The EU’s Ruling on Data Transfers- Updates to Google Ads Terms

SHARE:
+
August 7, 2020 by

Why Did Google Ads Send Me An Email Re: Updates about GDPR Compliance?

In July 2020, the EU’s highest court ruled against the validity of the Data Privacy Shield for protecting EU citizen data when it is transferred out of the EU to other countries including the US. This caused many businesses, including Google and other ad tech companies, to have to revise their platforms’ data processing terms.

What Did the EU Rule on Data Transfers to the US in July 2020?

In July 2020 the Court of Justice of the European Union, the highest court in the EU, ruled that the current Privacy Shield that allowed transfers of online advertising and measurement personal data out of the EU to the US was invalid. This was based on the court finding that EU citizen data could be interfered with by the US government based on the country’s current surveillance laws. 

TechCrunch.com’s Natasha Lomas explains that, The CJEU’s finding is that “the requirements of US national security, public interest and law enforcement have primacy, thus condoning interference with the fundamental rights of persons whose data are transferred to that third country”, and that mechanisms in the EU-US Privacy Shield ostensibly intended to mitigate this interference (such as an ombudsperson role to handle EU citizens’ complaints) are not up the required legal standard of ‘essential equivalence’ with EU law.

The Court of Justice of the European Union did keep Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) in place as a valid and legal way for businesses including banks, Facebook, and Google to transfer online advertising and measurement personal data out of the EU and into the US. This effectively provides these companies with a way to maintain data transfers outside of the EU and into the US (and other countries) for the time being.

How Does The EU Ruling on Data Transfers Impact My Google Ads Account?

Since SCC’s are still considered an allowed method of transferring data from the EU to servers in the US, Google is moving to use them for all transfers of online advertising and measurement personal data out of the EU, Switzerland and the UK in order to stay in compliance with the ruling.

Google is also updating its existing Google Ads Data Processing Terms, Google Ads Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms, and Google Measurement Controller-Controller Data Protection Terms to add the relevant SCCs as adopted by the European Commission. These updated contract terms for using Google Ads will apply starting on August 12, 2020.

How Can I Make Sure My Google Ads Account Is Still In Compliance with GDPR?

First off, we are not legal experts and you should be consulting your lawyer regarding how to keep your business in compliance with GDPR and other consumer data privacy protection laws. 

  1. Google’s updated contract terms that add the relevant SCCs ensure your agreement with their ad platform keeps the account in compliance with the updated ruling. 
  2. Make sure you have a cookie preference solution in place (such as OneTrust) on your site. Make sure settings are specific for traffic from visitors from the EU countries, allowing them to control how their personal data is used across the site and ad platforms. 
  3. We also recommend that you have detailed information regarding your business’ privacy policies that can be found on the privacy policy page on your website. 

The court’s standing on SCC’s and how EU citizens’ data is transferred out of the EU could come under further scrutiny, which could further complicate things for banks, ad tech companies, and other businesses. 

Have further questions about the recent EU ruling on data transfers and how it affects your Google Ads account? Please make sure to consult your lawyer and be sure to reach out to GCommerce to help you implement cookie compliance tools on your website.

We Increased ROAS 123% For Our Hotel Clients’ Google Ads, Here’s How

SHARE:
+
July 27, 2020 by

At the end of 2018, Google turned the SEM industry on its head by once again changing the definition of its exact match keyword targeting. The definitions and performance by match type have historically dictated campaign structure for many across the SEM industry, GCommerce included. Google’s 3rd and most recent change to exact match forced paid search marketers to reexamine their account structures and best practices. When we did, we found an incredible opportunity to reinvent our paid search account structure to drive substantial improvements in performance for our clients. Read below to find out how we did it.

A Quick History of Google’s Keyword Match Type Definitions

To set the stage, let’s take a quick look back over the evolution of Google’s exact match keyword targeting definitions.

Pre-2014: Exact Match means the searcher has to type your keyword in exactly as you have it written in order for the search to trigger your ad.

