In 2022, GCommerce produced a company survey to gather team member insights on its Cultural Pillars. While the primary goal was to evaluate which pillars needed to be updated in a post-pandemic world, GCommerce also found that many team members requested more education and discussion around Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Survey respondents were proud of the company efforts towards a more equitable workplace, but they wanted those efforts to be more formal and institutional. In response, GCommerce decided to incorporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion into its foundational "Cultural Pillars."
The company didn't stop there. Formalizing DEI as a culture pillar was an important first step, but GCommerce was looking to make an impact, both within the company and the community.
And that is how the Equity & Advocacy Team was formed.
At the onset, the team drafted a charter to guide the goals, strategies and desired outcomes of the group. Now, the company presents a recap of the work that has been done and the outcomes it has generated over the past year.
Every year, the marketing industry eagerly awaits Google Marketing Live, Google’s annual event to showcase what’s new in the world of Google advertising. While this year seemed to focus on e-commerce and retail heavily, there were still a lot of announcements and features that got us excited about what’s to come. Discover our key takeaways from Google Marketing Live 2024 below.
By Jaylene Van Lin, Marketing Specialist
Develop ads that adhere to your brand standards
Later this year, you'll be able to supply Google AI with your brand guidelines, such as your colors and fonts, to create ads that reflect your brand across multiple formats and channels. You'll also have the option to upload sample images, enabling generative AI to produce new images that match your visual style. Furthermore, you can use the "Generate more like this" feature to create additional on-brand variants of your successful assets.
By Morgan Tuohy, Senior Marketing Strategist
Take your AI-generated creative to other platforms
While using Google’s tools to create new creative assets, you retain the rights to use those assets across other platforms, including those not owned by Google. While other platforms lag behind Google on the move to AI-generated creative assets, you can maintain brand consistency and save time by taking assets from one platform to another.
By Alex Scharpf, Search Marketing Supervisor
Don’t underestimate short-form
Google is pushing towards YouTube Shorts more than ever, and the format is growing in terms of both engagement and viewership. As Google continues to provide more in-depth ways to monetize Shorts, vertical image assets and short-form video content will become even more important in the upcoming years. And because travel-based content already has a strong presence on Shorts, skipping these assets as a hotel may leave valuable customer interactions on the table.
By Maddie Holifeild, Marketing Specialist
Google Gemini has the potential to be a powerful tool for hoteliers
While presenting at this year’s keynote, Philipp Schindler touched on the developments of Google Gemini, an AI assistant that provides access to Google AI. With a tool like this, Hoteliers can analyze large datasets to understand customer preferences and behavior patterns. This will allow hotels to deliver highly personalized marketing campaigns, offers, and recommendations like dining options, specific room types, and local attractions based on a guest’s previous stays or preferences. With AI on the rise, there is also an opportunity to enhance customer service through advanced chatbots and virtual assistants that can handle a wide range of inquiries, from booking reservations and answering questions about amenities.
By Meaghan Reynolds, Marketing Specialist
Google’s new brand profiles will help enhance hotels' online presence
Google’s introduction of new brand profiles and AI branding tools empowers businesses to showcase their unique brand identities more effectively. These tools will allow merchants to showcase and highlight key information with new and compelling visuals as well as using AI to effortlessly create engaging content. For Hotels, this is a great opportunity to feature new imagery, positive guest experiences, and videos directly in a search result. This new AI tool can allow hotels to generate new and engaging content which will help to enhance their marketing efforts and attract more potential guests.
By Alex Horrocks, Search Marketing Strategist
The Power Pair
At Google Marketing Live, the "Power Pair" strategy was highlighted, combining broad match keywords inside Paid Search Campaigns alongside Performance Max. While it's well-known that advertisers often prefer exact and phrase match keywords for higher quality traffic, Google shared data showing that Power Pair could boost conversions by 27%. As advertisers, we constantly test new strategies, but this approach might not suit smaller businesses. Paid search tends to be more effective with targeted campaigns rather than broad approaches for smaller businesses. If you decide to implement the Power Pair strategy, ensure you leverage your other tools by optimizing audiences, demographics, and bid modifiers to avoid unnecessary spending
By Lisa McGivney, Director of Marketing
Google will prioritize ads in AI overviews
The search community has long guessed that the only way Google would roll out GenAI into the live results would be if they found a way to maintain ad revenue. During Google Marketing Live 2024, they confirmed that although historically ads have only appeared above and below the overviews, they will now be testing ads within the AI Overviews. It will be interesting to see how this evolves and what type (if any) of reporting they offer to show the performance of ads within AI Overviews. We’ll be ready.
