New Hotel SERP Feature Alert: Google Property Promotion Ads Carousel is Live

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June 20, 2023 by

At the end of 2022, Google announced that a new Property Promotion Ads carousel was coming to it’s mobile search results. Previously out in beta, the new Google Property Promotion Ads carousel is now live in the mobile and desktop search results. Are you seeing this in your hotel google searches yet? You can see the new feature in the below screenshot.

What are Property Promotion Ads?

Property Promoted Ads are a campaign type available within the Google Hotel Ads inventory space. It is a separate campaign type from standard Google Hotel Ads and does require a separate campaign type in order to run. These ads appear at the top of destination searches in the Google Travel Planner, Google Maps, and now directly at the top of the search results for hotel searches. 

Property Promotion Ads allow you to get in front of consumers when their shopping for hotels in a destination and tend to be higher up the funnel in their research process compared to standard Google Hotel Ads, which appear within a hotel’s knowledge panel or travel planner listing. Property Promotion Ads also tend to have higher CPCs since the inventory is in a premium position, which can also result in lower ROAS compared to standard Google Hotel Ads placements.

Where Did the Standard Text Based Paid Search Ads Go?

One important observation from the screenshot above is that there are no standard text ads shown above the hotel map pack. We’re only seeing the Property Promotion Ads carousel in this search for “Calistoga Hotels”. We did get standard text ads to trigger with other searches, including “San Diego Resorts”. The takeover of the top position on the Google SERP will have a huge impact on paid search advertising visibility and push hotels to shift their focus and media dollars to Google Hotel Ads and Property Promotion Ads, in particular, in order to maintain visibility for destination searches.

Google Now Showing Updated Search Filters for Hotel Searches

A secondary but essential update found with this new SERP for hotel searches is the new set of filters shown under the search bar. The search shown below for “Calistoga hotels” includes filter options such as “luxury”, “with hot springs”, “with spa”, “cheap”, and “with pools”.

It looks like Google is pulling in these new features directly from attributes available within Google Business Profile and proving once again how important Local SEO, especially your hotel’s Google Business Profile, is to visibility in the search engine results and to your Google Hotel Ads performance.

How can my hotel get started with Google Property Promotion Ads?

In order to run Google Property Promotion Ads, you first need to be live with Google Hotel Ads via a hotel metasearch advertising provider. It requires connectivity to your booking engine rates and inventory, along with campaign management and ongoing optimization.

Please reach out to our team of Google Hotel Ads experts at GCommerce for more information.

9 Best Practices For LinkedIn Advertising For Hotels

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June 20, 2023 by

LinkedIn Ads is a great marketing tool to utilize for B2B or B2C companies to build leads, online recognition, share content, and more. LinkedIn Ads differs from other ad platforms because it focuses on specific audience targeting relating to job titles, education, company, or company size. It can be tricky to advertise on LinkedIn, but we have nine tips you can use today to improve and get the most out of your ads. 

  1. Keep In Mind Your LinkedIn Ads Audience Size

LinkedIn recommends keeping your audience size a minimum of 50,000-500,000 max. Anything larger than that will be too broad, making it difficult to find the right target audience for your hotel’s LinkedIn ads. 

  1. Location is Key for LinkedIn Ads

Location is a mandatory targeting field within LinkedIn Ads. You can get specific with a city or metropolitan area, or go broad with state or country. Utilizing the right locations will ensure your hotel’s LinkedIn ads are going to the right audience in the specific locations you are targeting.

  1. Avoid Hyper Targeting with LinkedIn Ads

It’s recommended that you don’t use more than three targeting segments with your hotel’s LinkedIn Ads campaign targeting. The campaign manager will show estimated reach and audience size while you build out your audience. An example of this would be using too many of the targeting segments in one LinkedIn ads campaign including job titles, companies, customer match lists, or educational segments. 