Search = luxury hotel in park city Keyword = luxury hotel in park city

2014: Google updates its exact match keyword definition to allow your ad to trigger for the exact spelling of your keyword PLUS plurals and misspellings 

Search = luxury hotels in park city Keyword  = luxury hotel in park city

2017: Google updates its exact match keyword definition again to trigger your ad for the exact phrase or misspellings and plurals OR different word order and function words

Here are two great tables from Search Engine Land’s article to help explain:

Function words:

Word Order:

What Do These Changes Mean For My Hotel’s Google Ads Account Structure? 

But, what does this all mean for paid search optimization and account structure? Separating campaigns by match type used to mean we had more control of where to funnel our ad dollars based on what keywords and match types were performing the best. We found that with Google’s latest updates to match type definitions, if we had the same keyword with a different match type located in different ad groups within the account, they would now compete with each other. The theory became, if we restructured our accounts to keep all keywords (of all match types) within the same ad group, we should see lower CPCs which in turn would drive more traffic, more conversions, and higher ROAS. We tested the theory across a sampling of our hotel client Google Ads accounts.

Results of Our Hotels’ Google Ads Restructure Tests Based On Match Types

Let’s dive into the test results. On average this is what resulted from the changes we made in account structure based on the new keyword match type definitions:

  • CPCs declined by 30%
  • ROAS increased by 123%

This meant our paid search campaigns were able to drive 80% more revenue on average for our hotel clients across the sample set of test accounts. After reviewing the results, we rolled out the change across all of our hotel Google Ads accounts and continued to see outstanding results across the board.

It’s important to always keep an eye out for announcements from Google Ads and make sure you’re testing, restructuring, and updating your accounts based on what provides the best results. If your agency isn’t constantly evolving your campaigns based on changes within the platform and your industry then you risk wasting budget and sacrificing performance. Have questions about how we can help your hotel launch or test this new account structure? Please reach out to one of our hotel digital marketing experts today.

Flywheel News | Your Top 7 Hotel Digital Marketing Updates From May 2020

SHARE:
+
June 4, 2020 by

1. Google Announces New Signal in Ranking Factors

Google has announced that it will be introducing a new ranking signal that focuses on evaluating user experience from a web page. Existing signals that were aimed at assessing user experience such as HTTPS, mobile-friendliness, and avoiding interstitials will be combined with what is called Core Web Vitals. These Core Web Vitals include:

Google has defined these as the Core Web Vitals:

  • Largest Contentful Paint: The time it takes for a page’s main content to load. An ideal LCP measurement is 2.5 seconds or faster.
  • First Input Delay: The time it takes for a page to become interactive. An ideal measurement is less than 100 seconds.
  • Cumulative Layout Shift: The amount of unexpected layout shift of visual page content. An ideal measurement is less than 0.1.

These won’t impact ranking until next year at the earliest but you should start taking a look at how your site performs by auditing these in Search Console or Chrome’s developer tools. Webpages that are able to positively impact these metrics will have a leg up on the competition. 

2. Google Ads SMB Credits Start Rolling Out to Accounts

Good news for SMBs! Google ad credits have started showing up within accounts. The first is going to SMBs in New Zealand but will expand to other countries over the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for these additional marketing funds. We’re actively monitoring our client accounts for these ad credits.

3. Facebook Launches Shops Feature

Facebook has officially entered the eCommerce world with the introduction of its new feature, Facebook Shops. Facebook’s new feature looks to directly compete with Amazon and Google Shopping. Positioned at helping SMBs during this crisis, pages are able to add products to their Facebook Shop and people are able to interact, shop, and purchase either directly on Facebook or by visiting the business’ website. Shops are free to set up and right now don’t have any fees or commissions charged. Facebook does plan on launching fees in the future, but now is a great time to test this feature for free. Learn more here.

