SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING IN THE TOURISM

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING IN THE TOURISM
SECTOR

PRESENTED BY PAUL GOONOO, HEAD OF SEARCH

SEARCH ENGINE USE

The #2 activity on the web


The start point for most online journeys of discovery


Research, Navigation & Transaction


Most frequently the final step in the process








SEARCH ENGINE USE

The highest source of traffic to most sites








Websites

Clicks May 2013


Google UK

30.72%


Bing

2.17%


TripAdvisor UK

1.96%


Google

1.81%


YouTube

1.17%


Yahoo! Search UK &
Ireland

1.14%


BT Yahoo!

1.03%


Facebook

0.92%


Google Maps UK

0.76%


AOL UK

0.67%

Top 10 upstream site to travel sector

Source:Hitwise UK

SEARCH ENGINE USE

The highest source of traffic to most sites








Websites

Clicks May 2013

Google UK

29.88%

TripAdvisor UK

3.19%

Bing

2.25%

Google

1.83%

Yahoo! Search UK &
Ireland

1.26%

YouTube

1.15%

BT Yahoo!

1.13%

Trivago

1.02%

Booking.com

1.02%

Google Maps UK

1.01%

Top 10 upstream site to travel sector: Destinations &
Accom

Source:Hitwise UK

SEARCH ENGINE USE

The highest source of traffic to most sites








Websites

Clicks May 2013

Google UK

28.42%

Transport for London

2.02%

Bing

1.99%

Google

1.88%

YouTube

1.51%

National Rail Enquiries

1.44%

Yahoo! Search UK &
Ireland

1.15%

BT Yahoo!

1.08%

Facebook

1.07%

BBC News

0.98%

Top 10 upstream site to travel sector: Transport

Source:Hitwise UK

SEARCH ENGINES

Google serves over 90% of UK search queries


Bing (Microsoft) & Yahoo reach a different audience


Google has won by being the best


Tough to game & cheat


A search engine not a portal


Search engine & users want the same thing

SEARCH ENGINE TRAFFIC

•
Starts with a query


•
Want answers


•
Provide solutions


•
Lead to the best outcome


•
Same process as viewed as a user or search engine



UNDERSTAND THE QUERY

Query=keyword


What are your audience searching for?


•
Use personal experience


•
Use the research tools


Internal research


User groups


Keyword tool






ANSWER THE QUERY

Start with the basics


•
Own your brand keywords


Final transactions


Customer service


•
Get to the core products


The definition of your product or service


•
Look for the wider opportunities


Be realistic
–

target the queries you can answer







BE VISIBLE

•
Paid search vs. Organic








High uptake of PPC in travel sector


Competition & Aggregators




Paid vs organic for Travel Sector: Destinations &
Accom

Source:Hitwise UK

BE VISIBLE

•
More than just Paid search vs. Organic


•
Local search


•
Image search


•
News search


•
Mobile search


•
What is right for your business & user query





PAID SEARCH

Not to be taken as the easy option


Make the most of every click
-

Relevancy


Match
Query

to
Ad Copy

to
Landing Page



PAID SEARCH


`

ORGANIC SEARCH

Requires time and investment


Content focus
–

Use every opportunity


Meta content


Image tags


Create content that serves a user query


Ideally addressed at site spec & build of site

Offsite


Link building

Social Media


For social media not for SEO (Google+)





THE RESULTS

Reporting is Key


Visibility and traffic does not make money!


Look beyond click


Ideally to conversion


Attribute values to actions on the site





THANK YOU

QUESTIONS

&
ANSWERS