By Jael Dugdale, Metadesk Operations Team Lead
Embracing AI and intent-based searches
As AI takes center stage at Google Marketing Live 2024, the future of SEO is being reshaped. Google emphasized a shift from specific keywords to user intent, with more complex searches—often five or more words—becoming the norm. Where complex searches once required multiple steps, AI now provides comprehensive options in a single query. For example, a search for “fun places to eat in Monterey” can now yield clusters of results like reviews, sunset views, and seafood havens. Google Lens also enables easy identification of objects with a simple point-and-shoot. So, what’s next? Ads and organic search results will change, requiring SEO strategies to adapt. Beyond keywords, SEO should focus on intent-based searches, are they a seafood haven? Making sure their alt text identifies objects in images correctly, color, size, etc. providing relevant, concise content, and making sure they continue to highlight their Long-Term Sustainable Competitive Advantages (LTSCA) to stand out in future AI-driven searches.
By Kristina Webber, Marketing Specialist
First-party data is critical to advertising on Google
Having good AI requires good data. At Google Marketing Live, AI was mentioned frequently. However, having the right first-party data to fuel successful campaigns will help drive conversions more cost-effectively. To assist with this, Google announced a new feature: Measurement Diagnostics. This feature can evaluate your website and gather data by diagnosing missing data or opportunities that can be used to understand your audience through first-party insights.
By Nikki Abrego, Marketing Strategist
When will Power Pair take advantage of travel?
During the Google Live session, they introduced a game-changing feature, Power Pair. This feature combines search and performance campaigns to deliver the strongest data performance of ROI across all of Google, enhancing visual search. They demonstrated this with a retail example: a consumer snaps a picture of a suitcase, and search results populate with similar products. This got me thinking about the exciting possibilities we could explore for our clients and how this could significantly enhance our advertising strategies with hotels and travel.
Instead of taking pictures of products, users could upload an image of an aesthetic room or an environment they aspire to be in. For instance, if someone uploads a picture of a beach with a palm tree, our hotel client, The Cove, could appear in the search results with their villas providing that similar view. Or, if an image of a dark romance room aesthetic is uploaded, our client, Crossroads, could pop up with matching aesthetic suites available to book. By feeding images into Power Pair, this feature could encourage customers to book travel based on the visuals they have seen or saved on their Pinterest travel boards.
By Kaylin Long, Search Marketing Specialist
More choice for consumers means more opportunities for advertisers
People are starting to search in new ways—they’re asking more complex questions, searching with images, etc. All of these different ways that a consumer can search mean that the consumer has more choice, which means more opportunities for advertisers. Google is implementing more ways to implement shopping and metasearch-type ads that will be more relevant to our consumers. AI powered by Google will deliver the most relevant results to our consumers, bringing in more qualified leads and a higher ROAS.
Womanhood is an incredibly diverse experience, with each culture and each family having a unique approach to the journey. From quinceañeras and bat mitzvahs to Sweet 16 parties and menstruation celebrations, people from across the globe celebrate womanhood in all kinds of ways.
And GCommerce is no exception! Each member of our team comes from a different background and has a unique experience with the concept of womanhood. Here are some of the GCommerce team’s cultural and family traditions for celebrating womanhood.
Alex Scharpf
In our family, we don’t really celebrate “womanhood” any differently than “adulthood” more broadly. However, we do have some minor traditions for “motherhood.”
The entire extended family always comes together for Mother’s Day, and we make sure to write the name of every mother on a cake. (Though when your family is as big as mine is, it’s definitely a challenge!)
Once you’ve had your first child, you also get upgraded perks at family events. Your Christmas check is larger, you get to sit on the chairs that don’t fold up on you, and you get first dibs on holiday meals. None of these perks apply to the fathers in our family, so it’s really interesting that we specifically celebrate the moms.
Jael Dugdale
I come from a non-traditional family, so we don’t necessarily have a “tradition” to celebrate womanhood. However, what I am doing is passing on my experiences and the spirit of exploration and resilience to my daughter. As she begins to chart her own path, I'll be there for her through the twists and turns of life, cheering her on and empowering her to go after her dreams.
Jaylene Van Lin
Womanhood is a journey passed from my grandmother, through my mother, to me – a story of strength and growth. It starts with my grandmother being raised in the confines of a traditional household. She went on to enter a controlling and abusive marriage, a narrative that dictated her entire life.
But my grandmother always held onto hope for her daughter. She made sure my mother knew her worth, laying the foundation for a different life. While my mother still takes on many domestic duties that she feels obligated to do, her experience of womanhood is a world apart from my grandmother's. Sure, she still cooks my dad dinner every…single…night…but overall, she's treated with respect.