4. Bing Can Now Answer Certain Queries With a Simple Yes or No

Do you loathe having to read through an entire paragraph before you can find the simple “yes” or “no” answer you’re looking for in the search results snippets? Well, Bing has come to the rescue. The search engine is now able to answer certain queries with a simple “yes” or “no” answer. Give it a whirl at Bing.com.

5. Google Sunsets Gallery Ads Beta to Focus on Image Extensions

Google has decided to kill one of the most talked-about features from its Google Marketing Live in 2019. Gallery ads beta has been sunsetted to focus on image extensions instead. Microsoft Ads has had this feature for a while now. Google’s image extensions are currently in a closed Beta so if you aren’t included you’ll have to wait until the official release. 

6. New and Missing Google My Business Reviews Now Showing

During the start of the crisis, Google made the decision to disable certain features on its Google My Business product. This included the Q&A feature as well as the ability to post new reviews and customer photos. We’re excited to say that new reviews are now showing up on listings. If you are now open don’t forget to re-engage your customers through eCRM to ensure you’re generating new reviews. Review rating and quantity plays a large role in local SEO rankings.

7. New Google My Business Feature for Hotels: COVID-19 Responder Policy

Last month Google introduced a new Google My Business feature specifically for hotels. This feature allows hotels to post information about any discounts or free lodging for COVID-19 first responders. You can find this feature under the hotel attributes section of your GMB account.

COVID-19 | How To Use Data To Relaunch Your Marketing Campaigns

SHARE:
+
May 28, 2020 by

The coronavirus pandemic has pushed us all into uncertain times and with it paused media campaigns leaving unspent marketing dollars. Now that we’re beginning to see a light at the end of a long and dark tunnel, it’s time to start prepping your hotel’s marketing campaigns with a returning strategy. 

If the thought of relaunching your hotel’s marketing campaigns scares you or has you reeling on where to even start, don’t worry, you’re absolutely not alone! As experts in the digital marketing space, we’re here to guide you through this new phase and how to use data to create the best re-launch plan for your property.

Use Data to Drive Your Hotel's Marketing Decisions

At GCommerce, it’s no secret that we love data and use it as the backbone of all our marketing strategies. Whether it’s determining a monthly budget or deciding which audiences to target, your data should drive all marketing decisions. In fact, this could not be more important in the current climate given that many properties will be starting out with limited budgets, which means you’ll want your campaigns to provide as much value as possible. The big question is...where do you even start when it comes to analyzing your data?

A great place to begin is by looking at your on-site data using Analytics or other direct marketing platforms. For our clients that use The Hotels Network, we’re able to monitor real-time user searches on their website and determine current user behavior. For example, we can see if users are interacting with the onsite products (pop-ups, price checks, etc.), the searcher conversion rate of your hotel versus global benchmarks, where these direct bookers are coming from, which check-in dates they are looking at, conversion rates based on lead time, and your property’s rate parity health. 

Based on the available data through The Hotels Network we have a much clearer picture of how audiences are interacting with your website and if they are even ready to convert. For example, we monitor the status of one of our clients on a weekly basis. Two weeks ago we were seeing that the majority of guests were looking to travel 30-59 days out and converting at a rate of 3.10%. When we looked at data for this past week we saw a dramatic shift in that the majority of searchers were looking to book 8-14 days out with a conversion rate of 7.34% and 30-59 days out with a conversion rate of 5.70%. Even more interesting was that the next big search period was for 7 days or less and converting at a rate of 5.54%!

Using this data we could easily recommend marketing campaigns aimed at traveling and booking now and in the next month, whether it was a paid search campaign with a limited time offer or a Facebook ad welcoming guests back to the resort. We could also set up a nudge on The Hotels Network urging users looking at the selected lead times to book with special offers or risk-free reservations.

However, what if you don’t utilize The Hotels Network? Much of this data can still be found by using Google Analytics and searching through your site traffic pages, e-commerce goals, and product performance. Another great resource is the Adara Travel Trends Tracker which is updated daily. Adara is providing valuable data on flights, hotels, and other travel trends that include booking windows and travel types. These charts are a great indicator of travel as a whole.