  1. Utilize LinkedIn Ads Campaign Demographics

When you click into your LinkedIn campaign you can gain insights into your audience. Click the three dots to change it from performance to demographics. You can see who is clicking on your ads, impressions, opening lead forms, and see open rates. This will help you narrow down your audience and target people likely to interact with your ads. 

  1. Limit Your LinkedIn Ads Form Fields

When you notice people are opening your form on LinkedIn, but aren’t submitting it, it likely means you have too many fields for people to fill out. It’s recommended you have only 3-5 fields within your LinkedIn forms. The least amount of fields to fill out the better. 

Pro Tip: Make sure to include location in your LinkedIn ads form so people know where you are located. 

  1. Utilize LinkedIn Ads Website Demographics

On the left hand side of your LinkedIn ad manager you will see the Analyze navigation option. Click the dropdown then click website demographics. This will show you the types of people that are coming to your hotel’s website. This could be another great option in determining who your hotel’s target audience is on LinkedIn Ads. 

  1. Create LinkedIn Ads Matched Audiences

Matched audiences are a great way to use your business data and LinkedIn’s professional data within your LinkedIn ads campaigns. You can create retargeting audiences, contact targeting, account targeting and lookalike audiences. For example, you can create a retargeting audience of people who have opened a lead form, but didn’t submit. There are options to go back 30, 60, 90, 180, or 365 days. 

  1. Create At Least Five Ads Per LinkedIn Campaign

LinkedIn suggests having at least five ads in your campaign because studies have shown that advertisers generally see a 20% or greater improvement in click-through rate (CTR). LinkedIn can also recommend images you have uploaded to your media library based on relevance and performance of each image for your specific campaign.

  1. Craft LinkedIn Ad Copy Around a Clear Call To Action

Your LinkedIn ads should end with a clear CTA of what you want them to do next. Make sure your CTA matches the objective you originally selected. Effective CTA’s include “Register Now” or “Sign Up”. 

LinkedIn Ads is a great platform to utilize to reach potential customers who are interested in your product or service. These are just a few tips to get you started to be successful, but ultimately there will be a lot of testing and figuring out what will work best for your ads.

For more information about LinkedIn Advertising for hotels or getting started, reach out to us at GCommerce today!

[E-Book] 6 Big Travel Trends for 2023

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March 6, 2023 by

We are excited to share our E-Book, 6 Big Travel Trends for 2023. It's filled with insights on the current state of the hospitality industry and where it's headed in the future.

With this knowledge, you can make the most informed decisions and have an advantage in the ever-evolving hospitality industry.

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Community Marketing: How To Build Your Own Fierce Brand Community

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November 28, 2022 by

Download our free presentation on how to build your own brand with community marketing.

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Metasearch Marketing Optimization Techniques Webinar

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October 10, 2022 by

Earlier this year, GCommerce Solutions polled several thousand hoteliers and learned that very few were aware that metasearch advertising campaigns can be managed and optimized similarly to paid search campaigns. 

3 things attendees can expect to learn:

  • How to ensure your metasearch connections allow for strategy and optimization
  • Bid modifiers and how to use them
  • How to use custom audience on Google to enhance the targeting capabilities of your metasearch marketing campaigns

Watch the replay by submitting the form below.

Access Webinar

Metasearch is one of your best tools for increasing direct traffic and recapturing market share from OTA’s, but only if you’re optimizing your metasearch advertising campaigns. Learn how to harness the power of metasearch advertising to support your property’s unique needs.

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Everything You Need to Know About Google Analytics 4

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August 23, 2022 by

By now, many of you have heard us talk about Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This new analytics update is part of a series of steps that will bridge the divide between database driven analytics and privacy concerns. The GCommerce team has been implementing GA4 for our clients over the past year and now Google has officially announced that the existing Google Universal technology will no longer receive new data as of July 2023, the clock is truly ticking.

Download our free ebook that will tell you everything you need to know about GA4 - what it is, what to expect and why it’s important to your business.

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