Google Hotel Ads is a paid advertising service that is the son of Google Ads . Despite its creation almost 10 years ago, Google Hotel Ads had always been limited to Google Maps before this year. The simple presence on a map on the one hand characterized more the service offered to hotel owners, but on the other hand it was reduced year after year. For a few months now, the Google Hotel Ads revolution has been visible on the first page of the SERP, the search engine results page. The service of the Mountain View giant is of fundamental importance for tourism, both for individual travelers and for accommodation establishments that in recent years have had to face the aggressive policies of OTAs (online travel agencies).
Google has realized that the hegemony of Booking, Expedia, Hotels.com and Trivago is beginning to be felt and has decided to begin to strongly oppose it. As? Using maps and Mybusiness associated with Google Hotel ADS. In a few years it has managed to recover a good market share. So let's look specifically at what Google Hotel ADS is and how it works.
How Google Hotel Ads works
Google Hotel Ads is an integral part of Google Ads, the advertising service of the American company based in Mountain View that has replaced Google Adwords only in terms of name and brand. Lodging establishment owners who want to enter the Google Hotel Ads circuit to improve their visibility in search engines (and consequently generate more revenue through online bookings) must first register an account on the Google Ads platform ( formerly Google AdWords).
Register
If you already had an AdWords profile before the name change occurred in summer 2018, you can skip this step. The second step that must be taken to start the first advertising campaign is the creation of a Google Hotel Center account. By registering the profile with the second service offered by Google, it is possible to manage the rates for the stay in a specific room of the structure. If you do not have a high experience, Google allows those who register an account in Google Hotel Center to communicate with some important partners at this stage, whose help can be essential when choosing the best rate, thus having a greater chance of competing. with other hotels that are committed to collaborating with Google Hotel Ads to emerge in one of the sectors where competition is the highest compared to the current one. .in other economic sectors.
Start Google Hotel ADS campaign
Once registered in Google Hotel Center and linked this account with the Google Ads profile, the hotel owner can see the Hotel campaign, along with the other types of advertising campaigns offered by Google Ads (Search, Display, Shopping, Video and Universal App). Below the Hotel campaign appears the message that summarizes the main objective to be achieved, namely, the promotion of the accommodation establishment in Google Search and in the Google Maps application, both available from computers and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.
At this point you have to choose the budget to use for the promotion of the advertising campaign, deciding how much you are willing to pay for each click or conversion. Also in this case, you can receive detailed and professional assistance from third-party companies whose task is to provide hotel managers with all the useful suggestions to define every detail of the Hotel campaign available in Google Ads. Another aspect to take into account is the title of the advertising campaign and the information given to potential users/customers. Experts advise being as clear and complete as possible, so that it is credible and at the same time interesting in the eyes of anyone who wants to book a hotel room in that same city.
Where do Google Hotel Ads appear on the first page of the search engine?
The section referring to Google Hotel Ads appears in the visible part (located at the top) of the first page of the search engine without having to scroll down. The fact sheet of the Google advertising service appears only if users perform certain searches. A classic example is the search for the combination of words hotel and city of your destination (hotel Rome, hotel Milan, etc.), through which the Google Hotel Ads section is automatically activated on the first page of the results returned by the search performed. outside.
It is important to highlight how all the structures present in the special card offered by Big G have previously activated a Hotel campaign, thus subscribing to Google Ads to those who have the Google Hotel Center profile linked. The same hotels that appear on Google Search also appear on the Google map. The two most notable elements of each hotel are the price and the average rating of the opinions. This is no coincidence, since numerous research has shown that travelers when choosing one hotel over another first consult the price and the positive/negative opinions written by people who have stayed at the hotel in question. This is a very important aspect, through which hotel owners can take advantage of a competing accommodation facility in the same city. One of the main changes made by the Google Hotel Ads section is the presence of the Best Picks, Guest Favorites, Cheap Hotels and Luxury Hotels filters, so Google makes it even easier for users to choose. Below, each hotel has a photo gallery, through which potential clients can take a virtual tour inside the structure and its rooms. Finally, a brief description of the hotel is included as well as user opinions extrapolated from the main platforms involved in the tourism sector.
Why is Google Hotel Ads important for a hotel?
Since Google Hotel Ads is an integral part of the SERP, bookings made through the Google Ads Hotel advertising campaign have increased by 65 percent compared to when the advertising service's presence was limited within Google Maps (from computers and mobile devices). The greater visibility guaranteed by Google Hotel Ads represents, therefore, a considerable benefit in the number of reservations for the campaign defined within the Ads of the Mountain View giant. Credit must be attributed not only to the visibility on the first page through the search consisting of the keyword hotel followed by the name of the city, but also to the presence of the Book a room button on each hotel's listing in Ads. Google hotels. Users who click Book a Room are directed to a new screen, showing the best prices for the selected room type. If the hotel has its own website, Google gives priority to the accommodation's web portal, thus guaranteeing the hotel owners a direct reservation. For this reason, the Google Hotel Ads advertising service is of vital importance for the future of the tourism sector in Italy and internationally. In fact, by registering in Google Hotel Center and defining the Hotel campaign in Google Ads, all accommodation establishments that have their own website have the possibility of obtaining a significant advantage over OTAs (online travel agencies). Indeed, Booking and Expedia, the latter having to review its strategy from now on.
