One of the best ways to increase traffic to your website and to boost overall visibility on Google is to run paid search ads through the online advertising service – Google AdWords. Through AdWords, you can create online ads to reach people exactly when they’re interested in the products and services that you offer.
In this day and age, Google is more often than not, the place where travellers begin their accommodation booking process. As such, if you work in the hospitality industry, a basic understanding of Google AdWords is a must!
To help you understand the intricacies of this platform, and to give you a leg up when it comes to setting up your first campaign, here is a beginner’s guide to Google AdWords.
Google Networks
With Google AdWords, your ads can show on one or both of Google’s advertising networks: the Google Search Network and the Google Display Network. As the name suggests, the Search Network includes Google Search, as well as Maps, Shopping, and many non-Google search partners. The Display Network, on the other hand, includes a collection of Google websites (such as YouTube and Gmail), partner sites, mobile sites and apps.
Ad Formats
Various different ad formats are available for you to choose from, including text, responsive, image, app promotion, video and shopping ads. Each ad format has an array of benefits, and the particular format, or formats, you choose will directly correlate to your business and marketing goals.
Targeting
There are numerous ways to target audiences with AdWords, enabling you to show your ads to the right people, at the right time. On the Google Search Network, the most popular way to do this is with a list of relevant keywords. Other targetting methods include location, time of day, device, and language. On the Google Display Network, however, you can get even more specific, targetting people by their age, areas of interest, and the types of sites they visit.
Bidding Strategies
Choosing how to spend your money on AdWords means selecting a bidding strategy. Your specific business goals will determine the bidding strategy you employ; whether you want to focus on getting clicks, impressions or conversions. Available bidding strategies include cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) and cost-per-acquisition (CPA). Importantly, there is no minimum monthly spend on AdWords. Rather, you set up an average daily budget that your business can afford – giving you complete control over your advertising costs.
The Ad Auction
Each time someone searches on Google, AdWords runs an auction to determine the ads that will show on the search results pages. The position of your ad is determined by your ad rank, which is calculated by combining the CPC bid and the ad’s Quality Score (an estimate of the quality of your ads and landing pages). Simply put, the higher your ad rank, the higher you are on the result page.
To find out more about Google AdWords, keep an eye on Hotel Revenue Management’s regularly updated blog. Likewise, contact us today on to explore the broad range of online marketing opportunities for the hospitality industry.