Maybe you know where the story is going now. Yes, my mother also wanted a better life for her daughter – me. Now, as I embrace my independence, I celebrate womanhood each day. I'm grateful for the sacrifices of the women before me, which have given me the freedom to define womanhood my own way.
Kaylin Long
In my experience growing up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there hasn’t been any explicit celebration to acknowledge womanhood. But at certain age milestones, people in the religious community would begin to apply different gender roles to you.
At 12 years old, we become a “young woman” and begin attending a class at church that is only with other girls. At 16 years old, we are then encouraged to go on group dates (without steady dating). At 18 years old, “young women” become full-fledged women and move on to a different class, still segregated by gender, called “relief society.” At 18, we’re also expected to begin courting someone seriously with the intention of getting married. Once you’ve gotten married, you’re expected to begin having children and are expected to have as many as you and your spouse can physically support.
Kenyon Cotton
As a father of two daughters, this is a topic near and dear to my heart. In our household, I don’t like assigning gender roles to hobbies and interests. Our main focus is simply trying to build character and resilience, and instill moral values.
The result is two girls who are fully enabled to explore all facets of the human experience: sports, both organized and extreme; science, mostly in the form of bugs, animals, mud, and exploration; glamour and fashion; being a leader, a follower, or somewhere in between; being a hero and a protector and knowing how to ask for help when they need it. Both transcendence and immanence.
As I see it, one of our most important jobs as parents is to ensure that they understand that the full spectrum of possibilities is available to them as they work on figuring out how to find fulfillment and happiness, and how to provide value to the world.
Lisa McGivney
We don’t have any family traditions that I can recall, but I’m excited to start a new one this year! I’ll be going skiing with my daughter for International Women’s Day.
Sharing Traditions
Every woman is unique, so individual traditions of womanhood are equally special. Talk to your coworkers and friends, and see what their own experiences have been. You might learn something new!
In 2022 GCommerce produced a company survey to gather team member insights on its current Cultural Pillars. While the primary goal was to evaluate which pillars needed to be updated in a post-pandemic world, GCommerce also found that many team members requested more education and discussion around Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
And that is how the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Study Group was formed.
Now, over a year after establishing the study group, the company presents a recap of the work that has been done and the outcomes it has generated.
Limited-time offers are essential to any hotel marketing strategy, but promoting them can be complicated. There are so many options that it can be challenging to find the best approach, especially when it comes to paid search.
This is especially true when it comes to Google Ads extensions. GCommerce has seen great success with both sitelinks and promotions for hotel deals, but we have yet to crown one extension type as superior. So let’s figure it out once and for all - Are sitelink or promotion extensions better for promoting limited-time hotel deals?
Our Google Ads Optimization Test
This test compared the efficacy of sitelink and promotion extensions when marketing limited-time hotel deals. If you’re unfamiliar with these extension types, see our full guide on Google Ads extensions for background on their format, strengths, and limitations.
We gathered data from 13 deals across Google Ads accounts for 9 boutique hotels in the United States. The content of each deal varied, covering percent discounts, convenience packages, unique experiences, and more.
Each of the 13 deals ranged from a few days to a few months in length, taking place at various times throughout the year. For each individual offer, though, sitelink and promotion extensions ran simultaneously for the duration of the deal.
All extensions were added to both Brand and Market (non-Brand) Terms campaigns using single keyword ad groups. In addition, each hotel’s Google Ads account also ran non-deal extensions during the test period, though competition with other extensions was fairly even between sitelinks and promotions.
The Results
This chart combines data from all 13 hotel deals.
When combined, promotion extensions outperform sitelinks in all but cost per conversion and conversion rate.
This is also supported when looking at results by individual deal. In this chart, the listed extension type performed better for a given Key Performance Indicator (KPI), with “Tie” indicating that the difference between extensions types was less than 5%.
In both cases, promotion extensions are the clear winner for most KPIs. They offer higher awareness, better CTR, and more total interactions than sitelink extensions.
However, sitelinks do edge out promotions in conversion rate and cost per conversion, which is something to consider. If your hotel is running on a limited budget and values conversions over clicks, sitelinks may be the better option.
Takeaways
Promotion extensions are great at driving awareness for hotel deals and should be incorporated into your hotel’s marketing strategy. They’re a valuable Google Ads optimization tool, and adding them to your hotel’s campaigns is a great way to reach future guests.
