PPC for holiday companies is very different to doing PPC in a different niche. As the travel industry is ever-changing and highly competitive, we have put together five PPC recommendations, that will help travel companies reach their PPC campaign objectives.

PPC best practices for the travel sector

1. Demographic and seasonal targeting

Travel PPC accounts need to kee an eye on seasonality when deciding on which locations to push. certain locations are likely to be in higher demand depending on the season.Adjust your PPC bids, demographics, and pause campaigns that depend on seasonal factors, which are very influential in the travel sector businesses. This will include not only seasonal bid adjustments, but also demographic targeting. For example, target young people around the ages of 18 to 24 during summer holiday time if you offer beach break packages in Ibiza or Zante.

Are you offering luxury trips to ski resorts in the Alps? The chances are that the demographics will be different. Pause irrelevant campaigns, such as ads for Christmas market tours of Germany to avoid wasting ad budget on destinations that are very unlikely to sell. The same principle applies to turning on ads for upcoming events in different goals, such as the Venice carnival or Munich’s Oktoberfest.

2. Ad copy optimisation

Tailor ad copy

Similarly, to the target audience adjustment, tailor the ad copy to be the most relevant to your demographic and seasonality of it. Perhaps during certain times of the year, your target audience that’s the most likely to convert is significantly younger or older than the average. Take the demographic data into account and tailor your campaigns to reach the highest potential.

Include an enticing call to action in PPC ads, which will drive urgency to complete an action, such as Book your holiday now! Create two or more ad copies per keyword to use A/B testing to determine which one performs better. With this data-based knowledge, you will be able to structure your ad campaigns smartly.

Utilise ad extensions

Ad extensions help make your travel PPC ads more interactive and invite users to complete an action after viewing your ad, such as a to call your company, visit our location-specific landing pages, or send a message.

You can use:

  • Sitelinks
  • Call Out
  • Review Extensions

Find your unique selling point

Find your unique selling point and competitive advantage. The travel industry is a very competitive and saturated market. Therefore, to compete with PPC advertising in the travel sector, your ads need to showcase exactly what makes you stand out amongst the competition. Perhaps your hotel has a treehouse, a spectacular ocean view, an award-winning restaurant, or a magnificent interior? Display what you pride yourself the most about. Perhaps your coach trips offer the highest comfort seats?

Use image ads

If you are using Google’s Display Network, create attention-grabbing visuals that will captivate the user to click on it and potentially become your customer. However, Display Network is more suited for larger travel industry players with bigger PPC budget.

3. Optimise landing pages

Optimise your landing pages, with not only text and visuals, but also with industry awards, certifications, reviews, and any other proof of quality and trustworthiness you can. In the travel industry, it is crucial to display that you offer proven quality, safety, and valued experiences. Make sure your ads are matched with relevant landing page copies to send trust signals.

If a searcher clicks on your travel PPC ad for a bargain self-catered apartment, don’t send them to a landing page for luxury villas. You can create tailor-made pay per click campaign landing pages, which look like your site pages.

4. Competitor research

Research your competitors not only to see how you differ from them for your unique selling point but also to see:

What keywords they are bidding on.

  • Competitor ad copy examples.
  • Competitor sales and promotional offers.
  • Examples of ad extensions you could use too.
  • How they differentiate themselves from the competition.
  • Their landing pages.

There are several tools that travel businesses can use to undertake competitor research such as SpyFu, SEMrush, Mix Rank, and Ten Scores.

5. Keyword research

Looking at competitor keywords is not enough; you must do your own short and long-tail keyword research. Small and medium-sized travel companies should focus on the more targeted, long-tail keywords that you have a chance to compete on, as broad terms such as trips or vacation rentals will most likely be dominated by large holiday players.

Long-tail keywords are also what potential customers are looking for, for example, last-minute cheap flights to London or yoga retreats in Bali.

List negative keywords. These could include destinations you do not serve, transport solutions you do not provide, or the service level you do not offer, such as luxury holiday packages.

Take a look at some of the results that we’ve achieved for our clients here. Or, if you think your PPC advertising campaigns could be performing better then get in touch for a free PPC account audit.