds fit in to search
If a consumer uses holiday keywords in their search query, a search marketing company can then use product data feeds to deliver a dynamic solution and decide on the bid terms to ensure that the dynamic advert is placed accordingly.
There are, therefore, efficiencies for both consumers and advertisers through using product feeds.
The advent of Google Instant means that a consumer can literally refine their keyword search as paid adverts appear, and obviously the most relevant adverts will attract the most clickthroughs.
The benefit of this approach is that it takes the online consumer directly to the relevant holiday package.
This ensures a search to basket process with as few steps as possible, increasing the chances of the customer successfully completing the transaction.
Online travel merchants interested in optimising their paid search should work closely with their search partners on the way their data feeds are built.
The best data feeds will be able to include numerous relevant keywords for each holiday package, helping to enhance the search results, and cut out wasted click-throughs, as well as ensuring that keyword expansion includes the most relevant terms possible.
Furthermore, they can ensure that meta-descriptions of the holidays match the search terms a consumer uses and that the consumer then clicks through to the landing page for that particular deal.
People are using multiple online channels and devices to research holidays and compare prices before buying. Once they’ve found the holiday, it is then often further comparison around price, availability, flights and dates that will decide whether a holiday is purchased.
Of course, online marketing is a multi-channel, multi-device discipline now. Research performed on a laptop at work that cannot be turned into a purchase on the same site via iPhone later on is the equivalent of a lost sale.
Product feeds can apply business logic and ensure that all keyword terms within a meta-description are matched to a search. This is compelling when trying to first engage a consumer with the initial clickthrough.
By including details such as price, discounts, current weather and reviews, tour operators also ensure a strong position with which to convert those carrying out research into purchasers using long tail search terms.
There is also a great deal of competitive advantage to gain through this. Long tail terms typically don’t attract high bid prices because they contain four to five keywords, for example five nights/Spain/August/all-inclusive, which aren’t in great demand across travel agent advertising bids.
Because product feeds can extract data directly from the front-end of a travel e-commerce site, they maintain keyword terms even if they change on the site, or if new holidays are added.
This cuts out a considerable amounts of administration time as you then already have product-optimised search terms.
By automating PPC activity there is little requirement to A/B Test meta-descriptions as people are being directed towards products that have more precise search terms.
Looking forward
In the future, Aaron Goldman, CMO at Kenshoo, believes search engines will integrate search and transaction functionality so the search to basket process described earlier will be potentially reduced to a one-click process.
The results page on a search engine will be the landing page, populated with rich dynamic content from operators.
Consumers will be able to identify the holiday they are looking for through deep listings and comparison features and then purchase it directly from the travel agent, without leaving the search results page.
Online travel agents need to start considering now how they can take advantage of the opportunities these new search engines will present for online transactions in the future.
Search automation tools will enable the delivery and optimisation of these listings based on the tour operators’ promotions and margin requirements, but product data feeds will be key to ensuring the holidays are included in the search results pages.
NB: This is a guest article by Lina Patel, travel account director at FusePump.