However, this test also proves the value of sitelink extensions. They’re never too far behind promotion extensions in terms of performance and do have the edge when it comes to conversion efficiency. There’s also something to be said for their unique extension properties, such as the ability to add a description with more details on a hotel deal.
When possible, we highly suggest using both sitelink and promotion extensions to market hotel deals. They both add value to an account, especially for hotels with multiple priority KPIs. A good mix of extensions will create a good mix of results, making a diverse optimization strategy the most effective.
Google Ads extensions (now known as Associations) are optional add-ons for your hotel’s paid search advertisements. Extensions give you more space to add information about your hotel, often opening up unique messaging opportunities that aren’t available with standard ad copy.
Google Ads extensions occasionally show alongside the ads in your campaign, their placement dependent on extension type, search query, user history, and other algorithmic factors. There is no guarantee that a given extension will show, nor is there any way to force them to appear. However, they can still be a powerful addition to your hotel’s paid search account.
There are a number of extension types, and all are a great way to call out highlights of your hotel and entice users to convert. Below, I’ve gone into detail on some of the most common Google Ads extension types for hotels. Google offers more extension options than what I’ve listed, but these are the most relevant and efficient extension types when trying to attract hotel room bookings.
Google Ads Extension Types For Hotels
Each Google Ads extension type serves a different purpose, with unique strengths and limitations. When used right though, every extension type listed here has the potential to boost ad performance and increase key performance indicators. Below, we’ve provided a brief overview on each type with the most potential for hotel paid search, to help you get started with Google Ads extensions.
Sitelink
Sitelink extensions allow you to add multiple page links to your ad, occasionally with a short description of what each page contains.
Strengths
Sitelinks can be a great way to drive traffic to specific pages on your website, since they are prominently displayed with your ads. Sitelinks may also increase clickthrough rate, by offering multiple topic options to provide more relevant information and help users navigate your site quickly.
Restrictions
Character Restrictions
Link Text: Max 25
Description line 1: Max 35
Description line 2: Max 35
Other Restrictions
Link Text must be unique from other sitelinks
URL must be unique from other sitelinks
URL must match domain of the ad
Appearance
On desktop, sitelinks may display with a 2-line description to add more context. Sitelinks will never appear with just 1 description line.
Callout
Callout extensions are short additions that highlight key features or perks about your hotel.
Strengths
Callouts are a great way to emphasize key benefits of a stay at your hotel, without taking space away from your ad.
Restrictions
Character Restrictions
Callout Text: Max 25
Appearance
Callouts will display the same way on mobile and desktop, added to the end of your ad and formatted like standard ad copy.
Structured Snippet
Structured snippet extensions consist of a header and a static list of values relating to the header topic.
Strengths
Like callouts, structured snippets are a way to highlight hotel advantages without taking up ad space. However, they have the added benefit of organizing these advantages under a specific topic.
Restrictions
Character Restrictions
Value Text: Max 25
Relevant Header Types
Amenities
Destinations
Featured Hotels
Neighborhoods
Other Restrictions
Up to 10 values per extension
Headers can repeat, but values can not
Appearance
Structured snippets will show up the same way on mobile and desktop, added to the end of your ad and formatted like standard ad copy.
When a structured snippet extension does show, all values will show in the same order you choose when setting up the extension.
Call
Call extensions add your phone number to an ad.
Strengths
Calls make it easy for users to contact your hotel, increasing the likelihood that they follow through. This is especially helpful if your hotel’s paid search account tracks phone calls as a conversion.
Restrictions
Other Restrictions
Must be verified by Google
Must be accurate and current
Appearance
Calls will appear differently on mobile and desktop.
However, the number will always be displayed with whatever formatting you choose at extension setup. In this example, we opted for something other than the traditional (XXX) XXX-XXXX format.
Promotion
Promotion extensions highlight monetary deals at your hotel.
Strengths
Promotions are an easy way to call out exclusive offers and persuade customers to book with you instead of your competition.
Restrictions
Character Restrictions
Text: Max 20
Format Options
$ off [text]
% off [text]
Up to $ off [text]
Up to % off [text]
Appearance
Promotions will appear differently on mobile and desktop, but will always follow the ad.
In this example, “Valet Parking” was the text.
Using Google Ads Extensions
Overall, Google Ads extensions are an efficient way to highlight benefits of your hotel without distracting from your core message. They’re a great way to grab the attention of customers, and can even increase clicks, conversions, and other key performance indicators when used correctly. They’re easy to set up, and don’t take much effort to maintain due to their simplicity.
So what are you waiting for?
Learn more about Google Ads extensions by contacting GCommerce Solutions below, and get started today.