Creating Your First Marketing Campaigns During COVID

Once you have gathered a good chunk of information, you need to figure out what types of marketing campaigns should launch first. For those limited by budget, we suggest a tiered approach to campaign creation.

1. Staycations / Local Audience

When launching your first campaign in this COVID-19 driven climate, we recommend starting local. Target your drive market with staycation offers or romantic weekends away. If you are able to open your pool or other outdoor amenities, call this out and offer your locals the chance to enjoy summer vacation even if they aren’t far from home. Even if your property isn’t hindered by travel restrictions at the moment, most people still aren’t willing to travel long distances to get away.

2. Loyal Guests/Passholders

After taking care of your local market, create campaigns targeting your loyal guests. This could be people that participate in your loyalty programs, pass holders, email subscribers, past guests, etc. This is a great audience to re-engage quickly because you know they are already familiar with your property and more willing to stay with you over other hotels or properties. On top of that, this audience is also more likely to share your brand with their friends, families, and followers.

3. Regional Guests

When travel restrictions start to fizzle out and more states begin opening up it’ll be time to start bringing in that regional audience. These are the people who will be coming from adjacent states who are looking to travel short distances. The majority of this audience will be your road tripper guests who aren’t quite ready to fly yet. You may even consider a wider radius for your drive market targeting than before, people may be willing to drive further for an escape. Make sure you consult your hotel’s data to figure out the ideal targeting.

4. Destination Guests

At the very end of this tier, we have our destination guests. These are people who will be flying in or taking long road trips and staying for more than a couple of days. Targeting these further destinations won’t really be useful until the general population is ready to start air travel again. Although this group will take longer to recover from COVID-19 impacts than other audiences, they will be key because they tend to stay longer and spend more.

How to Measure and Analyze General Campaign Metrics

Once you’ve launched your initial hotel marketing campaigns you will also need to monitor them and continually check performance. With a plethora of data to look at, it’s useful to identify key metrics to make marketing decisions. These metrics will be important to look at once campaigns have been created in order to further optimize and make sure each marketing dollar is spent wisely.

Here are a few metrics we look at consistently and how to determine the next steps.

Impressions. Impressions serve as a performance indicator at a very basic level and are great for top-of-funnel decisions. They show us a good reach estimate and help determine whether certain dimensions are worth pushing more or less budget behind. However, large impression sums don’t mean a campaign will convert well and begs the question of quality over quantity. For the current climate, we would use impressions to judge where a certain market or target audience is worth pushing budget behind or not.

Clicks. Measuring clicks is perhaps one of the greatest indicators of campaign performance, behind actual conversions. Clicks actually prove whether or not users are interested in what you are offering as a click is generally a direct action and indication of interest. If a campaign is receiving below-average clicks we know to scale back or change up the ads. 

As a general rule in the marketing space, we aim for a Click Through Rate (CTR) of 1% for more easily engaging ads (Facebook) and .05% for ads that rely more on view-through conversions (Display).

Conversions. As mentioned earlier, conversions are one of the most telling metrics. Unless you are running a brand awareness campaign, you’re most likely promoting your ad for the objective of conversions. If your marketing campaigns are displaying high numbers of bookings, that’s a great indication that you can push more budget or that you can look at expanding into different markets and interests. Low conversions at this time might tell us that your property or location is either not ready for travel or that you might be hitting maximum occupancy for the desired time frames. 

Conversion Value. Getting conversions is only one piece of the puzzle. Another important metric to analyze is your conversion value. For example, high conversions with a low value could tell us a number of things. Perhaps you are offering a large discount offer, lowering your ADR, or maybe your ADR is lower than normal because of current circumstances. It could also mean that people are booking for shorter lengths of stay. 

Conversion value helps complete the puzzle by giving us more insight into consumer behavior. If we see users are booking more weekend trips, we can adjust our ad copy and push more weekend offers. Similarly, if we see that conversion values are high it could mean an increase in ADR or longer lengths of stay. 

