This is a guest post from Sarah Essa, Insights Manager at
Microsoft Advertising.
The digital transformation of the travel industry continues to gain huge momentum—eMarketer forecasts that digital travel researchers and bookers in the UK will reach over 30 and 27 million in 2017.[1] Because of so much forward motion, search engines have become a key platform to connect with digital travel consumers.
The Bing Network has displayed notable growth in this field, recently reaching over 20% market share in the UK marketplace.[2] Read on to discover the top five travel advertising best practices on the Bing Network.
- Get ready for the summer surge! Summer is a crucial period for the travel industry as sightseers and globetrotters rush to book holidays. On the Bing Network, we saw travel search volume rise by 111% (vs. 12 months’ index)[3] during June-August 2016. Ensure you have room in your account and campaign budgets to capture lucrative travel traffic and demand on the Bing Network this summer.
- Trending destinations. Current affairs in 2016 disadvantaged some travel destinations while benefitting others. Uncover what’s trending and declining with our monthly trending travel destinations report, available through your account management team. Make sure you’re allocating your resources this summer towards travel destinations that are popular on the Bing Network.
- Audience targeting. The Bing Ads audience is distinguished and deserves special treatment! Over 50% of travel-related searches came from women and those aged 35-65 in Dec 2016.[4] Examine your bid modifiers, and consider demographic targeting to reach and focus on key demographics for the travel vertical on Bing Ads.
- Ad copy optimization and extensions. Review our travel ad copy heatmaps to find the most effective ad copy tokens and boost your CTR’s this summer (featured in the latest Bing Ads travel insights).[5] Give your ads extra polish by adopting our wide range of ad extensions— sitelinks, location, and call extensions are among the best performers for the travel vertical on the Bing Network.
- Don’t forget about mobile! While PC is still dominant in the travel vertical among digital researchers, keep mobile and tablet in mind. 26% of travel searches in December 2016 on the Bing Network came from these devices.[6] Capitalize on cheaper CPCs offered on mobile and tablet vs. PC by developing a mobile strategy. Invest in mobile campaigns and a mobile experience to attract and engage mobile consumers.
[1] UK Adult Digital Travel Researchers and Bookers, 2015-2020, eMarketer.com, October 2016.
[2] comScore qSearch (custom), June 2016. Bing Network includes Microsoft Search sites, Yahoo Search sites and AOL Search Network sites in the UK.
[3] Internal Source: Volume of searches with travel intent relative to the average monthly volume between June 2015–June 2016, Bing, Yahoo & AOL sites in the UK, all devices.
[4]https://docs.com/bing-ads/6054/uk-winter-travel-insights?c=ANiZtL
[5]https://docs.com/bing-ads/6054/uk-winter-travel-insights?c=ANiZtLy
[6]https://docs.com/bing-ads/6054/uk-winter-travel-insights?c=ANiZtL
