Google Hotel Ads | Disrupting the Entire Paid Search Experience

GOOGLE HOTEL ADS
DISRUPTING THE ENTIRE PAID SEARCH EXPERIENCE
JOSHUA GRAHAM - HILTON
JOSHUA GRAHAM - HILTON - @JOSHUAGRAHAM12JOSHUA GRAHAM - HILTON - @JOSHUAGRAHAM12

AGENDA
 Changes to the Google search results page
 Highlight how Hilton has consistently evolved with the changing nature of the SERP
 Advantages for travel advertisers
 How can hotels and travel companies keep pace
JOSHUA GRAHAM - HILTON - @JOSHUAGRAHAM12

2011 HOTEL FINDER EXPERIMENT
 Barry Schwartz in 2011: “There are many hotel search engines, including hotels.com and many others. Will this Google Hotel
Finder last or will it die off with many of the other Google experiments? I am not sure but I bet you many of the hotel search
engines are a bit worried.” (Search Engine Land, July 2011)
(Source: Official Google Search blog, July 2011)

2011 HOTEL PRICE ADS LAUNCHES ON GOOGLE SEARCH
 April 2011
 Ads appear on Google Search and Google Maps after
searching hotels in particular market (non-branded
only)
 7 – Pack
(Source: Official Google Search blog, July 2011)

2011 HOTEL PRICE ADS …MOVING UP
 Promoted Hotels
 Click changes page to Hotel Finder experience
 “This may create a difficult situation between OTAs and the hotels themselves, who are often competing to have the booking
occur on their own site” Ginny Marvin, Search Engine Land June 2014
 First indications of possible frictions between OTAs, hotels and the Google move into metasearch

OTHER HOTEL ADS SITES

2013 – GOOGLE MAPS

2013 - GOOGLE PLUS

2014 – MOBILE HPA
 Mobile HPA rolled out in August
 Google did not charge for clicks for ~6 months
 Google mirrored ~1% of Desktop impressions
to Mobile

3 PACK APPEARS
 November 2014
 Carousel goes away
 3 Pack Launches same day
 Still click through to Hotel
Finder
 Separate UI/Page

HOTEL ADS AND SEARCH – TOGETHER AT LAST
 Hotel Search & Hotel Ads fully
integrated into Google Search
 Callouts added
 Google adds branded keywords
to trigger HA

“After lots of experimentation, Google realized it didn’t need a hotel metasearch site like Google Hotel Finder because it has the Google search engine.
That is a formidable asset, to say the least, and it will be a challenge over the years to the powers that be in hotel booking.”
“— Dennis Schaal, Tnooz, September 2015
Hotel Finder Deprecated
• Hotel finder deprecated
• All clicks on HA change the UI and user stays on Google Search page

2016
This space
intentionally left blank.
-Google
• Right Hand Rails Goes Away
(but not PLAs and Knowledge Graph)
• Map appears above 3 Pack
• Further relegating organic links

HOTEL ADS ENHANCEMENTS
 Ad
 Deal

HOTEL ADS ENHANCEMENTS
 Custom Callouts
for Promoted
Spots
 Strikethrough
pricing for
Qualified Rates

HOTEL ADS OPTIMIZATIONS
Optimization tools
 Device Type
 User Country
 Google Site
 Day of the Week bidding
 Advance booking window
 Length of Stay bidding
 By-hotel control

Optimization tools
 Device Type
 User Country
 Google Site
 Length of Stay bidding

Optimization tools
 Device Type
 User Country
 Google Site
 Length of Stay

TAKEAWAYS
 Be nimble
 Rigorous awareness of search page
 Change course when needed
 Utilize all available optimization tools

THANK YOU!
JOSHUA GRAHAM – HILTON
JOSHUA.GRAHAM@HILTON.COM
@JOSHUAGRAHAM12
JOSHUA GRAHAM - HILTON - @JOSHUAGRAHAM12JOSHUA GRAHAM - HILTON - @JOSHUAGRAHAM12

Google Hotel Ads | Disrupting the Entire Paid Search Experience

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Google Hotel Ads | Disrupting the Entire Paid Search Experience