It’s Time To Seize the Day

Making data-driven decisions for your hotel’s marketing campaigns doesn’t need to be hard or complicated. With warmer weather arriving across the country and a temporarily unsaturated advertising market at your fingertips, now is absolutely the time to turn your marketing campaigns back on.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team of hotel digital marketing experts if you’re looking for guidance with your campaigns. Contact us now.

Best Practices for Messaging Your Hotel’s Reopening During COVID-19

SHARE:
+
May 21, 2020 by

When people are ready to travel again they are going to return to brands and hotels they trust. The question is, how can your hotel instill trust in loyal guests and new guests in a post-COVID-19 world? The answer is consistent communication and thoughtful messaging. Your team has been working hard to develop a plan for reopening that follows local guidelines to maintain guest and employee safety. You should share this information and messaging across different channels to help re-establish trust with your customers. This trust will make them feel secure in booking at your hotel to drive the revenue your business needs to thrive. Here is a breakdown of our recommendations for great communication and messaging by channel.

Hotel Reopening Messaging Best Practices By Channel:

Hotel Website Messaging

Your hotel’s website is your online storefront and the place where guests and potential guests go to get official information from your business. Make sure you keep this information up to date and accurate. Here are some best practices and ideas to follow:

1. Create a post-COVID-19 reopening website landing page specifically developed to communicate your hotel’s new policies, procedures, and FAQs around how it’s complying with regional requirements to keep guests safe.

2. Install a post-COVID-19 website ribbon at the top of the homepage that links to the landing page. We recommend using messaging in the banner geared towards cleanliness and peace of mind vs. using the words COVID-19 update. 

3. Include updates with specific information about the current status of your hotel’s amenities such as the pool, restaurants, and spas. Include any new procedures and what guests can expect when interacting with your hotel’s amenities during their upcoming visit. For example:

  1. Lounge chairs at the pool will be 8-ft apart. 
  2. We’ve removed ½ of our tables at the restaurant to comply with social distancing regulations. 

4. Do not hide any pages devoted to business entities at your property that might be temporarily closed. This could negatively impact your performance in the search engines and confuse customers rather than inform them. Instead, place text at the top of the page with a status update on the specific amenity. 

5. Avoid pop-ups as Google has stated these can negatively impact SEO and provides a poor user experience, especially on mobile devices. If a visitor closes the pop-up it also makes it difficult to find the information again.

6. Add an email sign up right below any “We’re Temporarily Closed” messaging so visitors interested in your hotel can stay informed and connected with your property. This ensures you can maintain communication and encourage future stays through email marketing campaigns.

Hotel Booking Engine Messaging Updates

Keep messaging around new policies visible within the booking engine flow to make people feel secure. Include messaging around flexible reservation cancelations or changes and include details on how you are keeping them safe to increase conversion rates.

eCRM & Email Messaging for COVID-19 reopening

Ensure all of your email and eCRM communication include messaging around COVID-19 related policies, procedures, and links to learn more from your hotel’s COVID-19 specific landing page. Help the guest understand what to expect upon arrival at your property.

Hotel Social Media Communication

Your loyal hotel customers, as well as aspirational ones, are following you on social media. Make sure you are utilizing this channel to keep them informed on your hotel’s reopening or current status and any changes to policies and procedures. This is also a great place to keep your hotel’s fans updated on what’s happening locally that may encourage them to consider traveling to your area soon.

