ANALYTICS AND SEARCH Megan Hunter
n9154507
Escape Travel
AMB330 Digital Portfolio
May 2, 2017
Justification of Search Strategy
Search engine marketing (SEM) involves the purchase of branded advertisements
within the pages of specified search terms, which ultimately controls the
communication process between business and consumer (Xiang, Pan &
Fesenmaier, 2016). SEM has shown significant growth in the past few years with
online methods of marketing and advertising becoming more cost-efficient and
effective than traditional methods (Antoun, Zhang, Conrad, & Schober, 2015).
Within the travel and tourism industry, the internet has become one of the most
important tools when gathering information and planning a holiday and becomes
one of the first points of contact for a consumer.
The implementation of a search campaign will allow Escape Travel to work
towards its current goals through the acquisition of new consumers and cost
reduction through specific consumer targeting. Additionally, Escape Travel will
greatly benefit as approximately 60% of traffic to their website is generated
through search ([Link] - Competitive Intelligence Tool, 2017). Using
Google AdWords, Escape Travel will benefit from large volumes of search
information and immediate traffic results with minimal investment required (Za &
Tricahyadinata, 2017). Having a comprehensive pool of keywords will improve
the standings and visibility of the brand to create buzz for new and current
consumers. While targeting and tailoring keywords improves the business CPA
by capturing the consumers most valuable to the brand with minimal incurred
cost.
Google Trends identified a peak in searches relating to some of the most popular
travel keywords towards the start of each year (January) seen in Figure 2
(Google, 2017c). This indicates searches are conducted largely over the summer
break for trips later in the year. Furthermore, search volumes are generally
maintained throughout the year which can be attributed to the fact that
depending on the destination you wish to go to, and how prepared you are, this
can alter the time of year you search for travel information ("Travel, Upgraded -
Think with Google APAC", 2013). As Escape Travel presents a wide array of
product offerings for all seasons, the campaign should be run during January to
benefit from the increased search volumes at this time but may be run at any
point throughout the year (which can be seen in Figure 3 of exact brand
searches) (Google, 2017a).
The campaign budget is $10,000 for a one month period, which is approximately
$330 per day. This will be spent through Google AdWords for bids on specific
keywords with Escape Travels target demographic of semi-retired couples over
45 in mind. These include travel information, luxury, agencies, cruises, deals and
packages. Out of these groups, Luxury Travel is one of the areas with little
competition, which is ideal for acquiring new consumers (Weiman, 2017). As
shown in Figure 1, by altering bid price on the more important search terms in
relation to Escape Travels target demographic, the average position may drop,
but the number of clicks and impressions increase in addition to the page
rankings for these ad groups being higher than they would be otherwise (Google,
2017b).
1
For each ad group, a Google Ad was created containing a call to action while
being persuasive and relevant. Four sitelinks were also created, highlighting
important sections of Escape Travels site that the target demographic would find
beneficial. These can be found in the attached Ad Preview spreadsheet.
This search engine strategy as a whole will aim to draw in new consumers to
become aware of Escape Travels brand and the products they offer, while
directing them to the appropriate areas (i.e. in-store) and reducing the cost of
getting consumer traffic to Escape Travels website.
Figure 1. Google AdWords Planner tool which forecasts the clicks, impressions
and search position. This shows the results when altering bid prices (Max CPC)
for the more important ad groups which have a higher value to Escape Travels
target audience.
2
D ATA SOURCE : G OOGLE TRENDS ( WWW. GOOGLE . COM / TRENDS ).
Figure 2. Google Trends data from Australia, within the past 5 years in the travel
industry of some of the most search keywords.
D ATA SOURCE : G OOGLE TRENDS (WWW. GOOGLE . COM /TRENDS ).
Figure 3. Google Trends data from Australia, within the past 12 months in the
travel industry of searches for escape travel.
3
References
Antoun, C., Zhang, C., Conrad, F., & Schober, M. (2015). Comparisons of Online
Recruitment Strategies for Convenience Samples: Craigslist, Google
AdWords, Facebook, and Amazon Mechanical Turk. Field Methods, 28(3),
231-246. [Link]
Google. (2017a). Escape Travel - Explore - Google Trends. Google Trends.
Retrieved from [Link]
cat=67&geo=AU&q=Escape%20Travel
Google. (2017b). Google AdWords: Keyword Planner. [Link].
Retrieved from [Link]
Google. (2017c). Things to do in, Cruises, Travel Insurance, Holiday Packages -
Explore - Google Trends. Google Trends. Retrieved from
[Link]
%20to%20do%20in,Cruises,Travel%20Insurance,Holiday%20Packages
[Link] - Competitive Intelligence Tool. (2017). Similar Web. Retrieved
from [Link]
Travel, Upgraded - Think with Google APAC. (2013). [Link].
Retrieved from [Link]
[Link]
Weiman, L. (2017). How Travel Advertisers Should Actually Be Using Search
Marketing Benchmarks. Search Engine Land. Retrieved from
[Link]
marketing-benchmarks-212474
Xiang, Z., Pan, B., & Fesenmaier, D. (2016). Benchmarking the Visibility of
Websites in Google: Implications for Search Engine Marketing of Tourism
Destinations. Tourism Travel and Research Association: Advancing Tourism
Research Globally. 12.
[Link]
Za, S., & Tricahyadinata, I. (2017). An Analysis on the Use of Google AdWords to
Increase E-Commerce Sales. International Journal Of Social Sciences And
Management, 4(1), 60-67. [Link]