Paid Media

If your hotel hasn’t relaunched paid media, you should strongly consider jumping back in if you are able to find the funds. Check out our last blog post for a list of very convincing reasons why. Not sure what approach to take with your hotel’s reopening messaging? Here are a few examples:

  • Hotel Paid Media COVID-19 Messaging Examples:
    • Book today with peace of mind. 
    • Our spacious grounds are the perfect escape. 
    • Book a Risk-Free Vacation with our Flexible Cancellation Policies
    • Plan your worry-free escape and book today. 
    • We’ve made changes to make sure our guests stay safe. 
    • Book today with worry-free planning. 
    • Cancel for any reason. 
    • Escape to the mountains where fresh air and blue skies await.
    • Escape a world of worries. We’ve got your beach chair ready. 
    • Celebrate with a staycation and experience local attractions like never before. 
    • COVID Services Update – Learn More
    • Questions? See up-to-date COVID Information >>
    • A Deep Clean and Peace of Mind for All of our Guests
    • New Standard of Clean 

You can find an expanded list of ideas for themes to drive your hotel’s messaging during a crisis here. 

Your hotel’s direct booking channels are going to be the key to communicating with your guests and making them feel secure in planning their next stay at your hotel. Keep them informed and make them feel secure in order to have the most positive impact on your hotel’s website conversion rate to drive more bookings.

Marketing Month In Review- April 2020

SHARE:
+
May 11, 2020 by

1. Google Clarifies Ad Credit Eligibility and Timing

When Google announced they would be providing $340 million in Google Ads credits for SMBs, advertisers and businesses were anxious to know if they would be eligible. Last week, Google provided some clarity around who qualifies to receive these ad credits. Here are some frequently asked questions and answers regarding hotel eligibility for these Google SMB ad credits.

Is Your Hotel Eligible for Google Ads SMB Ad Credits?

  • Your business must have been running ads through the account for at least 10 out of the 12 months in 2019
  • Your business must have also been running ads during January and/or February of 2020

When Will My Hotel Receive The Ad Credits From Google?

  • Credits will roll out in phases
  • First Ad credits will be seen in the Google Ads account beginning in late May

Do I Need To Do Anything To Make Sure My Hotel Is Eligible for Google’s SMB Ad Credits?

  • No, there is nothing else to be done now. Google will notify the account users and the ad credits will automatically be deposited in the account

Are There Any Restrictions To How I Can Use The Google SMB Ad Credits?

  • Ad credits must be used by the end of 2020
  • Ad credits can be used on any Google Ads channel, including Search, Display & YouTube

How Many Credits Will My Hotel’s Google Ads Account Receive?

  • Google has not specified exact amounts but stated that ad credit will vary based on past spend and geographic location

Please reach out to your GCommerce account representative with any additional questions regarding the Google Ads credit program for your hotel.

2. Facebook SMB Ad Credits Update

Last month, we shared that Facebook is giving out $100 million in grants and ad credits. If your hotel is located in one of the metro areas listed below and meets Facebook’s eligibility requirements listed here your hotel should apply. You will need to have important business information available including your Federal Employer Identification Number, Partnership documents, business license, proof of incorporation, and official registration. Applications are now open for locations across the country. Don’t wait to apply if your business qualifies. Apply here.

pasted-image-0

3. And Now For Some More Good News...

Have you tuned in for any of John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” shows? I think it’s one of the many great examples of ways to stay tuned into positive, true stories happening around the globe. While this has been a very difficult time for all of us, especially in hospitality, I think it’s helpful to maintain focus on the positive things occurring even during one of our darkest hours. Here are a few highlights that continue to provide us hope for recovery:

  • One of our clients in Southern California is currently closed but has continued to invest in their marketing. They have seen a 31% increase in revenue production through their website since March 15th.
  • HSMAI launches Get One, Give One Stay a "vacay layaway" program to jumpstart travel and thank healthcare heroes. Learn more here.

Check out our most recent blog with some very positive trends happening in the travel industry and across our portfolio of hotel clients.

Keep Reading

Organic Social Media Best Practices for 2026:

Organic social media best practices for 2026: How brands can win with consistency, quality and authentic engagement

Flywheel news | March 2026 hotel digital marketing news | GCommerce

Flywheel news | March 2026 hotel digital marketing news | GCommerce

The role of color psychology in hospitality marketing

The role of color psychology in hospitality marketing

Get More Insights